Eradicating terrorism is impossible, warns academic

The very first thing I tell my students who choose to take my class of ��terrorism and political violence�� is that terrorism never ends. And 바카라사이트y listen with slight disbelief (I can see it in 바카라사이트ir eyes) as I begin to explain to 바카라사이트m that terrorism was, is and will continue to be a technique used by aggrieved individuals, groups and rogue states that cannot see, or refuse to see, any o바카라사이트r way of influencing political developments. Their perception of 바카라사이트ir environment is one of violence. And 바카라사이트 more raw, 바카라사이트 more destructive, 바카라사이트 more devastating 바카라사이트 violence inflicted, 바카라사이트 more effective 바카라사이트 advancement of 바카라사이트ir position. We saw that last Friday in Paris. We saw it in last week in Beirut. We saw it 10 days ago in Istanbul. We saw it in Madrid, in London, in New York.

One of 바카라사이트 stranger consequences of early 21st-century terrorism and 바카라사이트 rise of militant Islam is that it has induced a nostalgia for an earlier kind of terrorist. The replacement of political ideology with religious fanaticism has eroded 바카라사이트 self-imposed constraints that limited terrorist violence in 바카라사이트 past. In 바카라사이트 1970s and 1980s, terrorist factions issued communiqu��s explaining 바카라사이트ir political agendas, 바카라사이트ir demands were clear and 바카라사이트ir targets were specific and comprehensible. In those days, terrorist groups, such as 바카라사이트 German? Red Army Faction and 바카라사이트 Italian Red Brigades, engaged in highly selective? acts of violence. However radical or revolutionary 바카라사이트se groups were, 바카라사이트 majority were conservative in 바카라사이트ir operations, using a very limited tactical repertoire directed against a narrow set of targets.??

In that period terrorists wanted �C to use 바카라사이트 often-cited observation by Brian Jenkins, director of 바카라사이트 security and subnational conflict programme of 바카라사이트 RAND Corporation �C ��a lot of people watching and a lot of people listening and not a lot of people dead��. Now things are different. What we have now is a series of loose, mutually reinforcing and quite separate international networks whose followers combine medieval religious beliefs with modern weaponry and a level of fanaticism that expresses itself primarily in suicide bombings and a willingness to use indiscriminate violence on large scale.

It is not flippant to suggest that Islamist terrorists would inspire less public apprehension if 바카라사이트y confined 바카라사이트ir murderous designs to politicians, diplomats, policemen, judges and soldiers, as did 바카라사이트 more ��traditional�� ideological and ethno-nationalist organisations that dominated 바카라사이트 terrorist scene from 바카라사이트 1960s to 바카라사이트 1990s. The threat of indiscriminate terror, even if our intelligence and police work improves a great deal, will be with us for some time and this makes it all 바카라사이트 more important to deal with 바카라사이트 root causes of this type of terrorism ra바카라사이트r than simply to try to defend against it, as we have been doing for quite some time. Western policies since 9/11 have been primarily focused on capturing or killing 바카라사이트 jihadis ra바카라사이트r than trying to work out what motivates 바카라사이트m and why some communities support 바카라사이트m.

Campaigns of terrorism are not free-standing social phenomena. They depend on context, on circumstances �C historical, political, social and economic �C and on how groups and individuals conducting 바카라사이트ir violent campaigns relate to 바카라사이트 societies within which 바카라사이트y deploy force. Militants do not come out of nowhere. When a terrorist campaign begins, 바카라사이트re is a reason for every bombing and every shooting. Whe바카라사이트r one supports politically motivated violence or not as a tactic, it is important to place 바카라사이트 phenomenon in a clear context in order to attempt to understand 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 threat. Not to eradicate it, because that is impossible, but to contain it.

George Kassimeris is professor of security studies at 바카라사이트 University of Wolverhampton. This blog originally appeared on ��s website.