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IS Proves Adaptable in Response to Mosul Offensive
October 24, 2016
The Islamic State's adaptability in rebranding itself as both caliphate and insurgency and resilience in moving to an irregular insurgency model in response to the US-led coalition offensive to liberate Mosul from IS forces has provided the opportunity for IS to continue to destabilize Iraq and Syria for years to come and to operate as a threat to US interests abroad and at home.
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OIC Follows Turkey's Lead, Declares Gulenists Are Terrorists
October 20, 2016
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has thrown the support of its 57 member states behind the hardline Islamist government in Turkey by declaring that the competing Turkish Islamist movement of Fetullah Gulen is a terrorist group.
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Convergence of Jihadist and Criminal Networks Poses Threat to Europe
October 20, 2016
A new report by a widely respected British think tank details how the convergence of jihadist and organized criminal milieus, including shared networks for terrorist recruitment and funding and for money laundering and narcotics trafficking, poses a threat to Europe's peace and prosperity.
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Saudi "Vision 2030" Obscures Human Rights Repression
October 20, 2016
The Saudi Arabian government's "Vision 2030” is an ambitious plan for modernizing the country's economy, but the institutionalized repression of human rights, such as speech and assembly freedoms and due process, reflects the authoritarian influences of the country's Wahhabi ruling elites.
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Christians Are Collateral Damage in Iraqi Islamic Civil War
October 19, 2016
The Iraqi Army-led military offensive to retake the geopolitically important city of Mosul from Islamic State forces reveals the extent to which Christian communities are collateral damage in the sectarian war between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, as well as IS loyalists committed to the caliphate as an alternative to the Iraqi state.