Terrorism

by Francis Curta with Dmitry Zaks in London | – Paris (AFP) – European officials on Monday gave a cold shoulder to a call by US President Donald Trump to take back citizens captured in the fight against Islamic State jihadists in Syria for prosecution back home. Concerns rose about the fate of European nationals […]

Counter-Terrorism

Half a Million Dead, $5.9 Trillion Bill: The True Costs of US ‘Global War on Terror’

Stephanie Savell

(Tomdispatch.com) – In September 2001, the Bush administration launched the “Global War on Terror.” Though “global” has long since been dropped from the name, as it turns out, they weren’t kidding. When I first set out to map all the places in the world where the United States is still fighting terrorism so many years […]

Far Right

White Terrorists who Pled Guilty to Bombing Minnesota Mosque Wanted to Build Trump’s Wall

AFP

Chicago (AFP) – Members of a militia group, whose alleged leader applied to build Donald Trump’s border wall, pleaded guilty Thursday to bombing a mosque in an effort to frighten American Muslims into leaving the country. The admissions by Michael McWhorter, 29 and Joe Morris, 23, were through guilty pleas to charges stemming from a […]

al-Qaeda

Is an al-Qaeda Front dominating 3 Million People in North Syria?

AFP

By Michel MOUTOT | – Paris (AFP) – The jihadist group now controlling Idlib province in northwest Syria claims to have broken with Al-Qaeda, but analysts say that despite several rebrandings there’s no sign it has changed its stripes. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) sealed its hold on Idlib last week after signing a ceasefire with […]

al-Qaeda

Trump’s US in 2019: Is the Mideast ‘War on Terror’ Paradigm Ending?

Juan Cole

Juan Cole (Informed Comment) – The primary post 9/11 paradigm of US foreign policy has been the war on terrorism, which is to say a profound and kinetic military and counter-insurgency engagement of the US Pentagon, CIA and State Department in the Greater Middle East. This paradigm succeeded the Cold War paradigm of 1946-1991, which […]

Far Right

Why does US Government Ignore Right Wing White Terrorism?

Paul Handley

Washington (AFP) – Robert Bowers, accused of massacring 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue, spewed extreme anti-Semitic invective openly on social media, and had 10 guns registered in his name. Cesar Sayoc, who sent 15 pipe bombs to anti-Trump Democrats and media, tweeted threats to dozens of public figures, including sending a TV commentator a […]

Far Right

When Terrorism is a Weapon of the Strong

The Conversation

By Arie Perliger | – People often believe that terrorism is the weapon of the weak. In other words, terrorism is practiced by marginalized groups that cannot influence government’s policies through legitimate means. However, developments on the violent far right since the victory of Donald Trump, I’d argue, present a different reality. The attack at […]

Featured

Suggestive Terrorism: Trump, Pipe Bomber and the ISIL Technique

Juan Cole

The attempted pipe bombings directed at former US president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, former attorney General Eric Holder and several other targets of the wrath of Donald Trump are unlikely to be the last acts of terrorism galvanized by Trump’s savaging of his perceived enemies. Trump […]

Iraq

Iraq bombs meeting of Daesh leaders in Syria; kills high-value targets

Middle East Monitor

Iraq has launched an air attack on a gathering of Daesh leaders inside neighbouring Syria, killing 45 members of the hardline militant group, its military said on Saturday. F-16 fighter jets destroyed three houses on Friday which were connected by a trench in the town of Hajin, where the leaders were meeting. Those killed included […]