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Social Media Give Platforms to Jihadi Recruiters
July 11, 2014
The striking military advances of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (“ISIS”) in Syria and Iraq have been supported by measurable successes in the use of social media tools – Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter – as platforms for global recruitment of youth to Islamist extremist ideologies and jihadi violence.
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Saudi Support for Islamist Extremists Causes Blowback
July 11, 2014
Saudi Arabia's Islamic theocracy provided support to the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (“ISIS”) in an effort to overthrow the Alewite al-Assad regime, but now the Sunni monarchy fears the political blowback from ISIS's criticisms of the monarchy as corrupt and illegitimate.
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OIC and EU Condemn Anti-Muslim Violence in Sri Lanka
July 11, 2014
Officials from both the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (“OIC”) and the European Union (“EU”) have denounced the recent communal violence by Buddhist militants against Muslim-majority towns in Sri Lanka, where Buddhist-Muslim violence has been rare.
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Shifting Islamist Alliances in Mideast Open U.S.-Iran Possibilities
July 11, 2014
The ascent of Sunni jihadi groups supported by U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey is creating a shift in Islamist alliance structures that, paradoxically, might lead to a U.S.-Iran channel aimed at recalibrating the Mideast's Sunni-Shiite balance.
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Creeping Islamism a Concern in Indonesia's Public Schools
July 11, 2014
Dress, teacher training, and curriculum changes in Indonesia's public schools point to trendlines of creeping Islamism in a Muslim-majority country known for its tolerance for religious pluralism.