Counter-Terrorism

By Carl Schreck | ( RFE/ RL | – – In December 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama fielded a question about Russia while addressing a group of American business leaders in Washington. President Vladimir Putin’s incursion into Ukraine and “backward-looking” policies, Obama said, are “isolating Russia completely internationally.” If it was Russian expansionism last year […]

Counter-Terrorism

Year in Review: Paris Attacks must not become Pretext for a new ‘Global War on Terror’

contributors

Petra Gümplová | (Open Democracy) | – – It will only exacerbate the causes of terrorist attacks, diminish society’s capacity to cope rationally with risks, and permanently damage freedom, democracy, and international law. For more than a decade, European societies have criticized and resisted the American approach to terrorism. France, once one of the most […]

Counter-Terrorism

How to lose the war on terror: panic and feed ISIL’s narrative

contributors

By Daniel Baldino | (The Conversation) | – – Terrorism’s goal is principally psychological. So, in the wake of events like those in Paris, a good starting point is to refuse to take the bait and become victims to fear. Such a mindset must break away from simplistic notions such as that another round of […]

Counter-Terrorism

Disillusioned Daesh/ ISIL Fighters joined for ‘Adventure, Luxury & Saving Muslims’

contributors

By Sarah Marsden | (The Conversation) | – – They say disillusionment is the gap between expectation and reality. If the conclusions of a report just published by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence are anything to go by, it’s a gap that’s causing an increasing number of [so-called] Islamic […]

Counter-Terrorism

Enter the Bear: Does Russia plan air strikes on Daesh/ISIL in Syria?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole| (Informed Comment) | – – The Israeli press is reporting that Iran has made a firmer military alliance with the Russian Federation in Syria, and that Moscow is sending pilots to Damascus to fly missions in that country against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) and other Muslim extremist groups. The Syrian regime of Bashar […]

Arab Americans

Young Muslim-American entrepreneurs Fight ISIL Online

contributors

Ayman Mohyeldin | (NBC News Video report) “Startups are launching to help young Muslims, who might fall to ISIS’ luring appeal, grapple with issues of identity and religion.” NBC News: “Young Entrepreneurs Step Up Anti-ISIS Message Online | NBC Nightly News”

Counter-Terrorism

ISIL: What nonviolent steps could the US take to defeat it?

contributors

By Adil E. Shamoo | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – There may be a responsible way to fight the Islamic State, but the U.S. will have to leave its boots in the closet and the drones in the hangar. The atrocities of ISIS become more shocking every day. In June, the Iraqis exhumed […]

Counter-Terrorism

Turkey’s AKP strikes back: the Politics of attacking both KurdS & ISIL

contributors

By Tristan Dunning – (The Conversation) – – Tristan Dunning, The University of Queensland Stemming from a presumed Islamic State (IS) suicide bombing killing 32 leftist Kurdish university students in Suruc and the killing of several Turkish policeman claimed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkey has begun bombarding both IS forces in Syria and […]

al-Qaeda

Washington asks, “Who lost Ramadi?” But Washington never had Ramadi

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | — The inside-the-Beltway debate set off by the fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on Sunday is, as usual, Dadaistic in its disconnection from reality. Republican talking points blame Barack Obama for withdrawing US troops from Iraq in 2011, as though Daesh suddenly […]