Blog 10: Bombings in Nigeria and the question of Foreign Aid

Since 2010, Nigeria has been facing a growing problem of domestic terrorism. The group that has been know to make these attacks goes by the name Boko Haram, but hasn't attacked the capital city of Abuja since 2012 because of a hyper-increase of security measures including frequent checkpoints on major streets and entrances to public buildings. But late last month, there was a bombing at a bus park in a suburb of Abuja that was confirmed to kill 71 people and injured even more. The president of Nigeria had stated early this year that terrorism had been pushed out of the cities and out towards the northeast of the country (Abuja is located near the center). The author stated that he think the president is not capable of handling these attacks on his own and should look to foreign aid, by just last year the Honorable Minister of Nigeria in charge of information dissemination said that the country would not look abroad for help to combat the threat of terrorism. The author feels that since many other countries come to Nigeria for its reserves of crude oil, that they should step on and aid in the defense of domestic terrorism.

This becomes a global problem when the people of Nigeria look for aid abroad because their do not feel they have the resources and capabilities to provide it themselves. The author also noted an interview that had been done this month in which a Nigerian soldier claimed that he knew of fellow soldiers that had actually been working with the known terrorist organization Boko Haram. This can either mean that their defense force is not capable of doing their own jobs, meaning that Nigeria is going to need foreign aid to deal with the group; that their is much distrust between soldiers of the Nigerian army, in which case their will likely come infighting if they were to combat Boko Haram and they would need aid from foreign countries; or that there is distrust from civilians towards their military, in which case Nigeria may not need foreign aid because of, but will still not be easy for the military to deal with the group.

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/opinion/in-nigeria-terrorism-moves-south.html?_r=0

Persecution of British Muslims and Terrorism

Every month more and more British Muslims are going to Syria to risk their lives fighting in the Syrian Civil War.  On the surface this sounds like a good thing.  It sounds like the British are trying to help the people of Syria become peaceful but when you dig deeper into the topic you learn that once in Syria many of these Muslims are becoming members of different terrorist organizations that are based in Syria.  These organizations are based in Syria because so far there is not constant monitoring of activity in Syria so they are not as afraid of getting caught, as they would be in other countries.  This is beginning to worry the people of Great Britain because they are afraid that these people who have recently joined these terrorism groups will come back and start a large conflict in Great Britain. 

Since troops are slowly pulling out of Afghanistan and no longer are monitoring the terrorists every movement Great Britain is afraid that these terrorist groups will migrate to Afghanistan and plan their attack on them from there.  If this were to happen this could become a huge global issue.  The war in Afghanistan would be restarted and many other countries may step in to help Great Britain after they helped with the last war. 

Great Britain is not taking this terrorist treat lightly.  As the British Muslims return to Great Britain the British government is attempting to detain them all.  So far they have detained nearly a dozen or so of the suspected 250 British Muslims who had traveled to Syria to join these terrorist groups.  This is a good starting point but with so many of these British Muslims un-detained the threat of a terrorist attack rises and should make the British government heighten their countries security.  While the author of the article takes this opinion, I fell it isn’t any different from racial profiling in an area where certain groups are reported to commit more crimes than other groups. Detaining known terrorists on the other hand, would be the only correct way to go about doing this, but condemning all these British Muslims who have traveled to Syria during the conflicts there seems to me to be not providing justice to them.

At this point in time no other countries seem to be teaming up with Great Britain to help prevent these attacks from happening.  Maybe it is because other countries do not know too much about the topic or other countries do not feel threatened yet or just because they do not think they need to step in unless something were to happen.  Whatever the reason behind why other countries are not stepping in, if a terrorist attack were to happen then the lives of many countries would be turned upside down to fight back against the terrorists and regain peace in Great Britain. 

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10757598/Syria-is-now-the-gravest-terrorist-threat-to-Britain.html

Blog 8: Terrorist Groups and Political Leaders in Egypt

After losing interest in the topic and missing a few blog posts, I decided to write this one late and talk about an article that has some controversy surrounding it. I cannot speak on the validity of the website the article came from or how reputable a source it is, but I figured it would be interesting and different to view a biased opinion.

The article writes about the changing political climate in Egypt and how terrorism has affected it. The author seems to take the side of newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who up until the end of March was serving as Egypt's military Commander-in-Chief. The author makes a few off handed remarks that paint blame on the widely-labeled "terrorist" organization the Muslim Brotherhood that played a role in the self-defined rebellion in Egypt in 2012-13. It was only late last year that the Egyptian government labeled the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization after a large attack on a police precinct in Mansoura.

Some of the questionably unbiased remarks made by the author include:
"Terrorist attacks by Islamist militants have left hundreds of security forces dead or injured in just a few months. Many activists and critics blame the government and Sisi personally for the escalation of violence."
"there will always remain a sufficient number of suicidal hard-liners who would wage a war of attrition against the state."
"but even if its leaders conclude it is in the organization's best interest to return to the political process — either accepting or pretending to accept the new ground rules — there will always remain a sufficient number of suicidal hard-liners who would wage a war of attrition against the state."

And user-commenters are quick to claim misportrayal and outright denial of some of the statements made by the author. They say that the Muslim Brotherhood are trying to bring forth a truly honest government and that those who deny them are only doing so because they are trying to better their own political careers and setting back the citizens of Egypt.

You may ask why this is a global social problem, and to that I would say look at the commenters. Then reread the article. Everything there, while still containing facts, are littered with opinions. Because in reality, no situation like this, or for any rebellion / revolution that has left the country wanting a new system for that matter, can have one objectively correct side. It just doesn't work like that. Each of the sides wants their side to be right, and wants others to think the same. So they paint their opposition as inhumane or stupid or negative in some other way. It just shows some of the nature of humans and I thought it was very interesting.

Article:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/04/sisi-terrorism-egypt.html#

Blog 5 - Terrorism in the sky?

Summary
I'm sure all of you have heard about the Malaysia so I figured what could be a better and more real source of terrorism than the media's perception of it across the globe than the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 carrying 239 passengers and crew from the capitol city of Malaysia to Beijing. On March 8 the flight seemed to completely disappear off the earth. While the situation itself may on its own seem a little odd, when you consider that just a week prior to the flight's disappearance, there was a very large knife attack in the city of Kunming of the province Yunnan in southern China that resulted in the deaths of 29 people and injured 140 more. This terrible crime was labeled an attack by a terrorist group of separatists. Several popular TV hosts in China came out saying the disappearance of MH370 was due to terrorism. They likely based their decision on the evidence that at least 2 of the passengers of the fight were flying with stolen passports. The state-owned median of China contradicting the popular media denies that there was any terrorist involvement and the China's Central Propaganda Department because they issued a statement that meant news stations were banned from making "independent analysis or commentary" on the issue. The reason the night have issued this statement could be that they are trying to keep peace during their important political conference that is biannual. Taiwan's National Security Bureau claimed to have received a threat of possible attack on the  subway and airport of Beijing just days before the plane's disappearance.

Analysis
While the likelihood is that the plane simply went down in an ocean just brings more light to the real truth: that people are desperate to believe anything to be another 9/11. People believe that any incident involving planes means its hijacked and. Examining the evidence could lead one to believe that it was the doing of terrorists but also just as likely says it was a freak accident of nature. Also reading about the other terrorist attacks and such brings the bleak realism out of hiding in his natural floor. The extremely quick way this event became an enormous and controversial issue internationally is very interesting to think about. What elements does it have and lack? It involves a lot of innocent people. It involves a very large missing piece of transportation - bonus points for planes because 9/11. And it has secret government suppression of facts and dissemination of information. This was just a story awaiting international headlines.

Source
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/03/10/China_MH370_terrorism_chatter

Blog 4: Funding of Terrorism

Summary:

The article details the story of a 31-year-old affluent Canadian citizen working as a pathologist (in 2009) that was accused of funding terrorism in Iraq under the guise of charity. Khurram Syed Sher's 2009 tax record showed that he had previously been very charitable, but this singular donation to a group claiming to be supporting poor communities in Iraq was all it took to bring him under both the Canadian government and international spotlights. And the donation in question was for the amount of $400. A recording had recently been discovered by Canadian authorities that captured a conversation between Sher and his co-conspirators, and the conversation stated that Sher was well aware of what his money was being used for. Sher has since denied the evidence on the tape, dismissing it at "not being serious." Today, February 28th, Canadian federal prosecutors stated that they are certain that Sher was knowledgeable of the donation and not just an innocent being caught in some kind of strange misunderstanding.

Analysis:

I found this article and its implications very interesting. At an outsider's glance considering the recorded evidence, it seems too blatantly obvious to be true. But what really had me at odds was for the almost negligible donation of $400 that has caused this whole controversy. I had always thought that the funding of terrorist groups were done outside of large countries like Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and others. I imagined the donations to be much much bigger and the donors to seem more menacing and evil. Khurram Syed Sher looks like an everyday businessman you'd find in any big city, not some puppet financer for terrorism. If Sher was able to (or in his cause: wasn't able to) fund terrorist groups from thousands of miles away, then nearly anyone who wished to would likely be able to. That is quite a scary thought once I was able to process it. I had never thought that these kinds of transactions could have been done electronically, as I always pictured some kind of dark back-alley deal going on. In my background, I didn’t know many groups had the capabilities to accept “donations” through electronic transactions.

Article:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Khurram+Sher+knew+donated+money+would+funding+terrorism/9563859/story.html

Blog 2, Growing number of attacks in Syria, Cody Cook

Summary:

According to this article, Syria has had an increase in terrorism, predominately suicide bombings. Studies have shown that that in 2013, 15 percent of worldwide suicide bombings took place in Syria and a similar growth is happening in the neighboring country of Lebanon in the beginning of 2014. Jabhat al-Nusra, a large local groups with ties to Al-Qaeda, carried out the largest number of these attacks. In 2012, 43 of the 50 suicide bombings recorded in Syria were carried out by this organization, followed by another 34 attacks in 2013. Another organization called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was founded in May of 2013 and since then had been responsible for 9 suicide bombings. The most common way that these bombings are carried out is by strapping explosive vests to their bodies that can be detonated when needed. These attacks take time and planning thus showing sophistication and professionalism. In one instance six suicide bombers were able to destroy two adjacent targets by detonating themselves at the same time. In many of these examples the suicide bombers used were foreign volunteers. This has allowed Lebanon to be affected by the spread of terrorism, which as a result is hurting the stability of their country. Overall as long as the civil war continues in Syria suicide bombing will continue to be an issue in the surrounding states. 

Analysis:

The concept of suicide bombing can easily become a worldwide issue. As long as the civil war continues within Syria they will continue to have organizations that want to use terrorism to get their message across. Since many suicide bombers are foreign volunteers there is an increased risk of people from other countries dying in Syria and an increased risk of people from Syria carrying out attacks on other countries. If we want to put a stop of this rising increase in suicide bombing we must step back and determine the best course of action for ending the civil war in Syria. Until this is accomplished suicide bombing will continue to be a major issue and will keep spreading out and affecting more and more people. 

Source:

http://www.jpost.com/Syria/Suicide-terrorism-thriving-in-Syria-is-threat-to-West-Israel-new-report-warns-341087

Blog 1: Terrorism in Sochi, Cody Cook 2/7/2014 14:25

Summary

The article discussed the security forces for the Olympics, which numbered over 100,000 men in a perimeter 1500 miles square around the city (60mi x 25mi) that is known as the “ring of steel.” The inherit risk of an attack inside this perimeter is low, but even just outside it is very likely. The most vulnerable points of attack would be busses travelling inside the cordoned area according to analists. The group the security forces are most concered about to perpetuate attacks is named the Caucasus Emirate established in 2007 with ties to Al-Qaeda. The group was formed in order to secure Chechen suscession from the Russian Federation after the first and second Chechen wars but quickly chaged motives to a more jihadist component. This group has reportedly committed approximately two attacks per year since its formation resulting in the deaths of hundreds. In two attacks in late 2013, the group targeted a city 600 miles away from Sochi killing 24. Just three months before the first of those attacks, the group released a video cursing the games that would take place this year and saying they would give the city a “present” during the games. The U.S. has stationed two ships nearby in the Black Sea with helocopters ready to deploy to rescue American citizens visiting the games in the case of an attack. The view athletes the article questioned stated they felt safer from threats of terrorism than they did being injured during their event.

Analysis

With the kick-off of the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi, Russia, I found it appropriate to research threats of terrorism surrounding the event. I was surprised at the amount of information I was able to find in the one article. The group specialists are most concerned about had made statements that specifically targeted the games this year and also said they were "satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors." A terrorism specialist at the University of Albany adviced to simply not go to the games because of the perceived threat of terrorism surrounding them. I also found it very interesting that numerous times the president of Chechnya had said that the leader of the group Caucasus Emirate had been killed, but specialists are still unconvinced this is true. The groups formation was also interesting. Coming together due to the mistreatment of Chechen during wars with Russia later to change entirely to a terrorist organization. It makes you think what other groups that have cause harm to the innocent started out with a more noble cause.

Source:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/explained-are-terrorist-about-attack-sochi-olympics

Topic: Terrorism

I am going to be researching current events on terrorism on a multinational and global scale. I'm curious to learn how it affects different countries around the world, economically, politically, socially, and so on. Ideally I would like to contrast the differences of perceived and conscious threats in regions like Northern Africa, the Middle East, and possibly southeast Asia.