Violence and Security

Islamism Is a Political Ideology with Aims of Global Domination

March 11, 2015

Islamism is a political ideology whose leaders have transformed the religion of Islam into a militarized strategy for global domination, and some contemporary security experts argue that the success of U.S. and moderate Muslim leaders' efforts to combat Islamism depends on a clear identification of the deliberate, militaristic revision of founding Islamic principles by jihadi extremists.
Islamist Extremism Sharpens Sunni-Shiite Struggle and Pushes Saudis to Action

March 11, 2015

The spreading influence of Islamist extremist groups such as the Islamic State ("IS") and al-Qaeda, both of which have called for armed action against the corruption of ruling Islamic dynastic regimes in the Middle East, has catalyzed Saudi Arabia's new monarch to try to create a Sunni alliance predicated on the regional status quo and united against the possible consolidation of a regional Shiite arc stretching from Iran to the Levant.
Multilateral African Offensive Acts Against Boko Haram Caliphate Expansion

March 11, 2015

A multilateral military offensive involving Chad and Niger is underway to counter the spread of terrorist attacks by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, which has expanded its efforts to install sharia law in Nigeria toward the goal of consolidating an African caliphate including Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
Radical Islamists Increase Recruiting Traction on Twitter

March 11, 2015

A new study on social media as a recruiting tool for violent Islamist extremism reports that there are more than 46,000 Twitter accounts active on behalf of the Islamic State ("IS"), with Twitter feeds utilized as gateway recruiting, with initial points of contact and propaganda messages acting as leverage points for more active forms of recruiting on related social media platforms.
Islamic State War Crimes Include Cultural Cleansing of Pre-Islamic Iraqi Heritage

March 11, 2015

The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO") has charged the Islamic State ("IS") with committing war crimes after IS looted artifacts and destroyed the ancient Mesapotamian of Nimrud, part of the jihadi group's campaign to cleanse the territory within its control of any pre-Islamic cultural patrimony.
Islamist Radical Arc Connects China's Uighur Fighters to Mideast Jihadis

March 04, 2015

The growing migration of China's Uighur Muslim minority community into Islamic State fighter networks in the Mideast reflects the emergence of a radical Islamist arc connecting the Middle East to Central Asia, also signaling the radicalization blowback aggravated by the Chinese state's repressive policies against the Uighurs.
Egypt's Chief Imam Calls for Education Reform to Staunch Islamist Extremism

March 04, 2015

Egypt's leading Muslim cleric, the Grand Imam of the Sunni center of learning, Cairo's Al-Azhar mosque, told a global conference sponsored by the World Muslim League that a comprehensive reform in Islamic education is a critical necessity for combating errant Islamic theological interpretations, which are fueling violent extremism and jihadi terrorism in the name of Islam.
Islamist Apocalyptic Theology and Geopolitics Are Drivers of IS Jihad

March 04, 2015

The spike in Islamic State ("IS") attacks against Eastern Christians in Christianity's lands of origin in the Mideast, together with the intensification of IS discourse identifying Rome as the object of jihadi assault, reflects IS's use of apocalyptic Islamist theology and contemporary geopolitics to justify unrelenting, global Islamist warfare.
Egyptian Islamist Militants Look to American Islamist for Blend of Jihadi Principles and Anti-Capitalist Ideology

March 04, 2015

The sharp uptick in attacks by Egyptian Islamist groups against multinational businesses operating in Egypt reflects the growing appeal of a post-modern strategy of Islamist revolution that combines jihadi principles and anti-capitalist ideology and that originates with an American Islamist whose ideas have gone viral on radical Islamist internet sites.
Kenya Confronts Islamist Militant Threat with Separation Barrier

March 04, 2015

The government of Kenya has announced plans to construct a separation wall along the porous Kenya-Somalia border, in an effort to reduce the threat of continuing terrorist attacks and spreading jihadi ideas by the Somali al-Shabaab Islamist extremist group.