Thursday, March 31, 2016
Snapchat Imams
qz.com, This imam delivers eight-second Snapchat sermons "For the past few months, Webb, a Muslim scholar based in Washington, D.C., has been answering young Muslims’ questions via eight-second videos. His Snapchat story topics cover everything from dating and drugs, to the exact specifications for prayer and fasting."
Monday, March 28, 2016
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
#Brussels attacks
Round-up of coverage associated with
Guardian, Why did the bombers target Belgium?
BBC News, Islamic State group claims responsibility for Brussels attacks in statement issued via its Amaq news agency
Daily Mail Online, 79 minutes of terror in
Rula Jebreal, Already, there have been shameless attempts to exploit
AirLive, Photo of
Mic, Facebook's Safety Check feature has been switched on in
BBC Breaking News @BBCBreaking, "These people are sick". #Brussels airport passengers describe moment of explosions.
Guardian, Brussels explosions: multiple casualties after airport and metro blasts – live
Guardian, Brussels attacks: were they revenge for Abdeslam's arrest?
Saturday, March 19, 2016
The Battle of Ideas in the Middle East
BBC World Service, The Battle of Ideas in the Middle East - Part One "Kevin Connolly travels through the Middle East to look at different ways in which the Arab states in the region are confronting the ideas of the so-called Islamic State and how well-equipped they are to fight them" Worth listening to, as it relates to several themes associated with this blog, including online issues. Also see Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Battle of ideas at heart of fight against Islamic State
Prayers, Pilgrims and Power
BBC World Service, Prayers, Pilgrims and Power "The Imam Reza shrine in the Iranian city of Mashhad is a spectacular complex visited by millions of pilgrims every year. It's also spectacularly wealthy, and part of a huge business empire worth an estimated $20 billion. So the person who runs it has considerable power. Earlier this month that person changed. BBC Persian's Najieh Ghulami, who's from Mashhad, discusses the change of guard and shares memories of the shrine."
The programme also covers other issues relating to this blog, including social media and censorship in Turkey, and Saudi Arabian comedy (which has a social media element).
The programme also covers other issues relating to this blog, including social media and censorship in Turkey, and Saudi Arabian comedy (which has a social media element).
IS prosecution
AP, Pizzeria owner who recruited for IS group gets 22 1/2 years
"Mufid Elfgeeh, 32, had pleaded guilty in December in federal court in Rochester to attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization in 2013 and 2014."
John Cantlie Video
Daily Mail, British ISIS hostage John Cantlie appears in new propaganda footage from inside Mosul one year after his last video appearance, 19 Mar 2016 "Cantlie, who was kidnapped in November 2012, is shown berating the US-led coalition for bombing a media building in the ISIS-held city of Iraq."
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
ISIS lures with video game themes
RNS, ISIS lures with video game themes "Javier Lesaca, a scholar who has spent hundreds of hours studying ISIS videos, says the terrorist organization has masterfully mimicked not only the look and feel of popular, violent games such as “Grand Theft Auto” and “Call of Duty,” but television shows — “Homeland,” “Saw,” and “Person of Interest,” to name a few — which, like the video games, feature strapping young men in cool sunglasses who kill without mercy."
Life Inside 'Islamic State'
BBC, Life Inside 'Islamic State' "A Syrian man describes the horror of everyday life in the IS stronghold of Raqqa."
Monday, March 14, 2016
Babar Ahmad
BBC News, Babar Ahmad: My support for Taliban was 'naive', 13 Mar 2016 "A British man jailed over a website considered a key moment in the birth of online jihadist propaganda said he had been "naive" to support the Taliban." I presented some images from this website during my Leiden presentation last week (see earlier posts). Ahmad is interviewed for the Victoria Derbyshire programme.
Reading List: new ISIS book
David Kilcullen, Guardian, The deadly efficiency of Isis and how it grew on the global stage "In this exclusive extract from his hotly anticipated book Blood Year, counterinsurgency expert David Killcullen maps out the leaderless resistance, remote radicalisation, and guerrilla-style terrorism that characterise the ‘Isis Internationale’."
Jihad: Between Theory and Practice.
I gave a paper at Leiden University last Friday, as part of their conference Jihad: Between Theory and Practice.
It was an interesting event and well-organised event (convened by Dr Jelle Bruning), with other presentations by Asma Afsaruddin (Indiana University) on 'Qur'anic Jihad and Its Interpretations', and Yumna Masarwa Institute for American Universities, Aix-en-Provence) on 'Ribat, Jihad, and Archaeology'. There's a related interview on my 'E-Jihad 2.0' paper here: Mare, Slick en schokken.
It was an interesting event and well-organised event (convened by Dr Jelle Bruning), with other presentations by Asma Afsaruddin (Indiana University) on 'Qur'anic Jihad and Its Interpretations', and Yumna Masarwa Institute for American Universities, Aix-en-Provence) on 'Ribat, Jihad, and Archaeology'. There's a related interview on my 'E-Jihad 2.0' paper here: Mare, Slick en schokken.
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
'IS' profiled
BBC News - Islamic State group: The full story [comprehensive, have yet to read it in full]
Omar al-Shishani
Independent, Isis leader Abu Omar al-Shishani - also known as Omar the Chechen - 'killed in US air strike', 9 Mar 2016 "A senior Isis leader, Abu Omar al-Shishani, a Syrian-based Georgian national, may have been killed in an air strike by the US-led coalition, it has been reported."
'Malaysia reveals Islamic State plot to kidnap prime minister'
UPI, Malaysia reveals Islamic State plot to kidnap prime minister, 9 Mar 2016 "Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he was among the targets."
Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Twitter praised for cracking down on use by Islamic State
Reuters/CNBC, Twitter praised for cracking down on use by Islamic State, 8 Mar 2016 "Officials with the nonprofit Simon Wiesenthal Center praised Twitter on Monday for increasing efforts to thwart Islamic State's use of its platform for recruitment and propaganda."
Monday, March 07, 2016
Conference: Jihad: Between Theory and Practice
Universiteit Leiden, Conference, Jihad: Between Theory and Practice, 11 Mar 2016 "This workshop brings together international scholarly expertise on both modern and classical Islam and studies the diversity of ideas and practices behind jihad. With a diachronic and interdisciplinary approach, it will address the interpretations of jihad, its organization, and ways to spread jihad-related ideology." I will be presenting a paper on aspects of e-Jihad as part of this conference.
'Defending Pakistani women against honour killings'
Aurangzeb Qureshi, aljazeera.com, Defending Pakistani women against honour killings opinion piece "Although it may be understandable, shooting the messenger is never justifiable. Having the fortitude to look in the mirror and acknowledge societal flaws is the first step to correcting them."
RSA 2016
govtech.com (USA), RSA 2016: Terror Groups Propagate, Recruit on Social Media Platforms with Greater Efficiency "John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security at the DOJ, said groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS, IS) are using popular social media platforms to propagate and recruit with greater efficiency than ever before." Not exactly a headline
'Police close more than 1,000 terrorist websites and social media accounts every week'
Daily Star, Police close more than 1,000 terrorist websites and social media accounts every week, 6 Mar 2016 "The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit – a police squad which fights online extremism – has removed 140,000 items of propaganda in the past five years."
Thursday, March 03, 2016
'Owning Qadri, disowning Sharmeen'
The Nation, Owning Qadri, disowning Sharmeen, 3 Mar 2016 "#WeDisownSharmeen was the top social media trend on February 29. On a day the most illustrious terrorist in Pakistan was executed, petrol prices were slashed by almost 12% and Pakistan won an important cricket match at the Asia Cup, the most urgent message that the nation wanted to give out on social media was its denunciation of its only Oscar winning director."
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
'Osama bin Laden Warned an Islamic State Would Fail'
Nancy Youssef, Daily Beast, Osama bin Laden Warned an Islamic State Would Fail, 1 Mar 2016 "Before he was killed, the Al Qaeda chief urged his followers to put off dreams of a caliphate and focus on more pressing concerns."