Terrorism

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The right wing is carping that President Obama is “downplaying” the dangers of Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) in the wake of the Paris and Brussels attacks on soft targets. But whipping up hysteria about the threat of terrorism is a racket that mainly benefits security firms and […]

Iraq

Mosul: Are Civilian Deaths in Coalition Airstrikes Reinforcing ISIL’s Hold?

contributors

Special Correspondent | Niqash.org | – – An increase in air strikes on Mosul is causing more civilian casualties. Ordinary people live in fear, the Islamic State uses deaths for propaganda and Iraqi authorities say nothing. A still from video released by the extremist IS group, showing the aftermath of coalition air strikes. A still […]

Featured

Trump’s and ISIL’s Gray Zones: Radicals’ Terrorism sign of Syria, Iraq Defeat

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – It is no accident that Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is using Donald Trump in its new recruitment video. Although Trump hasn’t killed anyone to our knowledge and can’t be compared to Daesh in most ways, his political strategy actually mirrors that of the phony caliphate in some […]

Belgium

ISIL’s target wasn’t Brussels, it was the whole idea of European Union

contributors

By Joaquín Roy | (Inter Press Service) | – – In this column Joaquín Roy, Joaquin Roy, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration and Director of the European Union Centre at the University of Miami, says the recent terrorist attacks in Belgium indicate the need to strengthen, not weaken, European unity. MIAMI, Mar 24 2016 […]

Belgium

Europe: Improve your Police Work instead of reducing your Peoples’ Rights

contributors

By Fiona de Londras | (The Conversation) | – – The attacks of March 22 in Brussels were shocking, but not surprising. They reinforced what many have known for years: Belgium has a serious problem with terrorism. For a long time, security analysts have expressed anxiety about the depth and extent of radicalisation and fundamentalism […]

Featured

Dear Trump & Cruz: Muslim Turkey arrested Brussels Terrorist & Gave him to European Authorities

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The paroxysms of hatred and bigotry spewed by the two GOP frontrunners in the 2016 presidential campaign probably do not need any pretext, since Trump and Cruz are clearly sadistic and unfair individuals. But the Brussels airport and metro attacks gave them another excuse to blame […]

Iraq

Remember: Refugees are fleeing ISIL; they aren’t ISIL

contributors

Kamal al-Ayash | (Niqash.org) | – – Getting from Turkey to Europe was a cakewalk compared to escaping the [so-called] Islamic State-run city of Fallujah, says one Iraqi. Fleeing families must cross a reservoir, in a ten-passenger boat, on an active battlefield. “Life had become impossible in the city of Fallujah,” Hamid Abu Ziad says. […]

Terrorism

Brussels: An Older Kind of Terrorism, and the challenge of Airport Security

contributors

By Steve Hewitt | (The Conversation) | – – The terrible scenes in Brussels following a terrorist attack now claimed by Islamic State are a reminder of just how vulnerable airports can be. In the years since the September 11 attacks in the US in 2001, a clear priority of western security agencies has been […]

Featured

How not to talk about Muslims after a Fringe Terrorist Group attacks

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – 1. Stop calling Daesh “the Islamic State.” They are manipulating you. They aren’t a state and they aren’t Islamic. If some fringe cult took over some villages in Mexico and called itself “The Vatican,” then committed terrorism, would journalists blithely say on air “Today, the Vatican […]