Fighting Terror

In today’s podcast, we will focus on the year long investigation of Death Weapons by a consortium of international reporters from Germany's Die Welt, Politico, and Insider. The  investigation reveals internal details of how this network of young neo-Nazis is setting up terrorist cells across Europe and the US to carry out armed attacks.

In this episode Lucinda talks to Nick Robins-Early, New-York-based journalist and Senior Editor for Digital Culture News at Insider, where he covers disinformation, extremism and the future of the internet. Together with colleagues at Politico and Germany's Die Welt, Nick investigated Death Weapons, an international network of young neo-Nazis setting up terrorist cells across Europe and the US to carry out armed attacks.

For the full investigation read: https://www.politico.eu/article/inside-teenage-terrorist-network-europe-death-weapons/

On Saturday, US President Joe Biden announced that the United States had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, current emir of al-Qaeda and longtime deputy to Osama bin Laden, in Kabul (Afghanistan). Zawahiri’s death raises questions about the succession and the relevance of al-Qaeda in the current terrorist threat landscape, as well as Afghanistan's role following last year's rushed exit by Western forces. 

In this episode, Lucinda speaks with Hans-Jakob Schindler, the Senior Director at the Counter Terrorism Project. From 2001 until 2005, Hans headed the federal government of Germany's team investigating al-Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. Between 2005 and 2011, Hans held the position of First Secretary Political Affairs and Liaison to the Security Forces at the German Embassy in Tehran. Acting as a special advisor to the ambassador, he led the embassy's crisis management team during the 2006 and 2009/10 disturbances in Iran.

Studies have shown that there appears to be a strong link between those committing domestic violence, and those ready to commit acts of terrorism - especially among young men. Yet, while terrorism and domestic abuse share profound parallels, they couldn’t be further apart in how they are treated in today’s society and by law enforcement. 

In this episode Lucinda talks to Joan Smith, a novelist, essayist, columnist and campaigner for human rights. She was Co-Chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board from 2013-2021, and her latest book is Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists (Riverrun, 2019). 

On Tuesday, Belgium’s parliament debated whether to ratify a Treaty with Iran that could allow an Iranian convicted of terrorism in Belgium to be sent back to Iran.  The Treaty, however, is highly controversial among Western critics of the Iranian regime, as well as members of the Iranian opposition living in exile.

In this episode, Lucinda speaks with Jason Brodsky, the policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). Before joining UANI, Jason was a senior Middle East analyst and editor at Iran International TV and served in a variety of capacities at the Wilson Center. Earlier in his career, Jason also served as a fellow at the White House in the Executive Office of the President. His research specialties include leadership dynamics in Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Shiite militias, and U.S. Middle East policy. 

The Global Terrorism Index recently released its ninth edition, clearly indicating two key developments - deaths from terrorism have continued to fall since their peak in 2015, and terrorism has become more concentrated, with 119 countries recording no deaths, the best result since 2007.

In this episode Lucinda speaks to Steve Killelea, an entrepreneur in high technology business development and philanthropist focused on sustainable development and peace. Steve founded the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) in 2007 as an independent non-profit global research institute analysing the intertwined relationships between business, peace, and economic development. As one of the world’s most impactful think tanks, IEP’s research is extensively used by multi-laterals, including the United Nations, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 

Digital advancement and new technologies have transformed the dynamics of propaganda dissemination, recruitment and radicalisation. This is resulting in easier accessibility of violent extremist and terrorist material, increasing the risk of radicalising online and helping violent extremists to establish international links. Throughout the two last years, new forms of extremist ideologies and polarising ideas have spread online, in particular as a reaction to the measures taken by governments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the online response to the war in Ukraine. 

In this episode Lucinda talks to Ilkka Salmi, the EU Counter-Terrorism coordinator. As EU Counter-Terrorism coordinator, Ilkka Salmi is responsible for coordinating the EU Council's work in combating terrorism, maintaining an overview of all EU counter-terrorism instruments, and strengthening cooperation and dialogue on counter-terrorism initiatives between the Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the High Representative. He represents the European Union in matters relating to the fight against terrorism. 

History has proven that foreign fighters, including mercenaries and volunteers, get easily drawn to civil war and insurgencies between states where they seek to support several different ideologies and causes. The case is no different with the Russia-Ukraine war; both in 2014 and now in 2022. The only slight difference in the 2022 situation would be the scale of foreigners who have mobilised in record numbers and governments encouraging their citizens to travel to Ukraine.

In this episode Lucinda talks to Alexander Ritzmann, who has been working on the promotion of liberal democracy and the prevention of violent extremism for 20 years. Alexander is an Associate Fellow at the German Council of Foreign Relations (DGAP), where he co-develops and facilitates the "International Forum for Expert Exchange on Countering Islamist Extremism“. In addition, he advises the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) Berlin on internet regulation (e.g., NetzDG, AI/Transparency, and EU Digital Services Act) and on the effective countering of extremist/terrorist actors and content online.

Shownotes:
CEP Policy Brief on Foreign Fighters in the 2022 Russia-Ukraine War (UPDATE 1)

Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine has brought an unexpected twist to France's Presidential election and its coordinating role as the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU. Although President Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the election, the unexpected strength shown by his far-right opponent Marine LePen also highlights the domestic and international political, security and defence challenges with which France continues to wrestle with. 

In this episode, Lucinda Creighton is joined by Tara Varma to discuss how Russia's invasion of Ukraine has influenced the recent first round of the French Presidential election and the French Council of the EU Presidency. Tara Varma is a senior policy fellow and head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, where she follows French foreign policy and European and Asian security developments. She looks particularly at current French defence and security proposals in the European framework. She is also interested in Asian security, and the role Europeans could play in it, notably in the Indo-Pacific region. Varma joined ECFR in January 2015 as a coordinator and then deputy head of the Paris office.

Why are displaced young people at such high risk of radicalisation? What can we do to work with them, and other institutions, to ensure their full integration into society? And what are the impacts if all efforts fail?

In this episode, Lucinda Creighton is joined by Kayte Cable, Co-founder & Programme Manager of the UK-based Big Leaf Foundation. Big Leaf Foundation is a small charity working with displaced young people aged 16-25 living in Surrey, UK, aimed at providing a nurturing programme of activities, projects and events focused on combating social isolation and improving wellbeing for displaced young people. 

Recent years have seen a considerable increase in people radicalizing online. This is both true for extreme right-wing extremist and religious extremist groups. In response to this proliferation, social, community, police and intelligence services have increasingly begun setting up early detection schemes to prevent people from radicalization or supporting terrorist activities. 

In this episode, Lucinda Creighton is joined by Nik Adam, National Coordinator for the UK's Prevent Program. Nik Adams is a chief superintendent with the Metropolitan Police London and is the national coordinator for UK’s Prevent program. Before being appointed as the national coordinator for Prevent, Nik has spent 18 years working in front-line neighborhood policing roles, and over 10 years volunteering as a school governor of a large inner-city school in London. The Prevent program seeks to stop people from becoming radicalized or supporting terrorist activities, including those of extreme right wing and Islamist ideologies.