The Fight Against Terror Must Contend With Extremist Propaganda On Social Media Platforms UNIPATH STAFF Terrorists no longer hide in the dark corners of the Web in password-protected forums. With a few clicks of the mouse, anyone can follow their tweets, read their posts and watch their propaganda videos. Just as businesses, governments, celebrities and the everyday Internet savvy are embracing social media to gain loyalty and connect with the world, extremists have also recognized the value of these communication tools and are employing them to achieve their ends. The migration of extremists onto social media platforms has attracted the…
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Debunking Modern Myths About Terrorism’s Roots UNIPATH STAFF Many myths surround popular beliefs about what contributes to extremism. Global experts dismiss explanations such as poverty, illiteracy and troubled childhoods and agree that generalizations should be avoided. There is no single underlying cause for the emergence of extremism, experts say. Myth No. 1 Extremists are Crazy or Mentally Ill Despite the emotionalism inherent in much violent extremism, few adherents are mentally debilitated. Within their own oftentimes fanatical worldviews, terrorists see their violent exploits as reasonable. Experts caution that efforts to treat violent extremism as a mental illness can simply create well-adjusted…
Disasters, both natural and man-made, are the theme of a multinational exercise UNIPATH STAFF As if the government of Kazakhstan didn’t have enough work tending to hundreds of thousands of earthquake and flood victims, a mysterious terror group started blowing up chemical plants and trains, hijacking relief convoys and spreading disinformation to an already distressed population. For many of the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Afghan and Tajik officers at a Regional Coordination Center overseeing the disaster response, the first impulse was to summon their best troops and remove the physical threat posed by the self-styled Asian Unification Brigade (AUB). But organizers of…
Successful counterterrorism programs in Muslim-majority countries often employ similar approaches By: PROFESSOR HAMED EL-SAID/GUEST AUTHOR We still don’t know as much as we think we do about radicalization, counterradicalization and deradicalization processes and programs. We are also, by extension, still ignorant of the ideal recipe of successful counterradicalization and deradicalization programs (counter/derad), and even of how to measure the effectiveness of our efforts in this area of research and practice. Chief among the causes of our ignorance is that counter/derad programs remain the exception and not the rule. Most United Nations member states follow an approach based on a long…
By: BRIG. GEN. ALI AHMED RASAA/Former CHAIRMAN, YEMENI COAST GUARD AUTHORITY Yemen is important, thanks to its strategic location overlooking the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, with a coastline stretching more than 2,400 kilometers. Yemen’s location on the Bab el Mandeb Strait, one of the most important straits for international maritime, has a special significance: It represents a passage for ships coming from and going to Europe through the Suez Canal. That is why both large industrial nations and emerging industrial countries pay special attention to the strategic location of Yemen, especially since international maritime…
Jordan hosts Eager Lion 2013 with a focus on unconventional military threats UNIPATH STAFF The special operations troops huddle on the tarmac perched on a rocky ledge over the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center. The Iraqi commandos are dressed in black jumpsuits, the Emiratis in sand-colored uniforms, the Jordanians in camouflage. The officers consult with the Black Hawk helicopter pilots whose aircraft idle in the background. How high must the men descend down slick ropes from the helicopter bays? Can the pilots ensure a 10-meter drop? The lower the helicopter, the less exposure if you’re being fired upon.…
A Pakistani doctor helps people cope with the trauma of extremist violence By: DR. MIAN IFTIKHAR HUSSAIN/GUEST AUTHOR About the author: Dr. Mian Iftikhar Hussain has been running the Iftikhar Psychiatric Hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, since 2003. From 1985 to 2010 he worked at the Sarhad Hospital for Psychiatric Diseases. He has served as a consultant psychiatrist for the Khyber Teaching Hospital, Lady Reading Hospital and several others in the region. He is a member of the executive committee of the Pakistan Psychiatric Society and an international member of the American Psychiatric Association. A man in his mid-20s who was…
Countries of the Middle East and Central Asia are taking steps to meet the challenge UNIPATH STAFF The money came from the sale of South American cocaine in the increasingly lucrative European market. The hundreds of millions of dollars were then used to purchase motor vehicles in the United States for shipment to Africa. Once the cars were sold in Africa, the laundered money was deposited in Lebanese financial institutions, and eventually much of it was funneled to terror and criminal groups in the Middle East. This plot, uncovered and shut down in 2011 and 2012 by international investigators, provides…
Naval forces counter threats to navigation and infrastructure By: DR. THEODORE KARASIK AND NADINE MAZRAANI INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST AND GULF MILITARY ANALYSIS Nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply transits the Strait of Hormuz each year. That places it among the world’s most strategic waterways. But these shipping lanes, along with the ports and oil installations of the Arabian Peninsula, have been threatened by piracy, terrorism and nefarious activity by rogue states. An attack on any of these would have widespread ramifications on the global economy and regional stability. An increase in arms, drug and human trafficking, a rise…
Security professionals from Central Asia and the Middle East train at Turkish academies By: SÜLEYMAN ÖZEREN, Ph.D., and KAMIL YILMAZ, Ph.D./Guest AuthorS photos by International Center for terrorisim and transnational crime (UTSAM) Turkey has a long history of combating terrorism and transnational crime. The Turkish National Police (TNP) run innovative training centers at which these problems are addressed from a regional perspective, with a heavy emphasis on participation from the Middle East and Central Asia. Two of the most important are the Turkish International Academy against Drugs and Organized Crime (TADOC) and the International Center for Terrorism and Transnational Crime…