Category: Terrorism

Islam, Politics, Russia, Terrorism, USALeave a comment

Moscow attack proves Russia — and US — have lost sight of priorities

Fernando Kaskais

People lay flowers at a makeshift memorial to the victims of a shooting attack set up outside the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the Moscow Region, Russia, March 24, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov We both have the same enemies but spend most of the time ignoring that fact By ANATOL LIEVEN The Islamic State terrorist attack in Moscow is the starkest possible reminder that despite the war in Ukraine, Russia and the West also still have some of the same enemies. What the terrorists — ISIS-K, an Afghanistan offshoot of IS, took responsibility — did in Moscow, they have done … Continue reading Moscow attack proves Russia — and US — have lost sight of priorities

Politics, Psychology, Terrorism1 Comment

How to hate

Fernando Kaskais

The Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s arrest on 3 April 1996 at his cabin near Lincoln, Montana. Photos courtesy FBI/University of Michigan Library The manifesto was always a hotheaded call to arms. Then it got a slick, digital makeover in the cause of coldblooded hate Tyler Thier is an adjunct assistant professor of writing studies and rhetoric at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. On 22 July 2011, a 32-year-old man, disguised as a policeman, parks his van below the Regjeringskvartalet, a complex housing several offices of the Norwegian government, then walks off, abandoning Oslo city centre for his next – true – destination. … Continue reading How to hate

Freak Religion, Politics, Psychology, Science, TerrorismLeave a comment

“Obsessive passion”: The surprising links between OCD and radicalization

Fernando Kaskais

People who score high in “obsessive passion” can become rigidly consumed by ideological causes — sometimes dangerously so. By Elizabeth Gilbert KEY TAKEAWAYS Mental problems are commonly blamed for extremist violence—radicals and terrorists appear by definition to be selfish psychopaths. Yet research finds that no single psychological profile leads to violent extremism. And while depression is sometimes correlated with political violence, these links are not always reliable and may only occur when combined with environmental factors like recent life stressors. Instead, most research finds that radicalization and political violence stem from environmental factors like marginalization, oppression, and perceived injustice. “Clinical traits that might … Continue reading “Obsessive passion”: The surprising links between OCD and radicalization

AI, Future, Media&Culture, Technology, TerrorismLeave a comment

What Might 21st Century Anti-Tech Terrorism Look Like?

Fernando Kaskais

Image: Adobe A warning, or perhaps notes for someone else’s manifesto. By FREDDIE DEBOER This essay is not a prediction, much less an endorsement. (This essay is not an endorsement of anything it describes; I do not condone any imagined violent action discussed in this piece.) Instead I’m laying out a potential near-future reality that I find more plausible than the absurd utopia-or-apocalypse maximalism coming from media in the AI space today: the rise of a distributed and open-source international terrorist movement dedicated to disrupting the digital information and communication network we call the internet. What’s described here is still … Continue reading What Might 21st Century Anti-Tech Terrorism Look Like?

Middle East, Music, Psychology, Terrorism, WarLeave a comment

As war rages, music forces us to confront political complexity. We mustn’t look away

Fernando Kaskais

The Gaza strip has seen hundreds of civilian casualties in recent days. Image: Yasser abu raya, via Wikimedia Commons You could argue that looking at art, particularly music, as a vital life force at this hinge moment in history is facile. I think it is more important than ever By PAUL MCNAMEE I’ve been losing myself in Times Echo, a new book by Jeremy Eichler. Subtitled ‘The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance’, it is on the face of it an exploration of four key works and how they bear some kind of witness to the horrors of … Continue reading As war rages, music forces us to confront political complexity. We mustn’t look away

Military, Russia, Terrorism, WarLeave a comment

An ex-member of one of the world’s most dangerous mercenary groups has gone public

Fernando Kaskais

by ELEANOR BEARDSLEY PARIS — Marat Gabidullin’s face is lined from years of exposure to the elements, and his hair is thinning. But at 56, he has the trim physique and muscular arms of a man 30 years younger. He wears a chunky ring bearing the image of a skull. The skull is the symbol of the Wagner Group — a private Russian mercenary force believed to be financed by an oligarch with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. The group is fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. And it’s widely believed that at least some of … Continue reading An ex-member of one of the world’s most dangerous mercenary groups has gone public

Curiositys, Living, Prepper, Science, TerrorismLeave a comment

How To Escape a Submerged Car Using Science

Fernando Kaskais

CASPAR BENSON The best tool for surviving a slowly sinking car is probably a glass breaker—but science is a close second. BY DAISY HERNANDEZ AND JOHN GALVIN For more than a century, Popular Mechanics has provided life-saving advice for outlasting storms, surviving outdoors, and preparing for disaster. Find out how to survive anything right here. Bridges collapse, roads flood, and GPS errors can mistakenly send you careening into a lake. A sudden and unexpected immersion of water can quickly turn your car into a suffocating death trap. According to The University of Manitoba’s Gordon Giesbrecht, who trains law enforcement officers and others on underwater-vehicle escape, you’ve got … Continue reading How To Escape a Submerged Car Using Science

Conspiracy, Military, Nuclear, TerrorismLeave a comment

3 OTHER MASSIVE EXPLOSIONS THAT LEFT US WONDERING WHEN TACTICAL NUKES WILL MAKE THEIR DEBUT

Fernando Kaskais

by Vic Bishop, Staff Writer Waking Times The world has been watching footage of the massive explosion in Beirut’s main city port yesterday, causing widespread speculation as to whether or not this was a covert military operation employing some new generation of tactical small-yield nuclear weapons. So far, all indications seem to be that this blast was the result of fatal mishandling of hazardous materials, and no faction has stepped up to take responsibility for this as an attack. The official story is that a fire in a fireworks factory ignited a six year old cache of ammonium nitrate that was … Continue reading 3 OTHER MASSIVE EXPLOSIONS THAT LEFT US WONDERING WHEN TACTICAL NUKES WILL MAKE THEIR DEBUT

Africa, Islam, Military, Politics, Terrorism, WarLeave a comment

Why South Africa’s Military May ‘Somehow Get Involved’ in Situation in Northern Mozambique

Fernando Kaskais

by Oleg Burunov Northern Mozambique has been in the grip of a jihadist insurgency since 2017, with the violence having reportedly already killed more than 1,000 people there. In an article published on the website Conversation, political scientist Theo Neethling from the Bloemfontein-based University of the Free State, focused on South Africa’s position pertaining to an increase in “deadly violence” in the northern parts of Mozambique. “There is now even a possibility that the South African National Defence Force might become involved in [Mozambique’s] most northern Cabo Delgado province, with a view to ending [… the] litany of atrocities, abductions and … Continue reading Why South Africa’s Military May ‘Somehow Get Involved’ in Situation in Northern Mozambique

Conspiracy, Curiositys, Health, Manipulation, TerrorismLeave a comment

A Viral Pandemic or A Crime Scene?

Fernando Kaskais

By Gilad Atzmon  We have recently heard from frontline medical physicians that the current global health crisis is something they have not been trained to deal with nor do they fully understand the spectrum of symptoms they encounter in hospitals and emergency centres.  Earlier this week, Dr. Cameron Kyle-Sidell, an emergency physician affiliated with Maimonides Medical Center (Brooklyn), posted two insightful videos urging health practitioners to accept that COVID-19 does not cause any form of pneumonia.  Instead, the virus causes a condition of oxygen deprivation, and ventilators as they are currently being used, may cause more harm than good for some … Continue reading A Viral Pandemic or A Crime Scene?