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cbrock5654

Danger closer, extreme measures taken: Erdoğan - 0 views

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    This is an article for Hurriyet Daily News, an online newspaper based in Istanbul.On October 5, many neighborhoods on Turkey's border with Syria were evacuated. I thought this news article was interesting because it quotes a speech by Turkey's president in which he addresses his viewpoint on the PKK. The organization has been banned in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization. He says that ISIS/ISIL and the PKK are equivalent groups, and that the PKK is using the current conflict with ISIS to manipulate public opinion.
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    This is an article for Hurriyet Daily News, an online newspaper based in Istanbul.On October 5, many neighborhoods on Turkey's border with Syria were evacuated. I thought this news article was interesting because it quotes a speech by Turkey's president in which he addresses his viewpoint on the PKK. The organization has been banned in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization. He says that ISIS/ISIL and the PKK are equivalent groups, and that the PKK is using the current conflict with ISIS to manipulate public opinion.
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    The news today says that ISIS has all but taken a Syrian Kurdish border city with Turkey, called Kobane. Not surprised that Erdogan would conflate the two groups, while the US is trying to activate Kurdish militants to resist ISIS. I was chatting with another student in my office today and we were wondering if the duty and suffering that have devolved onto the Kurds in this crisis might reinvigorate their push for a nation-state of their own.
nicolet1189

ICSR Insight - Offering Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq a Way Out / ICSR - 0 views

  • Boris Johnson proposed that all the British fighters in Syria should be presumed guilty unless proven innocent
  • dangerous and counterproductive proposal
  • increase — rather than diminish — the terrorist threat to [Britain] .
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  • a database of more than 450 fighters currently in Syria and Iraq.
  • motivations for travelling to Syria are diverse
  • tougher laws and blanket punishment shouldn’t be the only approach.
  • one in nine former fighters subsequently became involved in terrorist activity
  • In many cases they are disillusioned, psychologically disturbed, or just tired.
  • ideological, vicious and bloodthirsty fighters who attract the headlines,
  • many have found the reality to be far different from what they were led to believe.
  • When he first travelled out there, he said “it was all focused on Assad,” he said. “But now it’s just Muslims fighting Muslims. We didn’t come here for this.”
  • The blanket approach taken by the government — to threaten all returnees with draconian prison sentences — Abu Mohammed says, makes him feel trapped. “We’re forced to stay and fight, what choice do we have? It’s sad,” he told us.
  • Following the defeat of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, Arab-Afghan fighters could not return to their home countries. They were stripped of their citizenship
  • regrouped in Sudan and formed a Jihadist Internationale, from which al-Qaeda emerged.
  • men were offered no opportunity to disengage from the path they had chosen.
  • Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other countries
  • deradicalisation programmes to convince jihadists to disengage
  • deradicalisation along with monitoring and surveillance.
  • would be willing to submit to such a scheme, were it available, in order to return to the UK.
  • the Channel Project.
  • More than 1000 people
  • successfully engaged through this programme.
  • Treating all foreign fighters as terrorists, however, risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • This is not about being soft: it’s about being smart.
  • In prison, by contrast, they are likely to be further radicalised while potentially exposing others to a hardened ideology and worldview.
  • another friend who recently quit the fight after he couldn’t accept what he saw out there.
  • experience — they need to be heard, not locked away.
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    This was an article (originally published by the Independent, however, I found it on their website via my first article from the BBC) by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence of London. The article suggests, allowing fighters to return home safely and enroll in a De-radicalization program would be more beneficial than current policies of severe punishment (prison, stripping of citizenship, etc.). The authors contend current repercussions for fighters returning to their home countries leave them trapped and isolated and prison sentences often lead to further radicalization. Overall this article really captured my attention in its non-conventional proposal for governments to handle these situations.
lking5

Nations Trying to Stop Their Citizens From Going to Middle East to Fight for ISIS - 0 views

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    the US is pushing for a legally binding UN Security Council resolution that would make all countries take action to prevent the flow of citizens into terrorists groups, like ISIS. action may include evoking people's citizenship or passport suspect of terroristic activities or aiding terrorists, but before any crime is committed.
nfyffe

Iran forces kill PJAK terrorists: Cmdr. - 2 views

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    Iranian military troops have killed a number of terrorists from the so-called Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) group seeking to cross the western borders into the country, a senior Iranian commander says.
allieggg

Can Libya Rebuild Itself After 40 Years of Gaddafi? - 0 views

  • the man has hollowed out the Libyan state, eviscerated all opposition in Libyan society, and, in effect, created a political tabula rasa on which a newly free people will now have to scratch out a future.
  • Jamahiriya, a political system that is run directly by tribesmen without the intermediation of state institutions
  • the problem is, of course, that much like in the former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe, virtually everyone at one point or another had to deal with the regime to survive.
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  • Libya is truly a case apart.
  • the disastrous Italian legacy in Libya, has been a constant element in Gaddafi’s speeches since he took power
  • inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser, neighboring Egypt’s president, whose ideas of Arab nationalism and of the possibility of restoring glory to the Arab world, would fuel the first decade of Gaddafi’s revolution.
  • he was unimpressed with the niceties of international diplomacy,
  • In a brilliant move that co-opted tribal elders, many of whom were also military commanders, he created the Social Leadership People’s Committee, through which he could simultaneously control the tribes and segments of the country’s military.
  • When it turned out that Libya, which was still a decentralized society in 1969, had little appetite for his centralizing political vision and remained largely indifferent to his proposals, the young idealist quickly turned activist.
  • Green Book, a set of slim volumes published in the mid-1970s that contain Gaddafi’s political philosophy, a blueprint is offered for a dramatic restructuring of Libya’s economy, politics, and society. In principle, Libya would become an experiment in democracy. In reality, it became a police state where every move of its citizens was carefully watched by a growing number of security apparatuses and revolutionary committees that owed loyalty directly to Gaddafi.
  • Having crushed all opposition by the mid-1970s, the regime systematically snuffed out any group that could potentially oppose it—any activity that could be construed as political opposition was punishable by death, which is one reason why a post-Gaddafi Libya, unlike a post-Mubarak Egypt, can have no ready-made opposition in a position to fill the vacuum.
  • The tribes—the Warfalla, the Awlad Busayf, the Magharha, the Zuwaya, the Barasa, and the smallest of them all, the Gadafa, to which he belonged—offered a natural form of political affiliation, a tribal ethos that could be tapped into for support. And perhaps, in the aftermath of Gaddafi, they could serve as a nucleus around which to build a new political system.
  • Gaddafi feared they might coalesce into groups opposing his rule. So, during the first two decades after the 1969 coup, he tried to erase their influence, arguing that they were an archaic element in a modern society.
  • comprehensive reconstruction of everything civic, political, legal, and moral that makes up a society and its government.
  • After systematically destroying local society, after using the tribes to cancel each other out, after aborting methodically the emergence of a younger generation that could take over Libya’s political life—all compounded by the general incoherence of the country’s administrative and bureaucratic institutions—Gaddafi will have left a new Libya with severe and longstanding challenges.
  • the growing isolation of Libya as international sanctions were imposed.
  • Lockerbie was the logical endpoint for a regime that had lost all international legitimacy.
  • while the regime still had the coercive power to put down any uprisings that took place in the 1990s, it became clear to Gaddafi’s closest advisers that the potential for unrest had reached unprecedented levels.
  • way out was to come to an agreement with the West that would end the sanctions, allow Libya to refurbish an aging oil infrastructure, and provide a safety valve by permitting Libyans to travel abroad once more.
  • intent to renounce weapons of mass destruction in December 2003—after a long process of behind-the-scenes diplomacy initially spearheaded by Britain
  • “The Revolution Everlasting” was one of the enduring slogans of his Libya, inscribed everywhere from bridges to water bottles.
  • regime that had, for four decades, mismanaged the country’s economy and humiliated its citizens
  • country was split in half, with eastern Cyrenaica and its main city Benghazi effectively independent—a demonstration of the kind of people’s power Gaddafi had always advocated. Reality, in effect, outgrew the caricature.
  • used a set of divide-and-rule policies that not only kept his opponents sundered from each other, but had also completely enfeebled any social or political institution in the country.
  • Beyond Gaddafi, there exists only a great political emptiness, a void that Libya somehow will need to fill.
  • the creation of a modern state where Libyans become true citizens, with all the rights and duties this entails.
  • the terrorist incidents
  • Regimes can use oil revenues strategically to provide patronage that effectively keeps them in power.
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    This article from News Week basically paints a picture of Libyan history and how Gaddafi's reign devastated the state economically, socially, and politically. Author Dirk Vandewalle uses the phrase "a political tabula rasa" which in Latin means a blank slate, to describe the fate of Libya after Gaddafi's rule and convey the extent to which the country has to literally reconstruct every component that makes up a society and its government. He highlights major events that led to the downfall of both the Gaddafi regime and the Libyan state as a whole such as Arab nationalism, Jamahiriya, the Green Book, security apparatuses snuffing all opposition, terrorist incidents, isolation and international sanctions, the Lockerbie bombing, weapons of mass destruction, human right violations, divide and rule policies, and his use of oil revenue to fuel his insurgency. Vandewalle concludes the article with uncertain ideas thoughts towards Libya's future and the way the state is going to literally rebuild themselves from this "blank slate" that Gaddafi left behind. 
fcastro2

Syria rejects foreign ground troops to fight ISIS - 0 views

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    Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem stated on Monday, February 9, 2015 that they will not allow foreign ground troops on its territory to fight ISIS. While Syria does not want foreign ground troops, they did ask to coordinate with Jordan against ISIS but Jordan did not respond to their request. For now, Jordan and Syria are not coordinating against terrorist attacks by ISIS and Syria will not take aid from other foreign states.
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    Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem stated on Monday, February 9, 2015 that they will not allow foreign ground troops on its territory to fight ISIS. While Syria does not want foreign ground troops, they did ask to coordinate with Jordan against ISIS but Jordan did not respond to their request. For now, Jordan and Syria are not coordinating against terrorist attacks by ISIS and Syria will not take aid from other foreign states.
nicolet1189

BBC News - Can Iraqi militants be kept off social media sites? - 0 views

  • co-ordinated hashtag campaigns to get its content trending on Twitter.
  • The Iraqi government responded by blocking social media sites and, in some provinces, barring access to the internet entirely.
  • But some of the most active Islamist social media accounts are still live,
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  • n Twitter using military pseudonyms,
  • The BBC spoke to a number of social networks, all of which said they did not actively monitor their sites for content promoting terrorism, but rather responded to requests from governments and individuals to remove offending material.
  • r Twitter said the company would remove a reported post that violated its rules.
  • Twitter's terms ban threats of violence and the "furtherance of illegal activities" on the site.
  • Many of the militants on Twitter redirect users to their Kik accounts.
  • Ask.fm, a
  • One Ask.fm account offered advice on how to join Isis fighters in Iraq, as well as what weapons one could expect to be equipped with on arrival.
  • Facebook and YouTube, have been more successful in removing extreme content.
  • rminated any account registered by a member of a foreign terrorist organisation - as designated by the US secretary of state - and used in an official capacity to further its interests.
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    Interesting article about challenges social media companies face in preventing and deactivating accounts with content or users linked to terrorist organizations such as ISIS.
blantonjack

ISIS Is Not a Terrorist Group - 0 views

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    The United States has long been fighting the terrorist group known as Al Qaeda, which has given them the blue print on how to deal with terrorism abroad. Isis is not a terrorist organization which is why the United States along with other countries is having a very hard time dealing with the group of people who terrorize the middle east.
cguybar

Muslim Brotherhood Goal Is to Spread Terror - 0 views

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    What the Brotherhood represents globally is discussed in depth. The many ideologies of the group seem to be a sort of foundation for terrorist group in general.
petergrossmanseu

Terrorists' supply routes from Turkey cut off during army offensive in northern Syria -... - 0 views

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    This is an article from Russia today that talks about supposed gains that the Syrian government has made with the support of Russian air power. It has an accompanying video of the Syrian Armed Forces fighting against rebels. Overall a piece of propaganda, but interesting footage nonetheless of Syrian Armed Forces using a variety of US and Russian-made weapons.
amarsha5

Turkey's Erdogan denounces US support for Syrian Kurds - BBC News - 0 views

  • he refugees have fled an offensive by Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias,
  • Turkey says the PYD, on which the US relies to b
  • Syria, is an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
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  • More than 500 people, including dozens of civilians, have been killed since the assault began 10 days ago
  • urkey has already taken in more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees over the past five years and says it will continue to do so in a "controlled fashion".
  • rkey would be indirectly contributing to "ethnic cleansing" in northern Syria by the government.
  • urkey's president asked in a speech: "Are you on our side or the side of the terrorist PYD and PKK organisation?"
  • While Turkey sees the PYD and YPG as offshoots of the banned PKK, the US does not and believes they are the only effective force against IS on the ground in Syria, reports the BBC's Mark Lowen in Istanbul.
  • France's outgoing Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, also questioned the commitment of the US to resolve the crisis in Syria on Wednesday, saying its "ambiguous" policy was contributing to the problem.
  • But he warned: "We feel that we were sold to the Russians, and that the West has abandoned us."
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    Turkey has denounced the United States for providing support to the Democratic Union Party, who any are calling a terrorist group. This is contributing to the bloodshed. 
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    Turkey is mad at U/S over their support for Syria's Kurdish group. Turkey claims them as a terrorist group. Refugees are still fleeing from Syria.
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    US support of Syrian extremist group, the Democratic Union Party, has been denounced by Turkish president Erdogan. The recent fighting has displaced 50,000 people and cut off key supply routes for bringing in aid. Turkey has vowed to continue to accept refugees.w
eyadalhasan

Russia, U.S. agree on who to call major terrorist groups in Middle East: RIA - 0 views

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    Russia and the United States have common understanding on major groups which should be considered terrorist ones in the Middle East, RIA news agency quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying on Friday. (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Katya Golubkova) Read the original article on Reuters.
mkulach

Egypt welcomes US Congress draft legislation to label Brotherhood 'terrorist group' - 0 views

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    On Wednesday, a Republican-led House Committee approved the legislation designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. Sunday 28 Febuary 2016 Egypt was welcomed by the United States Congress Judiciary Committee to label the Muslim Brotherhood a "foreign terrorist organisation." This would also mean to non US citizens with any affiliation with the Brotherhood inability to enter the US as well.
mkulach

Muslim Brotherhood leader calls for unity to fight IS - 0 views

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    Ali Salabi is a leading member in the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya. Libya itself has many issues concerning the political vacuum that occurred after Gadaffi and has to deal with terrorist groups such as ISIS as well. This Muslim Brotherhood leader is saying everyone has to unite in Libya to counter these issues and that they would help the terrorist issue internationally. This is interesting as some countries have called the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists as well.
mkulach

Security forces arrested 'fugitive terrorist affiliated to Muslim Brotherhood' - 0 views

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    A security official declared Tuesday the criminal apparatus in Giza directorate arrested a fugitive terrorist, Mohamed Abdel Razek, affiliated to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, according to the Ministry of Interior's statement. Many have been charged, sentences and killed from the Muslim Brotherhood, and this will be even more so enforced as many countries including the United States are calling them a terrorist organization.
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