Although the pandemic has posed one of the greatest challenges since the UN’s founding 75 years ago, Vladimir Voronkov, head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) closed a week of events devoted online to countering the scourge, by echoing the Secretary-General in stating the “need to keep up the momentum” in countering the global threat of terrorism.
Key conclusions
Setting out key conclusions of the discussions, the counter-terrorism chief spoke of the need to invest in strategic
The number of terrorist attacks and victims of terror in the EU continued to decrease in 2019. Check out the graph to see the evolution of jihadist terrorism since 2014.
There were 119 terrorist attempts in Europe in 2019 counting the ones that were successfully carried out and those that failed or were foiled. Of those, 21 are attributed to jihadist terrorism. Although they represent only a sixth of all attacks in the EU, jihadist terrorists were responsible for all 10 deaths and 26 out 27
Cases involving non-Muslim victims of terrorism are more likely to be covered and humanised, as compared with attacks involving Muslim victims.
For years, my research collaborator, Mohammed el-Nawawy, and I have closely followed the intense debate over alleged double standards in US news coverage of terrorism.
We have been specifically interested in public discussions on alleged contradictions in US newspaper reportage of Muslim and non-Muslim terrorism victims. Surprisingly, prior to a study we
Many terrorist groups were formed by the Pakistani state to serve its purposes; some have turned against the creator
The recent encounter, at Handwara in northern Kashmir, where Indian security forces took on terrorists, left five security personnel, including a colonel, dead. This has once again brought to the fore the terrorist threat emanating from Pakistan. Analysts of terrorism are well aware of the paradox that Pakistan is both possibly the leading perpetrator of terrorism and a major
The tussle between IS and al-Qaeda is not just a battle for influence, resources and recruits in the context of the Jihadist movement in various parts of the world. The two terrorist groups are ideologically different and they also have differing perceptions of whom they see as their “enemies” and their operational tactics.
Africa’s Sahel, a region running across the breadth of the continent, between the Sahara in the north and the Sudanian Savanna in the south, has become the latest
The political, ideological, moral, social and emotional connotation of ‘terrorism’ makes its definition challenging in any legal system.
M. Cherif Bassiouni, an eminent professor of criminal law, said that “to define terrorism in a way that is both all-inclusive and unambiguous is very difficult, if not impossible. One of the principle difficulties lies in the fundamental values at stake in the acceptance or rejection of terror-inspiring violence as a means of accomplishing a given goal. That is
WHILE the world continues its struggle against the pandemic, nations and organisations are also evaluating its human, economic and socio-psychological costs. The security threat matrix is increasingly being oriented around the perils of the virus, placing less focus on other non-traditional security challenges. Though the threat of terrorism has not shown any visible retreat — in some places it has even enlarged such as in Afghanistan — the world is failing to give it the consideration it did
By Luv Puri
In a development that could reshape the counter-terrorism (CT) agenda and narrative of two decades in the United States of America, white supremacist terrorism is now institutionally listed as one of the prime national terrorism threats. Domestically, the de facto CT reality in the post 9/11 phase had been centred on meeting the threat from persons who were radicalized because of real or perceived grievance of the US’s foreign policy. In this regard, young Muslims in the US
Founded in 1952 in Jordan-ruled Jerusalem by Sheikh al-Taqi Nabahani, Hizb ut-Tahrir heavily advocates for the formation of an Islamic state or caliphate. Nabahani penned his beliefs into a thesis entitled Islamic State. In this state, the calipha would have total say on all aspects of society including personal, social and political affairs. The group rejects all things it deems as un-Islamic such as democracy and the current political system in Afghanistan. Hizb ut-Tahrir believes that the
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is causing deaths all over the world, upsetting society, the economy, and politics, changing our lives. At this level of intensity, it is destined to reach and arguably replace terrorism in the position of great fear of our time, especially during a phase of apparent decline of jihadism, at least in the West.[1]
Similarities
It can then be useful to compare these two risks: terrorism and coronavirus. They have some similarities worthy of interest, and it is
By Reinier Bergema, Olivia Kearney
Drones are becoming powerful and smarter, which makes them increasingly attractive for legitimate use, but also for hostile acts. Future commercial-off-the-shelf drones will be able to carry heavier payloads, fly and loiter longer, venture farther afield from their controllers and be able to do so via more-secure communications links. On the other hand, new technologies will significantly enhance states’ ability to counter terrorism. And as it advances further
By Muhammad Ismail Khan, Liesbeth van der Heide
Introduction
In Syria and Iraq, the general consensus is that Islamic State (IS) has been militarily defeated, but the terror group is now popping up elsewhere and breathing new life into its global caliphate. In an April 29 video, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi mentioned that pledges of allegiance from the Khorasan region had been received, without going into detail. Later, after a fight against security forces in the Kashmir region in India
By Tahir Abbas
This policy brief provides an overview of the sociological issues underpinning the issues of far right and Islamist reciprocal or cumulative radicalisation in the Western European context. That is, these groups radicalise each other by mutually reinforcing their hate, intolerance, or indignation towards each other. The nature of reciprocal radicalisation between far right and Islamist extremist groups reflects a range of sociological phenomena affecting political identities
By Asaad Almohammad
This paper aims to provide practitioners and academics with an empirical approach for assessing the current state and future directions of the Salafi-Jihadi Movement’s (SJM) member organisations. Making use of available data, it taps into the Islamic State’s (IS) and al-Qaeda’s (AQ) strategic priorities. Then, the article maps and examines various strategies of the broader SJM using game theory. It assigns numerical representations to these strategies based on both the
Lately, there have been numerous reports and indicators that hint at the improved security situation across the country. According to the report of Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies’ (PIPS), over the decade terrorist activities in Pakistan have plummeted by more than 85 %. This could be attributed to the determination and resilience of the Pakistani nation. Simultaneously, the Government of Pakistan and military made commendable efforts in fighting against the menace of terrorism. A National
If it is true that the aim of contemporary western states is to provide security and happiness to their citizens, achieving such security may vary between cultures and climates. One could say that fears and anxieties of different populations can have their own expressions and urgencies, therefore creating alarms of different intensity, and consequently affecting the actions of governments.
It is normal that a government should concern itself with the worries of their population, and invest a
Although the pandemic has posed one of the greatest challenges since the UN’s founding 75 years ago, Vladimir Voronkov, head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) closed a week of events devoted online to countering the scourge, by echoing the Secretary-General in stating the “need to keep up the momentum” in countering the global threat of terrorism.
Key conclusions
Setting out key conclusions of the discussions, the counter-terrorism chief spoke of the need to invest in strategic
