Cooperation between Egyptian and Israeli rescuers following the recent simultaneous terrorist attacks in the Sinai was not worked out in advance, and after a rocky start, significantly improved in real-time in the days following the attacks. 

The clock is ticking. The handwriting is on the wall, the evidence is clear; no mystical clairvoyant capabilities are needed to see the future. No amount of wishful thinking or “politically correct” apologetics is going to change what is rapidly becoming an inevitable and obvious fact of our lives. The free and democratic countries of the world are in serious danger.

As the third year since the catastrophic attacks of September 11, 2001, in USA approaches completion, with much of the world sliding slowly but steadily into a torpor of denial, terrorism has once again issued multiple reminders over the past weeks that liberal democracies everywhere are under siege.

Much of the world’s media and many of the prominent commentators and scholars on terrorism and conflict have concentrated their attention on the happenings in the Middle East—especially as it pertains to radical Islam. Although this geographic region is important, Southeast Asia—home to the largest Muslim country in the world and a hotbed of radical Islamic fundamentalism—has become equally significant in terms of terrorist activities.

The brutal reality of this type of physical and psychological terror, relentlessly driven by radical Islamic religious fanaticism and unrestrained by the conventional “rules” of international conflicts, requires new ways of thinking and new responses to cope with and defeat the phenomenon.

This study is focused on the moral infrastructure of chief perpetrators of Palestinian suicide terrorism, who recruit and dispatch suicide bombers. Practical implications are suggested, based on the Functional Theory of Cognition and the Hypothesis of Modular Morality.

Summary of a lecture delivered by Daniel Pipes at the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism in conjunction with the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzilya, under the title “Reflections on Modern Warfare”, November 1, 2004.

France is a country with a population of 60 million where Churches and State are separated since 1905, which means, among other things, that asking people about their religious affiliation in a population census is forbidden. However, it is believed that between 4 and 5 million Moslems, whether foreign residents or citizens, live here, compared to roughly 600,000 Jews. After the bombings of September 11th, 2001, as elsewhere, France has had its share of often-harsh controversy about the compatibility of Islam with the values of the Republic and Western-type democracy. Some marginal, but very vocal voices, within the Jewish community and conservative right circles close to the Jewish political right, have openly questioned the possibility for Moslems to fully integrate into French society, and even compared Islamic fundamentalism to national-socialism, which is both irrelevant and dangerous.

The recent clashes between coalition forces and followers of the young Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, come as no surprise to those who have closely followed events in Iraq since the removal of Saddam Hussein. Sadr, considered to be a rebellious, recalcitrant Shiite leader, has often criticized the US presence in Iraq, referring to America as the “big Satan”.  Subsequently, he also acted to torpedo any political initiative proposed by the US. In addition, Sadr has undermined, with the backing of radical Iranian elements, the traditional and moderate Shiite leadership in Iraq (al-Marjaia), headed by Ayatollah Sistani.