Month: March 2025

US President Donald Trump is a radically transparent person but still manages to surprise. After promising for years that he would put pressure on Ukraine to agree with Russia to halt fighting, Trump has recently followed through. He directed his administration to extort the Ukrainian government for a natural resources agreement, ostensibly to “pay back” the American taxpayer for military assistance, and called on Europe to provide a military force to occupy the country to deter a Russian resumption of fighting after any agreement is reached.

Abstract: As an older generation of Islamic State ideologues, fighters, and propagandists dies out or is arrested, and the center of gravity for the Islamic State as a group shifts to Central Asia and Africa, a younger cadre of supporters is taking up the mantle of support for the group. They are forming the backbone of an unofficial ecosystem of Islamic State support spread across platforms, while evading takedowns and producing unsanctioned content in the name of the group. This article provides an overview of 93 unofficial Islamic State groups and outlets operating across social media platforms and messaging applications, a year after more than 25 minors connected online were in the final stages of preparing simultaneous attacks in several European cities.

Abstract: The May 17, 2024, Ulu Tiram attack in Malaysia offers a nuanced case study of radicalization, revealing the complex psychological and ideological mechanisms that transform individual belief systems into potential vectors of religious extremism. Initially misattributed to Jemaah Islamiyah but later described as an Islamic State attack, the incident is more accurately classified as a Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD)-influenced incident. The tragedy illuminates how an isolated familial environment, driven by a fanatical father’s extreme religious ideology, systematically groomed the attacker through a distorted theological narrative that reframed violence as a spiritual purification ritual and pathway to salvation. By examining the attacker’s background through a JAD-specific lens, this analysis transcends conventional interpretations of Islamic State support by demonstrating how self-imposed ideological exiles can create significant challenges for monitoring and intervention, thus underscoring the urgent need for sophisticated approaches that move beyond simplistic categorizations of terrorist sympathizers.