Violence and Security

Counter-Narratives Initiatives to Counter Violent Islamism Need Retooling

March 16, 2016

Empirical evidence indicates that Western government and private sector "counter narratives" initiatives aimed to stop the global spread of violent Islamism have been largely ineffective, prompting calls for a shift in methods, by addressing causal conditions of human vulnerability and by building the capacity of localized media to personalize outreach and marketing to youth susceptible to Islamist recruitment patterns.
Boko Haram Mosque Attack Underscores Expanding Islamist Threat on Africa

March 16, 2016

Female suicide bombers, the increasingly frequent mode of choice of the Islamist jihadi group Boko Haram, launched a fatal attack on a mosque in northeastern Nigeria, a reminder of the group's resilience as a militant threat committed to the expansion of sharia law throughout West Africa.
Threat of Violent Islamism in West Africa Shows Endurance, Resilience, and Lethality

March 16, 2016

Security experts are interpreting the recent lethal attack in Ivory Coast by al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb ("AQIM") as a sign of the dangerous resilience and staying power of Islamist extremism in West Africa, where AQIM's high-casualty attacks on soft targets have bolstered both the group's credibility among competing Islamist groups and threat for the region's weak states and fragile regimes endorsing religious pluralism and human rights.
New Report Calls for US Government Inquiry on IS Genocide Against Christians

March 16, 2016

A newly released report compiled by respected US-based nongovernmental organizations offers detailed information about the actions by the Islamic State ("IS") against Mideast Christians, calling on the US government to recognize IS as a perpetrator of genocide against the region's Christian communities.
US Targets IS Chemical Weapons Facilities in Iraq

March 16, 2016

Based on information from a captured member of Islamic State ("IS") leadership tasked with research and development of chemical weapons, the US-led military coalition against IS conducted a series of airstrikes that successfully "disrupted and degraded" chemical weapons production facilities in Iraq.
Migration in Europe Intensifies Risks from Demands of Parallel Sharia System

March 16, 2016

The massive migration flows of Syrian refugees into Europe throws into sharp relief the unresolved, growing challenges to social cohesion and order stemming from demands by Muslim communities in many EU member states for parallel legal structures and jurisdictions built on sharia law.
EU Commission Considers Eliminating High-Denomination Euros to Counter Islamist Extremism

March 10, 2016

The European Commission is opening an inquiry into a cessation in the printing of the 500-euro bill in the face of empirical indicators that Islamist extremist groups are relying on the high-denomination note as an easy means for huge cash movements to support global, violent and non-violent Islamist radical activities.
US Attack Against Al-Shabaab Reveals Resurgence of Somali Islamist Extremism

March 10, 2016

Behind the successes of this past week's sequential attacks by US and Somali forces against the Somali militant Islamist group al-Shabaab is the reality of al-Shabaab's resilience and resurgence as a threat extending beyond Somalia, based on the group's successful shift to asymmetrical warfare tactics, high-casualty urban and cross-border targeting, and collaborative training and weaponization with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ("AQAP").
US Government Uncertain Over MB's Effects on Islamist Extremism

March 09, 2016

The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee's recent resolution calling for the State Department to designate Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood ("MB") a terrorist organization is fueling a renewed Washington policy debate over the MB's possible role as a "firewall" against, rather than a "conveyor belt" for, the spread of terrorist Islamist groups.
US Carries out Preemptive Airstrike Against Al-Shabaab Camp in Somalia

March 09, 2016

Based on credible intelligence of an imminent jihadi attack against US and African Union assets by the Islamist terror group al-Shabaab, the US executed a preemptive airstrike that destroyed a key training camp of the al-Qaeda-affiliated organization hunkered down in the East African state of Somalia.