Fighting Terror

On Tuesday this week, the Dutch Cabinet confirmed that twelve Dutch women were picked up in Syria and will be transported to the Netherlands where they will be taken into custody for crimes related to terrorism offenses. What is the process of repatriating female IS members and the potential challenges that may arrive when prosecuting such returnees? Why is there so much reluctance on behalf of Eu...

Founded in Egypt in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood is that country’s oldest Islamist organization and has branches throughout the world. While these branches operate under a variety of names and use a variety of social, political, and occasionally violent methods, they share a commitment to the overarching goal of establishing rule according to sharia. The third episode in our miniseries on Islamism...

Academic reflection on Islam started in the early 1960s in Europe. It began as a phenomenon linked to migration dynamics when Europe witnessed many migrant populations settling in at that time. More than 4 decades later, this reflection has had to confront new approaches that frequently tend to associate Islam with immigration or violence, especially after jihadist attacks, which have taken place...

“What is Islamism? Are there any overlaps between the religion Islam and the term Islamism? Who are the Islamists and how do they view the West? What constitutes a good policy response to Islamism? The first podcast episode in our mini-series on Islamism will explore what the term Islamism means and how to respond to the Islamist challenge. In this conceptual episode Lucinda Creighton talks to Sir...

In today’s podcast, we will focus on the year long investigation of Death Weapons by a consortium of international reporters from Germany's Die Welt, Politico, and Insider . The  investigation reveals internal details of how this network of young neo-Nazis is setting up terrorist cells across Europe and the US to carry out armed attacks. In this episode Lucinda talks to Nick Robins-Early, New...

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden announced that the United States had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, current emir of al-Qaeda and longtime deputy to Osama bin Laden, in Kabul (Afghanistan). Zawahiri’s death raises questions about the succession and the relevance of al-Qaeda in the current terrorist threat landscape, as well as Afghanistan's role following last year's rushed exit by Western...

Studies have shown that there appears to be a strong link between those committing domestic violence, and those ready to commit acts of terrorism - especially among young men. Yet, while terrorism and domestic abuse share profound parallels, they couldn’t be further apart in how they are treated in today’s society and by law enforcement.  In this episode Lucinda talks to Joan Smith, a novelist, es...

On Tuesday, Belgium’s parliament debated whether to ratify a Treaty with Iran that could allow an Iranian convicted of terrorism in Belgium to be sent back to Iran.  The Treaty, however, is highly controversial among Western critics of the Iranian regime, as well as members of the Iranian opposition living in exile. In this episode, Lucinda speaks with Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United...

The Global Terrorism Index recently released its ninth edition, clearly indicating two key developments - deaths from terrorism have continued to fall since their peak in 2015, and terrorism has become more concentrated, with 119 countries recording no deaths, the best result since 2007. In this episode Lucinda speaks to Steve Killelea, an entrepreneur in high technology business development and p...

Digital advancement and new technologies have transformed the dynamics of propaganda dissemination, recruitment and radicalisation. This is resulting in easier accessibility of violent extremist and terrorist material, increasing the risk of radicalising online and helping violent extremists to establish international links. Throughout the two last years, new forms of extremist ideologies and pola...

History has proven that foreign fighters, including mercenaries and volunteers, get easily drawn to civil war and insurgencies between states where they seek to support several different ideologies and causes. The case is no different with the Russia-Ukraine war; both in 2014 and now in 2022. The only slight difference in the 2022 situation would be the scale of foreigners who have mobilised in re...

Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine has brought an unexpected twist to France's Presidential election and its coordinating role as the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU. Although President Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the election, the unexpected strength shown by his far-right opponent Marine LePen also highlights the domestic and international political, security...

Why are displaced young people at such high risk of radicalisation? What can we do to work with them, and other institutions, to ensure their full integration into society? And what are the impacts if all efforts fail? In this episode, Lucinda Creighton is joined by Kayte Cable, Co-founder & Programme Manager of the UK-based Big Leaf Foundation. Big Leaf Foundation is a small charity working w...

Recent years have seen a considerable increase in people radicalizing online. This is both true for extreme right-wing extremist and religious extremist groups. In response to this proliferation, social, community, police and intelligence services have increasingly begun setting up early detection schemes to prevent people from radicalization or supporting terrorist activities.  In this episode, L...

At the end of August, amidst the US military’s withdrawal from the country, the Taliban swept to victory in Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of foreigners and Afghans have been flown out of the country, but many remain, including American and EU citizens as well as Afghan allies. As the Taliban swept through and took Kabul the Afghan military disintegrated within the space of two weeks. The result h...

After the fall of ISIS in the Levant,  hundreds of foreign terrorist fighters have been incarcerated in Syria, Iraq or their home countries in the West.  In addition, radicalised potential terrorists have already been released or will be released soon.  Many of these individuals  minimised their role in the atrocities committed by ISIS or claim that they have left their past behind them or. As the...

Who is Hezbollah and how should be define the militant group's role in Lebanon and the wider Middle East. In this episode, Lucinda Creighton is joined by David Daoud to discuss the role of Hezbollah from a US and Israeli perspective. David Daoud is a research analyst on Hezbollah and Lebanon at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). Prior to that, he held a similar position at the Foundation for...

The seizure of power by the Taliban has left the whole world in a state of shock. Due to the withdrawal of international troops, chaos now reigns throughout the country. Tens of thousands of foreigners and Afghans have been flown out of the country. At the same time, the Taliban have taken command, and their strict interpretation of Islam rules over most of the country.  The Taliban’s swift and su...

September 11th 2001, will always be remembered as an infamous date in US and global history. Twenty years ago, the world held its breath as the events in New York and Washington unfolded. The terrorist attacks perpetrated by Al-Qaeda that day were the bloodiest ever seen on American soil, launching the US Government's global "war on terror". The country increased the pressure and st...

In December 2020, the European Commission presented the Digital Services Act (DSA) proposal, a major update to internet regulation in the EU. The ambitious legislation aims to create a safer digital space by introducing various new rules and obligations for the Big Tech companies, such as measures to counter the algorithmic amplification, notice and takedown mechanisms or higher transparency. The...

Northern Ireland is known for its violent sectarian conflict that opposed the protestants unionists and the catholic nationalists. The conflict reached its climax between the 1960s and the 90s, during a period known as the troubles, which resulted in the death of over 3600 people. The Good Friday agreement in 1998 established a political equilibrium between both sides and ended most of the hostili...

The rise and fall of ISIS in the Levant has been the most significant development with regard to Islamist terrorism in recent years. The terrorist group put Iraq and Syria to fire and sword and orchestrated several attacks in Europe and elsewhere. Despite serious setbacks suffered by ISIS, Islamist terrorism continues to thrive and remains one of today's most significant security threats in t...

In today's episode Lucinda Creighton is joined by Mitch Silber, a global political risk and intelligence analyst and terrorism expert, to discuss the current state of Islamist extremism as well as the resurgence of antisemitism and hate crimes against the Jewish community.  Mitch Silber is the executive director of the Community Security Initiative, a position created in February 2020  as par...

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2014, about 17.000 predominantly far-right foreign fighters joined the frontline to fight on both the Ukrainian and the separatist pro-Russian side. The majority of these fighters come from Russia and former Soviet republics, while around 1.000 also joined from the West. In today's podcast, Lucinda Creighton is joined by Kacper Rekawek, a researche...

Terrorist financing is an old phenomenon that keeps evolving and remains at the heart of global counter-terrorism efforts. It is the lifeblood for terrorist groups that need funding to sustain themselves and carry out attacks.  In this 7th episode of our podcast series, Lucinda Creighton discussed this topic with Hans-Jakob Schindler, a Senior Director at CEP and the head of the CEP Berlin office....