Female Foreign Fighters of ISIL
Since 2013, over 50,000 foreign affiliates or foreign fighters travelled to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from at least 83 countries, according to last year’s Global Terrorism Index. As the conflict
Global Terrorism Continues Its 5-Year Decline
The 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) shows that the total number of deaths from terrorism declined for the fifth consecutive year, from 33,438 people killed in 2014 to 13,826 in 2019. The GTI, an annual report published today by the
Guantanamo Bay: an example of American Hypocrisy?
After the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001, the George W Bush administration declared a ‘War on Terror’, and with that the establishment of Guantanamo Bay: a place for the US authorities to hold people perceived to
Global Terrorism: in continuous downfall
The 2019 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) shows that since 2014 the number of deaths due to acts of terrorism has declined consecutively from 33,555 to 15,952, dropping by over 50%. The Index is released annually by the Institute for Economics
Terror Threat Increases Across the Sahel
With inter-communal tensions and weakened domestic armies, Africa’s Sahel region is facing an increasing threat of terrorism and instability. The conflict has persisted for more than half a decade, but the security breakdown has recently worsened. Militant groups have taken control
Women and Violent Extremism
Women are generally perceived as victims of violent extremism, terrorism, and armed-conflicts. This is largely true whenever women are forced to join violent groups or are abused in various ways in conflict and post-conflict zones. Here violence against women multiplies
Boomers have seen war bring a lot of loss
From one leading-edge baby boomer to another: President Trump, you’re wrong. You told our troops on Thanksgiving Day that we’re winning. But while I wish we were, we’re not. Not in Afghanistan, not against ISIS. At best we’re just not
Burkinis and French Exceptionalism
I am stunned: How can France, the land of freedom of expression, wage a war against burkinis? What happened to tolerance? What happened to individual freedom and allowing people to dress as they please? Surely a woman wearing a burkini
A Poem By Sara Joy Márquez
Global War on Terror Service Ribbon (excerpt from “Insignia Sonnets”) I want to turn you inside out. From head to toe, I want to know each act you did for us. I want numbers, how many dead by your hand and whether they deserved it in
Refugees in Europe: The Anatomy of a Global Crisis
What we are seeing in Europe is a consequence of the destabilization of the Middle East by the West that in turn has led to an acute destabilization of the West through the influx of refugees from the Middle East.
Checks and Balances and Immigration
The Year Ahead for American Politics on Immigration “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.” So goes the exemplary quote inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. Since that iconic bronze statue was dedicated in New
The Paris Attacks: What They Really Mean
The terrible events of Paris are not expressions of a religious war, but we hardly have another language to describe the degree of terror and human cruelty they express. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) misuses the religion