Religious Extremism

Indonesia-UAE Cooperation Reflects Shifting Competition in Mideast and Asia for Global Islamist Leadership

November 12, 2021

The multi-billion-dollar cooperation between Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expanding from investments in infrastructure, defense and security, and wealth funds to include explicitly religious components that involve a joint commitment to "a vision of moderate Islam that propagates tolerance ».
Globalized Islamist Competition Shifts from Mideast to South Asian Epicenter

November 12, 2021

The regional epicenter of global Islamist competition is undergoing a measurable ideological and operational shift away from monopoly control by Mideast regimes to South Asia, the latter of whom are mobilizing their massive populations for global influence operations.
Turkey Targets Intellectuals and Philanthropists Connected to West

November 10, 2021

The Turkish Islamist regime had targeted high profile intellectuals and philanthropic activists, including US citizens and globally connected activists known for their commitments to policies and social inclusion.
Speech & Media Freedoms Under Siege in Islamist Turkey

October 27, 2021

A recently released report by Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV/HRFT) points to speech and media freedoms under siege by Turkey's Islamist regime, with the state's security apparatus being used to silence critique of the government.
Iraqi Election Results Suggest Pushback Against Domestic Islamist Extremists and External Patrons

October 27, 2021

Iraq's just-completed parliamentary elections suggest popular pushback against Islamist sectarianism, with election results likely to produce a coalition comprised of moderate Sunni and Shiite groups, secularists, Kurds from the Tishreen (October) youth-dominated protest movement, as counterweight to the still-powerful Shiite sectarian Sadrist movement.
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.