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Douglas Farah, Editor
Steven Emerson & The Investigative Project on Terrorism Dennis Lormel Bill West Evan Kohlmann Michael Cutler Victor Comras Michael Kraft Dr. Zachary Abuza Dr. Walid Phares Daveed Gartenstein-Ross Olivier Guitta Kenneth Conboy Aaron Mannes David Schenker Animesh Roul Matthew Levitt Jonathan Winer Frank Hyland Roderick Jones Paul Cruickshank Farhana Qazi Lorenzo Vidino Madeleine Gruen James McGinnis Michael Braun Margot Williams, SNS Global, Newslinks Editor Phillip Smyth & Mark Offenbach, Asst. Newslinks Editors EXPERTS' ARCHIVES & BIOS Recent Posts
The End of The Counterterrorism Blog
Modeling Middle East Turmoil How to Deal with Islamist Movements in Post-Revolutionary Regimes? Asserting Liberal Values: The Future of British and U.S. Counterradicalization Strategies Pakistan and Blasphemy Law: Assassination of Liberal, Secular and Progressive Personalities Continues ! What Cargo May Be Aboard Iranian Warships Transiting the Suez Canal? Egypt and Emerging Trends The Middle East: Democracies or More Terrorism? Two Scenarios on Egyptian Succession and One Vision of the Brotherhood The Australian Take on the Terrorism Threat Experts' Books
Walid Phares: The Confrontation and "The War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy" and “Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies Against America”
Michael Kraft & Yonah Alexander (Editors): "Evolution of U.S. Counterterrorism Policy" Douglas Farah & Zachary Abuza in Countering the Financing of Terrorism Douglas Farah: "Merchant of Death" and "Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror" Michael Jacobson: "The West at War: U.S. and European Counterterrorism Efforts, Post–September 11" Daveed Gartenstein-Ross: "My Year Inside Radical Islam: A Memoir" Steven Emerson: "Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the US" and "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us" Victor Comras & Matthew Levitt (contributors): "Terrorism Financing and State Responses," Stanford University Press Matthew Levitt: "Negotiating Under Fire: Preserving Peace Talks in the Face of Terror Attacks" and "Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad" and "Targeting Terror: U.S. Policy toward Middle Eastern State Sponsors and Terrorist Organizations, Post-September 11" Zachary Abuza: "Political Islam and Violence in Indonesia" and "Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror" Lorenzo Vidino "Al Qaeda in Europe: The New Battleground of Global Jihad" Kenneth Conboy: "The Second Front: Inside Asia’s Most Dangerous Terrorist Network" Evan Kohlmann: "Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network" Credits
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Lorenzo Vidino Archives
FP: Toward a Radical SolutionBy Lorenzo VidinoRecently there’s been some talk of the U.S. government following into the footsteps of several European countries and developing its own counter-radicalization program. While nothing official has been announced yet, it is well known that NCTC, State Department, DHS and... The Homegrown Terrorist Threat to the US HomelandBy Lorenzo VidinoThe Real Instituto Elcano, Spain’s leading think tank, has just published my analysis of the homegrown terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland (building on a much longer analysis I published last year in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism titled Homegrown... Keeping a lid on homegrown terrorBy Lorenzo VidinoI have an op-ed in today's Boston Globe comparing homegrown terrorism in Europe and the United States: ....Of course, there are differences between the United States and Europe. The first is related to the significantly better economic conditions of American... Europe's new security dilemmaBy Lorenzo VidinoI have an article in the latest issue of the Washington Quarterly. Entitled Europe's New Security Dilemma, the article analyzes counter-radicalization programs implemented in various European countries, focusing on what is the dilemma facing authorities throughout the Old Continent (and,... New Policy Exchange report on PREVENTBy Lorenzo VidinoBritish think tank Policy Exchange released today a very thought-provoking report on the PREVENT strategy, one of the strands of Britain's counter-terrorism policy. Authored by Shiraz Maher and Martyn Frampton, the report critiques British authorities' tendency to rely on non-violent... Shift in British CT Strategy?By Lorenzo VidinoA few days ago the BBC aired a very interesting short documentary titled Muslims First, British Second. While covering issues of radicalization among segments of the British Muslim community, the documentary also suggests a major shift taking place within the... Homegrown Jihadist Terrorism in the United StatesBy Lorenzo VidinoVarious CT Blog experts have posted in the past about homegrown terrorism in the United States (most notably Madeleine Gruen and Frank Hyland and the NEFA Foundation’s Target America series). I have published a long article on the subject in... How Gaddafi survived Operation "El Dorado Canyon"By Lorenzo VidinoOver the last 22 years there have been many speculations over how Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi managed to escape the American bombing of his Bab al Aziziya compound on April 15th, 1986. The attack came after years of tensions between... Counterradicalization in the NetherlandsBy Lorenzo VidinoI have an article in the latest issue of The Sentinel, the West Point Combating Terrorism Center’s journal. The piece is entitled A Preliminary Assessment of Counter-Radicalization in the Netherlands and describes various programs implemented by Dutch authorities, focusing particularly... Euro 2008 and TerrorismBy Lorenzo VidinoIn 23 days the 2008 European soccer Cup (Euro 2008), this year hosted jointly by Austria and Switzerland, will kickoff. As for any event attracting large crowds and global attention in today’s age, authorities are worried about potential terrorist threats.... Hizb ut-Tahrir's "double level"By Lorenzo VidinoExperts and government officials have long debated the real nature of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). Formed in 1953 in Jerusalem, the group has now established a presence in virtually all continents. It defines itself as a “political party whose ideology is... Evidence on Red-Green Alliance in ItalyBy Lorenzo VidinoThe article “Italy's Left-Wing Terrorists Flirt with Radical Islamists,” which I published with Andrea Morigi in last September’s issue of the Jamestown Foundation Terrorism Monitor, has generated abundant feedback. While most of it is positive, I came to know of... Italy's Left-Wing Terrorists Flirt with Radical IslamistsBy Lorenzo VidinoMy colleague Andrea Morigi and I have a piece in the latest issue of the Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Monitor describing the links between Italy's so-called "New Red Brigades" and radical Islam: Last February, in the quiet of a secluded northern... Kurdish network behind Germany threat warning?By Lorenzo VidinoLast night Reuters reported that the recent threat warning issued by the United States in Germany could, according to some US officials, involve attack plans by an al Qaeda-affiliated group of Kurdish militants. Information on the threat have been very... Finding Partners in IslamBy Lorenzo VidinoI have a short op-ed in today's Boston Globe that deals with the issue of finding the right partners within the Muslim world in order to defeat extremism (a topic often discussed on the CT Blog and, most recently, in... Lessons from Madrid and LondonBy Lorenzo VidinoA British court today sentenced to life in prison the five “Fertiliser Plot” men, mostly British-born and Pakistani-trained militants who were planning to blow up targets in London (including a nightclub, power plants and shopping mall) with half a ton... The Muslim Brotherhood in HollandBy Lorenzo VidinoOver the last few weeks Dutch media have published information gleaned from Dutch intelligence files regarding the Muslim Brotherhood. One report indicated that Samir Azzouz and Noureddine el Fatmi, two top members of the Hofstad group (and, later, of the... Italy: the strange Islamist/Communist allianceBy Lorenzo VidinoIn June 2005 David Kaplan reported on US News about Ten Euros for the Resistance/Iraq Libero, a campaign led by an odd collection of European (mostly Italian, German and Austrian) “Marxists and Maoists, sprinkled with an array of Arab emigres... Top al Taqwa officers and Ibrahim El Zayat on trial in Egypt?By Lorenzo VidinoIkhwanweb, the Muslim Brotherhood’s official English language website, reports some very interesting details about the recent crackdown of the Egyptian government against the group. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that some of the 40 Muslim Brotherhood leaders that have been... After the Danish Cartoon ControversyBy Lorenzo VidinoMy friend Pernille Ammitzbøll and I recently published a long analysis of the origins, developments and aftermath of the Danish cartoon controversy in the Middle East Quarterly. As tomorrow marks the anniversary of the peak of the crisis, it might... Iranian call for the "convergence of Islamic movements"By Lorenzo VidinoYesterday Doug Farah posted two interesting articles that might show how Iran "may have tried to reach too far in extending its influence through Iraq and into the rest of the Arab world." Signs that Iranian leadership might be of... Alleged Tunisian plot & GSPC's influence in N. AfricaBy Lorenzo VidinoUnreported by most Western media, it appears that Tunisian authorities have dismantled a serious terrorist threat against Western interests (mostly embassies) in the North African country. According to government reports, Tunisian security forces engaged a large "Salafist terrorist group" in... Aims and Methods of Europe's Muslim BrotherhoodBy Lorenzo VidinoContributors to this blog (most recently Doug Farah) have often debated the nature, tactics and aims of the Muslim Brotherhood. The debate is particularly relevant considering the ambiguous, almost schizophrenic, policies of the US government towards the Brotherhood. I have... The Danger of Homegrown Terrorism to ScandinaviaBy Lorenzo VidinoThe recent rounds of arrests in North America and in Europe highlight the changed face of jihadi terrorism in the West. The profile of the cells dismantled in Toronto and London this past summer confirms a trend that had become... Democracy in the Muslim worldBy Lorenzo VidinoToday's Boston Globe ran an op-ed I wrote about spreading democracy in the Muslim world: IN RECENT WEEKS, President Bush has delivered a series of major speeches outlining his strategy against terrorism. We have come a long way from the... Report: 3 Spanish Muslims Recruited for Jihad Every MonthBy Lorenzo VidinoToday the Spanish newspaper El Periodico published an interesting report based on extensive interviews with Spanish counterterrorism officials. According to the report, each month an average of 3 Spanish Muslims are recruited by jihadi networks either for suicide bombings in... [UPDATED] The Danish Mohammed Cartoons and the Failed German Train BombingsBy Lorenzo VidinoWith the attention focused on Great Britain and the disturbing number of operations Scotland Yard has carried out over the last three weeks, few have paid attention to the alleged plot to detonate explosives on German trains. On July 31... Italian government's pardons free terroristsBy Lorenzo VidinoLast week the Italian Parliament approved a government-sponsored mass pardon which has led, so far, to the release of more than 5,000 inmates (reportedly half of them illegal immigrants). As predicted by many, some pardoned prisoners committed new crimes within... Is al Qaeda playing politics in Europe again?By Lorenzo VidinoAs the latest messages from Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri have once again confirmed, al Qaeda is a careful observer of Western political affairs, often crafting its words and actions in order to have an impact on political... The Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic law in EuropeBy Lorenzo VidinoOver the last few days various contributors to the CT Blog have debated the real aims of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially in the West. Another indication of what the Ikhwan really want came just a few days ago from Sweden,... State Department’s flirting with the Muslim BrotherhoodBy Lorenzo VidinoOver the last weeks there have been numerous signs of a new attitude at Foggy Bottom in relation to the international movement of the Muslim Brotherhood. While scores of moderate Muslims and Islamic scholars, the 9/11 Commission, and European security... Danish cartoons: new political toolBy Lorenzo VidinoOver the last few days the CT Blog revealed how the whole cartoon controversy has been manipulated (by using fabricated cartoons) and used by various forces in the Muslim world for their political interests. The most recent wave of cartoon-related... Recruiting for Iraq: not a crimeBy Lorenzo VidinoThe recruitment of volunteers to fight in Iraq against American soldiers cannot be considered under any point of view a terrorist activity. These words, which would have been more fitting in the speech of a radical anti-war militant, were the... More lies from Danish Imams (Updated 2/5)By Lorenzo VidinoLast Friday the CT Blog revealed how a delegation of Danish Muslims, led by Copenhagen imam Abu Laban, toured the Middle East in December and showed fabricated cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in a very offensive fashion, even though the... Fabricated cartoons worsened Danish controversyBy Lorenzo VidinoThe controversy over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed is expanding, as more Muslims join the boycott and protests against Denmark and various European newspapers decide to publish the cartoons, mostly out of solidarity with Jyllands Posten and... Zarqawi's European networkBy Lorenzo VidinoThe waves of arrests that have taken place throughout Europe over the last few weeks have once again showed the extent of the presence of radical Islamist networks on the Old Continent. More disturbingly, they have highlighted how Abu Musab... Belgian female suicide bomber: not a big surpriseBy Lorenzo VidinoTuesday media outlets reported that Muriel Degauque, a Belgian female convert to Islam, died in a failed suicide attack against US forces in Iraq. Allegedly, the woman carried out the operation after her husband, a Moroccan-born radical, was killed by... Day 2 of Closing Arguments at Al Arian trial in TampaBy Lorenzo VidinoBrian Hecht of The Investigative Project on Terrorism has been in Tampa, FL, to cover the trial of former University of South Florida Professor Sami al-Arian and has written the following summary: Sami al-Arians attorneys got their first crack to... Holland's problemBy Lorenzo VidinoReports coming from Holland today indicate that Dutch authorities have carried out anti-terror raids in various cities, arresting seven individuals between The Hague and Amsterdam. Officials have revealed that the main target of the operation is 19-year-old Samir Azzouz. Azzouz... Major Terrorism Financier's Hotel Finally Under PressureBy Lorenzo VidinoOver the last few months this site has dedicated a lot of attention to Ahmed Idris Nasreddine, the wealthy Eritrean businessman whom the US have repeatedly accused of financing various terrorist groups through a network of companies and banks. In... Spanish authorities ignored tipBy Lorenzo VidinoA few days ago Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that more than a year before the deadly March 11, 2004, train bombings, Spanish police received detailed information about the plans of a group of Islamic fundamentalists to attack Madrid. On... Finally, Madrid's mastermind (updated 8/9 with new info)By Lorenzo VidinoAfter hundreds of arrests and various investigative hypothesis, it appears that Spanish authorities have finally identified the man who, at least initially, conceived the 3/11 Madrid train bombings. El Pais reported three days ago that a new Spanish police dossier... CIA agents wanted by Italy for kidnapping of radical imamBy Lorenzo VidinoToday Italian newspapers announced that authorities in Milan have indicted 13 CIA operatives for the kidnapping of Abu Omar, a radical Egyptian cleric that "disappeared" from the streets of the northern Italian city in February of 2003. The step represents... Germany acting against Turkish radical groupBy Lorenzo VidinoFor years German authorities have tolerated the activities of Milli Gorus (National Vision), a Turkish Islamist group that operates throughout Europe but receives its strongest support from Germany's large Turkish population. Apparently, things are changing. The 2004 annual report released... Training Imams in Europe: Italy Chooses the Wrong PartnerBy Lorenzo VidinoOver the last few months, determined to fight the radicalization of their burgeoning Muslim populations, various European governments have explored the possibility of training local imams in order to educate them to Western values and to indirectly control what is... |