Suicide Terrorism

The first act of Chechen suicide terrorism occurred on June 7, 2000 and was carried out by two young women. This inaugurated the migration of suicide terrorism from other conflict zones, into the Chechen conflict. How suicide terrorism as a tactic made it’s way into Chechnya is the topic of this paper, which provides an analysis of the events concerning the importation of militant ideologies and radical terrorist movements taking place since the Chechen declaration of independence as well as an empirical and theoretical analysis of Chechen suicide terrorism based on psycho-social interviews that were collected in Chechnya over a two-year time period from March 2003 to March 2005. We report data about suicide terrorism and the radicalization process from thirty-two interviews with family members and close associates of thirty-four Chechen suicide terrorists inquiring about the terrorists’ backgrounds, experiences, religious, and psychological reasons leading up to their suicidal acts.

Although suicide attacks have been carried out for hundreds of years, suicide bombings have only been a permanent feature of conflicts since the 1980s. In recent years, though, their use has dramatically escalated. AOAV, which collects data on explosive violence, has recorded a total of 1,191 suicide bombings globally between 2011 and 2015, resulting in 31,477 civilian deaths and injuries.

The vast majority of suicide bombings within these years have been carried out by international Salafi-Jihadi terrorist organisations.

In light of this, AOAV’s extensive report Understanding the rising cult of the suicide bomber investigates what makes individuals give their lives, and take others, for causes propagated by these transnational terrorist groups.

It also looks at what effect such attacks have had on local and regional conflicts, as well as on the communities exposed to them.

Furthermore, the report proposes how states and other actors in the international community might seek to prevent their use and further escalation based on the reports’ findings.

The report is based on extensive field-work, as well as a thorough mapping and investigation of specific suicide bombings and the individuals that perpetrated them.

Authenticity and the body are important issues in contemporary culture, and pop culture and new television series are no exceptions. By culturally, philosophically and ethically examining this important issue, this article discusses how authenticity is constructed through the human face and body. It focuses on some aspects of confessions by the main characters of the Homeland television series. The most important aspects are: how the body and the face are presented in acts of videotaped confession and the suicidal act of confession. This programme clearly shows authenticity as a social convention and a staged act. Depicting and preparing authenticity in a video recording is linked with blackmail in modern society and culture. Another issue considered in the article is how the body can be manipulated by the media and the individual to stage authenticity in a ‘truth tape’.

This chapter looks at female suicde terrorism with reference to critical and post-modern stuides of Islam, the Middle East and gender. By deploying resistance the chapter makes visible women's pariticipation, reclaims women's agency, and explores the power of the symbolic in their actions.

*The pdf is a proof, so still has editors corrections on it.

To highlight some of the methodological limitations, this paper presents a critical analysis of empirical studies on suicide terrorism which apply Durkheim’s typology of altruistic suicide. The paper will then sketch an onging study of suicide terrorism that aims to go beyond the current ‘Western’ frameworks of understanding. The paper will show how, in trying to understand suicide terrorism, the complications associated with finding reliable and valid data on the subject are compounded by the way in which researchers and intelligence analysts fail to address the limitations of their methodology. The paper argues that data about suicide terrorism must be analysed within an explicit epistemological framework. It further argues that suicide terrorism must be understood in terms of social context, and in context of the researcher/analyst as a situated being, whose social location and culture affect the way in which they interpret data. The paper suggests that sociological studies in the areas of altruism, community identities, and the sociology of suicide may provide insight into understanding suicide terrorism as a social process. This framework represents an attempt to break down the process of ‘otherness’ that currently limits our understanding of terrorism.

Terrorism is surrounded by myths. This book aims to look beyond these, and provide insight into how and why terrorism conflicts erupt, who are the terrorists and what motivates them, and why are governments often so bad at combatting this threat. The book highlights what is distinctive about modern terrorism, but argues that the lessons of history apply as strongly today as ever. This accessible and concise book will appeal to both students and general readers, giving a fascinating introduction to the historical and present-day incarnations of terrorism - and what matters most about them.

The lethal cocktail leading to suicide terrorism consists of societal support for terrorism, groups organized for terror, an ideology that permits an individual to suicide in order to kill others, coupled with individual motivations that generally respond to the ideology as a type of psychological first aid – albeit short lived.

The emergence of female bombers is fairly recent in the history of modern day suicide
bombing. This essay examines the history of suicide bombing and the use of women as
human bombers in various terrorist groups currently active through out the world.
Comparisons are drawn between the groups and the politics, and the media implications of
sending women as bombers are also discussed. The author ask the question – do female
human bombers differ essentially from their male counterparts and if so in which ways?
Based on the author’s research interviews of terrorists; suicide terrorists, their family
members, close associates, hostages, senders and sympathizers; and radicals living in Europe
(collected in Russia, Chechnya, Belarus, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Uzbekistan, Iraq,
Lebanon, Morocco, Belgium, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France)1; as well as on
data from experts and other open source materials, this question is explored in terms of
motivational sets for suicide bombing both on the part of the individual and the organization
sending the bombers; psychological defenses necessary to carry out the act; the potential
roles of coercion; personal traumatization; feminism; traditional roles in the societies from
which many bombers originate; and the importance of organizational backing. The author
argues while there are marked similarities between male and female bombers, there are some
essential differences worthy of discussion and further research.

This incredible Existentialist Essay on the topic of Suicide features at the second of two essays in the volume 'The Experience of Death' by Franco-German Author Paul-Louis (also known as Paul Ludwig) Landsberg. He provides us with a deep and searching analysis of the moral issues surrounding Suicide from an Existentialist standpoint. He was to die, tragically, in a German concentration camp, though he left behind some of the most fascinating discussion of death and suicide by an Existentialist author apart from Martin Heidegger (whop did not in fact deal with the second of these two topics). Landsberg was part of the group embracing Sartre, Camus and de Beauvoir. He was a Christian yet without forcing this belief upon readers through his writing. The present essay, and the book as a whole makes a deep impact upon anyone who dares to accompany the author on his dark and intense explorations. Brief biographical details and bibliography are provided in the actual book as well as full textual annotations and an Editor's note/preface.

Кавказский геополитический клуб подготовил аналитический доклад «Группы смерти» как угроза национальной безопасности России» (автор – секретарь-координатор КГК Яна Амелина; в подготовке также принимала участие Эмилия Челерина), раскрывающий потенциал использования широкой сети деструктивных сообществ в социальной сети вКонтакте для дестабилизации обстановки в РФ.
Несмотря на широкое общественное внимание, привлеченное в мае 2016 г. к проблеме суицидальных сообществ вКонтакте (ежедневый охват аудитории – 90 млн., что больше, чем у Первого канала), на сегодняшний день околосуицидальный и в целом депрессивно-(ауто)агрессивный контент составляет значительную часть содержания нескольких сотен массовых (от десятков и сотен тысяч до миллиона и более подписчиков) постоянно обновляемых пабликов, целевой аудиторией которых является молодежь, в первую очередь, подросткового возраста.
Данная среда призвана создавать деструктивный фон, оказывающий пролонгированное воздействие на психику. Задачей этого воздействия является контролируемое изменение поведения подростков с целью в определенный момент подтолкнуть их к совершению суицидальных или, наоборот, агрессивных (преступных) действий, которым, в зависимости от контекста, может придаваться общественно-политическая, религиозная или иная мотивация.
Одна из наиболее серьезных угроз, которую влечет за собой широкое распространение депрессивно-(ауто)агрессивного контента в социальных сетях - возможность использования «обработанной» молодежи для совершения террористических актов. Исследование суицидальных и околосуицидальных групп демонстрирует идентичность их методов с методами пропагандистов запрещенной в РФ террористической группировки, именующей себя «Исламское государство» (ИГ).
Организаторы сети указанных сообществ подводят отобранных подростков, в зависимости от индивидуальных склонностей, темперамента и других личностных особенностей, к мысли об убийстве либо других людей (вербуемые в «ИГ», а также радикалы околонацистского толка, такие, как «хабаровский стрелок»), либо себя (контингент суицидальных групп). При этом условно-«игиловский» и условно-суицидальный контингенты частично совпадают. Учитывая, что террорист-смертник, помимо гибели других людей, также совершает самоубийство, логично предположить, что в глобальном плане за этими процессами стоят одни и те же структуры. Прослеживается четкий западный след этого явления (существенная часть контента околосуицидальных сообществ является переводом англоязычных первоисточников; паблики активно внедряют на российской почве темы, более характерные для Запада, в частности, проабортную тематику).
В настоящий момент создатели широкого спектра околосуицидально-депрессивных сообществ переходят к решению задач общественно-политического характера. С марта 2017 г. значительно вырос удельный вес контента открыто антироссийского и деструктивного содержания. На первый план выходит продвижение антихристианских (в том числе направленных конкретно против Русской православной церкви и Патриарха Кирилла), протеррористических (де-факто оправдывающих совершение террористических актов и обесценивающих страдания их жертв) и пропедофильских «идей» в широкие подростковые массы.
Поступательное нагнетание немотивированной агрессивности, активная раскрутка мемов, пропагандирующих жестокость и насилие, маркируют переход на новый этап, на котором, по замыслу организаторов, должна будет пролиться кровь. Соответствующие демотиваторы (посвященные, в частности, трагедии в школе «Колумбайн», персонажу мультфильма «Джефф-убийца», постулирующие, что «Я хочу быть автоматом, стреляющим в лица» и т.п.) собирают десятки тысяч (!) «лайков», что свидетельствует о подготовке/наличии в подростковой среде благоприятной почвы для совершения разного рода насильственных преступлений - в том числе, идеологически и религиозно немотивированных терактов.
Очевидно и планируемое широкое использование «контактовских» пабликов для распространения антиправительственных и антипрезидентских призывов, в особенности на фоне разворачивающейся президентской кампании-2018. Мессенджеры и социальные сети давно уже являются средством распространения заведомо ложных панических слухов, например, «предупреждений о готовящихся терактах». Конечная цель анонимного нагнетания истерики и страхов - дестабилизация ситуации в стратегически важных регионах России, прежде всего, на Северном Кавказе, в Поволжье и обеих столицах.
Деструктивные последствия роста данной сети сообществ тем более очевидны, что околосуицидальный и депрессивно-(ауто)агрессивный контент распространяется на фоне/в контексте еще более разветвленной сети пабликов, попирающих мораль и нравственность, пропагандирующих половую распущенность (в том числе гомосексуальную), сатанизм и т.д., что негативно влияет на состояние общества в целом.
Последствия всего этого для национальной безопасности России очевидны. Для противодействия распространению деструктивных явлений в подростковой среде необходимо:
- исключение анонимности в интернете и запрет пользования социальными сетями подросткам до 14 лет;
- полная зачистка социальной сети вКонтакте от деструктивного контента, усиление ответственности руководства соцсети за его появление и продвижение вплоть до ликвидации сети;
- идентификация и проведение профилактических бесед с подписчиками суицидальных и околосуицидальных групп, в особенности проявляющими повышенный интерес к агрессивной тематике.
Следует отметить, что подростки являются лишь «полигоном», на котором отрабатываются стандартные политические, социальные и медиа- технологии, адаптированные к условиям современного общества. Они могут быть успешно применены и в отношении «взрослой» части населения, что доказывают массовые флешмоб-кампании в социальной сети Facebook. Демонстрируемая легкость манипуляции сознанием как несовершеннолетних, так и взрослых россиян представляет явную угрозу национальной безопасности РФ.
В то же время, только запретительно-репрессивные меры, являясь необходимым условием и инструментом исправления ситуации, не способны решить проблему по существу. Пока в России на официальном уровне не будет сформулирована государственная идеология, вместо уничтоженных деструктивных групп - вКонтакте или в реальности - будут возникать все новые и новые. Идеологическая альтернатива неизбежно должна будет иметь религиозную составляющую, предполагающую повышение роли традиционных религий, в первую очередь, православия и ислама, как в школе, так и в общественной жизни в целом.
Доклад, являющийся первым в России обзорным аналитическим материалом по данной теме, содержит большое количество иллюстраций, призванных наглядно подтвердить его основные положения. Он будет полезен сотрудникам правоохранительных органов, политологам, социологам, культурологам, специалистам по работе с подростковым контингентом и т.д.

Abstract: Kamikazes and Cultural Evolution

Is cultural evolution needed to explain altruistic self-sacrifice?  Some contend that cultural traits (e.g. beliefs, behaviors, and for some “memes”) replicate according to selection processes that have “floated free” from biology.  One test case is the example of suicide kamikaze attacks in wartime Japan.  Standard biological mechanisms—such as reciprocal altruism and kin selection—might not seem to apply here: The suicide pilots did not act on the expectation that others would reciprocate, and they were supposedly sacrificing themselves for country and emperor, not close relatives.  Yet an examination of both the historical record and the demands of evolutionary theory suggest the kamikaze phenomenon does not cry out for explanation in terms of a special non-biological selection process.  This weakens the case for cultural evolution, and has interesting implications for our understanding of altruistic self-sacrifice.

Stressing that the pronoun "I" picks out one and only one person in the world (i.e., me), I argue against Hunt (and other like-minded Rand commentators) that the supposed "hard case" of destructive people who do not care for their own lives poses no special difficulty for rational egoism. I conclude that the proper response to a terse objection like "What about suicide bombers?" is the equally terse assertion "But I don't want to get blown up."

This article addresses the problem of international law enforcement within the War on Cyberterrorism. Hybrid conflicts have replaced the traditional ones, and new threats have emerged in cyberspace, which has become a virtual battlefield. Cyber threats-cybercrimes, cyberterrorism, cyberwarfare-are a major concern for Western governments, especially for the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The international community has begun to consider cyberattacks as a form of terrorism, to which the same measures apply. Because the term "terrorism" is ambiguous and legaly undefined, there is no consensus on a definition of the derivative term "cyberterrorism", which is left to the unilateral interpretations of states. Pretending to consider the cyberspace domain as traditional domains, and claiming to apply IHL for the sole purpose of lawfully using armed forces in contrast to cyberterrorism is a stretch. This paper addresses the question of whether or not current laws of war and international humanitarian law apply to cyber domain, and gives some recommendations on how to tackle this issue.

International Relations (IR) scholars uncritically accept the official narrative regarding the events of 9/11 and refuse to examine the massive body of evidence generated by the 9/11 truth movement. Nevertheless, as calls for a new inquiry into the events of 9/11 continue to mount, with theInternational 9/11 Consensus Panel and World Trade Centre Building 7 Evaluation inquiries havingrecently published their findings, and with a U.S. Federal Grand Jury on 9/11 having been announced,now would be an opportune moment for IR scholars to start taking the claims of 9/11 truth seri-ously. A survey of the 9/11 truth literature reveals that the official 9/11 narrative cannot be sup-ported at multiple levels. Two planes did not bring down three towers in New York. There is nohard evidence that Muslims were responsible for 9/11 other than in a patsy capacity. Various U.S.government agencies appear to have had foreknowledge of the events and to have covered upevidence. Important questions regarding the hijacked planes need answering, as do questions aboutthe complicity of the mainstream media in 9/11. IR scholars avoid looking at evidence regarding theevents of 9/11 for several reasons. They may be taken in by the weaponized term, “conspiracytheory.” A taboo on questioning the ruling structures of society means that individuals do not wishto fall outside the spectrum of acceptable opinion. Entertaining the possibility that 9/11 was a falseflag requires Westerners to reject fundamental assumptions that they have been socialized to acceptsince birth. The “War on Terror” has created a neo-McCarthyite environment in which freedom tospeak out has been stifled. Yet, if IR scholars are serious about truth, the first place they need to startis 9/11 truth.

This study analyzes the political reasons that allowed the Islamic State to expand successfully in Syria and Iraq, by enabling to ‘franchise’ worldwide, and the role of the regional governments in this issue. The essay provides a different explanation from the classic approach of the “clash of civilizations” theorized by Samuel P. Huntington, ascribing responsibility for the growth and expansion of the Islamic State to the complex framework of geopolitical alliances within the Muslim civilization and the Arab world. The paper highlights the attempt by Turkey to establish itself as a regional power and guidance of the Islamic world, by resurrecting the Caliphate, and, based on this, explains the contrast with the Islamic State, which goal is the foundation of a globalized Caliphate. The plans of the Turkish President Erdoğan for a Great Turkey, allied with Egypt, have foundered with the coup that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood from power. The study relates the connection of Ankara with the Kurds, regarding the management of the crisis in Syria and Iraq, and the Turkish liaison with regional powers (Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel) and other powers (Russia, Cina and USA).

“Rivoluzionario professionista” convertito all’Islam, Carlos ha dedicato la sua vita combattendo “per la liberazione del mondo dallo sfruttamento imperialista e della Palestina dall’occupazione sionista”. Le armi gli “sono state imposte dalle circostanze, determinate dalla violenza stessa del nemico”, e il “terrorismo” è una fatalità imposta “dal rapporto di forze cui nessun resistente, musulmano o meno, può sfuggire, poiché è di fronte a un nemico potentissimo, senza freni né limiti in arroganza e ambizione di conquista”. Il terrorismo “è l’arma dei poveri”, “un’arma di prima scelta per ristabilire una parvenza di equilibrio contro la sproporzione dei mezzi di informazione, il cui monopolio assoluto è del nemico”, ovvero degli americani. In questo libro autobiografico commentato da Marco Marsili, Ilič Ramírez Sánchez ricostruisce le tappe della carriera che ne ha fatto il terrorista più famoso e ricercato nel mondo, dai primi attentati degli anni ‘70, all’amicizia con Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein e Mùammar Gheddafi, fino all’arresto avvenuto in Sudan nel ’94. Carlos svela la verità sugli attentati dell’11 settembre, e spiega, con una lucida analisi, la strategia statunitense della “guerra preventiva”, motivata dalla necessità di mantenere il controllo sul prezzo del petrolio, scambiato sui mercati internazionali in dollari. Una feroce critica ai media occidentali, al capitalismo, al consumismo, all’Onu, e alla sinistra occidentale, accusata di essersi adagiata “sugli allori della borghesia convertendosi al liberalismo californiano”.

The Assassins of Alamut are presented in popular media and academic studies as the 11th century forerunners of today's "suicide terrorists"---thus producing a genealogy of spectacular Middle Eastern suicide-homicides that stretches back some 900 years.

"Sex, Lies, and Paradise" analyzes accretions of stories about the Assassins: to see how the Assassins got their name, were believed to anticipate an Islamic paradise in the afterlife, and came to represent for the West a volatile nexus of sex and violence.

This effort of literary archeology considers both eastern and western fabulations, and examines in particular how two popular, widely-circulating European texts---Marco Polo's Travels, and Mandeville's Travels---were key in shaping western understanding.

The article begins and ends by reflecting on the stakes involved---today, and in the past.

Terrorism by an Islamist group known as Boko Haram has been raging in Nigeria since 2009 and has spilled over into neighboring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Consequently, two million people have been displaced, 100,000 lives lost and properties worth N3.2 trillion ($9 billion) destroyed in the three-worst hit northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. The Federal Government has been collaborating with the international community in the counter-terrorism, gaining huge successes including the rescuing of nearly 200 of the 276 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014 and dislodging the terrorists from their base in the infamous Sambisa Forest. However, the Government’s militarized approach toward the counter-terrorism has been critiqued in the literature, with suggestions for a multi-dimensional approach. This book recommends a research approach and proposes the Adoption and Use of Cyber Technology by Terror Groups Model (AUCTTGM). The model is expected to explain and predict factors determining terror groups’ cyber technology usage to threaten the peace and spread annihilative extremist propaganda in society as well as proffer clues to the ways of ending terrorism for good.

Turkey’s journey towards one-man rule and a new political system without checks and balances turned a new corner with the disputed national referendum on 16 April 2017. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won new powers from voters, which confirmed his consistent efforts over years to transform Turkey from a secular Western democratic country into a political Islamist and authoritarian police state. Erdogan once said that democracy, for him, is not the objective but rather a tool, comparing it to a bus within a journey. “Once I get to my stop, I will get off.” Apparently, after highly controversial elections, Erdogan has arrived at his stop, and he has gotten off the democracy bus. Many scholars agree that the secular Republic of Turkey as it has been known does not exist anymore, and it is not coming back under the Erdogan dicta.

As a consequence, the West now has to deal with a political Islamist police state with a large portion of radicalised citizens. The priorities should be set to assist and help the people suffering in Turkey at the hands of Erdogan’s regime, many guilty of nothing more than not supporting the status quo. The West, when dealing with Erdogan, should seriously consider extending their support to the people suffering inside Turkey. Europe has ample leverage against Erdogan, including travel sanctions against individual members of the Turkish government, economic sanctions, refusal to sell arms, and politically pressuring the Erdogan regime. All these tools should be considered to assist the suffering Turks in the name of humanity and for the future bilateral and peaceful relationship between Turkey and Europe after Erdogan’s departure. European countries should also consider taking the allegations against the Turkish president listed in this article to the International Criminal Court at The Hague for the crimes against humanity. Europe must prioritise a sincere approach in order to neutralise threats coming from the Erdogan regime and his supporters and extend their hands to the brave citizens who did not accept becoming part of Erdogan’s dicta. While many Turkish citizens have found refuge in Europe, thousands are still being tortured, raped and even killed in Turkey. The world must find a way to stop this misery before it becomes a tragic loss of life reminiscent of the worst crimes in world history.

http://www.orient-online.com/

http://www.orient-online.com/issues/ORIENT-III/2017

The so-called Islamic State and the (slow but steady) Radicalisation of Turkey. Available from:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318066367_The_so-called_Islamic_State_and_the_slow_but_steady_Radicalisation_of_Turkey [accessed Jul 5, 2017].

Suicide bombings increased in Pakistan even though the country is not under foreign occupation and-barring missile strikes by US drones in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan-only Pakistani security forces have been acting against the militants. Is this really a manifestation of rising Islamic extremism in Pakistan, or an expression of revenge against the government’s counter-measures that are
perceived to be excessively heavy-handed, disproportionate and indiscriminate? Is suicide bombing a strategy used by desperate militant groups against a stronger enemy, or a phenomenon motivated by
extreme poverty and a sense of deprivation? Is the presence of international forces in Afghanistan a factor fueling suicide attacks in Pakistan? Why are such attacks becoming the most dominant tactic among terrorist organizations in Pakistan? This paper seeks to answer these questions.

The Boko Haram terrorist group’s philosophy and activities have been subjected to different interpretations among the Nigerian populace. Such interpretations follow traditional lines of ethnic, regional, cultural, and religious cleavages in Nigeria. Some perceive it as war by Muslims against Christians, some as a sponsored conspiracy against the Muslim North, and others interpret it as the Northern war against the emergence of President Jonathan from the south-south geopolitical zone. A few regard it as a generic name for criminal gangs in Northern Nigeria. While overwhelming opinions in the south tilt toward a scorched-earth policy to counter Boko Haram, much of the north favors dialogue. One of the implications of these responses is the widening of already existing cleavages in Nigerian society, thereby further undermining efforts at building unity and coexistence among Nigeria’s varying
nationalities.

The final version of this text was published at Oxford Research Encyclopedias: http://oxfordre.com/, on 26 September 2018. This is the pre-published version.

From the late 1970s to its defeat by the Government of Sri Lanka in 2009, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fought for Tamil independence in Sri Lanka. The ultimate aim of what was often considered to be one of the world's most disciplined and efficient insurgency groups was to create an independent Tamil homeland (which they called Tamil Eelam) in the northern and eastern parts of the island. The LTTE based itself on a unique mix of Tamil nationalist, socialist, and feminist visions of a new future for the marginalized Tamil communities of Sri Lanka. The LTTE became feared for its extensive use of suicide missions, carried out by soldiers of both Hindu and Catholic backgrounds. Because of the marginalization of the Tamil-speaking Muslims from the Tamil nationalist project, none of the LTTE soldiers were Muslims. Generally speaking, religion played—and in the 21st century continues to play—a minor role in the ultimate nationalist goal of establishing Tamil Eelam. Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka centers around Tamil culture, language, literature, and regional identity, not religion. The LTTE's official ideology was strictly secularist, expressing a clear separation between religion, the state, and politics. The LTTE accepted individual religious practices in its ranks—for example, having a personal crucifix or a holy picture within military camps, but did not facilitate institutionalized religious practice. Yet religious formations, controversies, and practices have been important, if not crucial, to Tamil separatism and, ultimately, to the LTTE itself. In a short period of time, the LTTE developed a unique martial culture and martyr cult, drawing on numerous cultural and religious sources in Tamil society. This martyr cult encompassed references to the Christian tradition of martyrdom, Hindu bhakti (devotional) literature, and classic Tamil heroic poetry. Each martyr's self-sacrifice formed part of a symbolic universe that was fundamentally nationalistic, but Christian and Hindu references and ritual language were employed to help to legitimize the sacrificial act. The ideology of martyrdom transcended the martyrs' religious backgrounds, and instead of a place in paradise or release from the cycle of reincarnation, it promised eternal life in the memory of the nation. Within the cultural and political universe of the LTTE, the nation and its territory became sacralized, and the LTTE's meticulously articulated martial culture began to take on quasi-religious qualities. At the ideological level, the LTTE propaganda machinery managed to balance secularism, deep religious sentiment, and religious diversity, and religion functioned as a multilayered concept used for a variety of purposes by military and political leaders. Religion can also be identified as various ―fields‖ within the movement: ―civil religious,‖ ―Śaiva religious,‖ and ―Tamil Catholic religious,‖ allowing for overlapping yet distinct Hindu, Catholic, or nonreligious identities under the sacred canopy of Tamil nationalism.

The aim of this article is not to directly engage with this literature but to point to the hermeneutical limits of the critique of mainstream Sunnism vis-à-vis the Salafi-jihadist interpretations with particular reference to the literature produced by the proponents of the IS. The main argument the article makes is that by subscribing to what will be termed a “Salafi worldview,” mainstream Sunnism shares many interpretationally crucial epistemological and methodological mechanisms with those adopted by the proponents of the ideology behind the IS. As such mainstream Sunnism has strong hermeneutical limits that do not allow it to be in a position to mount an interpretationally effective rebuttal of many beliefs and practices Salafi-jihadists resort to including those pertaining to apostasy, enslavement, and gender-related issues.

For the past year and a half, al-Shabaab has continued to take advantage of the ongoing political and security turmoil between Somalia’s federal government, regional state administrations, and other powerful social groups, including the country’s clans and sub-clans and minority groups. Militarily, the jihadi-insurgent group retains significant capabilities to launch a range of attacks targeting both military and “soft” targets, including major suicide-vehicle bombings inside the most secure areas of the country such as central Mogadishu. In 2017, the group also overran a number of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Somali government military bases and forcefully reasserted itself in the northern Puntland region. Meanwhile, the Islamic State in Somalia, al-Shabaab’s main jihadi competitor, continues to lag behind it in terms of numbers, military capabilities, and media reach, though there are recent signs that the Islamic State-Somalia has been able to penetrate more deeply into the Afgooye area to the west of the capital and outside of its Puntland base.

This is a paper I submitted for assessment of my MA Sociology Social Theory & Cultural Identity course. It is an exploration fo Durkheim's Le Suicide and how his thesis can be utilised to interpret mass suicide (particularly the Jonestown Massacre) and suicide warefare.

United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism) report dedicated more than a page about our "ISIS Defectors Interview" project.

The title of the report is: Enhancing the Understanding of the Foreign Terrorist Fighters Phenomenon in Syria (please see page 20) They also cited our article several times.

Link: http://www.un.org/en/counterterrorism/assets/img/Report_Final_20170727.pdf


Link to our article at the perspectives on terrorism: Eyewitness Accounts from Recent Defectors from Islamic State: Why They Joined, What They Saw, Why They Quit
https://www.academia.edu/19788498/Eyewitness_Accounts_from_Recent_Defectors_from_Islamic_State_Why_They_Joined_What_They_Saw_Why_They_Quit

In recent years, extreme right-wing militancy and terrorism have increasingly become the major source of violent attacks, killings, and threats in many Western countries. Yet, the characteristics and logic of right-wing terrorism remain poorly understood. One aspect virtually unexplored is the apparent lack of suicide terror tactics within far-right terrorism. Suicide terrorism has been attributed mainly to religious and ethno-separatist terrorist organizations. This article explores the contemporary extreme right’s stance toward suicide, self-sacrifice, and martyrdom at the ideological, strategic, and subcultural levels through historic references to martyrdom in Nazi Germany and post WWII far-right movements, as well as extreme right strategic manuals and ideological manifestos. In sum, this article argues that the extreme right is unlikely to use suicide attack tactics in the narrow sense since its own distinct sacrificial martyrdom mythology based on ideological steadfastness and a hypermasculine warrior identity of fighting until defeat incentivizes different types of attacks involving suicide, such as murder-suicides or mass shootings.

ΔΙΠΛΩΜΑΤΙΚΗ ΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΜΕ ΘΕΜΑ: « ΘΡΗΣΚΕΥΤΙΚΑ ΚΙΝΗΤΡΑ/ ΕΠΙΘΕΤΙΚΕΣ ΑΥΤΟΚΤΟΝΙΕΣ ΜΕ ΚΙΝΗΤΡΟ ΤΗ ΠΙΣΤΗ: ΤΖΙΧΑΝΤΙΣΤΕΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΩΤΟΙ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΙ, ΣΥΓΚΡΙΤΙΚΗ ΘΕΩΡΗΣΗ »
Οι πανανθρώπινες υπαρξιακές αγωνίες πυροδότησαν το αίσθημα της πίστης η οποία αποτέλεσε το θεμέλιο πάνω στο οποίο εκκολάφτηκαν και εδραιώθηκαν ως πάγια συστήματα οι θρησκείες ανά τον κόσμο. Η πίστη από τις απαρχές της και για χιλιάδες χρόνια, ήταν μία έννοια καθολική που προσαρμοζόταν ανάλογα με τις επιταγές που πρόσταζε η εκάστοτε περίοδος / εποχή. Η πρόσληψη του Θεού, η θρησκευτική πίστη και η συνείδηση, από απλές έννοιες με την πάροδο του χρόνου μετουσιώθηκαν σε μία ισχυρή και εν μέρει δογματική κοσμοθεωρία με τεράστια επιρροή. Η μεγάλη απήχηση της θρησκείας οφείλεται κυρίως στον απλοϊκό της χαρακτήρα και στο γεγονός ότι προηγήθηκε χρονολογικά της γέννησης των επιστημών.
Στόχος αυτής της διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι να αναδείξει το χρονικό της εξέλιξης του Χριστιανισμού σε αντιπαραβολή με το μόρφωμα των Τζιχαντιστών και τους αυτόχειρες αυτοκτονία. Και στις δύο περιπτώσεις η τυφλή προσήλωση σε μία ιδέα, αντίληψη, πίστη ή πρόσωπο εξέθρεψε το φανατισμό και τη μισαλλοδοξία έναντι στο ξένο και στο διαφορετικό. Αμφότεροι Χριστιανοί και Ισλαμιστές προπαγάνδισαν και επιστράτευσαν την πίστη των λαών ως μέσο επιβολής των δικών τους αφηγημάτων.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second Palestinian Intifad, a debate arose among Muslim scholars over the religious legitimacy of "suicide" attacks in the State of Israel as a form of resistance. This paper explores some of the arguments offered by some Muslim scholars in support of martyrdom operations in this context and those who oppose them, as acts of suicide.

On September 11th, 2001 nineteen al Qaeda operatives brought terrorism to America's shores in an unprecedented fashion, killing nearly three thousand and injuring more than 25,000.  How did this occur?  Al Qaeda expertly wrapped their operations in secrecy, a pillar of their existence.