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Chief Center of Sunni Education Turning to Social Media and Cyber Instruction to Counter Violent Islamism
July 01, 2015
The Grand Imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar University, the chief center of global religious instruction for Sunni Islam, announced the inauguration of a new, blended curriculum combining the use of social media tools designed to positively appeal to Muslim youth, as well as online training for imams, in order to counter charges of al-Azhar's failure to respond proactively against Islamist extremism and violence around the world.
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Countering Spread of Islamist Extremism Requires Combination of Development and Security Policies
July 01, 2015
The recent spate of violent Islamist attacks from the Mideast to North Africa to Europe reveals the limitations of Western policies focusing entirely on security responses to religious terrorism, and reinforces the need to develop a more integrated set of economic development and security mechanisms designed to address the panoply of factors enabling Islamists to recruit for and execute jihadi-style violence.
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US Law Enforcement Warns of Violent Islamism in US Provoked by Social Media
July 01, 2015
American law enforcement and security officials are warning that the Islamic State's ("IS") deliberate strategy of using social media to target US-based recruits for homegrown terror attacks inside the country has begun to produce results, with the recent shootings in Garland, Texas seen as a potential inspiration for ongoing radicalization and violence shaped by radical Islamist social-media campaigns.
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Africa's Sahel Emerging as Major Zone of Islamist Extremism and Activity
June 26, 2015
International development and security analysts are raising urgent warnings about the entrenchment of Islamist extremist ideas and activities, as well as associated black market activities, in Africa's Sahel, the critical belt of countries connecting the Central and Saharan regions of the continent.
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OIC Raises Turkey's Profile as Geopolitical Islamist Center
June 26, 2015
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ("OIC") underscored the importance of Turkey as a geopolitical pivot for the work of the global, multilateral OIC, identifying Istanbul as the "Islamic World Youth Capital" and host for the OIC Youth Summit in 2016.