Τζιχαντιστική προπαγάνδα στα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια, του Ιωάννη Μιχαλέτου

Η "αντιτρομοκρατική" εκστρατεία για την εκρίζωση των τζιχαντιστών στα Δυτικά Βαλκάνια δείχνει να χωλαίνει το τελευταίο διάστημα,ύστερα από μια σειρά συλλήψεων σημαντικών στελεχών που στήριζαν την αποστολή "εθελοντών" στη Συρία. 

Islamic State Fighters are Moving Ever Closer Towards Israel, by Jonathan Spyer

Islamic State has suffered severe losses as a result of coalition air strikes in the last months. Over 1,000 of its fighters have been killed, and Kurdish peshmerga forces have driven the jihadists back on a wide front between the cities of Erbil and Mosul.
The terror movement has also failed to conquer the symbolic town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) close to the Syrian-Turkish border (further south, Islamic State losses have been more modest and at least partially reversed).

The Modus Operandi of Jihadi Terrorists in Europe, by Petter Nesser and Anne Stenersen

Abstract

This article provides the most thorough overview yet of how jihadis have plotted terrorist attacks in Europe. Drawing on a database of 122 incidents, we review trends in weapon types, attack types and target types in the period 1994–2013. The overall finding is that jihadi terrorism in Europe is becoming more discriminate in its targeting while attack types and weapons are becoming progressively more diverse. The most likely scenarios in the coming three to five years are bomb attacks and armed assaults against sub-national entities, communities and individuals. A majority of the terrorist attacks will be limited in scope, but mass-casualty terrorism cannot be excluded. Foreign fighters from Syria are likely to influence the threat level in Europe, but we do not expect them to alter patterns in modus operandi dramatically.

Key Words: Tactics, targeting, foreign fighters, Europe, jihadist terrorism networks

Perspectives on Terrorism is  a journal of the Terrorism Research Initiative and the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies

ISSN  2334-3745 (Online)

Great Albania project via economic unification, by Ioannis Michaletos

The so-called "Great Albania" project, which is merely the unification of Albanian scattered populations in the Balkans, is being sought after by a variety of often conflicting in between them, nationalistic circles, with little chances of success. 

Οι δρόμοι του τουρκικού μαύρου χρήματος στην Θράκη, του Κωνσταντίνου Τερζή

Η τουρκική πολυπρόσωπη επίθεση που δέχεται η Ελληνική Θράκη, έχει καταγραφεί με ικανοποιητική τα τελευταία χρόνια. Οι μορφές της «ήπιας ισχύος» που προσπαθεί να επιβάλει η Άγκυρα επί ελληνικού εδάφους, είναι μεν πολυπρόσωπες αλλά έχουν έναν κοινό παρονομαστή, το χρήμα. Χρήμα που συνδυαζόμενο με λάθη και παραλείψεις της ελληνικής πλευράς, ιδιαίτερα στην περίοδο της ελληνικής οικονομικής κρίσης αποκτά πολλαπλή ισχύ και λειτουργεί καταλυτικά στην δημιουργία μίας «εικόνας υπερισχύος» της Τουρκίας μέσα στην Ελληνική Θράκη.

The Peshawar Attack: Sickening, but No Surprise, by Bill Roggio

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, one of many al-Qaeda-linked jihadist groups operating in the South Asian country, launched one of its more horrific attacks earlier today. A nine-man Taliban suicide assault team stormed a high school for the children of military personnel in the northwestern city of Peshawar. Armed with suicide vests and assault rifles, the squad fanned out across the school and executed everyone in its path. An estimated 145 people were killed, most of them students between the ages of 12 and 16.  

AQ Leader’s Arrest Highlights Turkey’s Terror Problem, by Merve Tahiroglu

A joint U.S.-Turkish operation last month led to the capture of a senior Libyan al-Qaeda leader allegedly involved in the 2012 murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi. While the arrest highlights high-level U.S.-Turkish intelligence cooperation, it also raises serious questions over Turkey’s transformation into a terrorist hub.