Violence and Security

IS Continues Religious Cleansing of Iraqi Christianity with Destruction of Ancient Christian Monastery

January 27, 2016

Satellite imagery has confirmed that Islamic State ("IS") forces destroyed the sixth-century Chaldo-Assyrian Monastery of St. Elijah, a genocidal act that augments IS' cleansing of Christians by obliterating their religious sites and, therefore, any testimony of Christianity presence in Iraq long before the jihadist arrival of Islam in the seventh century.
US Begins Implementation of Visa Waiver Restrictions

January 22, 2016

The US government has announced implementation of US visa-waiver program reforms recently passed by Congress to require some foreign nationals, including those who are dual nationals of Iran or Syria and people who have traveled to these countries in recent years, to obtain visas prior to entering the US.
Islamist Extremists Aim to Destroy Media Freedoms in Afghanistan

January 22, 2016

Human Rights Watch reports on the uptick in attacks by the Islamic State ("IS") and Taliban groups against journalists in Afghanistan, a trend aimed at destroying media freedoms toward the goal of making the country a sharia state.
US Plans for Tighter Visa Requirements to Prevent Entry by Radical Islamists

January 21, 2016

The Obama Administration is formulating measures to implement recently passed congressional legislation to prevent radical Islamists seeking to enter the US on European passports by imposing visa restrictions on Europeans who have traveled in the past five years to Syria and Iraq (countries with an Islamic State footprint) and Iran and Sudan (countries with sharia regimes that the US designates as state sponsors of terrorism).
Islamist States Intensify Their Sectarian Face-off by Pursuing Nukes

January 21, 2016

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister refused to deny reports that the Sunni Islamist theocracy may be seeking to double down on its feud with Shiite Islamo-theocracy Iran by purchasing weapons of mass destruction from another Islamist nuclear state, Pakistan, when he insisted that Saudi Arabia does "not negotiate over faith and security."
Britain Seeks Integration of Muslim Women as Prevention Against Islamist Radicalization

January 21, 2016

Britain's Prime Minister announced the inauguration of a new budget for English-language programs for the country's Muslim women, viewed as a counter against high metrics of social marginalization and Islamist radicalization.
US Summit Aims to Pressure Gulf States on IS Fight

January 21, 2016

Politico reports that a future US-convened summit in Brussels among 26 countries participating in the fight against the Islamic State ("IS"), plus Iraq, will in part seek to place pressure on Gulf States to ramp up their support for the military effort and security situation in the Middle East.
Pakistani Taliban Stage Fatal Rampage at University

January 21, 2016

A hyper-militant faction of the Pakistani Taliban went on a high-fatality rampage at a university campus near the country's capital city, using the same soft-target approach as last year's assault on the Army Public School, in order to weaken the government in the face of radical Islamist objectives.
Facebook Joins Launch of Anti-Hate Speech Initiative

January 21, 2016

The Online Civil Courage Initiative created in part by social-media giant Facebook will seek "to stamp out hate speech and extremism on the Internet in Europe" driven by massive waves of migration in European countries.
2015 Visa-Overstay Rate Reveals US Security Gaps

January 20, 2016

Revealing potential gaps in the US national-security apparatus, National Review Online reports that the US Department of Homeland Security indicates nearly a half-million US visa overstays by people who were required to leave last year and asserts that the numbers are understated, as they do not cover all forms of immigration and count "entries" instead of individuals.