Are terrorists not religious enough?

In How to defeat terrorists? True extremism Giles Fraser argues that "Despite what religious terrorists may think, God doesn’t need saving. People should be more extreme in their faith – placing their trust in God’s greatness".

Article on what ISIS really wants

Graeme Wood in What ISIS Really Wants describes the beliefs driving the actions of ISIS.

Radicalisation and education

Ben Doherty in Pakistan attack reveals the truth about terrorism: it kills more poor Muslims than rich westerners writes how educating children, especially girls, is one of the best ways of defeating terrorism.

I asked the head of the school, a gruff, uniformed major, what the root cause of radicalisation was.

What was the fundamental, underlying reason why these boys could be convinced to kill in the name of a distorted religious interpretation, to don a vest they knew would kill them and walk towards a target?

“Poverty,” he said.

“It’s poverty, and that comes from a lack of education.”

Boys in school, he explained, didn’t grow up to become suicide bombers. Young men with good jobs didn’t run away to the hills to join the Taliban.

Literate girls go on to lift entire families from poverty. Women with an education don’t allow their sons to be radicalised.

The cost now might seem too high, but Pakistan must keep its children in school.

That’s how the war will be won. And the whole world will benefit.

There's some truth to this. Australia provides aid to Indonesia so children are educated in sectarian schools rather than being potentially radicalised in a madrassa. Indeed many of the Taliban were educated and radicalised in madrassas in Pakistan teaching Wahhabism.

However, it's not the whole story. It doesn't explain many of the people fighting for ISIS and similar groups in Syria and Iraq. Many of them received a reasonable level of education. And yet they have also been radicalised.

We also should also not forget that many terrorists in western countries in the seventies and eighties (e.g the Red Army Faction) were highly educated.

What IS really wants

In An ‘apocalyptic death cult’? What IS really wants Andrei Ghoukassian explains that rather than being a devastating terrorist organisation the Islamic State jihadi group is really a mid-sized militia.

The Wahhabi roots of Islamic Radicalism

The Islamic Supreme Council of America has an interesting post on Islamic Radicalism: Its Wahhabi Roots and Current Representation.

Australia losing the war on terror?

Irfan Yusuf explains By ignoring Muslim voices, Australia is losing the war on terror. My only criticism is that the article is behind a paywall. However there is a free trial.

What is Sharia Law?

Jamila Hussain gives us Sharia 101: a user's guide for Jacqui Lambie.

Five unanswered questions on the recent counter-terrorism raids

Paul Farrell writes: Counter-terrorism raids: five unanswered questions.

The real existential threat to us

Jonathan Holmes explains that Islamic State is not an existential threat to us but climate change is.