The West has brought terrorists attacks on their own people by supporting for decades terrorists trying to achieve geostrategic objectives, said the editor of Politics First Marcus Papadopoulos, commenting on the Brussels blasts.
“The roots of these terrorist attacks are Western foreign policy. For the last 30 years or so America in particular, but also Britain and France have been working with Islamist terrorists to try and achieve geostrategic objectives. And this is what happens when you
Perhaps some right-wing Israel lobby groups can be forgiven for taking up the cause of the exiled Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The more ignorant among them might see a group headed by a woman, Maryam Rajavi, who claims to champion a secular, human rights-respecting democracy in Iran. They don’t know about Rajavi and the MEK’s history: its violence, its cult-like behavior, and its own history of human rights violations. What they do see—however problematic it might be
More than four decades have passed since Brian Jenkins, an expert on security, first represented “terrorism as theater” in a report for the RAND Corporation. Yet, to this day, leaders and policymakers countering terrorism implement strategies composed mostly of military and police actions—little is done to oppose the theatrics. Taking theater as a model, terrorism relies on live performers and unwitting live participants to present the experience of an imagined event, an event in which the
Author and former CIA officer Barry Eisler spoke at the Association of Former Intelligence Officers opposite ex-CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden on Monday. In front of about a hundred former CIA, FBI, and NSA operatives, Eisler talked about bulk surveillance, whistleblowing, and why intelligence professionals need to take especially great care not to let propaganda pervert their intelligence.
Eisler's new novel, "God's Eye View," inspired by the Snowden revelations, is available now on
by François Lopez
Abstract
This Research Note examines why some terrorist organisations, which depend on the “oxygen of publicity” provided by the news media, would target journalists. Journalists have long been the targets of attacks by terrorist organisations and this Research Note analyses why this has been the case by focusing on two case studies of one ‘old’ and one ‘new’ terrorist organisation; ETA and IS respectively. The research is centred around three hypotheses: (i) terrorist
We are petrified by terrorism. And for good reason: terrorists indiscriminately kill American citizens, and so our deeply held national fear is founded on the possibility that we could be next. Yet, while there is rationality in the fear itself, the policies that emanate from the fear can verge on delusional. Terrorism gives us tunnel vision. As the current election cycle has shown, our fear of a deadly attack coerces us to construct a facade that makes terrorists out to be irrational beasts
Situated on the east of Europe, Albania applied for membership of the European Union in 2009. As the poorest country in Europe and designated the most corrupt, there is a lot of work to be done before this country of 3 million people is accepted into the Union. A recent visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry does indicate that this work is well underway. But Albania's efforts to reform and strengthen its political, security, judicial and civic institutions after years of dictatorship, could
The following excerpt, by Michael D. Yates, is the Foreword to Henry Giroux's 'America's Addiction to Terrorism':
Henry Giroux is a phenomenon. He has written more than sixty books, authored hundreds of essays, won numerous awards, and been an outstanding teacher for nearly forty years. His influence on the field of critical pedagogy is without parallel, and he has made significant contributions to many other areas as well, including both cultural and media studies.
What distinguishes
Terrorism is the latest and unexpected source of insecurity, fear and risk. It is unexpected because it does not depend on the liquefaction of society or on the crisis of the modern state, but is somehow linked to modernity, and can be explained by Eisenstadt’s theory of multiple modernities. According to this hypothesis, these evolve at different speeds and take on different connotations depending on where they are.
While Western modernity, the modernity we live in and which belongs to our
The real violence threatening America is that of our immoral public policy choices, at home and abroad.
The following is excerpted from a speech delivered by Rev. William Barber at a Martin Luther King Day celebration at Riverside Church in New York City last month. We publish it today as we both reflect on the violence inflicted upon the people of Flint, Michigan, by the state’s leadership and as we look toward weeks of voting in the presidential primaries. What values must guide our elected
Sociological concepts and methods have been fruitfully applied in efforts to understand and counter terrorism. The focus of research is on the dynamics through which terrorism becomes a social phenomenon. Terrorism is an interpretation of events and their presumed causes. These interpretations are not unbiased attempts to depict the truth but rather conscious efforts to manipulate perceptions to promote certain interest at the expense of others. When people and events come to be regularly
Aggression is arguably the highest form of terrorism as it invariably includes the frightening of the target populations and their leaders as well as killing and destruction on a large scale.. The U.S. invaders of Iraq in 2003 proudly announced a “shock and awe” purpose in their opening assault, clearly designed to instill fear; that is, to terrorize the victim population along with the target security forces. And millions of Iraqis suffered in this massive enterprise. Benjamin Netanyahu
The men who have carried out al-Qaeda-style attacks in Europe all grew up irreligious. It’s not about Islam as a religion, but as a community.
The Western world’s leaders announced last year that Islamic State “must be destroyed” (US President Barack Obama), a goal to which “the entire world is committed” (French President Francois Hollande). One strand of that work involves bombing Syria and Iraq, where the group is based. Another strand is policing Muslims at home. In both areas, the
Attempts by Israel and American GOP and also the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) to push the West towards more hostility against Islamic Republic have so far failed. However, measures of the efforts were not clear to the world until the recent news was published on the bribes given to US republicans by the Israeli state.
The historic nuclear agreement with Iran, labeled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was negotiated for months and finally signed by Iran and the US, UK, Russia
A professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Monash in Australia says the root cause of violence and terrorism is not religious, but political and that the unsolved problems in the Middle East.
“The US behaviour of double standard policy in the Middle East is part of the problem not the solution,” wrote professor Sayed Khatab in a paper presented last summer in the 2nd International Congress of Iranian Terror Victims. What comes below is professor Khatab’s
Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore says the US has always used terrorist groups against “anyone who is viewed as an opponent, be it a State or non-State actor.”
Professor Bilveer Singh made the comments in his paper, The US, the threat of terrorism in southeast Asia – Lessons for Iran’s national security policy, delivered to and selected as one of three best foreign papers in the Second International Congress of 17000 Iranian Terror
Emma Ashford points out some of the dangers of making policy with the guidance of self-interested exiles:
Policymakers in Washington are not blameless in this. A recent invitation by Congress to the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group, to testify before the House Subcommittee on Terrorism on issues relating to Iran and ISIS highlights how little scrutiny such groups sometimes face. Though certainly a vocal opponent of the regime in Tehran, MEK was only removed by the State
After 14 years of War on Terror the West is great at fomenting barbarism and creating failed states.
For the last several years, people around the world have asked, "Where did ISIS come from?" Explanations vary, but largely focus on geopolitical (U.S. hegemony), religious (Sunni-Shia), ideological (Wahhabism) or ecological (climate refugees) origins. Many commentators and even former military officials correctly suggest that the war in Iraq is primarily responsible for unleashing the forces
Saudi Arabia's announcement that it will create a Muslim-nation coalition against terrorism was greeted with faint praise and loud skepticism, and with reason. It turns out that Pakistan had no idea it was part of the alliance, and Afghanistan and Indonesia are only contemplating joining. No Shiite-majority states have been invited. And even by standards of international diplomacy, the Saudi statement was vague: It said nothing about what the partners would do, or whether any military action
At the same time as thousands of small and medium-sized Italian companies are about to sign trade agreements with the Islamic Republic of Iran and Imam Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Iranian state, is launching a decisive and merciless struggle against terrorism of Daesh, the Italian government, irresponsibly (but intentionally), continues to grant full political freedom to the clearly anti-Shia and anti-Iranian Organization Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its related acronyms. A serious choice