Countering Terrorism

In this week's Monday Briefing, MEI experts Marvin G. Weinbaum, Charles Lister, and Gerald Feierstein provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the placement of Pakistan on a global terrorist financing "gray list," the ongoing assault on eastern Ghouta following a UNSC cease-fire resolution, and diplomatic efforts on the war in Yemen.

The United States has no closer Arab counterterrorism partner than the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Military and intelligence relations between the two countries date back to the 1950s. In recent decades, the two countries have worked closely to address shared security threats, shore up Jordan’s stability, and strengthen the kingdom’s capacity to confront terrorism at home. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria all strengthened these bonds, but the rise of the Islamic State group (IS) in 2014 saw bilateral security cooperation enter a new and even deeper phase of cooperation.

Looting and trafficking of antiquities in the Middle East and North Africa has reached unprecedented levels since the rise of ISIS. In a region with tens of thousands of archaeological sites, antiquities are as easily accessible as oil for terrorist groups.

The Trump administration’s short-term thinking is even worse than Obama’s. By signing on to Russia’s strategy, it’s guaranteeing strife, and giving a boost to al Qaeda.

The Perry World House and the American Academy of Political and Social Science jointly hosted a discussion with Richard Clarke (Penn '72), who edited the November 2016 volume of The ANNALS. The volume focuses on the topic of the Middle East, regional transition, and providing paths and priorities for the president and his administration. Malcolm Nance, the executive director of the Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics, and Radical Ideology, moderated the discussion.

In incorporating Muslim minorities into the nation-state, Chinese policymakers have faced two sets of challenges: The first involves balancing ethno-religious diversity and national integration; and the second entails fostering enhanced connectivity to the outside world while at the same time consolidating CCP-state control over the public sphere. This essay examines the Chinese government's recent and current struggles to address these challenges.

From its periodic war games and firing off missiles as a show of strength, to the IRGC intelligence arm’s willfully arresting Iranian dual nationals to embarrass the president, the corps barley hides its intention to expose the limits of Rouhani’s power.