Egypt Buys 30 Jets From France
Egypt’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday announced it had signed a deal with France for the purchase of 30 fighter jets and other armaments, worth an estimated $4.5 billion.
Author: M Barbu
Violence in Somalia, Déby’s Death and Islamist Militancy in Africa
For decades, the centre of gravity of jihadist militancy swung between South Asia and the Middle East.
In the early 1990s, Arab volunteers who had been fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan returned home to battle governments they declared un-Islamic. Later that decade, as those rebellions petered out, many fighters retreated to Afghanistan, then under Taliban control. After the 9/11 attacks and the U.S.-backed ouster of the Taliban, foreign militants who weren’t killed or captured mostly hid in the Pakistani tribal areas or scattered. Then came the 2003 U.S. Iraq war, which breathed new life into global jihadism. Thousands of militants travelled to fight U.S. soldiers in the heart of the Arab world. That rebellion was also beaten back, in part by a U.S.-sponsored tribal revolt tapping local anger at jihadists’ brutality. The descent of the 2011 Arab uprisings into chaos created new opportunity for militants, paving the way for the Islamic State’s (ISIS) self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria, its expansion elsewhere and the growth of local al-Qaeda branches.
The Radical Milieu and Radical Influencers of Bosnian Foreign Fighters
Abstract
This research note looks at the radical influencers of Bosnian foreign fighters. This group is important, as the Balkan region has been seen as a spot of jihadist activism and recruitment for the IS and Al-Nusra Front. Previous research on foreign fighters emphasized that a small number of individuals (religious leaders, former combatants, and others) at the local level play a significant role in this recruitment. The influence of such figures results in hotspots of radical activism, which are called “power centers” here. This research note argues that such dynamics are likely to be even more evident in postwar societies due to state weaknesses, which create more power for social actors and inhibit counterterrorism. The paper also analyses the role of leader-led radical “institutions” that have appeared after the Bosnian War. By doing so, it stresses the significance of local radical influencers in the recruitment of Bosnian foreign fighters. The research note shows that radical influencers in postwar radical milieus manage to “institutionalize” their authority by filling the void left by domestic war(s) with life guidance and religious values. The paper provides insights into the social relations, authority and decision-making connected with foreign fighter departures to Syria and Iraq (2012-2016).
A series of shootings occurred on 2 November 2020 in the center of Vienna, Austria.1 A gunman opened fire with a rifle, killed 4 civilians and injured 23 more. The attacker was born and grew up in Austria, but his family is originally from the Balkans. To the Islamic State, foreign fighters from the Balkans are particularly important for three reasons: first, they are linked to large diaspora communities in Western Europe. Second, they come from societies with historical ties to Islam. Finally, the Balkan region is marked by recent wars, and thus also by frozen but unresolved political and ethnic disputes.
Des militaires ont-ils le droit de dire qu’ils s’inquiètent pour la France?
Des centaines de militaires, de tous grades, ont co-signé une lettre ouverte aux représentants de la Nation, texte relayé depuis dans Valeurs Actuelles.
Ils y font part de leurs inquiétudes, que toute personne de bonne foi au fait de la situation du pays ne peut que partager. Ils affirment qu’ils sont disposés à servir la France aux côtés de tous les politiques qui, contre l’islamisme, contre ceux qui sèment la haine raciale, et à l’écoute du peuple, auront à cœur « d’appliquer sans faiblesse des lois qui existent déjà » car « il ne peut et ne doit exister aucune ville, aucun quartier où les lois de la République ne s’appliquent pas. »
Les Turcs en France: un «isolat» séparatiste?
«L’assimilation est un crime contre l’humanité» affirmait le président turc Erdogan en Allemagne en 2008. En France, qu’il se rassure, les immigrés turcs ne se caractérisent pas franchement par leur assimilation. Chiffres.
Au mois d’octobre 2020, diverses villes de France ont été le théâtre des mêmes scènes stupéfiantes. À Dijon, Vienne ou Décines, plusieurs centaines d’individus brandissant des drapeaux turcs ont improvisé des défilés à la nuit tombée, scandant des slogans à la gloire du président Erdogan, des invocations religieuses (« Allah akbar ») ainsi que des menaces de mort envers la population d’origine arménienne.
Terrorisme: un projet de loi mal pensé de plus
Algorithme, suivi des radicalisés: le projet de loi «terrorisme et renseignement» présente des mesures insuffisantes
Quoi qu’on veuille nous faire croire, la sortie précipitée de ce projet apparaît comme un contre-feu de “com” après l’attentat de Rambouillet, point d’orgue d’une semaine calamiteuse où Macron qui voulait nous jouer “plus sécuritaire que moi, tu meurs”, a, en fait, reçu en pleine face le choc de la dure réalité réduisant à néant son prétendu combat « pour une vie paisible », annoncé à Montpellier devant les policiers et qui se heurtait « en même temps » et presque au même endroit à une fusillade où un homme était criblé de balles…
“Quand on est française, on ne porte pas un hijab”
Entretien avec Lydia Guirous, qui publie Assimilation, en finir avec ce tabou français (Editions de l’Observatoire, 2021). Le retour dans le débat de la notion clivante d’assimilation est-il un phénomène de mode ou peut-on envisager des traductions dans le réel?
Née en Kabylie, arrivée à l’âge de six ans à Roubaix et d’origine modeste, Lydia Guirous a un parcours politique singulier. Après avoir évolué dans sa jeunesse dans les milieux associatifs, où elle détonne, voilà presque dix ans qu’elle est en politique, à droite. Son nouvel essai, Assimilation, en finir avec ce tabou français, disponible en librairies, aborde une question très présente dans le débat français actuel. Question sur laquelle ses positions courageuses sont connues depuis longtemps. Elle les y précise.
Central African troops and Russian mercenaries accused of abuses in anti-rebel offensive
Central African Republic’s army and its allies have driven back a rebel group that seized towns around the country amid contested elections in December, but rights groups and residents told The New Humanitarian they committed a string of abuses in the process.
“I cannot file a complaint – against whom would I file it?” said a 32-year-old truck driver who was shot at in December from a checkpoint allegedly controlled by Russian mercenaries and Central African soldiers outside the northeastern town of Grimari.
Nigerian Capital Alert over Fresh Boko Haram Threats
Forty-one-year-old Enoch Obemeasor is more alert this week on his daily two-hour commute from his home in Tafa village, Niger state, to the Nigerian capital for his printing business.
Niger state authorities on Monday said Boko Haram militants attacked the town of Kaure, abducted women, sent thousands fleeing, and hoisted their flag.
Obemeasor said the security threat means it’s not safe to drive at night.
Sudan says ready to implement security arrangements
The Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, announced the readiness of the security committees to gather former rebel forces in the cantonment sites as provided in the Juba peace agreement.
Under the peace agreement signed between the Sudanese government and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF)’s factions on October 3, 2020, the assembling of forces should have taken place two months after the signing of the agreement, but the step was delayed for months, due to lack of funding.