Countering Violent Extremism Through Development

Where does the fight against violent extremism fit within the broad spectrum of development?

Root Cause Must Be Understood First To Counter Violent Extremism

According to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, some 20,000 people have joined ISIL since last summer. They have traveled to Syria and Iraq from more than 100 countries all over the world for that purpose. To make a comparison, it took ten years for the number of foreign fighters against the Soviet Army in Afghanistan to reach 20,000.

What Does Boko Haram’s ‘Allegiance’ To Islamic State Group Mean For The West?

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Shekau

Boko Haram is believed to be the largest Islamist militant organisation to align itself with the Islamic State group after swearing allegiance over the weekend. FRANCE 24 takes a closer look at the implications of the new union.

When A Terrorist Organization Becomes An 'Armed Insurgency'

An organization that regularly uses suicide attacks against innocent civilians has been designated an "armed insurgency" by the White House.

The Afghanistan Taliban has sent dozens of suicide bombers and attackers to hit soft targets in Afghanistan, but the administration says it's OK to negotiate with them because they're not terrorists.

Countering Violent Extremism And Terrorist Recruiting In The Digital Age

 Assalamu alaykum. It is an honor to be with you here tonight and I want to thank Hedayah, the United Arab Emirates, and all of you for convening this incredibly important forum. This event– particularly with all of the creative young people here – is an example of why I remain optimistic despite all of the challenges we face around the world. We’ve gathered as representatives from all walks of life to stand up for the sanctity of life and to build innovative approaches for countering destructive ideologies.

26 Things About the Islamic State (ISIS) That The United States Does Not Want You to Know About

The US led war against  the Islamic State is a big lie. In this article, we address 26 concepts which refute the big lie.  Portrayed by the media as a humanitarian undertaking, this large scale military operation directed against Syria and Iraq has resulted in countless civilian deaths.

Islamic State Announces Its Own Currency - Islamic Dinar

Islamic Dinar - Source Twitter

The Islamic State has announced that they will start producing their own currency in areas under its control, in an effort to “emancipate itself from the satanic global economic system”.

Boko Haram Releases New Video On Captured Towns, Shekau Seen Preaching To Locals

Boko Haram terrorists released a new video this evening showing footage on how the sect is presently controlling towns and villages under its new ‘Islamic caliphate’.

Social Media Savvy Terrorists Send ‘90 Tweets Per Minute’ - Saudi-Based Group

An average of 90 tweets from terrorists are sent each minute, according to a survey conducted in October by the Saudi-based Sakinah awareness campaign.

Britain's Spy Chief Accuses United States Tech Firms Of Aiding Terrorism

GCHQ Director - Robert Hannigan

Technology giants such as Facebook and Twitter have become "the command and control networks of choice" for terrorists and criminals but are "in denial" about the scale of the problem, the new head of GCHQ has said.

UK Foreign Office Warns British Tourists Abroad Are 'Terrorism Targets' After Airstrikes on ISIS

UK Home Secretary - Theresa May

British tourists travelling overseas have been warned by the Foreign Office they are now targets for terror attacks from the Islamic State.

Qatar Denies Funding The Islamic State (ISIL)

Senior officials from Qatar have strongly denied claims the country is supporting extremist groups in Syria such as Islamic State.

'Teach Virtues of Religious Respect, Tolerance To Counter Terrorism' - Tony Blair

Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair is calling for an urgent global agreement to teach religious respect as he warns that action against extremist groups will otherwise "count for nothing".

In an essay for the BBC, the former prime minister said the underlying causes of religious conflict must be confronted through educating young people, although he made exceptions for violent organisations such as the Islamic State.

An agreement to improve interfaith relations would address the principal cause of terrorism-related activity as leaders must “uproot the thinking of the extremists, not simply disrupt their actions,” he suggested.

Mr Blair said defeated extremist groups will simply be replaced by new ones which continue to spread extreme ideologies if the root causes are not tackled.
"Unless we begin to confront the underlying causes each time we take on a group like Isis (Islamic State) another will quickly arise to take its place," he said.

Writing in the BBC, he said the rise of extremist groups such as al-Shabaab and Boko Haram are a “perversion of faith that has been growing unchecked”.

Mr Blair said: "We need at the G20, or some other appropriate forum, as soon as we can, to raise this issue as a matter of urgent global importance and work on a common charter to be accepted by all nations, and endorsed by the UN, which makes it a common obligation to ensure that throughout our education systems, we're committed to teaching the virtue of religious respect."

After making his argument for advocating interfaith understanding and tolerance, he stated that he is not opposed to single-faith schools.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which was established by the former Labour leader in 2008, aims to work against religious prejudice by influencing 12-17 year olds in 30 countries, including Pakistan, the US and Singapore.

Mr Blair has been criticised over sending troops into more wars than any other prime minister in history, with military intervention in Iraq twice, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan within six years.

Source:
The Independent, UK

ISLAMIC STATE (IS) MANIFESTO REVEALS 100-YEAR PLAN FOR A WORLD CALIPHATE

Islamic State Caliph

How Documents Were Obtained

In March 2014, the home of an Islamic State (IS) commander was raided by Iraqi Special Forces. Among the items found in the residence was a manifesto written by an Islamic State Cabinet Member, Abdullah Ahmed al-Mashhadani, aka Abu Kassem.

President Obama Says U.S. Intelligence Underestimated Islamic State (ISIS) Threat

President Barack Obama said U.S. intelligence underestimated that the political chaos in Syria over the past several years would create an environment for extremist group Islamic State to thrive.

Arab Female Air Force Pilot Who Bombed ISIS Is 'Disowned By Her Family' For Bombing 'Sunni Heroes of Iraq and The Levant'

The female air force pilot whose missions against Isis were dubbed 'boobs on the ground' has reportedly been disowned by her family and labelled an 'ingrate'.

Snowden Alleges 'Caliph' Al Baghdadi Was Trained, Propped by MOSSAD and Western Intelligence Agencies

The former employee at the National Agency for American security, Edward Snowden, revealed that the British and American intelligence and the Mossad worked together to create the ex-EIIL or Islamic State Iraq and the Levant, according to Iranian news agency Farsnews.

Snowden said the intelligence services of three countries, namely the United States, Britain and the Zionist entity have worked together to create a terrorist organization that is able to attract ALL extremists of the world to one place, using a strategy called “the hornet’s nest.”

The documents of the American National Security Agency refers to “the recent implementation of an old known as the” hornet’s nest “to protect the Zionist entity PLANbritannique, and creating a religion including Islamic slogans reject any religion or faith.”

According to the document, “The only solution for the protection of the” Jewish State “is to create an enemy near its borders, BUT the draw against Islamic states who oppose his presence.”
Leaks revealed that “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took an intensive military training for a whole year in the hands of Mossad, besides COURSES in theology and mastering the art of speech.

Source:
SomdailyNews

somdailynews.com/snowden-confirms-that-al-baghdadi-was-trained-by-mossad/

Snowden Alleges 'Caliph' Al Baghdadi Was Trained, Propped by MOSSAD and Western Intelligence Agencies

The former employee at the National Agency for American security, Edward Snowden, revealed that the British and American intelligence and the Mossad worked together to create the ex-EIIL or Islamic State Iraq and the Levant, according to Iranian news agency Farsnews.

Snowden said the intelligence services of three countries, namely the United States, Britain and the Zionist entity have worked together to create a terrorist organization that is able to attract ALL extremists of the world to one place, using a strategy called “the hornet’s nest.”

The documents of the American National Security Agency refers to “the recent implementation of an old known as the” hornet’s nest “to protect the Zionist entity PLANbritannique, and creating a religion including Islamic slogans reject any religion or faith.”

According to the document, “The only solution for the protection of the” Jewish State “is to create an enemy near its borders, BUT the draw against Islamic states who oppose his presence.”
Leaks revealed that “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took an intensive military training for a whole year in the hands of Mossad, besides COURSES in theology and mastering the art of speech.

Source:

SomdailyNews

Boko Haram Leader Shekau Voices Support for Islamic State (ISIL) and Al Qaeda, Taunts #BringBackOurGirls Campaigners

Amid persistent reports of a deep rift between the Islamic State and al Qaeda, the Congregation of the People of the Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad, aka Boko Haram, is hedging its bets.

“Boko Haram Chief Voices Support for Islamic State’s Baghdadi, al-Qaida,” Agence France Presse, July 13, 2014 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

The head of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamists has voiced support for the extremist Sunni Islamic State (ISIL) militants who have taken over large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, in a video obtained by Agence France Presse Sunday.

In the 16-minute video, given to AFP through similar channels as past messages, Boko Haram chief Abubakar Shekau also claims responsibility for a June 25 bombing in the capital Abuja and an attack hours later in Lagos which the authorities tried to cover up.

He also mocks the social media campaign Bring Back Our Girls which emerged to call attention to the plight of the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped on April 14 by the Islamists from the remote northeastern town of Chibok.

“We were the ones who detonated the bomb in filthy Abuja,” Shekau said, referring to the attack a popular shopping center that killed at least 22 people.

Later that day, a huge blast rocked the Apapa port district of Lagos, which the authorities blamed on cooking gas explosion, with no casualties.

An AFP investigation has revealed the blast was a deliberate attack involving high explosives.

“A bomb went off in Lagos. I ordered (the bomber) who went and detonated it,” Shekau says in the video, which shows him flanked by at least ten gunmen in front of two armored personnel carriers and two pickup trucks.

“You said it was a fire incident,” he added. “Well, if you hide it from people you can’t hide it from Allah.”

Near the beginning of the video he calls several of the world’s most prominent Islamist extremists his “brethren.”

“May Allah protect you” he said, listing IS chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Qaida head Ayman al-Zawahiri, Taliban leader Mullah Omar and several others.

Courtesy:
Jihad Watch

United States Intelligence Officials Want ISIL Fighters to Keep Tweeting

Radical Islamists in Iraq are using social media to spread fear and propaganda in a way no terrorist group has done before.
Fighters from the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) have shared Instagram pictures of gory executions, YouTube videos showing a beheading, tweeting ''This is our ball. It’s made of skin #WorldCup.'' Seemingly without break, their Twitter accounts spews a mixture of carnage and preaching, peppered with weird jokes and gruesome taunts.

And American officials want them to keep it up.
An employee with a major social media company told Mashable that U.S. intelligence officials approached
the company and asked that the ISIL accounts not be taken down, despite the often bloody and threatening content.
"U.S. intelligence prefers for these accounts to stay up, rather than come down," the employee said on condition that he and his company not be named.

The reason? American intelligence officials are monitoring the ISIL accounts, trying to glean information about the deadly group and its strengths, tactics and networks.
Social media "is one of the many sources" American analysts monitor when "assessing the fluid ISIL
situation," a U.S. intelligence official told Mashable on condition of anonymity.
"Whether or not it makes more sense to be trying to quash this kind of communication so they can’t get
their message out, intel folks would always want them to have it more open," said Jason Healey, a founding member of the Pentagon's first joint cyber war-fighting unit and now director of the Atlantic Council's Statecraft Initiative.

ISIL is the first international terror group to have embraced social media as a vital part of its identity.
When they are not fighting, the militants tweet no end, sharing pictures of captured weapons, taking over popular memes and tweeting about about their battle plans. In fact, their social media presence is so energetic, experts believe they are either quite naive about their exposure or their messages are part of a plan to inflate the group's power and popularize themselves amongst potential recruits.
"These guys are so busy promoting themselves online, you’d think they were Justin Bieber," Clint Watts, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told Mashable.

Certainly, the group appears to have a coordinated social media strategy, according to experts on intelligence gathering and the Middle East. As Kalev Leetaru, a fellow at Georgetown University, put it: ISIL is the first group to use "social media as an actual
weapon of war."
Even so, social media is a double-edged sword since it allows U.S. analysts to discover things about the fighters they might not want to reveal.
"Right now I could get online and I could watch ISIL on social media and tell you where they are operating, which countries they’re from and who they’re working with," Watts said.
Being blind did not stop me. What is your excuse for staying behind? #Tawheed #Hijrah #Jihad #IS #Khilafah pic.twitter.com/gQiv9cIFbj
— Taymullaah (@Taymullaah) July 8, 2014

By studying social media feeds, American intelligence analysts can better understand what motivates ISIL fighters, the hierarchy of the organization and the ultimate aims of the group. As Watts told Mashable,
ISIL fighters tweet about their plans and their leaders, and different factions of the group have ideological debates on Facebook.
If analysts know where to look, all they have to do is watch.
"There’s a lot of information that is being spread by ISIL accounts which could be used if the U.S. opts for drone attacks on Syria or Iraq," said intelligence expert Pieter Van Ostaeyen, who has been following ISIL tweets which, he says, reveal a stunning amount.

"They don’t seem to be afraid of anything being put out in the open. Or maybe they just don’t realize what
they’re doing."
He cited an example from a few weeks ago, involving five British-born ISIL fighters, who went on Twitter to chat about meeting at a specific Syrian Internet cafe.
When some of the other militants didn't show up as agreed, one of the fighters complained to the others on Twitter as if they were "in some private chatroom," Van Ostaeyen said.

Beyond such analysis of "open source" intelligence, U.S. officials are likely to have approached companies such as Facebook and Twitter to try to gain access to individual accounts, terrorism experts say. With that kind of access, agents could get information including the individual computer's IP address, using that to pinpoint the exact location of a fighter. Access to someone's Twitter account might also reveal an email address, which could lead to a new contact list for analysts to monitor.
Twitter and Facebook declined to comment for this article. YouTube, for its part, said that the company complies "valid court orders and subpoenas," but declined to answer specific questions about ISIL.

Though they might collect such information, the U.S. doesn't currently have a way to put it to use.
“Even if we were able to use the IP addresses, we’d have to be willing and able to deploy cyber tools, special ops and drones. And all three of those are
currently imperfect responses to ISIL," said Tom Sanderson, a terrorism and intelligence expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Though the U.S. could pass information to the Iraqi government or even militias preparing to fight ISIL, Sanderson said he doesn't think the American government is about to do that. Information leaks to the ISIL or an unfriendly government are too great a risk.

Spreading fear and propaganda, of course, is nothing new. The terror of Genghis Khan's campaign across
Mongolia in the 12th century was a language of sorts: heads on spikes communicated a clear message of pitilessness that helped crush opponents' spirits. Much later, al-Qaeda would found Inspire magazine to spread propaganda and its off-shoot in Iraq would turn to televised beheading to signal their willingness to commit unspeakably brutal acts.

During the late 2000s, as al-Qaeda in Iraq was losing ground, decimated by both American forces and local Sunni tribes turning against them, the group clung to life — in part through social media, according to Watts. And just as the Internet was evolving from a
series of static websites to a digital sphere fueled by connectivity, al-Qaeda was evolving as a network. The group took lessons learned about fighting, recruitment and propaganda in Iraq with them into Syria, where they emerged some years later as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
An influx of often young and tech savvy volunteers from the west has helped the group translate its message — not just linguistically but technologically and culturally through the appropriation of memes, for example — to a western audience. Yet there is something paradoxical about a group that wants to return everyone to the Dark Ages, yet uses high-tech
American companies to disseminate that message.

In terms of how to respond, some terrorism experts in think it might be worthwhile trying to shut down some
of the more prolific accounts. But few really think it's a feasible task.
"These guys can move to so many new accounts on Twitter and Facebook," Sanderson told Mashable . "It’s just going to be an endless game of whack-a-mole."
"Extremists are on social media to stay," J.M. Berger, a researcher who focuses on extremists' use of social media, told Mashable. "And there's no putting the genie back in the bottle."

Courtesy:
mashable.com