Counter-terrorism, anti-extremism, armed conflict and human rights: using a Russian case study

This paper critically examines Russia’s compliance with human rights obligations and the rule of law in its ‘war on terror’. It seeks to draw wider parallels with respect for human rights in the framework of the fight against ‘new global terrorism’. Threats to due process, the discriminatory application of the forces of law and order specifically against perceived “non-traditional” Muslim communities, and a ratcheting up of fear of an Islamist threat can be traced following the war in Chechnya and the handling of the Dubrovka Theatre and Beslan school sieges. To what extent are there commonalities with UK complicity in the practice of extraordinary rendition, with atrocities perpetrated in Iraq and Afghanistan, and abuses in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? Are the impact of these reflected in domestic security policy and British minority ethnic community relations? [From the Author]

Practical solvent system selection for counter-current separation of pharmaceutical compounds

Counter-current chromatography (CCC) is a technique that shows a lot of potential for large scale purification. Its usefulness in a "research and development" pharmaceutical environment has been investigated, and the conclusions are shown in this article. The use of CCC requires the development of an appropriate solvent system (a parameter of critical importance), a process which can be tedious. This article presents a novel strategy, combining a statistical approach and fast HPLC to generate a three-dimensional partition coefficient map and rapidly predict an optimal solvent system. This screen is performed in half a day and involves 9 experiments per solvent mixture. Test separations were performed using that screen to ensure the validity of the method.