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Here is a piece I did for the BBC about my communications with the Somali Islamist group, Al Shabaab. You can read my report for BBC Online by clicking  here . And you can listen to my piece for BBC From Our Own Correspondent by clicking  here . Here is the script for my report: Speaking to Al Shabaab The other morning I woke up to a text message and missed call from Al Shabaab.   As always, the message was written in perfect English. It informed me about a film Al Shabaab have made called Beyond the Shadows which, it said, gave an ‘accurate portrayal’ of what happened when French commandoes last year tried – and failed – to rescue a suspected French intelligence agent held hostage by the group. I watched the film. Like some of the other material made by Al Shabaab's media arm, Al Kataib Foundation, it was slickly produced. It was like a cross between a video game and a war movie, and was full of suspense. It showed a drone hovering in the air, emblazoned with the words ...

Debate - WSDC - Drones are a Legitimate Tool of Foreign Policy - Canada vs. South Africa - WSDC 2014 Semifinal from Alfred Snider on Vimeo . THBT drones are a legitimate tool of foreign policy. Proposition - Canada Opposition - South Africa Semifinal debate, held at Anglo Singapore International School, Bangkok. This video was made at the 2014 WSDC that took place in Thailand in August 2014. The video was produced in cooperation with World Schools Debating Championship Thailand 2014, the World Debate Institute, and the Debate Central website (http://debate.uvm.edu ) founded in 1994. DEBATE CENTRAL is a non-profit service of the World Debate Institute http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/wdi/ , the Lawrence Debate Union http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/LDU/ and the University of Vermont http://www.uvm.edu/ , and is designed to promote debating at all levels, in all languages, and all around the world. Our server is provided by the University of Vermont. The System Operator is Alfre...

Debate - WSDC - ASEAN Political Union is an Impossible Dream - South Africa vs. England - WSDC 2014 Finals from Alfred Snider on Vimeo . This House Believes that an ASEAN political union is an impossible dream. Final Round, at United Nations Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand. South Africa - Proposition England - Opposition The decision of the judges is at the end of the video. This video was made at the 2014 WSDC that took place in Thailand in August 2014. The video was produced in cooperation with World Schools Debating Championship Thailand 2014, the World Debate Institute, and the Debate Central website (http://debate.uvm.edu ) founded in 1994. DEBATE CENTRAL is a non-profit service of the World Debate Institute http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/wdi/ , the Lawrence Debate Union http://debate.uvm.edu/debateblog/LDU/ and the University of Vermont http://www.uvm.edu/ , and is designed to promote debating at all levels, in all languages, and all around the world. Our server i...