Violence and Security

Jihadi Islamism Is Positioned to Survive Battles of Mosul, Aleppo

October 18, 2016

Security experts warn that the outcome of any ouster of Islamic State forces from Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq will likely be continuing low-level violence among competing Sunni and Shiite militias that eventually consolidate a permanent Islamist presence in a new geopolitical configuration of power in the Eastern Mediterranean.
CoE Body Blames UK Violence on Political "Hate Speech"

October 14, 2016

A report from the Council of Europe's Commission against Racism and Intolerance has blamed a recent rise in racist violence in the UK on "considerable intolerant political discourse" focusing on immigration, including the use of the term "benefits tourism," during the recent campaign over whether the country should leave the EU.
FBI Investigates Maryland Imam for Islamist Terrorism Links

October 13, 2016

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a Maryland imam who has declared public support for the Islamic State and for "fighting the anti-Islamic agendas of the kuffar [unbelievers] and munafiqeen [hypocrites] in the West," with links to weapons purchases and illicit money transfers within the US, for possible links to Islamist terrorism.
UN Peacekeepers Staunch Muslim Militia Attacks in CAR

October 13, 2016

Following another wave of lethal attacks against civilians and refugees by the anti-government Muslim Selena militias fighting to gain control of the Central African Republic, UN peacekeepers pushed back the militia in efforts to staunch what has devolved into a communal civil war in the resource-rich African state.
German Minister Seeks More "Hate Speech" Reporting

October 12, 2016

Virginia Hale writes that, in response to Facebook's announcement that in one month it deleted 100,000 posts from German users containing "hate comments," German Justice Minister Heiko Maas complained that the number of deleted posts was too low and called for legislation to force social media networks to reveal the number of "hate speech" complaints they receive.
EU Pushes for Further Clampdown on "Hate Speech"

October 12, 2016

In recent remarks in Berlin, European Commissioner for Justice Věra Jourová called on countries to transpose EU policies on criminalizing "illegal hate speech" into national law and foreshadowed a monitoring and reporting mechanism for social media companies that will help the EU clamp down on online speech that "incites violence and hatred."
IS Issues Blueprint for Individual Terror Attacks in West

October 11, 2016

The second issue of the Islamic State's English-language propaganda magazine designed to cultivate jihadists in Western countries offers a blueprint for what it calls "justice terror" attacks with detailed instructions for maximizing civilian casualties in stabbing campaigns and inspiring fear in "non-believer nations."
Legacy of Islamist Terror Survives Caliphate Contraction

October 11, 2016

Despite the steady contraction of territory in Syria and Iraq controlled by the Islamic State, the terror caliphate has created a generation of psychologically traumatized children, brainwashed as Islamist extremists, whose future welfare and impact on the societies in which they live is unknown.
Islamist Wars in Africa Destabilize Weak States

October 11, 2016

Violent territorial wars waged by diverse Islamist extremist and terror groups across Africa are generating the collapse of already-fragile states and creating a continent-wide security crisis.
Grand Imam Sends Mixed Messages in WCC Address

October 11, 2016

In a Geneva meeting of the Muslim Council of Elders with the World Council of Churches, the Grand Imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar University decried global poverty, secularism, and the hypocrisy of the UN system; called for inter-religious dialogue in youth education and human security improvements; and critiqued those who aim to identify Islam with violence.