Month

Archives: Counter-Terrorism

Barcelona: Nearly 500K march for Peace, against Islamophobia

TeleSur | - - Marchers, on Saturday, displayed signs and banners with various slogans. Some read, “No to Islamophobia,” “The best response: Peace,” and “I’m not afraid.” Almost half a million people…

Can Iraq save Tal Afar from ISIL without Destroying the City?

By Mustafa Habib | (Niqash.org) | - - [N.B. The offensive against ISIL (Daesh) in Tal Afar began on Sunday. - JC] Intensive air raids, secret political talks and military forces gathering…

Are ISIL recruits more street gang members than zealots?

By James L. Gelvin | (The Conversation) | - - The recent terrorist attacks in Spain and Finland once again compel us to ask: Who joins the [so-called] Islamic State [group], and…

UN Report: Muslim Youth going to fight in Syria mostly not Motivated by Islam

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Lizzie Dearden at The Independent reviews a new report by the United Nations Office of counter-terrorism report. Some 25,000 young men are said…

Losing Cities, can ISIL strike Iraq, West from Mountain Bases?

By Dashty Ali | Sulaymaniyah | (Niqash.org) | - - Having been driven out of Mosul, the extremist Islamic State group is doing what Al Qaeda did before them: setting up new…

Muslims less likely to Commit Terrorism & other Reality-Based Statistics

By Michael Jetter | (The Conversation) | - - Recent events in London, Manchester and elsewhere highlight that Western societies are vulnerable to terrorist attacks – and political decision-makers need to find…

What’s the most effective way to fight terrorism? – Juan Cole on CBS

Reena Ninan | CBS News | (Video Clip) | - - "A new article in The Nation suggests Ariana Grande has a better approach to fighting terrorism than Defense Secretary James Mattis.…

After Mosul: The Coming ISIL Apocalypse in al-Anbar Desert

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | - - While fighting against the Islamic State group drags on in Mosul, tribal and military forces in Anbar are preparing for what will…

A distracted Trump administration Couldn’t even focus on its own anti-ISIL summit.

By Paul Rogers | ( OpenDemocracy.net ) | - - Donald Trump's election campaign made much of his predecessor Barack Obama’s failure to control and defeat ISIL, contrasting this with his own…

Daesh/ISIL encouraging Loner attacks to Mask its Death Spiral

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The terrorist organization known as Daesh in the Middle East and Europe but as ISIS or ISIL in the US is in a…

Will Trump use the Next ISIL attack to sweep away our Liberties?

By Allison Beth Hodgkins | (Informed Comment) | - - You have to hand to the civil society groups pushing back on the Trump administration’s recent executive orders banning the entry of…

Trump Counter-Terrorism Program to drop White Supremacists, focus on Islam

TeleSur | - - He could rename the "Countering Violent Extremism" program to "Countering Islamic Extremism," according to Reuters sources. The Trump administration wants to revamp a U.S. government program designed to…

Real-Life Trolling: How Provocation Works and How to Respond

By Joshua Cole | ( The Michigan Daily) Yesterday was the anniversary of the attacks in Paris at the Bataclan concert venue and other locations throughout the city. These terrorist attacks in…

Sting & Gandhian anti-Terrorism: Your Paris vacation can help cripple ISIL

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - Sting, 65, played a concert at the Bataclan Theater where ISIL terrorists killed 90 innocent people a year ago, in one of the…

Selling arms to Arab rulers won’t improve security in the Middle East

By Stephanie Dornschneider | (Informed Comment) | - - As a child, Najeh Ibrahim, who founded one of the most violent groups in recent Egyptian history, loved his president. “We all loved…

People don’t join Terrorist Groups b/c of Religion: Are Recruited by Family & Friends

Family & Friends, not Religion, Draw People into Terrorist Groups

By Rose Delaney | (Inter Press Service) | - - LONDON (IPS) - A recent study supported by the government of Finland has found widespread misconceptions regarding what drives people to join…

Is Bombing Fallujah into Rubble from the air really a Winning Strategy?

By William J. Astore | (Via Tomdispatch.com ) | - - In the era of the long war on terror, Thursday, June 2nd, 2016, was a tough day for the U.S. military.…

Chomsky – How the Elites’ ‘War on Terror’ Multiplies Terror

By Noam Chomsky | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | - - [This piece, the second of two parts, is excerpted from Noam Chomsky’s new book, Who Rules the World? (Metropolitan Books). Part 1…

Al-Qaeda Everywhere: US support for Oppressive Gov’t’s undermined victory against Bin Laden

Al-Qaeda Everywhere: US support for Oppressive Gov’t’s made Bin Laden’s Killing Moot

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The US government has never understood insurgency for the most part. Smart USG officials with whom I've interacted have had a firm belief…

What would effective Counter-Terrorism look like after Brussels?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | - - The various nostrums proposed to counter Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) terrorism in Europe and North America by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz (armed patrols…