Violence and Security

UNESCO Creates Chair on Preventing Violent Extremism

January 03, 2018

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has partnered with a set of universities to launch a Chair on the Prevention of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism to promote research and host exchanges on best practices in preventing violent extremism, in line with UNESCO's programs on "global citizenship" and "celebration of cultural diversity."
Article: Democracy Does Not Halt Extremist Islamism

January 03, 2018

Steven A. Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations writes that evidence from recent attacks by extremist Islamist groups on the Sinai Peninsula and elsewhere in Egypt tend to show that they are not linked to a lack of democracy or repression by the Egyptian government but rather the "ideological and theological" appeal of extremist groups to "alienated young people."
Iraq Estimates $100 Billion in Post-Caliphate Costs

January 02, 2018

The Iraqi government estimates $100 billion as the colossal financial cost of reconstruction in the areas of the country liberated from the Islamic State, but the costs of the caliphate also include endemic corruption and seething Islamic sectarianism, creating ripe conditions for the regrowth of Islamist terrorism.
Egyptian IS Affiliate Targets Coptic Christians in Another Deadly Attack

January 02, 2018

Islamist militants loyal to the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) perpetrated yet another lethal attack targeting Coptic Christians, hitting a Coptic-owned shop and church in Cairo.
IS Stages Deadly Attack on Shiite Cultural Center

December 29, 2017

The Islamic State (IS) branch in Afghanistan perpetrated a high-casualty suicide bombing attack against a Shiite Cultural Center in Kabul, the latest episode in a spate of destabilizing assaults justified in sectarian terms by IS Sunni Islamists denouncing Shiites as heretics.
UK Intel Warns of Threat to Europe from Brit Jihadis in Turkey

December 29, 2017

Intelligence sources in the UK have warned that British former fighters for the Islamic State (IS) in Syria who currently hide in Turkey pose a threat to European security, after a newly released IS propaganda video called on them to stage attacks during the Christmas and New Year season.
EU Committee Studies Women's Impact on Islamist Extremism

December 29, 2017

A new report by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality details the factors that affect how women engage with radical Islamist ideology and organizations and emphasizes the need to enhance EU policies designed to incorporate women in programs for countering Islamist extremism.
Experts Warn of Expanding African Footprint of Radical Islamism

December 29, 2017

US security experts are raising concerns about the expanded social media presence and militant activities of a diverse range of radical Islamist groups across the African continent, signaling the ongoing globalization of militant Islamism.
Afghan Religious Leaders Push Taliban to Renounce Violence

December 29, 2017

More than 700 religious scholars of Islam from across Afghanistan convened to discuss pathways to peace in the war-torn country called on the Islamist extremist Taliban to renounce violence as un-Islamic and to reject cooperation with Islamist terror groups.
IS Video Calls for Holiday Attacks in Somalia

December 28, 2017

Islamic State (IS) affiliates in Somalia inaugurated their online propaganda presence with a new video exhorting the group's followers to attack civilians at "nightclubs, churches, and markets" during Christmas and New Year's celebrations, signaling the expansion of jihadist activity in the Horn of Africa.