There have been some welcomed comparisons published over the last few weeks focusing on elections and the possible political future of countries and regions as a whole. While some regions can be considered too diverse to compare properly to each other, Europe and Latin America share some political, cultural and structural similarities, albeit applied in very […]
Black Wind, White Snow: The Rise of Russia’s New Nationalism. By Charles Clover. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016. The Gumilev Mystique: Biopolitics, Eurasianism, and the Construction of Community in Modern Russia. By Mark Bassin. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016. Eurasianism and the European Far Right: Reshaping the Europe-Russia Relationship. Edited […]
Societies that pull themselves to the extremes often have to ignore large swaths of reality to make the mental leap to self-abuse.
Future policies that deeply antagonize communities need to be prevented at all costs. Otherwise, it is unlikely that attacks, such as the one in St. Petersburg, will end.
Sorting out lone wolves by ideology, target type, age, and socio-economic status can help counterterrorism efforts.
Toxic polemics disseminated mainly by those loyal to Saudi Arabia and Iran made a full-blown Sunni-Shia civil war across the Muslim world a matter of time.
Militarism and terrorism are on dangerously accelerated course. Both are driven by men with myopic vision who galvanize the uninformed masses with half-truths and propaganda that are seldom exposed.
This Ramadan comes at a time when the world is facing a catastrophic leadership deficiency, and nowhere is that catastrophe more evident than in the Middle East.
Contrary to common misconception, Muslims are neither homogeneous nor are their interpretation and implementation of the Qur’an and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad monolithic.
It is that cyclical season of winner takes all. It is that all too familiar gladiatorial executive combat all over again. Yes, the Villa Somalia has once again turned into a roaring amphitheater.
Considering the violent political unrest in various parts of the world, many accept the claim that the 21st century will go down in history as a period of global reorder, perpetual insecurity and bloodshed. If the grim headlines of the first decade could be taken as forecasts of the storms ahead, many nation-states are […]
From the outset, let me make one thing clear: Al-Shabaab, and its extremist world view is neither constructive nor sustainable. This extremist neo-Islamist group represents one of a two nihilistic worldviews that dominated the twenty first century political discourse—global (dysfunctional) jihadism and global war on terrorism. Both, due to their applied mantra—with hammer, all problems […]
I don’t know who deserves the attribution as far as the coining is concerned, I only know—like the terms Islamism, sharia, and jihad — so-called political Islam is a loaded term that stirs storms of controversy. Despite that baggage, it is the prevalent concept that defines all political parties and movements with Islamic references. This […]
Today, Egypt is a dangerously polarized nation that is on the brink of a civil war. And, that worst case scenario could have broad implications far beyond that country and the Middle East. Since the military coup d’etat, the situation in Egypt has been rapidly escalating into a dangerous political dichotomy- all against the Muslim […]
On one hand, “youth”—as the cliché goes—“are the backbone and the hope of every nation.” On the other hand, youth could be a thorn on the side and a nightmare of a nation. Somalia has seen both the Somali Youth League (SYL) that mobilized a broad based anti-colonial movement that ultimately won independence for […]