by Marisa UrgoShaalan | Jun 9, 2013 | Monitor
I traveled to Turkey in March, as part of a class in public diplomacy, sponsored by George Mason University's Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution. During the trip, the class met with Syrians who were engaged in the early, non-violence...
by Marisa UrgoShaalan | Apr 8, 2013 | Monitor
More thoughtful analyts know that militant Islamic momvements existed long before September 11th. I make it an effort to collect books on political Islam, Islamism, jihad-centered groups, etc that predate 2001. This, in order to view radical movements without the...
by Marisa UrgoShaalan | Mar 4, 2013 | Monitor
"Railing against military incompetence and intelligence failures is no substitute for constructing a policy that recognizes the limitations of armed force and espionage. Though they lack the dramatic appeal of air raids and secret agents, diplomacy and law...
by Marisa UrgoShaalan | Jan 20, 2013 | Monitor
As I blogged yesterday, here is the 2012 list of AQIM-related events in Illizi province. My news sources didn't have reports for June or July, and so the set is incomplete. Still, I think it shows a qualitiative change in the militant activity in Illizi between...
by Marisa UrgoShaalan | Jan 19, 2013 | Monitor
The border region around En Amenas has been the scene of both criminal and AQIM-related activity for quite some time. In my day job, I call this activity microinstability: very select regions or localities in a country that experience extended periods of persistent...
