Religious Extremism

Emerging Jihadist Threat Threatens Mozambique’s Global Energy Sector

August 19, 2019

Intensifying jihadist activity in Mozambique’s Muslim-majority northern province, likely associated with the Somali-based Islamist extremist group al-Shabaab, threatens to sabotage the East African country’s rapidly developing multibillion-dollar energy investment sector and to scare off international energy and aid investment.
Anti-Islamist Scholars Are Losing Battle in Afghan Universities

August 13, 2019

Islamist extremist groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and the Taliban are growing their influence inside Afghanistan's universities at the expense of critical thinking skills and liberal ideals that can shape a non-sharia future for the geopolitically volatile Southwest Asian country.
Shiite Sectarian Forces Penetrate Iraqi Military

August 13, 2019

The penetration of pro-Iranian, Shiite forces into Iraq's military is expanding Iran's footprint in the Middle East and generating a Sunni sectarian backlash favoring a reconstituted Islamic State.
Turkey Secures Appointment on CoE Body on Domestic Violence

August 13, 2019

Turkey's Islamist regime scored a victory with the announcement by the Council of Europe (CoE) of the appointment of an executive board member of the Turkish government-funded Maarif Foundation to the CoE's Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
State Funding for Islamism Is in Conflict with World Order

August 12, 2019

State funding from countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey to networks of political, cultural, and religious entities premised on Islamism is in conflict with the principles of sovereignty and non-intervention on which the modern world order operates.
Islamic Leaders Boycott Hajj over Saudi Extremism

August 12, 2019

During last week's annual pilgrimage (hajj) to the Great Mosque of Mecca, a boycott movement from some Muslim leaders calling out the Saudi regime for globally exporting Wahhabist extremism challenged the country’s religious legitimacy as the protector of Islam's holiest sites.
Islamist Sectarian Struggle Threatens Gulf Infrastructure

August 12, 2019

The escalation of attacks on critical infrastructure in communications, transportation, and energy in the Persian Gulf poses significant risks for US strategic interests in Eurasia, with the expansion of Islamist sectarian struggles for religious and geopolitical hegemony between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia Continues Rights Violations, Discrimination

August 07, 2019

Despite Saudi Arabia's royal decree last week announcing the reform of the theocratic kingdom’s repressive male guardianship system, the women's activists who led the push for reform remain indefinitely detained in a show of arbitrary judicial practice.
Turkey Destroys Books on Gulenist Movement

August 07, 2019

The Turkish Ministry of Education has announced the destruction of more than 300,000 books due to their “objectionable content” mentioning the rival Fetullah Gulen Islamist movement.
Iraqi Authorities Condemn Male-Female Dancing Performance

August 05, 2019

Highlighting the creeping expansion of Islamist extremist applications of religious blasphemy for social-control purposes, Iraqi political authorities’ condemned male and female dancers in a performance that opened a West Asia Football Federation soccer match in the Shiite-dominant city of Karbala.