Category Archives: Terrorism

13Feb/23

PMC Wagner Propaganda Ecosystem – by Giulia Porrino & Federico Borgonovo

Terrorism, , ,

The Wagner propaganda ecosystem is fragmented and made up of different actors that we have categorized. We identified a “top-down” propaganda architecture, composed of different materials disseminated by the leadership of the Wagner company, exploiting traditional media such as television, movies, events, and newspaper. Examples of this are the construction of the Wagner Center in St. Petersburg and movies produced by Aurum Production owned by Prigozhin.

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07Feb/23

Towards a more progressive approach to studying the Salafi-Jihadi movement – by Ali Fisher

Intelligence, Sociology, Technology, Terrorism, , , ,

The ongoing struggle against the Salafi-Jihadi movement will require reflection on multiple levels to achieve a genuinely progressive and evidence-based approach. This reflection will focus on developing an authentic understanding of:

  • Their core purpose – their theology expressed in hundreds of thousands of pages of text, along with days of audio and video content.
  • The strategic communication approaches which underpin their da’wa; the missionary work often referred to by Western research as recruitment or radicalization. Such understanding will include how Salafi-Jihadi groups exploit the internet for strategic communication.
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31Gen/23

Holocaust Remembrance Day attack in Jerusalem: Comments from a European security perspective – by Maria Alvanou

Communication, Surveillance, Terrorism, , ,

The phrase “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” has been used in the discussion for decades now regarding whether violence conducted by Palestinians against Israelis constitutes terrorism or not. Different geopolitical interests, ideological approaches, historical accounts, and even personal affiliations, in conjunction with the complexity of the Middle Eastern issue and the grievances people have been facing in this area, have led to different characterizations. Some have called them terrorism, others insurgency or resistance. And indeed, from an operational point of view, when attacks have been aiming at military targets, things can be blurred. However, there have been some true textbook cases of terrorism. Such a case has been the one of January 27th, 2023, that has led UN Spokesperson, António Guterres to state: “There is never any excuse for acts of terrorism.  They must be clearly condemned and rejected by all.”[1]  

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31Gen/23

Beyond Remembrance. Traces of anti-Semitism in the current communication spaces – by Giacomo Buoncompagni

Communication, Terrorism, ,

The examples of genocide or individual cases of hate crimes are rather recent episodes and mainly concern the re-emergence of attitudes of racism and xenophobia. Among the phenomena of hostility and aggression towards ‘others’, anti-Semitism is a particular phenomenon that has been growing in recent years throughout Europe. It is in fact an ancient hatred, the ‘longest’ in the history of mankind, expressed towards Jews as such (or as Jean-Paul Sartre already observed, often even in the absence of Jews), but which today takes on new faces and characters depending on the social, cultural, and political context in which we live. Especially in the period around 27 January each year, Remembrance Day, there are punctual acts of anti-Semitism, even in Italy.

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26Gen/23

Europe: knife attacks continue – by Sara Brzuszkiewicz

Terrorism, , ,

In one day – on January 25 – two knife attacks took place in Europe.

In Germany, a knife-wielding man – allegedly of Palestinian origin – has fatally stabbed two people and injured seven others on a train in northern Germany before being grabbed by passengers and arrested by police. The event occurred shortly before a regional train traveling from Kiel to Hamburg arrived at the Brokstedt station. While Germany has not mentioned the word terrorism yet, the case of Spain seems to be slightly clearer.

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19Gen/23

Terrorism in 2023: Unpredictability Ahead – by Sara Brzuszkiewicz

Terrorism, ,

Because of terrorism’s core purpose of instilling fear, its characteristics and features are not always foreseeable. When it comes to 2023, however, we should expect it to be the most unpredictable year in recent times. Ideological patchworking and mixing, reciprocal influencing and democratization of the threat: all the major trends that might prevail in the next few months pivot around chaos and unpredictability. Continue reading →

12Gen/23

Ripensare la definizione di terrorismo – by Marco Lombardi

Terrorism, ,

Il nuovo anno si avvia con alcuni eventi che ripropongono il terrorismo all’attenzione delle agenzie di sicurezza e dei media. Soprattutto, si tratta di eventi che reclamano una riflessione sulla minaccia specifica che è sempre consistente sul piano fattuale, fluida e pervasiva, ma bisognosa di una ridefinizione sul piano teorico e interpretativo. Quanto è successo in questi ultimi giorni è sotto gli occhi di tutti.

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15Dic/22

New Threats from Wagner PMC by – Giulia Porrino & Federico Borgonovo

Security, Terrorism, ,

On 23 November, the European Parliament adopted the resolution defining Russia as a state sponsor and user of terrorist modalities[1]. At the same venue, MEPs asked the EU Council to include the Wagner group and the 141st Motorized Regiment of Chechen fighters, also known as “Kadyrovites”, in the list of terrorist organizations of the European Union, as well as other armed militias. Continue reading →

09Nov/22

TERRORGRAM: Status dashboard after HARD-RESET

Terrorism, ,
  1. Terrorgram status dashboard after the countermeasures implemented by Telegram, in response to the HARD-RESET publication. The dashboard is composed of 5 sections: 
  • Definition of Terrorgram and a visual insight of its main propaganda production
  • Social network analysis of the Terrorgram’s channels core (every channel is identified with a code)
  • Top domain shared inside the Terrogram 
  • Top domain shared inside the Terrogram with the timeline
  • Languages detection
Terrorgram status dashboardOpen interactive dashboard