The European Union is concerned that in the longer term, Afghanistan could revert to being a safe haven for international terrorists who might target EU countries. The EU’s “preparedness to deal with the threat from terrorism has evolved significantly over the past decade”, according to the latest communique to European Parliament.

The Shadow of Taliban

An EU action plan “recognises that the Taliban takeover constitutes a ‘propaganda victory’, resonating with and encouraging jihadist and Islamist extremists globally, including in Europe” and calls on EU intelligence networks “to monitor the impact of the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan on the global Islamist extremist and jihadist propaganda scene, including the Afghan diaspora and Muslims in Europe”. The briefing says the EU will also “increase efforts to counter the spread and influence of Islamist extremist ideology” in Afghanistan and the region.

The briefing, titled “Security situation in Afghanistan implications for Europe”, says: “In response to events in Afghanistan, the Council published a counter-terrorism action plan on Afghanistan in September, setting out four clear objectives, and making 22 recommendations for action….The EU’s ‘strategic compass’ process provides a framework for these discussions, including negotiations over a potential future rapid reaction or ‘initial entry’ force, able to provide a European capability to react to events such as those that unfolded in Afghanistan. Members of the European Parliament have called on the EU to reinforce significantly its capacity to act autonomously and for the strategic compass to address the terrorist threat from Afghanistan.”

The role of EU

The EU proposes, and is implementing, screening Afghan nationals and others evacuated from Afghanistan. The governments of EU states are to “systematically check biographical and biometric data of Afghan nationals or presumed Afghans and other nationals coming from Afghanistan and arriving at the EU’s external borders, including individuals evacuated to the EU, against all the relevant databases”.

Another critical recommendation reads like something out of a military manual to tackle terrorism. “The plan also recommends improvements in information-sharing, so that updated ‘battlefield information’ collected in Afghanistan – such as ‘fingerprints found on explosive devices or biometric data of fighters detained in Afghan prisons and who have been released by the Taliban’ – is available to the competent national authorities and Europol. The plan calls for screening to cover both Afghan citizens evacuated by the US to the western Balkans who may seek to enter the EU, and those evacuated to US bases in theEU, some of whom have requested asylum in EU Member States.”

The EU action plan highlights the importance of “assessing the presence and activities of terrorist groups in Afghanistan and their financing, and of monitoring terrorists’ travel between the EU and Afghanistan”. It calls for sharing “strategic intelligence on the terrorist threat resulting from developments in Afghanistan, especially through EUINTCEN, the EU’s in-house intelligence analysis and reporting service”.

The EU will be setting up an EU-level “pool of security-vetted specialists in Afghan languages, including Pashtu, Dari, Urdu and Farsi to monitor social networks and to promote counterterrorism dialogues with countries in the region.

The sources of Taliban funding

The EU is mooting the idea of cutting off two sources of Taliban funding: the drugs trade and arms trafficking. “The UN estimates that in 2020 Afghan farmers produced some 6300 tons of opium, accounting for more than 90 per centof illicit global supply. There has also been a surge in the production of synthetic drugs in Afghanistan. According to some estimates, the Taliban may have earned US$400 million a year in recent years, equivalent to a quarter of the country’soverall revenue, from drug-related activities, including opium production and the production of ephedra, methamphetamine and cannabis.”

The plan also draws attention to the “risk that weaponry seized by the Taliban after the withdrawal of US and allied troops, and taken from Afghan security forces, may be sold”. In this context, the EU is implementing the 2020-2025 EU action plan on “firearms trafficking, particularly with respect to the western Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine”.

Admitting that the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan “represents a symbolic victory for the jihadist cause in general”, the communique says Europe should be concerned about “ideological boost for jihadist movements in sub-Saharan Africa”.Armed terror groups have increasingly developed strong Salafi ideologies and forged ties with movements predominantly active in the Middle East, namely al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and even the Taliban. “The spike in violence attributed to jihadist groups, and the destabilising effect this is having on the countries and regions involved, has prompted international stakeholders, including the European Union, to launch counter-terrorism operations and to deploy civilian and military missions,” it says.

L'articolo EU monitoring Islamist extremism in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan proviene da InsideOver.

Although the Islamic State’s Caliphate has been destroyed and its terrorist fighters having largely retreated underground, the group remains dangerous and ready to strike – albeit via different means.

Current Status of ISIS

ISIS was decisively defeated by an American-led international coalition, and their rein of destruction across Syria and Iraq has come to an end. The group has lost enormous financial, arms and training capability with the loss of its territory.

Many in the region who may have been inclined to join the group in earlier years had their fascination disappear with the humiliating defeat, but it is also clear that ISIS’ ability to recruit new members and organize new fighting units and battle plans has been severely degraded.

The result is a far-reaching withdrawal from both Iraq and Syria and ISIS’ loss of the ability to conduct sophisticated operations. According to reliable estimates, approximately 3,500 ISIS terrorists remain in Iraq, and a maximum of 4,000 remain in Syria.

Report: ISIS is Out of Heavy Weapons

ISIS continues to try to obtain weapons, but recently published research indicates that the organization possesses only light weapons, and has no way to obtain weapons of mass destruction. Particularly since ISIS’ financial transactions are constantly monitored and due to the subsequent loss of its financial network over the years, these acquisitions have become virtually impossible.

Its options to conduct terror attacks are also accordingly limited. Mostly they are carried out by small, mobile groups, usually no more than ten people. In addition, these attacks mainly take place in remote regions outside the cities. Usually, the focus is on fast, rather simplistic attacks.

Make No Mistake: ISIS is Still a Threat

Nevertheless, there is no reason to give the all-clear on the threat posed by ISIS. For example, elsewhere, in Europe, ISIS remains active. It has just changed its tactics.

Even in Europe, the organization is no longer capable of large-scale operations, nor can it rely on trusted members trained in the military with substantial combat experience. However, smaller attacks by individual perpetrators, such as recently in Vienna or Nice, are unfortunately still possible and even likely.

ISIS also uses these actions to show that it is still present and that it can still strike. In doing so, it is explicitly looking for new motives for mobilization and provocation that will bring in recruits, for example, the discussion about the Mohammed caricatures that led to protests and controversy in France after a school teacher was beheaded for displaying the cartoons as part of a class debate on free speech.

The ISIS Recruitment Pipeline

Often, no particular effort is required for recruiting new fighters other than a few “inspiring” videos for future terrorists. This cyber recruitment is even more practicable and often more effective than the work of extremist Qur’anic academies schools or extremist groups that are formed around a few mosques and run by like-minded preachers. This form of onlie radicalization often goes unnoticed.

In addition, ISIS is now growing its presence in Africa. In West and North Africa in particular, ISIS is currently strengthening its capabilities. Above all, tge group is making use of the chaos in Libya to grow its numbers and strategic strength. In addition to ideological mobilization, ISIS is primarily concerned with expanding smuggling routes to sub-Saharan Africa.

Although al-Qaeda currently has a more significant influence in the region, it can be assumed that ISIS’ activities in West Africa will increase despite the efforts made to counter them, and that ISIS will remain a credible threat in and outside Europe for the foreseeable future.

L'articolo ISIS Has Lost Most of its Territory But the Terrorist Group is Still a Threat proviene da InsideOver.

December has not started off well for French President Emmanuel Macron. During a televised interview with the online portal Brut, he denied that many of his proposed reforms to tackle Islamism are designed to eradicate France’s freedoms, calling such claims “a big lie.”

Macron added that “we are not Hungary or Turkey,” hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called the French leader “trouble” and urged French voters to “get rid of him as soon as possible.”

The accusations emerged after some commentaries in the English-speaking media accused Macron of targeting all Muslims in response to a spate of attacks in the last few weeks attributed to violent Islamists.

Macron Denies Picking on Muslims

Macron denies that he is singling out Muslims and insisted that politics and religion should always be separate in French society. It comes at a time when France is also dealing with increasing racial tensions and social strife.

Tensions are also brewing in France as a result of the police beating of black music producer Michel Zecler, which resulted in four police officers being charged.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced after the attack that he would completely rewrite a draft of the new security law that the French President intends to push through the National Assembly.

The original security legislation was designed to curb the right to film police officers in action after large protests at the end of November drew 133,000 people nationwide, and 46,000 in Paris alone.

A provision in the draft law referred to as Article 24, an essential measure in Macron’s plan to court right-wing voters by being tougher on law and order ahead of his anticipated 2022 re-election bid, had sparked fury among the media and the left flank of his own party.

Article 24 made it a crime – punishable by a year in prison and a €45,000 fine – to share images of the police with an “obvious intention to cause harm,” such as demanding violence.

New Security Bill Would Give Police Officers More Protection

However, the aim of the broader security bill is to provide better protection for police officers.

Though many view this security legislation as a cynical attempt to win right-wing voters, there is nothing wrong with its purpose. In an age of social media and smartphones, it is easy to undermine police officers who are trying to do their job by filming them and exposing them on the internet, even if certain footage captures them acting within the parameters of the law.

Of course, there are times when the police can break the law and smartphones can be a useful way to capture officers who are engaging in police brutality. Yet Article 24 does not prevent people from filming police officers altogether, and there is a public interest to ensure that the police respect the laws of the nation that they have been entrusted to uphold.

Macron is Trying to Defend French Values

Regarding Macron’s anti-Islamist bill — as I wrote earlier this year — local officials will be provided extra legal power to tackle extremism while money will be invested in education. This is particularly aimed at emphasizing positive and moderate aspects of Islamic culture and civilization. The bill will also focus on combating other social problems such as housing and poverty that feed into extremism. This law does not intend to segregate Muslims, and in fact it is an attempt by the French President to protect France’s values like freedom of speech and the rights of French citizens. It also aims to prevent Islamic extremism in France.

The only disappointing outcome of the French President’s anti-Islamist law is that many European nations have not jumped to Macron’s defense in response to authoritarian leaders like Erdoğan who have publicly condemned the French Government. Macron has set an example here that many Western nations should follow and they should be defending him.

These laws will be good for France in the long-term. They will uphold the rule of law and curb the rise of Islamic extremism at a time when the number of terrorist attacks in the country has increased since the last decade. If Macron wants to capitalize upon his support among conservative voters and do what is best for all French citizens he must stick to his convictions.

L'articolo Macron Calls Claims He’s Eroding France’s Freedoms ‘a Big Lie’ proviene da InsideOver.

After the latest radical Islamic terrorist attack, the French are calling for more toughness in the fight against Islamism. President Emmanuel Macron is under pressure.

An Act of Terror to Intimidate Teachers and Free Speech

The “fatwa against a teacher,” as Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin puts it, led to the murder of history teacher Samuel Paty after he showed a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.

However, his killing was also intended to intimidate almost a million French teachers who face similar tensions and religion-related debates every day.

Although the brutal execution did not deliver the national unity that Macron had evoked on the evening of the attack, one can observe a noticeable turnaround in public opinion. The calls for more rigor in the fight against radical Islamism are getting louder.

French Right Demands “Arms Instead of Tears”

The conservative and far-right opposition accuses Macron of a lack of determination. The “politics of candles” must now be over, said Marine Le Pen, head of the right-wing populist Rassemblement National. “Arms instead of tears,” demanded Bruno Retailleau, who wants to position himself as a conservatives candidate for the 2022 presidential elections.

Even Macron himself chose a new tone of voice after the attack, saying “fear has to change sides.” He also added that “Islamists in our country will no longer sleep peacefully in the future.” After this declaration of war from the Élysée, the government must deliver now.

Turning Words into Action

A week ago French police launched a large-scale strike against suspected Islamist milieus, including 40 house searches. Interior Minister Darmanin himself stressed on the radio that the house searches were “not necessarily connected” to the fatwa against the teacher, but that they had a clear message: “Not a minute’s delay for the enemies of the republic.”

On Tuesday afternoon last week, Macron paid a demonstrative visit to the Bobigny Prefecture in the problematic neighborhood of Seine-Saint-Denis. There he asked about the strategy and successes in the fight against radical Islamism.

In the meantime, Darmanin announced the closure of the Pantin mosque which is located in a Paris suburb. The mosque’s imam is said to have distributed the video in which the father of one of the victim’s students called for violence.

Links to the Migration and Refugee Debate

France is politically divided when it comes to combining migration issues with the fight against terrorism. The last two perpetrators were immigrants, but most Islamic terrorism perpetrators in France in recent years were French citizens with Arab roots who grew up in France.

Interior Minister Darmanin has asked the Security Council to include migration and unaccompanied minors on the acute action plan. When he took office in July, he has requested the list of those who threatened Islam who do not have a regular residence permit. Allegedly it took weeks to get it. In addition, however, there are the usual problems with deportations, such as an OK from the home country, which traditionally proves to be complicated.

Darmanin also seeks to dissolve various organizations. These include the CCIF (Collectif contre l’islamophobie en France), an association that officially fights against Islamophobia in France but has been extremely successful in spreading the image of an Islamophobic France abroad.

Cracking Down on the ‘Uberization of Terrorism’

The latest attack made the role of social networks particularly evident. Experts speak of an “uberization of terrorism,” a relocation of terrorist networks to the Internet, with which the security authorities have not kept pace. The results are laws that do not address Islamic terror sufficiently. Despite the new laws that Macron announced a few weeks ago against radical Islam, there is now a controversial debate about how much rights France wants to give up in the fight against terror.

For his words and his strategy, Macron is now referred to in radical circles in France as the “enemy of Islam.” The Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera spoke of Macron’s “crusade” motivated by the French president taking advantage of Islam being “in a global crisis.” Moreover, the Islamic world is now calling for a boycott of French goods after Macron promised France would not renounce the caricatures of Mohammed.

Macron is thus feeling pressure from all sides. Parts of the public seek a zero-tolerance policy against Islam in France while others want a more tolerant approach; with the elections of 2022 looming, Macron will need to find a balance between civil liberties and the protection of the French people, who have suffered the violence of Islamism like no other European nation.

L'articolo France’s Fight Against Islamic Terrorism proviene da InsideOver.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced new legislative aiming to tackle religious separatism, a calling card of radical Islam. It has the potential to transform France.

Macron’s Highly Anticipated Speech Against ‘Radical Islam’

It was one of the most eagerly anticipated speeches in Macron’s tenure. Its topic was nothing short of a paradigm shift towards radical Islamism and a commitment to fighting against religious parallel societies, which are the breeding ground for terrorism. It will likely mark a turning point and the beginning of the end of the French denial of reality in the fight against what Macron – without any euphemisms – labels “radical Islam.”

Macron’s government had long been concerned about signs of radicalization within French Muslim communities. Some Muslim men’s refusal to shake hands with women, swimming pools which provide men and women alternate time slots, and the instruction to girls aged four and over to wear a full-face veil are all measures which have been viewed as highly detrimental by many within Macron’s government. This is particularly the case since France follows a strict form of secularism, a strict separation of religion and public life. The principle was enshrined in French law in 1905 after a violent dispute with the Catholic Church.

This secularism, however, is not appreciated by everyone. According to a 2016 Ifop Institute poll, almost one-third of French Muslims are putting Sharia law above the republic’s laws, a development Macron rightly described as “unacceptable”. These tendencies have remained a solemn issue for the country.

New Laws Will Tackle Religious ‘Separatism’

The laws announced on Friday during Macron’s speech are supposed to tackle religious “separatism”. When asked, Macron admitted that the new law would primarily target the radical forms of Islam. After all, other religion’s detrimental excesses had so far been “marginal phenomena,” according to the French President.

Macron repeatedly used the word “wake-up call” in his one-hour speech and appealed to all French people to be vigilant and stand united against those who sought to divide the country. He called for a society-wide fight against Islamist fanaticism, which Macron expressly referred to as a “political ideology”.

For years, the problem of radical Islam in France has been controversial throughout all social classes. Macron’s task to find the right words was thus tricky. But he managed. He neither fell into the trap of right-wing populists and fascists, who consider Islam as a whole to be incompatible with France’s values nor into that of leftist ideologues who brand any criticism of Islam as Islamophobia.

Long Overdue Legislation

Instead, Macron announced a far-reaching, coherent, and long overdue legislation. From the financing of mosques, the training of imams, the far-reaching control of religiously influenced cultural and sports clubs, and the general ban on home tuition, Islamist ideologues, who have been indoctrinating young people for too long, ought to be stopped with the changes.

It is no exaggeration to describe Macron’s speech as historical and the announced law against religious separatism as seminal. Historical because, for the first time, a French president described France’s problems with radical Islamism as the result of a complex historical mixture, namely a post-colonial society that has not fully dealt with its historical traumas such as the Algerian war.

At the same time, he named the French Republic’s failure by blaming France for creating separatism in the first place. France has allowed a “ghettoization,” a separation of entire population groups according to origin and social milieu, thereby creating the infamous banlieue neighborhoods.

Macron’s Request: ‘Islam of the Enlightenment’

The most drastic measure of the law is the abolition of the right to homeschooling. This affects around 50,000 French students who do not attend a state or a privately organized but state-recognized school. According to the Ministry of Education, their share is negligible at 0.5 percent, but it has increased by 10,000 in one year. In the future, distance learning should only be possible for “strictly medical reasons.”

Above all, however, attempts to prevent foreign influence in the financing and training of imams in France. The Muslim representatives now must submit rules for certified imam training within the next six months. Shortly before these announcements, Macron had received the representatives of all the country’s major religions in the Élysée Palace.

Finally, Macron pleaded for an “Islam of the Enlightenment.” France must develop into an academic center of excellence for Islamic culture, history, and religion. He announced ten million euros for the Fondation de l’Islam de France and the creation of a scientific institute for Islamic studies.

Macron concluded his speech by stating that radical Islam, which has grown over decades and has been responsible for 250 killings in France since 2015, will not be eradicated in a few days but will still be ultimately defeated – which ought to be an excellent message for the French and a wake-up call for many European nations.

L'articolo Ça Suffit: Macron’s Historic Plan to Fight Radical Islam proviene da InsideOver.

Turkey is one of the countries that benefited the most from Ukraine’s Euromaidan. Since 2014 it has been working hard on turning a geopolitically ambitious and groundbreaking goal into reality: to make Ukraine part of the Eurasia-extended Turkish world.

The accomplishment of this historical task has been made easier by Russia’s forced withdrawal from the country, both politically and culturally, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pursuing a dual-sided strategy to make it happen: the building of a strategic partnership with Ukraine and strong attention devoted to the Tatar question.

Turkey is Against the FSB-Run War on Islamists

Turkey has never recognized the Crimean peninsula’s new Russian status quo and it is very unlikely to have a change of mind in the next future because of an ensemble of reasons, among them the country’s geopolitical alignment, the fear of a Crimea-like scenario within its own borders caused by the Kurdish guerrilla, and lastly the pan-Turkic agenda.

The last point has been prompting Turkey to significantly increase its presence in Ukraine’s internal affairs with the goal of constructing an informal protectorate over the little-but-influential Tatar community, which is the keystone for the control over the country and for the possible turning of Crimea into a Chechnya-like insurrection-plagued zone.

Turkey’s Latest Move on Crimea

The Turkish government’s latest move is the public condemnation of the Fsb-run war on Islamists in the peninsula, that is the war on a terrorist group known as Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on August 31, voicing concern “about the raids and detentions taking place in Crimea”, which are seen by Ankara as the “latest example of systematic oppression and intimidation policies [on the Crimean Tatar population]”.

The statement was referring to the temporary detention of four Tatars as part of a terrorism and extremism-related investigation. The suspects were taken into custody in the early hours of August 31 and were released by that night. It was a hours-long normal police procedure, as it happens in every country, but it was depicted by Ukraine and Turkey as illegal and as the example of the alleged persecution against the Tatars.

It can be read that “Turkey will continue to stand by its kinsmen, Crimean Tatars, who have been defending their rights and interests by peaceful means and trying to make their voices heard through democratic methods.”

These words prove one fact: Turkey is actively supporting the Tatar underground opposition and has ceased long time ago to limit its solidarity to the verbal sphere.

What is Going on in Crimea?

The very existence of HT threatens Crimea’s security and territorial integrity. It is a foreign-funded caliphate-seeking Sunni fundamentalist organisation whose activities are completely legal and free in many Western countries – but they have been outlawed in the post-Soviet space and in a large part of Asia. Due to its perfectly legal status, HT has been using Ukraine and Turkey as operational bases from which to coordinate the efforts against Crimea and it is infiltrating deep the Tatar expats community and those who are still living in the peninsula.

Despite the outlawing, HT keeps working underground in Russia as shown by the numerous police operations that have taken place over the years. More recently, HT has been accused of plotting terrorist attacks and recruiting foreign fighters to be sent in Syria. It is noteworthy that most of the operations are focused in the Turkic-majority republic of Tatarstan.

FSB Operations in Crimea

As regard to Crimea, several FSB-run operations have been carried out to target the group since the annexation. In 2019 more than 30 Crimean Tatars have been jailed, accused of being HT members and sentenced on terrorism charges. During the raids many weapons were found and seized. This year more than 10 Crimean Tatars have been arrested on the same charges, prompting the Kremlin to start talks at the parliamentary level aimed at strengthening the current national security’s and territorial integrity’s legislation.

Overall, these numbers show that there is the potential for a likely North Caucasus-like insurgency. Indeed, HT’s activism inside the Tatar community is contributing to foster the level of religious radicalization among the minority, whereas the connections with the Jihadist network are making the situation worse.

According to the US-based think tank American Center for Democracy about 100 Crimean Tatars have fought in Syria alongside jihadist-linked anti-Assad rebels, while only in the year 2013 at least 30 joined the Islamic State. It is precisely in Syria that Crimean fighters would have been approached to discuss the opening of a battlefront in the peninsula. The absence of reliable and updated data about this topic makes any estimation difficult, that’s why the FSB seems engaged in a race against time.

Last but not least, it must be emphasized that hundreds of Tatars fled Crimea and Ukraine in order to fight in the Donbass against the pro-Russian rebels and they are known for their closeness to other Muslim-only battalions made up by fighters coming from North Caucasus, many of whom are linked to the jihadist world.

Is Ukraine Headed to the Turkish Sphere?

Apart from the growing conflict in Crimea, Turkey is more and more assertive with and within Ukraine. Many events which took place in the last twelve months suggest that the birthplace of the Russian civilization is becoming part of the Turkic world. The latest news is that the Ukrainian government is interested in joining the Turkic Council, which is Ankara’s main soft-power instrument in the post-Soviet space.

According to Emine Dzheppar, Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Volodymyr Zelensky Government wants to join the entity because “Ukraine is the heir of Turkish culture [and] Crimean Tatars are a bridge between Ukraine and Turkey”. Whereas it’s perfectly understandable the political reason behind the move, which is expected to increase dramatically the quality of Ukrainian-Turkish partnership, Dzheppar’s claim is purely anti-historical and must be read as an identity-washing attempt aiming at rewriting the country’s past, present and future.

The Tatar Revival in Ukraine

Ukraine’s path to the Turkish world is not represented by the mere decision to join the Turkic Council; the 2020 will be remembered as the year of the Tatar revival. In July the Turkish ambassador to Kyiv, Yagmur Ahmet Gulder, declared that Ankara is set to fund the opening of the country-largest mosque in the heart of the Ukrainian capital city. The building is expected to cost $5 million and to have capacity for 5,000 faithful.

In the end, another very important event took place on May 18. Every year on that day the Tatars commemorate the so-called Day of Remembrance of Victims of Crimean Tatars Genocide; for six years now they are no longer alone in the observance of this much-felt date: they are accompanied by Turkish and Ukrainian delegations.

It is no coincidence that Zelensky chose this very important day to announce the birth of a “new Ukraine [in which] anyone may feel citizen”, deciding to start this nation building process by listing in the calendar of public holidays two of the most iconic feasts of Islam: the Feast of the Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha), and the Festival of Breaking the Fast (Eid al-Fitr).

Everything seems to indicate that Turkey is willing to play a major role in the once-homeland of Russian civilization, and if the West would ever green light a destabilization plan aimed at disturbing Russia’s interests in the region, this plan is likely to target the infiltrated and ready-to-explode Crimea.

The FSB-driven war on Islamism must be read for what it truly is: a race against time to prevent a Chechnya-like scenario from taking place in Crimea.

L'articolo Turkey’s Tatar Agenda Explained proviene da InsideOver.

French President Emmanuel Macron seeks to combat the growing Islamism in France with an action plan. He is currently laying the foundation for that plan.

Macron: ‘the Republic Must Keep Its Promises’

Recently President Macron paid a symbolic visit to the Alsatian city of Mulhouse and its problem areas to prepare the announcement of its action plan against Muslim separatism. The aim was to show that his long-announced action plan was not drawn up in the ivory tower of the Élysée Palace, but in several ministries and that he was aware of the problems on the ground. “The Republic must keep its promises,” Macron said to the residents, adding: “We have to fight separatism because others try to replace the Republic if it does not keep its promises.”

For a long time, French society had resigned itself to the existence of problem areas, especially in larger cities. However, since 2015, the country has been shaken by a series of Islamist attacks that have killed more than 250 people. It turned out that many of the attackers had grown up in the hopelessness of the banlieues, or slums. Macron’s visit to Mulhouse is also due to the current local election campaign. The candidates for Macron’s party La République En Marche trail in many cities and Macron sees an enormous vote potential for his movement is traditionally very conservative Alsace on the right side of the political spectrum.

Al-Nanour Mosque: a Symbol of France’s Ineffective Response to Radical Islam

One reason for the conservative forces in the region is the Al-Nanour mosque, which since 2009 has not been finished. The mosque was financed by an NGO from Qatar. Responsibility for the project in France has been an association of Muslims in Alsace, the Association des Musulmans d’Alsace, which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood. Since two journalists first published a book that exposed the funding sources, the French government has blocked further transfers from abroad. Now, 2.5 million Euros are missing to complete the project. It has become a symbol of how helpless the French state has become in the face of a radical Islam in its own country.

Macron has postponed his long-announced action plan several times. The issue is delicate, and the government is expected to present proposals and programs that differ from the feeble attempts of Macron’s predecessors. Macron has consulted many experts in the past weeks and months according to reports. Islamic scholar Gilles Keppel regularly talks to the president and several well-known authors have also been asked to speak by the president. All of this shows how seriously Macron takes the problem.

Macron’s Promise: ‘to Fight Decisively Against the Forces that Destroy National Unity’

Already when he spoke to the New Year, previously Macron announced his decision: “to fight decisively against the forces that destroy national unity.” The problem is old in France, but the choice of words is new. Macron has deliberately abandoned the term of parallel society in recent weeks and now seeks to fight what will be called separatism in the future. The term first appeared in 2016 during the so-called “Burkini affair”. While the parallel society is more of a symptom, the concept of separatism reflects the active will to want to separate and exclude oneself.

In terms of actual content, Macron’s action plan in its preliminary form comprises around 30 pages and explains how the state intends to fight “Islamist separatism and radicalism.” It is also about sharpening the instruments for a more reliable diagnosis of radicalism in sports clubs and schools and developing strategies to recapture the lost territories of the republic.

Naturally, Macron’s plan is considered controversial, particularly by the far-left. However, it will likely gain more proponents than opponents over the next months until the plan is officially implemented. Recent developments in France have urged Macron to act, and his fight against separatism is a coherent start.

L'articolo Macron’s New Action Plan to Tackle Extremist Islamism proviene da InsideOver.

Since 1945, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised security in exchange for oil, the United States has maintained an intensive partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As part of geostrategic agendas, the partnership includes, inter alia, the training of Saudi Arabian military by the US Army. However, after Saudi trainees have killed American soldiers in two separate American locations, the program has sparked concerns and is now being partially suspended.

After the recent fatalities at US military bases, the Defense Department has taken immediate measures that aim to intensively examine the reasons that led to two separate terrorist attacks on US soil. More than 5200 foreign militaries are currently stationed across the United States; approximately 900 of them are Saudi military trainees.

Both nations have been close allies since 1945, particularly with regard to the respective relationships with Iran and the geostrategic balance in the Middle East. Only two years ago, this partnership was emphasized again when the Kingdom agreed to an arms deal worth billions of dollars.

In the current incident, a 21-year-old opened fire in a U.S. Army classroom, killing three American soldiers. Another eight people were injured in the attack before the police killed the perpetrator named Mohammed al-Shamrani. As it subsequently became known, the killer had published a manifesto on Twitter critical of the United States prior to the attack, in which he described the United States as the “nation of evil”.

The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism; however, the result of the investigation are still pending. Moreover, the FBI is investigating whether al-Shamrani was acting alone or as part of a network that was at higher risk. This worry does not seem unfounded, because the attack was the second within a few days. Shortly before the Florida terror, another Saudi soldier shot two US soldiers at Pearl Harbor Naval Base. Meanwhile, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien stated that there was “no doubt” that the shooting was an act of terrorism.

In response, members of Congress have already demanded a temporary end to the Saudi Arabian soldier training program in the United States. Senator Lindsey Graham said that the program needed to be suspended until more precise details of what exactly had happened were available.

The Defense Department has reacted, not in the draconian way Graham sought. After Secretary of Defense Esper had ordered a review of the current situation, the Defense Department has suspended all training flights at military bases across the country as well as shooting range training and any other training outside of classroom studies for the Saudi students as a result.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom, dependant on complete reinstatement of the program, has pledged to take “whatever measures are necessary” to ensure that no other Saudi terrorist attack will occur on US soil, as another incident would likely result in the program’s total shutdown.

L'articolo US Military Halts Operational Training for Saudi Students proviene da InsideOver.

The poorly-regulated and patchily-policed areas of West Africa near the Sahel and eastern Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are experiencing a jihadist gold rush. As the Islamic State and Al Qaeda continue to lose territory in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia their affiliate groups have their eyes on a glittering new prize: West Africa’s Sahel region. It’s a strip of land running southward of the Sahara with unstable government control and a patchy military presence. Even more importantly, the Sahel contains a highly fungible resource that can be used to finance terrorism: gold. Extremist groups have found the Sahel to be a perfect haven for establishing control of bountiful gold mines, a valuable resource which can be easily melted down and is accepted as payment throughout large swathes of the developing world.

How Does It Work?

Seizing control of mines serves a dual purpose: it gives militants a source of wealth that is very difficult to trace and it also lets them secure a powerful social and economic position in local communities. In nations like Burkina Faso where incomes are less than $700 per year and most people get buy on growing just enough food to eat, those offering a job and physical protection can be a significant attraction. Militants are helped along by a gold trade mainly run on the black market and a profusion of corrupt local officials unpopular with the people. As Nadia Adam and Lori-Anne Theroux-Benoni noted for the Institute for Security Studies, “Communities are infiltrated through co-opting, coercing or killing local leaders. Extremists take advantage of existing intra- or inter-community conflicts to recruit.” Gold is a highly-fungible asset that lets extremist groups continue to expand influence and run global operations including past attacks on the Ivory Coast and against foreign nationals. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger export $2 billion in gold per year, the vast majority on the black market and out of sight of government regulation.

How Many Gold Mines Do The Terrorists Control In West Africa?

The short answer is that no government or analysts know exactly how many gold mines terrorists have in the Sahel or are taking a cut from. This is partly because Burkina Faso and neighbors have so many unofficial and remote mines that are hard to find even by satellite and difficult to access or assess. As Reuters reports, even data from the best sources is inconclusive about exactly how many mines and how much money terrorist groups are making from Burkinabe gold. However, at minimum terrorists in Burkina Faso were in charge of at least 15 gold mines in Burkina Faso as of this September. The amounts involved are massive: “in 2018, government officials visited just 24 sites near where attacks had taken place and estimated they produced a total of 727 kg of gold per year – worth about $34 million at current prices.” Scores of additional eyewitness reports and experiences make it clear that the problem is widespread and growing. The Armed Conflict and Event Data Project (ACLED) has identified that around half of Burkina Faso’s 2,200 gold mines in 2018 were within 16 miles (25 kilometers) of where extremists had launched attacks. Many foreign workers in Burkina Faso’s mining industry are now generally flown in by helicopter to bypass roads controlled by insurgents and militants.

Unofficial Mines Are Rampant in Burkina Faso, Mali And Niger

Small mines without valid licenses abound in Burkina Faso and neighboring nations, pumping out billions in gold wealth per year. Almost none of this is officially regulated or registered, in fact a mere two percent of Burkina Faso’s gold exports from 2018 were “officially” exported out of the country. The black market is king and it feeds the people. Gold mining, in general, has become a major draw for poor farmers who want a way to support their family. There is also significant use of child labor in the gold mines. Once working in the mines, conditions are often very harsh, hours long and pay relatively low, also providing a weak spot for extremists to exploit by offering slightly higher pay and more incentives than foreign companies and regular camps. Although oil, vanadium, titanium, zinc, iron and uranium also provide some lifeblood to the Burkina Faso economy, gold is certainly the big attraction today for investors and foreign firms. As the head of the gold miners’ union Moamoudou Rabo put it, gold mining is the heart and soul of the Burkinabe economy. “There is nothing else.”

Attacks On Mines Are Increasing

Earlier this month 47 Burkinabe were mowed down by terrorists along the road to the Canadian-owned Boungou gold mine in the country’s east near Arli National Park and more than 60 seriously injured. Last month 20 individuals were slaughtered by jihadists in the country’s north at an unofficial gold mine. In January Canadian geologist Kirk Woodman was kidnapped and murdered by jihadists after being taken at gunpoint from Tiabongou camp in the northern region of the Sahel. Numerous kidnappings and robberies have been reported over the past years and are contributing to growing instability in the country.

The overall levels of militant and tribal-driven violence in Burkina Faso and the region are extremely high and under-reported in much of the Western press, partly because a lot of focus has been on France’s battles with militants in Mali. The region also came up briefly into Western and American attention when four US soldiers were killed by militants in Niger in October 2017. So far in 2019 over 500,000 Burkinabe have been forced to flee their homes because of militant violence and 1,600 have been killed. The violence is particularly bad in the nation’s east but has also been increasing in Burkina Faso’s, south and north. Niger, too, is beset by intense terroristic and tribal violence, partly as a spillover. It is an extremely serious situation, to say the least. Last year in Burkina Faso was no better, with a string of vicious attacks against civilian and government targets. The escalating violence also spills over into neighbors, letting militants build up stable operational bases in-country, infiltrate into Togo and Ghana and launch attacks onto the West African coast including Benin.

How The Terrorists Export The Gold

The majority of Burkina Faso’s jihadist gold is secretly shipped out to Togo and other adjacent countries, refined, and then exported principally to the UAE and also to Turkey, Switzerland, India and Saudi Arabia. In 2018 alone the UAE imported over 7 tons of gold worth over $260 million from Togo which is then processed and sold to buyers in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Switzerland. Burkina Faso has many holes in its border and does not have strict or effective border control. Terrorists and smugglers hide the gold in herds of cows, hay bales, and in bags on buses and cars. The high price of gold smuggling and sometimes strict penalties for failing motivates ordinary people to go to great lengths to get it over the border. Togo is where it is sorted and then processed and exported. The gold is also secreted out of country from the international airport in Ouagadougou.

Measures Being Taken

Attempts have been made to crack down on Togo’s Wild West gold industry by the UN but so far the results are not conclusive, and international pressure on the UAE regarding its gold import has been met with denial of any laxity or wrongdoing by Emirati authorities. Burkina Faso claims it is taking serious measures to counter the epidemic of violence and gold mine occupation, including warning miners to leave volatile camps and killing 30 militants this past February. Operation Firestorm this spring put Burkinabe troops up against militants in the east. Burkina Faso’s government says Firestorm was successful in quelling jihadist strength in the east; Operation Uprooting in the north began in May and operations are not yet concluded. Over 500 have been killed so far as a result of jihadist actions in the east and north according to the Burkinabe government.

French Involvement In Burkina Faso

France is also involved, and deployed troops into Burkina Faso earlier this month for counterterrorism operations named Operation Bourgou 4 at the behest of the Burkina Faso Government. France has previously provided air power and other assistance to Burkina Faso but the move represented France’s first solid commitment of ground troops to the African nation. It is necessary to bolster beleaguered Burkinabe troops but has received a mixed reaction in the country where some worry about a return to colonial times or believe that France is only acting out of economic incentives. Most of France’s 4,500 troops over the last half-decade are in Mali, Niger and Chad.

Future Security Implications Of The Situation

Put bluntly the security implications of this story are dark. Economically frustrated and unstable regions of the world being taken over by determined terrorist groups to fund their operations sounds like the plot of a Tom Clancy page-turner, but it’s real life. Without systemic and institutional changes to bring Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger’s economies out of the black market and a concerted effort to clean up corruption and wrest control of the gold mines from militant groups, it is exceedingly likely that terrorist groups will continue to make increasing amounts of money by leeching off the region’s considerable gold.

L'articolo Treasure Troves Of Terror: Jihadists Seizing Gold Mines In West Africa proviene da InsideOver.

North Macedonia is a crucial nation in the Balkan region. The country wants to join both the European Union and NATO and become fully integrated into the Euro-Atlantic structures: a task not easy to fulfil, also because of some specific dynamics. Greece vetoed, for decades, the capital Skopje’s membership in both organizations because of the so-called name issue. Athens stated that the name Macedonia implied irredentist intentions on the homonymous northern greek region and pretended Skopje to officially change the country’s name. After lengthy and difficult negotiations this was agreed and Macedonia became Northern Macedonia. Obstacles did not come to an end, anyway. Some European Union countries, especially France, pressured Bruxelles to postpone the start of Skopje’s accession talks and this can create some political problems for the country.

Stevo Pendarovski, North Macedonia’s president elected in April 2019 and member of the Social Democratic Union, decided to talk with InsideOver about the issues regarding the political future of the country and the Euroatlantic integration’s future. He was also willing to answer to questions regarding the current status of the relationships with both Athens and Belgrade, the risk that North Macedonia (where a substantial part of the population is Muslim) can be attacked by Islamic extremists groups and also the Kosovo issue.

After the decision taken by the European Union to postpone the opening of Macedonia’s accession talk, what are the perspectives in the relationship between Skopje and Bruxelles? What will be the next steps? Will Macedonia remain focused on the task of joining?

I have stated publicly and immediately after the last European Council that we should not give in to the European integration and we should nurture the partnerships with the EU member states. As confirmed by the leaders of the parliamentary parties in North Macedonia the European integration enjoys national consensus and remains a strategic objective of our country. We will remain focused on the European integration, we will continue to deliver on our domestic reform agenda, as we need the reforms for our citizens and we will continue to make the case internationally for our European integration and why we deserve to be members of the EU.

Do you think there is the chance that the early elections planned for April 2020 can lead to political instability in the country? Do you think foreign nations can, in some ways, try to influence the results?

I sincerely hope that we will have free, fair and democratic elections and that the days of electoral malpractice and electoral corruption are behind us. We will soon be a member of NATO and we strive to become a member of the EU, thus we need to demonstrate that we can uphold the European democratic principles and values and conduct peaceful elections.

What are Macedonia perspectives regarding NATO integration, the protocol of accession that should be ratified by the other member states in the next few months and how the army will improve its performances because of the membership?

We are in the final stage of the ratification process being completed by the NATO member states. The process has been going smoothly in all NATO member countries it is just a matter of a few months until all countries complete the processes through their national institutions. We expect to become the 30^th NATO member in the spring of 2020 and raise our flag at NATO headquarters in Brussels, completing almost three-decades-long process of hard work and reforms demonstrating our commitment to the Euro-Atlantic values.

The status of the relationship between Skopje and Belgrade and Skopje and Athens, two neighbours with whom coexisting is not always easy.

The relationship with both neighbours is quite important. We have significant improvement in the relationship with Greece following the signing of the Prespa Agreement as it has contributed to better understanding, increased mutual trust and building partnership relations, which are now more relaxed. With Serbia, we have constantly very good relations which are developed through the bilateral exchange of goods and services, connection of businesses and people. I will be travelling to Serbia towards the end of this month hosted by Serbian President Vucic. We have always strived for good neighbourly relations, as the neighbours are really important for the overall regional environment in which we are and in our case it is a region which has shared ambitions to be part of the European and Euro-Atlantic institutions.

Do you think Macedonia is at risk of being attacked by international terrorists group, Islamic extremists specifically? How the country is acting to keep radicalism under control and to prevent extremism? How is the relationship with the Albanian minority?

We live in a time when the security threats and threats from terrorist groups are a shared threat to any society in the world. What we all can do is join forces in the war on terror and pool resources through a collective security system working to protect our peoples. Regarding the inter-ethnic relations in our country, I would say that we have come a long way from being a fragile and divided society along ethnic and religious lines of division to a society with institutional system for protection and promotion of the rights of non-majority communities, including the Albanian, and stable and constructive dialogue on every relevant aspect of the inter-ethnic relations. However, despite the cohesion on national level, there are still communities where we need to work on building trust of people in the institutions, integrated education and bringing people together, to fully develop as a functional multi-ethnic democracy where human rights would be enjoyed equally by everyone.

New tensions between Kosovo and Serbia can have wider repercussions on the stability of the Balkan area and specifically in Macedonia?

As neighbours of both countries with whom we share common history being part of the same federation and are bound to share common future, what happens in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is quite important for us and that is why we are closely following the events. We would support and respect any solution which will be adopted by Kosovo and Serbia which has international guarantee for the territorial integrity of the other countries in the region and would stabilise the region. We wouldn’t like to see any solution that would lead to jeopardising the stability, this is a fragile ethnically diverse region which still heals the wounds of the conflicts in the 1990s. That is why it is important that any solution that would be made would contribute for a more prosperous region normalising the Belgrade-Pristina relationship, which would be beneficial for all of us that belong in the same region.

L'articolo President Stevo Pendarovski Discusses Prospects For North Macedonia proviene da InsideOver.