Counter Extremism Perspectives

Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler and Alexander Ritzmann are joined by Juncal Fernández Garayzábal, author of a recent CEP report on the Ceuta border crisis and its implications for Europe’s security. They discuss how the mass crossing exposed vulnerabilities in migration management and counterterrorism. The discussion considers how a brief border crisis can create lasting security challenges and what it reveals about Europe’s reliance on cooperation with neighbouring countries.

Read: Ceuta and the Risks of Interdependence Migration, Human Security and Counterterrorism at Europe's Border

In this episode, Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler and Alexander Ritzmann are joined by Alexander Price to discuss his three-part CEP blog series on the links between Russia and Italy’s far right, exploring Russia’s cultivation of relationships with Italian right-wing extremists and political networks—from the recruitment of mercenaries and the development of transnational martial arts networks to connections with mainstream politics. The discussion examines how these relationships form part of Russia’s wider hybrid warfare strategy in Europe and the implications for extremism, political influence, European security, and on Russia's war on Ukraine.

Read the three-part blog series focussing on mercenaries and recruiters; Italian right wing politics; and transnational political and martial arts networks. 

In this new episode on Active Clubs, Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler speaks with Alexander Ritzmann about his two latest articles on new Active Club strategies to ensure the network - that is quietly building a militia dressed up as sports clubs - can learn lessons from inner city riots and overcome its lack of appeal to women. 

The discussion in this episode refers to Alexanders’s recent articles: The Girls Will Follow? The Active Club’s Answer to the “Woman Question” and Extreme-Right Active Clubs are Treating the Riots in Belfast as a Case Study in Effective Violent Mobilization

In this new episode on antisemitic violence, Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler speaks with Alexander Ritzmann about his latest report, which calls for a shift from incident response to “strategic disruption” of extremist networks, finances, and coordinators, and for treating antisemitism as a security threat.

The discussion in this episode is based on Rethinking the Fight against Antisemitism after October 7 by Alexander Ritzmann, published in May 2026 by the Counter Extremism Project.

Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler and Alexander Ritzmann are joined by journalist and author Nicholas Potter—who has faced death threats and intimidation because of his work—to discuss the rise in left-wing extremism and antisemitism. They talk about groups on the left that put aside ideological differences to create larger networks united in anti-democratic, illiberal and antisemitic causes. 

Further reading: The New Authoritarian Left: An Acute Threat to Democratic Society by Nicholas Potter.

Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler and Alexander Ritzmann discuss Alexander’s new Counter Extremism Project Policy Brief on Active Clubs (ACs) and the main strategic propaganda messages by the network’s co-founder and figurehead Robert Rundo since his public return in June 2025. ACs are a decentralized, transnational violent network of white supremacist groups that publicly promote combat sports, fitness training, and white brotherhood.

Read Alexander Ritzmann’s Policy Brief: Return of the Leader - Robert Rundo´s Impact on the Violent Extreme-Right Active Club Network

Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler and Alexander Ritzmann are joined by JJ Green—journalist and author of The Noise War—to unpack the mechanics of disinformation: how to spot it, why it works, how it corrodes trust and fractures nations, and what can be done to fight back in an age of constant information warfare.

JJ Green is the National Security Correspondent at WTOP and the author of The Noise War: How to Fight Disinformation and Find the Truth When Everything Is Lying to You—a frontline guide to navigating a world where truth is under sustained attack.

Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler and Alexander Ritzmann are joined by Sean McCafferty to discuss how the October 7 attacks changed online extremism, including Islamic State’s (IS) response. Since IS lost its final territorial holdout in Baghuz, Syria, in March 2019, the group’s global presence, propaganda output, and online ecosystem have evolved significantly, including to a more decentralised approach, characterised by a surge in output from its regional affiliates in Africa and South Asia.

Sean is EU GLOCTER PhD Fellow, seconded to CEP and author of a blog post on Islamic State Propaganda Evolution Since October 7 which is part of CEP’s CounterPoint series. 

Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler and Alexander Ritzmann are joined once again by Elena Martynova to explore two underexamined areas of terrorist financing: the targeting of individuals through sophisticated scam operations and the growing exploitation of the sports sector as a financial vehicle. Drawing on Elena’s recent CEP blogs, they examine how extremist groups increasingly leverage fraud schemes, online betting, and parts of the wider sports industry to generate funds—and what this means for policymakers and practitioners working to disrupt these evolving financial networks.

Elena’s CEP blogs:

Terrorist Financing Through Scams: Current Evidence and Emerging Risks and 

The Overlooked Nexus between Sports and Extremism Financing

Dr Hans-Jakob Schindler and Alexander Ritzmann are joined by Elena Martynova to explore how Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) has reshaped the fight against extremism—revealing hidden networks, exposing propaganda, and bringing new information to conflict zones. Yet the same open data—and now artificial intelligence—that empowers investigators is increasingly being weaponized by extremist actors. Together, they unpack how OSINT has become both a vital tool and a contested battleground. Elena is an EU GLOCTER PhD Candidate on secondment to CEP.

This discussion is based on Elena's blog series for CEP on various aspects of OSINT.