Security and Counterterrorism
ISIS runaway Shamima Begum’s request to return to the UK provokes national uproar
Fierce national debate has erupted this past week in the United Kingdom on the case of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old woman who ran away from her home in East London in February 2015 to join the Islamic State, and is now requesting to return to the UK. The controversy reached new heights this Tuesday,…
The potential return of French jihadists to France: French government has change of heart
The United States’ withdrawal from Syria, which should be effective in the next few months, has caused a major change in French government policy towards the French jihadists in captivity. Initiated in December 2018 by Donald Trump, the departure of the 2000 American soldiers in Syria constitutes a turning point in the geopolitical context of…
Center for Global Policy report suggests integration experience of European Muslims provides lessons for American Muslims
A new ‘special report’ by the Center for Global Policy [CGP] has been released, titled ‘Muslims in Western Europe and the United States’. CGP describes itself as the “first independent, non-partisan American think tank working exclusively on issues at the intersection of U.S. foreign policy and the geopolitics of Muslim-majority countries”. The report examines issues…
“He was there with his heart and soul”: The mother of a German ‘foreign fighter’ speaks
In 2014 and 2015, European publics were kept in suspense by daily press reports on the rising numbers of European citizens travelling to Syria in order to join jihadi groups (and, to a lesser extent, Kurdish rebel forces). By early 2018, security agencies estimated that 960 men and women had made their way to Syria…
Terror attack in Melbourne’s central business district triggers blame-shifting debate about terrorist attacks
On 11 November, Somali-born Hassan Khalif Shire Ali – aged 30 – drove his burning utility vehicle down Bourke Street into the centre of Melbourne’s central business district. Filled with barbecue-style gas cylinders, Shire Ali’s vehicle later exploded near Bourke Street Mall, though police noted that the blast could have been far more deadly had…