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Jakarta Attack Shows Broad Reach of IS
January 19, 2016
The Associated Press reports that the Islamic State ("IS") recent suicide bombings in the capital of Indonesia, funded through an Indonesian national who is now based in Syria, demonstrates IS's ability to finance and carry out deadly attacks across the globe.
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Radical Islamization in Malaysia Produces Societal Tensions and Security Threats
January 15, 2016
Radical Islamization in Malaysia, supported by an influx of funds and radical imams from Saudi Arabia, is increasing socio-cultural tensions caused by the Arabization of Malaysian Islam and is aggravating security risks associated with recruitment by Islamic State ("IS") actors.
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US Relies on UN for Latin American Refugee Screening
January 15, 2016
The US government has announced that it will expand its reliance on the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ("UNHCR") to conduct initial screenings of asylum seekers by giving UNHCR the authority to pre-screen applicants from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala before they are re-settled in the US.
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US Think Tank Critiques Congressional Resolution on Islamophobia as Free-Speech Violation
January 15, 2016
According to a think tank focused on national security strategy, a recently passed US Congressional Resolution (H. Res 569) condemning "hateful rhetoric" toward Muslims in the United States points to the corrosive effects on free speech caused by conflating criticism of radical Islamist violence with Islamophobia as a form of religious racism.
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OIC Pushes Peacebuilding Role on Behalf of Muslims in Southeast Asia Conflicts
January 14, 2016
In a visit to Thailand, the Saudi Secretary General of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ("OIC") has offered to facilitate a peacebuilding process between the government of Thailand and Muslim separatist insurgents in the country's southern provinces, while also positioning the OIC as the interlocutor for Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Muslim separatist groups in the southern Philippines.