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US Cyber Command Warns About Iranian Regime's Cyber Threats
September 30, 2020
US Cyber Command has raised red flags about a new hacker group linked to Iran called "Pioneer Kitten" that is using advanced cyber technologies to target the U.S. and Israel.
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Taliban-Kabul Normalization Talks Raise Concerns About Media & Speech Freedoms in Afghanistan
September 30, 2020
Journalists and women's rights activist in Afghanistan are raising red flags about the potentially negative impacts on media and speech freedoms that may be consequent to the normalization talks between the Taliban and Kabul government officials, particularly given statements by the Islamist Taliban that speech, media, and gender rights will be subject to sharia law.
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Islamist Sectarianism Plays Out in UNGA as Saudi Arabia Takes Aim at Iran
September 30, 2020
Competition between two of the Mideast's major Islamic theocracies played out in the opening of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), as Saudi Arabia's King Salman delivered a scathing condemnation of Iran as a sponsor of violence-through-proxy in Lebanon and Yemen, calling on the international community to form a united front against Tehran's efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and offering tacit support for the recent moves to normalize relations between Israel and Arab-majority states in the Mideast.
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Turkey's Role in Iran Sanctions-Busting Implicates Ankara Leadership in Global Network of Criminal Activities
September 30, 2020
A newly released report by global investigative reporting platform the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (OCCRP) reveals detailed information implicating the Turkey's president, family members, and senior diplomats in the Iran sanctions-evasion scheme that violated US and UN sanctions on Iran's Islamic Republic.
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Turkey's Intelligence Agencies Expand Islamist Networks with Recruitment Programs in the West
September 30, 2020
Turkey's Intelligence Agency (MIT) is expanding the country's Islamist networks through recruitment and influence-building that targets Turkish and non-Turkish Muslims in Europe and the United States, using educational and scholarship programs, cultural diplomacy, travel opportunities, and a variety of youth-focused non-governmental organizations.