In The News

Best Way to Defeat the Islamic State in Syria: Remove Assad

Con Coughlin June 10, 2015
Defense ministers and analysts are grasping at straws on how to eliminate Islamic State extremists and stabilize the Middle East. Removing Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad could be a solution. The United States and coalition partners invaded Iraq and removed Saddam Hussein from power; 12 years later, the country is in chaos, threatened by brutal extremists, with violence and desperate refugees...

What It’s Like to Be a Somali Refugee in Kenya

Samira Shackle May 29, 2015
Extremist groups in Africa like Al Shabab terrorize entire communities who refuse to cooperate with their rigid rules. Journalist Samira Shackle profiles a man who had a close encounter with the group working at a television station in Mogadishu. Al Shabab extremists “confiscated equipment and gave staff a stark choice: join us, or die.” He eventually fled to Kenya where he works as a journalist...

The Saudi Connection: Wahhabism and Global Jihad

Carol E. B. Choksy and Jamsheed K. Choksy May 14, 2015
The United States and Saudi Arabia, once strong allies, disagree over how to handle multiple challenges in the Middle East. The royal family condemns terrorism to western diplomats, but promotes a fundamentalist ideology: “the Saudis have been the most persistent source of support for global jihad by spreading Wahhabism abroad to radicalize foreign Muslims and then giving financial support to...

Displaced Again and Again, Some African Migrants Had No Plan to Land in Italy

Jim Yardley May 5, 2015
Despite the Mediterranean journey’s many dangers and a hostile welcome on arrival, Italy remains a destination of hope for refugees. Warm weather and expanding conflict in North Africa is increasing the numbers attempting the crossing of the Mediterranean to land on Italian shores. Laborers who worked in Libya and had no plans of heading to Europe suggest their only option is fleeing expanding...

Saudi Arabia Signals a More Muscular Foreign Policy Less Reliant on the US

Alexandra Zavis April 27, 2015
Saudi Arabia’s new leadership under King Salman has ramped up involvement in regional conflicts. With Operation Decisive Storm, the Saudis have launched airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen – a response to decreased US mobilization in the Middle East and a way to counter Iran’s expanding influence in the region. The lack of US support for Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak during the Arab Spring and...

The Evolving Jihad in South Asia

Arif Rafiq April 10, 2015
Improving ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan threatens extremists in both nations and in the neighborhood: “Pakistani Taliban factions are closing ranks; al-Qaeda aims to subvert peace talks between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban; and jihadists connected to the Islamic State appear to be seeking to establish a foothold in the region through sectarian violence,” writes strategic political and...

Attacks in Denmark, France Stoke Fears of Rising Anti-Semitism in Europe

Beenish Ahmed March 30, 2015
Anti-Semitic crimes are on the rise in Europe for 2015. Anti-Semitism in Europe may have contributed to a rise in emigration to Israel. In 2014, 7,000 Jews left France for Israel. In the same year, immigration to Israel worldwide increased 32 percent from the previous year, reports Beenish Ahmed for ThinkProgress. In February, a Jewish guard was murdered at a Copenhagen synagogue after the murder...