In The News

In Turkey, a Capstone to a Violent Year; in Germany, a Realization of Fears

Tim Arango December 20, 2016
The assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey at a photography exhibit and a truck roaring through Berlin streets, targeting a Christmas market and killing at least a dozen people, demonstrate that security is tenuous. A few can destroy good relations and disrupt communities. “The two terrorist attacks … came within hours of each other Monday night, bookends to a terrible year that saw the...

The Secret Eye Inside Mosul

Robin Wright November 2, 2016
The coalition fighting the Islamic State has reached the outskirts of Mosul, an Iraqi city seized in 2014. A clandestine blog, Mosul Eye, has documented life in Mosul under the terrorist group in terse lists and describes a city in ruins. Scholars suggest that the blog is written by someone in Mosul, providing details that could helpful coalition forces. ISIS has sent messages to the account,...

Saudi Arabia and Terrorism Today

Daniel L. Byman October 7, 2016
US Congress overturned President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill that allows the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. Daniel L. Byman, a researcher at the Brookings Institution, provides historical background on Saudi Arabia’s complicated relationship to terrorism. He describes Saudi Arabia as a “vital counterterrorism partner” that has made progress in fighting terrorism and notes that...

Congress Overrides Obama on Bill Allowing 9/11 Lawsuits Against Saudi Arabia

Joe Gould September 30, 2016
US Congress defied some of the nation's top military commanders by overriding President Barack Obama’s veto of a law allowing those who lost family members in the 9/11 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia in US courts. The country is a key US ally in the Middle East, but most of the 19 attackers who used commercial jets to attack New York and Washington in 2001 were Saudi citizens. Analysts have long...

Wolf-Pack Terrorism: Inspired by ISIS, Made in Bangladesh

Saroj Kumar Rath July 5, 2016
Ongoing political squabbles and vendettas do not stop terror, and militants will use such differences to drive a wedge into societies. “Ongoing conflict between the two major political parties, Bangladesh National Party, which considers itself custodian of Bangladeshi nationalism, and Awami League, which regards itself as the sole guiding force of Bangladeshi liberation, has left the field open...

Week of Terror Underscores a “Desperate” Islamic State

Jessica Durando and Jim Michaels July 4, 2016
Surprise attackers willing to sacrifice their own lives are an ongoing and dangerous threat to major cities.The Islamic State is linked to attacks on the airport in Istanbul that killed 44, a restaurant in Dhaka with 22 deaths and a Baghdad shopping area with more than 200 dead. Analysts suggest that the terrorist group, while losing territory in Syria and Iraq, is shifting strategy toward...

An Attack on Turkey's Airport and Its Ambitions

June 29, 2016
Coordinated suicide bombings at the Istanbul Ataturk Airport killed 41 and injured more than 200. Airports, with large crowds and lots of hefty luggage, make easy targets and are symbolic, too, representing globalization and world connections through commerce and tourism. Analysis from Stratfor points out that Turkey confronts multiple threats, including Kurdish militants, though the Islamic...