Religious Extremism

Islamist Regimes Compete for Geopolitical Influence by Deploying Alternative Forms of Religious Soft Power

October 20, 2021

Islamist regimes across Eurasia are deploying religion as a soft power tool to build their geopolitical influence and to sustain the Islamist bases of their political power, with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia increasingly positioned against Turkey and Iran.
Weaponization of Blasphemy Laws Reflects Expanding Islamist Competition and Impact in Pakistan's Domestic and Foreign Policy

October 20, 2021

The open, intensifying competition among Pakistan's three major Islamist tendencies has been consolidated in their shared commitment to the weaponization of blasphemy laws against religious minorities via the judicial system and social violence.
Taliban Default to Sharia Extremism in Consolidating Control in Afghanistan

October 20, 2021

The Taliban's initial pronouncements that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would mean respect for human rights, commitment to women's inclusion, and rejection of violence has been replaced by the months-long consolidation of power defined by extreme application of sharia law.
Turkey Expands Islamist Influence-Building in US with Turkish House Skyscraper Across from UN Headquarters

October 13, 2021

Turkey's use of Islamist soft power as an influence-building tool in the United States was on display with the high-profile launch by Turkish Presiden Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Tukrish House, a multi-million dollar skyscraper across from UN headquarters in New York.
Turkey's Islamist President Condemns West for "Virus of Islamophobia" as Equivalent to IS Terrorism

September 22, 2021

Addressing a New York audience of the Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC), the president of Turkey's Islamist regime condemned the virus of Islamophobia in the West as more dangerous than COVID and as equivalent to IS terrorism, and called for the political mobilization of the Turkish Muslim community in the United States.
Turkey's Islamo-Nationalist Activism in US Shows in Erdogan's Schedule in Advance of UNGA

September 22, 2021

The US-targeted activism of Turkey's Islamo-nationalist regime is on display in the public events of the country's president on his current trip to New York for the opening of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Blair Institute Identifies Keys to Islamist Reform & Deradicalization

September 22, 2021

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) has published a series of reports on theological developments in Islamism since 9/11, marking a shift in Islamism away from extremist interpretations of Islam and advocacy for violence.
Saudi Pragmatism Towards Taliban Reveals Competition Among Islamist Regimes

September 15, 2021

The Wahhabi monarchy in Saudi Arabia dispatched as emissary to the new Taliban Islamic Emirate regime in Afghanistan, in a sign that Saudi Arabia is already adopting a pragmatic approach to relations with the Taliban, in a calculus based on robust competition for ideological influence and national security interests among the hardline Islamist regimes of Saudi, Afghanistan, Iran, Qatar and Turkey.
Turkey's Judiciary Shows Signs of Shift to Islamic Jurisprudence

September 13, 2021

The high-profile presence and vocal interventions of Turkey's chief imam Ali Erbas, who heads the state's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), offering a prayer at the annual opening of the country's Court of Cassation signals the ongoing Islamization of the state, and conforms to Erbas' public pronouncements about the logic of applying Islamic jurisprudence to regulate all aspects of social life.
Security Experts Pessimism over Post-9/11 Record of Pushback Against Jihadism

September 13, 2021

International security experts with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars evaluated trend lines since the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks on the US and expressed pessimism about the past record and medium-term future of pushback against the global expansion of political Islamism and jihadism, highlighting the worldwide expansions of Islamist ideology through the use of social media and cyber platforms.