While Brazilian security and law enforcement agencies have recognized the threat of terrorist activity in the Tri-Border Area and Sao Paulo, their ability to adapt the current legal tools to successfully countering terrorism in the area is another deterrent to the Brazilian government to implement changes and creates a lack of “evidence” the Brazilian government uses to argue against the need for change.

Prof. Erroll G. Southers is currently visiting Israel and serving as a Visiting Fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT). He was the first Presidential nominee for Assistant Secretary of the TSA, Governor Schwarzenegger’s Deputy Director in the California Office of Homeland Security and FBI Special Agent. He is the Associate Director of Research Transition for the National Homeland Security Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) at the University of Southern California (USC) where he developed the Executive Program in Counter--Terrorism and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Homeland Security and Public Policy.

Case Study: First attack on Israeli citizens by a female Palestinian suicide bomber - January 27, 2002 -.

2010 was a mixed year for Al Qaeda and its associates in terror. They continued to succeed in causing death and destruction in countries where they are based----whether in the Af-Pak region, Yemen, Somalia or North Africa--- but faced one failure after another in their attempts to export terror to other countries.

The ideological/religious radicalization in the Sunni radical camp presages badly for the chances of challenging peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which has no control of and practically no influence in Gaza, from where terrorist activity against Israel is again on the rising. Egypt, after legislative elections which nullified the meager electoral successes of the Muslim Brotherhood of 2005 and ahead of a thorny presidential contest, will probably witness more political and operative cooperation between Iran and the MB. The Muslim Brotherhood movements in Syria and Jordan could also be tempted to enhance their cooperation with the Teheran regime, based on common interests and similar ideological views. The Iranian leadership can thus consider that it is worthwhile to persist in its successful aggressive policy in the Middle East.
 

This commentary draws parralels between the effect of dissident republican goups on the peace process in Ireland and Israel's options when dealing with radical terrorist groups such as Hamas in an effort to form a peace settlement with the Palestinians.

Fears regarding Islamic extremism in Bosnia-Herzegovina have emerged following a recent series of attacks, provocations and activities of Bosnian Wahabbis. This situation illustrates the growing tension between the moderate majority and the vocal extremist minority among Bosnian Muslims, the largest of the fragmented country’s three main ethnic groups. While the international community has monitored the small communities of naturalized Middle Eastern immigrants who first came as fighters in the 1992-1995 war, concerns have shifted to potential terrorist plots by Bosnian Muslim who has chosen to live in isolation in remote towns under self-proclaimed Islamic law. The Wahhabi movement, a conservative school of Islam that originated in Saudi Arabia some 200 years ago, has been growing in strength in Bosnia since the end of the 1992-95 War. Hundreds of Islamic fighters who are adherents to the Wahhabi tradition, and who fought alongside Bosnian Muslim forces during the war, remained in the country - with many marrying local women, establishing Islamic organizations and largely contributing to the rapid radicalization of existing Muslim population

 China, whose relations with Turkey went through a period of tension last year following the Turkish condemnation of the atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the Chinese on the Uighurs in Chinese-controlled Xinjiang in July , has undertaken measures to repair the relations and seek Turkey's support for the pacification of Xinjiang.

In late September 2010, the United States issued a travel advisory for its citizens warning against travel to European cities. This occurred in the backdrop of a high terror alert across European countries of France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom; all countries are known allies of the United States and are battling domestic Islamic radicalization. This commentary focuses on one aspect of the European terror plot - the role of Germans in global Jihad.

Alongside military strategies and intelligence efforts it is possible today, by means of social networks, to carry on a dialogue with potential terrorists, before they have given up their human values, and perhaps even prevent them from joining ranks with the devil.

First published by the Huffington Post