Maxim Fomin, noto come Vladlen Tatarsky, influencer e membro del PMC Wagner è stato ucciso alle 18.30 ora locale a San Pietroburgo. Ieri mattina, durante il training intensivo di ITSTIME, era stata evidenziata la centralità del canale di Tatarsky nella rete di reclutamento Wagner e come una sua eleminazione avrebbe probabilmente portato a una crisi all’intera rete.
Continue readingTag Archives: Terrorism
Correlation Is Not Causation: Wagner e migranti come attori della guerra cognitiva – by Giulia Porrino
Nella giornata di lunedì il Ministro della Difesa Guido Crosetto e il Ministro degli Affari Esteri Antonio Tajani hanno denunciato la presenza della PMC Wagner dietro l’aumento degli sbarchi sulle coste italiane, triplicati rispetto allo stesso periodo nel 2022. Secondo i Ministri si tratta di una strategia di guerra cognitiva che i mercenari russi stanno attuando per destabilizzare l’Europa. Non si è fatta attendere la risposta di Prigozhin (su Telegram), che ha negato di essere al corrente di quanto sta accadendo.
Continue readingPMC Wagner Propaganda Ecosystem – by Giulia Porrino & Federico Borgonovo
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.
Continue readingTowards a more progressive approach to studying the Salafi-Jihadi movement – by Ali Fisher
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.
Holocaust Remembrance Day attack in Jerusalem: Comments from a European security perspective – by Maria Alvanou
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]
Continue readingBeyond Remembrance. Traces of anti-Semitism in the current communication spaces – by Giacomo Buoncompagni
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.
Continue readingTerrorism in 2023: Unpredictability Ahead – by Sara Brzuszkiewicz
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
Ripensare la definizione di terrorismo – by Marco Lombardi
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.
Continue readingNew Threats from Wagner PMC by – Giulia Porrino & Federico Borgonovo
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
The Captagon factor – by Emilio Palmieri
Captagon is the brand name given to the synthetic-produced drug based off of fenethylline molecules. Firstly synthesised in Germany in 1961, it was introduced as milder alternative to amphetamine and methamphetamine that were employed at the time to treat narcolepsy, fatigue, behavioural disorder and minimal brain dysfunctions. It was also used in lack of drive, particularly in elderly patients due to organic diseases (like Parkinsonism) or other causes, as well as after severe illness or injury. Continue reading
11.9.2001: un evento mediale, cognitivo, globale – by Giacomo Buoncompagni
Il terrorismo è una strategia tipicamente cognitiva e l’attacco dell’11 settembre 2001 potremmo (ancora) definirlo un (media) event cognitivo- globale il cui obiettivo di base era ottenere, attraverso i media, il massimo risultato con uno sforzo relativamente basso all’interno della sfera pubblica. Continue reading
“Scrivere da morire”. Scrittura, libertà e violenza culturale – by Giacomo Buoncompagni
Per il sociologo Walter Ong la scrittura è uno dei media più potenti in grado di influenzare la storia delle civiltà, le relazioni e i conflitti tra gli esseri umani. È stata l’introduzione della scrittura a trasformare lo stile cognitivo e la coscienza degli uomini, producendo nuovi modelli di pensiero che hanno reso possibile l’enorme sviluppo della/e cultura/e. Continue reading