Violence and Security

Radicalization of China's Uighur Muslims Driven by Varied Causes

January 21, 2015

China's large Uighur population, Turkic Muslims concentrated in Xinjiang Province, are becoming increasingly radicalized, due to the combined effects of China's repressive minorities policy, aggressive recruitment by Salafist jihadi groups from the Mideast, and human trafficking networks that move Uighurs through Turkey into Islamist extremist groups there and in Iraq and Syria.
UN Official Condemns Boko Haram for Using Girls as Suicide Bombers in Jihad Effort

January 16, 2015

The United Nations Special Envoy for Education condemned the Nigerian jihadi group Boko Haram for using young girls as suicide bombers in the Islamist extremist group's ongoing campaign to destablize Nigeria and make the country into a sharia state.
Reactions in Turkey to Charlie Hebdo Attack Show Range of Islamist and Secularist Divisions

January 16, 2015

The attack on the French journalists at Charlie Hebdo evoked mixed reactions from prominent Turkish political and religious leaders and social commentators, with formal condemnations against terrorism by government leaders matched by charges that the attacks are the products of Western conspiracies against Muslims and of opportunities for European Islamophobia, as well as by secularist-Islamist debates about the direction of Turkey's state and society.
Belgium's Counter-Terror Dragnet Highlights Complex Globalization of Islamist Extremism

January 16, 2015

Belgian security authorities are claiming success in the the massive counter-terror dragnet carried out against Islamist extremists allegedly planning violent attacks on Western European and American assets, but the security sweep reveals the complexities of how immigration, employment, and cultural demography in Europe are lightning rods that work to the advantage of globalized jihadi recruiters.
Islamic State Gaining Traction in Central Asia and in Child Recruitment

January 15, 2015

A newly released video by The Islamic State ("IS") showing a Kazakh child soldier executing two Russians reflects the growing sophistication in propaganda tools, recruitment techniques, and geographic scope of the jihadi Islamist group, which continues to ramp up its recruitment of child soldiers and its expansion beyond the Middle East.
Islamist Attack in Paris Renews Debates About Links Between Islam and Violence

January 15, 2015

The deadly attack by violent Islamists on the French newspaper offices of Charlie Hebdo has added to the already-fraught global debates about the nature of the relationship between Islam and violence, catalyzing particularly intense disagreements amongst Muslim scholars and public intellectuals.
Global Political Islamism Has Deep Roots and Sharp Internal Divides

January 14, 2015

The current expressions of political Islamism that are creating global instability are rooted in a century-long evolution of competing, fractious movements and groups, all of which define themselves in terms of Islam, with differing approaches to politics, economics, and resort to violence.
Libya's Civil War Raises Specter of More Islamist Attacks in Europe

January 14, 2015

The civil war conditions in Libya pitting secularist Sunni Muslims against radical Islamists committed to a sharia state raise the reasonable risk of new attacks in Europe from the Mediterranean, given that violent Libyan Islamists are already integrated into the networks of the Islamic State active in the Mideast.
French Government Declares Radical Islamism a National Security Threat

January 14, 2015

In the wake of the recent attacks in France by individuals who self-identified with extremist Islamist groups, the country's Prime Minister declared that the country is at “war against terrorism, against jihadism, against radical Islamism, against everything that is intended to break fraternity, liberty, solidarity."
Boko Haram Moves to Maximalist Strategy for Islamic Caliphate in Nigeria

January 14, 2015

The past two weeks' spate of terrorist violence against civilians in northeast Nigeria by the Islamist extremists of Boko Haram is being interpreted by some regional experts as a shift to a maximalist strategy by the jihadi group, aimed at the creation of an Islamic caliphate that may include Nigeria, Chad, and even Cameroon.