Violence and Security

UNESCO: Counter Extremism Through "Empathy" Education

September 14, 2017

The UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development organized a conference in New Delhi where it taught educators to focus on the inclusion of values such as "critical inquiry, mindfulness, empathy and compassion" in education systems to combat radicalization of youth and violent extremism.
UNESCO Seeks Policies Against "Fake News"

September 13, 2017

At a recent Joint Extremism/Digital Europe Working Group Conference hosted at the European Parliament, Guy Berger of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) called on media organizations to do more to debunk "fake news" stories and pushed governments to find ways to prosecute certain purveyors of false stories.
Editorial Cautions US on "Hate Speech" Standards

September 06, 2017

An editorial in The Washington Post asserts that, to prevent the suppression of legitimate speech, companies hosting websites must develop clear boundaries regarding when they will choose to removing sites containing "hate speech" from their platforms and cautions the US government against weighing in on such standards.
US Funds South Asian Islamists

September 01, 2017

A review of US-funded development and security programs in South Asia shows failures to understand the diversity and wide-spread nature of competing Islamist groups, many of which have domestic US branches and all of which are committed to differing forms of jihad.
Egyptian Court Adds Almost 300 MB Members to Terror List

September 01, 2017

Cairo's Criminal Court ruled that 296 pro-Muslim Brotherhood (MB) defendants who confessed to violence against Egyptian state facilities and civilians must be placed on the country's terror list, as part of the Egyptian government's effort to rein in terrorism perpetrated by Islamist organizations like the MB and by Islamic State sympathizers operating in the Sinai Peninsula.
French President: Islamist Terrorism Is Top Security Priority

September 01, 2017

French President Emmanuel Macron told his country's ambassador corps that the eradication of Islamist terrorism is the top foreign and security priority for his administration, emphasizing that French diplomats must understand that it is the ideology of Islamism, distinct from "Islam and Islamic," which constitutes an existential threat to France's security.
Jihadists Use Syria-Turkey Border as Recruitment Base

August 31, 2017

A constellation of Salafist-al-Qaeda jihadists known as the "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant" has degraded Islamic State (IS) control in Syria's Idlib Province bordering Turkey and is now threatening to make this crucial geopolitical space a jihadist recruitment base for projection of Islamist ideology and violence into the Mideast and Europe.
Facebook Blocks Ads from Pages Promoting "Fake News"

August 31, 2017

As part of efforts toward "building a more informed community on Facebook," the social media site has announced that it will block advertisements from pages that repeatedly share news deemed "fake" by third-party fact-checkers.
US Confirms New Yorker Arrested for Terror Support

August 31, 2017

US officials have confirmed the arrest in "a Middle Eastern country bordering Syria" of a 22-year-old man from New York planning to join the Islamic State (IS) on charges of providing material support for terrorism, following a months-long investigation revealing the suspect's extensive electronic communications with IS networks and plans to participate in jihadi activities.
Financial Disruption Remains Key to Degrading Jihadi Networks

August 31, 2017

US academic programs and think tanks highlight the security importance of disrupting sophisticated global finance and banking networks that continue to be deployed by radical groups that are perpetrating jihadi violence and disseminating extremist Islamist ideology.