The Future of the Middle East, by Thierry Meyssan

For several months, Barack Obama has been trying to change US policy in the Middle East in order to eliminate the Islamic Emirate with the help of Syria. But he cannot do this, partly because he has been saying for years that President Assad must go, and secondly because his regional allies support the Islamic Emirate against Syria. However, things are slowly evolving so he should be able to do so soon. Thus, it appears that all States that supported the Islamic Emirate have ceased to do so, opening the way for a redistribution of the cards.

The world awaits the conclusion of a comprehensive agreement between Washington and Tehran -under the ridiculous pretext of ending a military nuclear program that has not existed since the end of the war waged by Iraq (1980-1988) -. It would focus on the protection of Israel in exchange for recognition of Iranian influence in the Middle East and Africa.

However, this should only take effect after the Israeli elections of March 17, 2015. The supposed defeat of Netanyahu would renew ties between Washington and Tel Aviv and facilitate agreement with Tehran.
In this context, the US elite are trying to agree on future policy, while the European allies of the United States are preparing to align with what will be the new US policy.

Internal divisions inside north Caucasus’ Islamist insurgency, by Giovanni Giacalone

In the summer of 2014 ISIS released a video containing a threat to start a war in Russia’s Chechen Republic and the whole Caucasus region. The footage showed an insurgent speaking from a fighter’s cockpit at the al-Tabaka Airbase near the city of Raqqa, Syria, claiming that the extremist group was going to “liberate” Chechnya and the Caucasus.[1]

In October 2014 Omar al-Shishani, one of ISIS’ military commanders, threatened that Russia would become one of the group’s next targets. On the phone with his father in Georgia, al-Shishani said that he would have revenge on Vladimir Putin and that he would infiltrate Russia with thousands of followers. [2]

List of People and Organizations Financing Terrorism

The following list is a 2011 one, compilled by Russian MFA and provides a good mapping of mostly Caucasus based terrorist networks.


From the 1510 individuals:

-117 from Grozny

-795 from areas of the Chechen–Ingush Autonomous SSR

The post Arab Spring period, should have changed/altered the records.


Originally the list was presented as "[Organizations and individuals included in the list by virtue of subsections 6 and 7 of paragraph 2.1 of Article 6 of the Federal Law of 7 August 2001 N 115-FZ “On Combating Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds from Crime and Terrorist Financing”] "


P.S. Complete database with all names and organizations in: http://rg.ru/2011/07/06/extremism-dok.html

Bibliography: Terrorism Originating from the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Russia

Compiled and Selected by Judith Tinnes

[Bibliographic Series of Perspectives on Terrorism]

Abstract

This bibliography contains journal articles, book chapters, books, edited volumes, theses, grey literature, bibliographies and other resources on terrorism in the Caucasus region, Central Asia, and Russia as well as terrorist activity originating from these regions abroad. 

Though focusing on recent (non-Russian language) literature, the bibliography is not restricted to a particular time period and covers publications up to December 2014. The literature has been retrieved by manually browsing more than 200 core and periphery sources in the field of Terrorism Studies. Additionally, full-text and reference retrieval systems have been employed to expand the search.

Keywords: bibliography; resources; literature; Caucasus; Central Asia; Russia, terrorism

NB: All websites were last visited on 01.01.2015.

Το Ισλαμικό κράτος στη Μεσόγειο:Σενάρια δράσεως, του Ιωάννη Μιχαλέτου

Η έλευση του λεγόμενου Ισλαμικού Κράτους (Ι.Κ) στη Μεσόγειο και ειδικότερα στη Λιβύη, αλλά και η σύμπραξη του με Τζιχαντιστικές ομάδες στη Χερσόνησο του Σινά και  ευρύτερα στην περιοχή του Μαγκρέμπ με την Αλ Κάιντα, εντείνει τις ανησυχίες των Ευρωπαϊκών κρατών για νέες τρομοκρατικές επιθέσεις.

Stopping the Islamic State, by Ioannis Michaletos

The formidable expansion and mutation of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) deriving from the "ISIS" group, also known simply as "Daesh", is heading into a point where important and decisive measures by the international community must be taken.

Why USA can and Egypt can't? by Giovanni Giacalone

The ISIS beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts on a beach in Libya has generated rage and disdain among the international community, as well as in the Arab world and a strong reaction from Cairo. The Egyptian and Emirates Air Force attacks on several sites of the group's stronghold in Derna, killed over 50 jihadists and destroyed a good part of their infrastructure. In addition, on Wednsday, Egyptian special forces raided Derna and captured a vast number of ISIS members.