... agree to a heart-to-heart with American officials. Most likely, it had negative consequences for the US intelligence operations as well.
Due to its domestic policy reforms, the world now perceived the US differently. Under the glib excuse of fighting terrorism, the US was gradually slipping from being the bastion of freedom, democracy, and human rights, to becoming a police state.
In October 2001, the Congress quickly
passed
the USA PATRIOT Act
[1]
which greatly restricted rights and freedoms of ...
... problems gradually came to be securitized and seen as requiring military, as opposed to humanitarian or economic, solutions. In the Western political discourse, responding to humanitarian crises and fostering development essentially gave way to fighting terrorism.
Eleonora Lebedeva:
Islamic Extremism in Sub-Saharan Africa
In part, military solutions are indeed more necessary than before. The Sahel and the Horn of Africa regions, for instance, are prime examples of radical Islam rising and terrorist activities ...
On June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the head of what was then known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, proclaimed the establishment of the Caliphate. Two years on, in summer 2016, the Islamic State celebrated its “birthday” with a spate of terror strikes.
The Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammed Al Adnani released a statement in May that called upon Muslims worldwide to make Ramadan “a month of calamity everywhere for non-believers”.
A string of attacks carried out...
... Despite these diplomatic overtures, major disagreements on the legitimacy of Assad’s government remain roadblocks to deeper cooperation between Washington and Moscow in Syria.
These disagreements are unlikely to be overcome by small-scale counter-terrorism cooperation. It is possible, however, that the United States and Russia could come to a temporary consensus on the need to prioritize counter-terrorism in Syria and avoid a destabilizing regime change.
Taking a historical perspective, Russia’s ...
... by the ultimate failure of the world community in conflict prevention, while it seems only investing in development of the source countries that may alleviate the migration flows.
Ms. Alekseeenkova pointed out the connection between migration and terrorism along the lines of a recent RIAC’s working paper on worldwide recruitment of combatants covering the EU, Russia and Central Asia. With about 30,000 foreign fighters operating on the ISIS side in Iraq and Syria, even a major damage to the ...
... could result in blowback terror attacks on Russian soil, indirect Russian military assistance to the Somali government could be highly beneficial for regional security. It would also bolster Moscow’s international status as a leader in combatting terrorism. Despite these positives, the Somali government’s isolation from international arms markets, and Mogadishu’s close bilateral relations with Turkey remain serious obstacles to deeper Russian involvement in the Horn of Africa.
How ...
In May 2016, Russia’s Mariinsky Theater orchestra held a classical music performance in the historic city of Palmyra, which had been retaken by the Syrian government after it suffered devastation from the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The concert has become yet another step in the new political race of the 21st century: a battle where new methods of making political points complement traditional ways of fighting and propaganda. It would not be an overstatement to say that ISIS redefined what propaganda...
... group of people attempted to seize two firearms shops in the city of Aktobe in Kazakhstan and to break into a military post. A clash took place, leaving a number of dead and wounded. The city declared the highest level of alert and launched a counter-terrorism operation. Several more people were killed in the following days – the total number of gunmen killed reached 18.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the “Kazakhstan Liberation Army”, an organization which no one had ...
... between Moscow and the Libyan government is of great value to Russia’s security. With the Libyan government’s assistance, Russia can build a multilateral alliance network against ISIS in Libya that bolsters its status as an alternative counter-terrorism leader to the United States. It can also create a durable economic partnership with Tripoli that will bolster Russian leverage in the Middle East. Russia-Libya Cooperation and Counter-Terrorism While Russia and the West have been united around ...
The situation in Afghanistan has continued to deteriorate in recent years, and Russia has been following the developments in this country with alarm. This was the conclusion of leading Russian experts on Afghanistan who took part in the roundtable “Development of the Situation in Afghanistan in 2016” held at the Russian International Affairs Council on April 18, 2016.
The three issues that cause the biggest concern are:
— the spread of instability from Afghanistan to the north and...
