Terrorism

By Keiran Hardy | – On Tuesday, the gunman in the Christchurch mosque shootings was charged with committing a terrorist act. The new charge came more than two months after the massacre. The gunman, who the author and The Conversation have chosen not to name, had already faced 50 charges of murder and 40 charges […]

Buddhism

Sri Lanka’s Mainstream Muslims Caught in Nexis of Extreme Nationalisms and Fringe Radicalism

The Conversation

By Andreas Johansson | – More than 300 people have now been confirmed killed in the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka. Several sources had suggested a domestic Muslim Islamist group may have been linked to the atrocity – but Islamic State (IS) has now also claimed responsibility. Sri Lanka’s Muslim community is spread across the […]

Far Right

Muslim Christchurch survivor tells remembrance service: ‘I choose peace’

AFP

by Chris FOLEY | – Christchurch (AFP) – A Maori lament echoed across Christchurch Friday as a survivor of the New Zealand mosque attacks told a national remembrance service he had forgiven the gunman responsible for the racist massacre that took his wife, and shocked the world. “I am choosing peace and I have forgiven,” […]

Featured

No, Trump did not Defeat ISIL: He Executed Obama’s Plan

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazlum Koubani, announced Saturday the end of the phony “caliphate” of the so-called Islamic State group, as the terrorist organization’s last sliver of territory in the Baghouz district east of Deir al-Zor, fell. I have all along objected to calling the defunct organization […]

Far Right

N. Zealand Attack “Shows Blind Spot on White Nationalism”

AFP

by Qasim NAUMAN | – Hong Kong (AFP) – Brenton Tarrant was steeped in a neo-fascist, anti-Muslim ideology, according to a rambling “manifesto” he posted online before the massacre of 50 people at two mosques last week The carnage unleashed in Christchurch by a white supremacist has highlighted what analysts say is the global problem […]

al-Qaeda

New Zealand Attack plays into hands of Muslim Extremists

AFP

By Michel MOUTOT | – Paris (AFP) – White supremacist Brenton Tarrant, who is accused of killing 50 people in the New Zealand mosque massacre in what he claimed was a blow against Muslim “invaders”, played into jihadist hands by following their strategy, experts say. From the Islamic State (IS) group to Al-Qaeda, jihadist groups […]

Donald Trump

New Zealand: Is Trumpism now replacing ISIL as a major Cause of Stochastic Terrorism?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – One of the tactics of the so-called “Islamic State group” or ISIL had been to put out calls on the internet and social media for people to engage in random acts of violence. In some instances, these fevered and vague expression of violent grievance infested the nightmares of unstable young […]

Terrorism

The Long History of State Terrorism

The Conversation

By Mats Fridlund | – What is it that allows someone to be labelled as a terrorist? Recent acts of spectacular violence, such as the mail bombs sent to American anti-Trump critics, or the mass killings by Canadian “incel” misogynist Alek Minassian, demonstrate a widespread reluctance among media outlets, politicians and authorities to label some […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Even after Trump’s Announced Withdrawal, US & Kurdish Allies Still Assaulting last ISIL Redoubt in Syria

Rouba El Husseini

co-author: Tony Gamal-Gabriel Syria (AFP) – US-backed forces said Sunday time was up for Islamic State group jihadists hunkering down in their eastern Syrian holdout and resumed their assault on the pocket. The extremists once ruled over millions in a swathe of Syria and Iraq, but they have since lost all that land except for […]