By Brett A. Friedman The world is in the grips of the group known as ISIS. Unable to look away but equally unable to fathom the group’s extreme violence, the civilized world marvels at a terrorist threat that is seemingly al Qaeda cranked up to eleven. Its media blitzkrieg has recently been described by Jessica…
Category: Terrorism
The Social Science of Online Radicalization
As Charlie Winter noted recently at War on the Rocks, the Islamic State’s robust social media apparatus has been propagating a remarkably effective, multi-faceted communications strategy that incorporates narratives of statehood, military success, and religious legitimacy. The Islamic State’s success in using social media to disseminateits extremist ideas and mobilize tens of thousands of foreign…
Walmart axes IDF Halloween costume under pressure from pro-jihad groups
This is the same strategy that Islamic supremacists and their Leftist allies employ against counter-jihad speakers and writers: manufacture a controversy over their supposedly unacceptable opinions, such that people are afraid to have them speak or feature their work, for fear of accusations of “racism” and “bigotry.” They’re trying to rule resistance to jihad outside…
It is Time for the U.S. Military to Innovate like Insurgents
These three Army captains built a gun that kills drones. It took them ten hours and cost $150. What can the Army learn from them? The recently concluded meeting of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) has become a yearly tradition for senior military leaders, congressional staff, and members of foreign armies to…
Al Shabaab pledges Loyalty to ISIS
With ISIS gaining the support of both Boko Haram and now Al Shabaab in Africa, it has solidified its position in that politically fractured country and at the same time secured its Southern Flank in its campaign to conquer Europe.-SF The Islamic State has already won the loyalty of Boko Haram in Nigeria and many…
Know Your Enemy: The Believer
IBRAHIM AWWAD IBRAHIM AL-BADRI was born in 1971 in Samarra, an ancient Iraqi city on the eastern edge of the Sunni Triangle north of Baghdad. The son of a pious man who taught Quranic recitation in a local mosque, Ibrahim himself was withdrawn, taciturn, and, when he spoke, barely audible. Neighbors who knew him…
Facebook Friend or Terrorist: Who’s in Your Online Social Network?
As a law enforcement officer in Northeast Florida, the arrest of a 19-year-old local man named Shelton Thomas Bell got my attention. In January of this year, Bell was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison for conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. He burned American flags, recruited support locally, conducted “training…
The ISIS Corner #2: The War for Control of the Narrative Rages
To change the minds of more than 16 million Muslims who could support the Islamic State, almost entirely via social media, the U.S. State Department has a counter propaganda team of just about 20 people, according to a senior Pentagon official. Translation: the U.S. is not doing enough to out-tweet ISIS. Michael Lumpkin, assistant secretary of…
Jerusalem’s Solution: Everyone Carry Guns
I must admit, when I see a picture like the one below, a teacher looking after her kids with a slung rifle on her shoulder..I get a warm, proud feeling inside. Why Can’t America be this smart?-SF By John Farnam Look closely. The teacher has an weapon slung over her shoulder. In Israel, much of…
History of Guerilla Warfare: How Would Lawrence of Arabia Defeat ISIS?
Lessons from the Early 20th century for the Chaotic, Modern Middle East By James Stavridis A Colleague of mine recently watched the Oscar-winning classic 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia. His brief comment on its merits in regard to understanding the Middle East of today: a cynical shrug of his shoulders and the words “nothing has…