Abstract: Youth radicalization by Islamist extremists poses a domestic security challenge for Jordan, a key U.S. ally and crucial link in the campaign against the Islamic State. Jordanian policies aimed at neutralizing this jihadi threat have long emphasized bolstering the government’s policing capabilities and control over society. Yet ongoing terrorist attacks carried out by Jordanian youths Read More >
Syria
What is Causing Radicalism in the MENA?
The emergence of Al-Qaeda as a global terrorist organization carrying out devastating strikes across the USA, Europe, Middle East and Africa shed a spotlight on terrorism, and by extension on radicalism. The attention has intensified with the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), its atrocities and the regional surge in Read More >
The particular role of religion in Islamic State
Religion, specifically Islam, is central to the identity of Islamic State (IS). It was on the basis of religious doctrine that IS separated from Al Qaeda. It is on the basis of his belonging to the same tribe as the Prophet Muhammed that Al-Baghdadi has legitimised his claims of leadership of the Muslim ummah. Moreover Read More >
Recruitment of Foreign Male and Female Fighters To Jihad
This article is divided into three major sections. Section one deals with the incursion of foreign fighters traveling to Syria and Iraq; section two explores the issue of the recruitment of young girls and women to Jihad. Section three discusses the preemptive strategy of North African countries, especially in Morocco to combat terror. The ‘Islamic Read More >
The American Tradition of Orderly Political Transition
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, November 9, Donald J. Trump crossed the necessary threshold of 270 electoral votes and became the President-elect of the United States of America. At noon on Friday, 20 January 2017, Mr. Trump will take the oath administered by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on the west Read More >
The Gulf Cooperation Council countries and countering ISIS: threats, policies and challenges
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are being affected by the rise of terrorism and radicalism which in turn has been driven by the creation of ISIS’ state in Iraq and Syria in mid-2014. The group’s presence in Iraq and Syria is inciting many Gulf civilians to travel to Syria to take part in the Read More >
Daesh’s Retreat / “تقهقر “داعش
يتناول صمويل ماريرو (المسئول التنفيذي بمركز الشرق الأدنى وجنوب آسيا للدراسات الاستراتيجية التابع لوزارة الدفاع الأمريكية) تحليلا بعنوان: “تقهقر داعش: مؤشرات تصدر القاعدة المشهد المتطرف في العالم”، ويؤكد المقال أن تراجع سيطرة تنظيم داعش على مناطق تمركزه الرئيسية في سوريا والعراق لا يعني نهاية التنظيم أو القضاء عليه تمامًا؛ حيث سيقوم التنظيم بالتمركز في بؤر Read More >
The Islamic State’s Problem With Women
ZURICH – It is telling that women feature heavily in the Islamic State’s rise and fall. While ISIS’s craven massacre of Yazidi women in Iraq and Syria helped put it on the map, its gradual downfall is coming partly at the hands of Kurdish women fighting against it on the front lines. It is easy Read More >
Iran-Asia Energy Partnership
Few countries in the world can match Iran’s geo-economic and geo-political significance in the global energy markets. The country holds the world’s largest proven natural gas reserve (18.2 percent) and fourth oil reserves (9.3 percent). It is a founding member of both the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Gas Exporting Countries Forum Read More >
China is Diving into the Gulf, But For How Long?
It’s getting harder for Beijing to sell the story of non-interference in affairs of sovereign states.Like most other major global powers that have preceded it, China is becoming entangled in the Middle East. A friendlier region to its interests than its own neighborhood in East Asia, China found in the Middle East an attractive zone Read More >