• FBI Releases 2019 Hate Crime Statistics

    The FBI has today (Monday) released Hate Crime Statistics, 2019, show that, in 2019, there were 7,314 criminal incidents and 8,559 related offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity.

  • Michigan Terrorists Planned to Kill All State Legislators, Blow Up Capitol Building

    The Michigan terrorists who plotted to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer and attack the Michigan State legislature building, planned for no one to emerge alive from the building, according to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.The plotters planned to carry food and supplies with them as they stormed the Capitol building, and barricade themselves inside. Their plan then called for the legislators to face televised “trials,” in which they would be charged with “tyranny,” and then executed. Fox and his fellow plotters believed they would be able to hold on for about a week, during which all the legislators and their staff would be executed and their executions televised.

  • Austrian Police Investigating 21 Potential Accomplices in Vienna Attack

    Austrian investigators have identified 21 suspected accomplices of an Islamist gunman who went on a deadly rampage in Vienna last week, officials said Friday. Police say it’s not clear how the shooter managed to get to Vienna’s city center armed with an assault rifle, handgun, machete and fake explosive belt. They’re also still looking into how the weapons reached Austria.

  • Surveillance State: Why Zhenhua Data Is Researching Irish People for the Chinese Government

    An obscure Chinese company with close ties to the Chinese intelligence services was found to have collected detailed information on 963 influential Irish people. The Irish dataset is part of the company 2.4 million-strong database, consisting of influential people from practically every country in the world. Intelligence specialists say China’s goal is to identify potential weaknesses that could be exploited to advance China’s interests.

  • Macron Alone: Where Are France’s Allies in the Fight against Islamism?

    Martin Luther King memorably said: “In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” Douglas Murray writes that that reflection may now be going through the head of the French president Emmanuel Macron. Last month, following another Islamist terrorist atrocity in France, Macron delivered remarks on what he called “Islamist separatism” in France. In a major speech he warned that a portion of France’s six million Muslims were forming a “counter-society.” Macron has turned out to be interested in actions as well as words. “Throughout this whole shocking episode there remains one great question. Where are France’s friends and allies?” Murray asks, adding: “Whether or not France’s allies are scared, Macron is not.”

  • Islamism: How Terror Attacks Have Shocked France

    According to official data by Europol, France has witnessed more jihadist attacks than any other European Union member since 2014, when the Islamic State (IS) established its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Nearly 300 French citizens have died in those attacks.

  • Russia’s “Neo-Imperialism” Is a Product of Complex Factors

    Since Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, there has been no shortage of commentaries, articles, papers and entire volumes by Western academics, think-tankers, former policy practitioners and journalists on how Russian President Vladimir Putin is rebuilding the Russian empire or how the Kremlin has never actually stopped building one. Still, there are some books on Russia’s external policies that I could not have missed, and Russian Imperialism Revisited by long-time Russia scholar Domitilla Sagramoso is one of them.

  • U.S. Immigration Policy Changes Expected Under Biden

    The incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden could swiftly reverse an array of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, many of which remain among the most contentious initiatives of his administration.

  • Cyberattacks and the Constitution

    The United States has one of the world’s strongest and most sophisticated capabilities to launch cyberattacks against adversaries. How does the U.S. Constitution allocate power to use that capability? And, Matthew Waxman asks, what does that allocation tell us about appropriate executive-legislative branch arrangements for setting and implementing cyber strategy?

  • The Leader Editorial: Let the Election Recount Process Play Out

    In 2000, Vice President Al Gore was losing the State of Florida - and thus the election. But rather than concede, Gore filed lawsuits and demanded selected recounts of counties more favorable to him. The Florida recounts took five weeks, and George Bush ultimately won. But no one begrudged Gore his right to review and contest the results. Donald Trump - and his volunteers and supporters - should be able to review the ballot count without being called sore losers or disrupters.

  • History Tells Us that a Contested Election Won’t Destroy American Democracy

    The United States has a long history of such contested elections. With one exception—the 1860 election, which happened in a unique context and which sparked the Civil War – theses challenges have not badly damaged the American political system. As a political scientist who studies elections, I believe that the fact that President Trump is contesting the results of the November election – and the same could have been said had Joe Biden been the one contesting the election results — American democracy will survive.

  • Nuclear War could Take a Big Bite Out of the World's Seafood

    A new study reveals the damage that a nuclear war might take on wild-caught seafood around the world, from salmon and tuna to the shrimp in shrimp cocktails. The aftermath of such a conflict could put a major strain on global food security, an international team of scientists reports. The group estimates that a nuclear war might cut the amount of seafood that fishing boats are capable of bringing in worldwide by as much as 30 percent.

  • EU to Increase Cooperation after Terrorism Summit in Paris

    EU leaders say they want to increase cooperation among member states in the fight against terror, with common databases and greater information exchange. The plan follows deadly terror attacks in France and Austria.

  • Election Security 2020: Why Did Things Go Right This Time?

    In the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election, the U.S. government and technology companies took several steps to safeguard election security in cyberspace, focusing their efforts on disinformation and cyberattacks. Although there were a handful of incidents, none compromised the integrity of the election, and Election Day passed without any major disruption. Why did things go right this time? A combination of government and private sector action motivated by the lessons of the 2016 and 2018 elections. Still, as the vote count continues, disinformation remains a real threat.

  • Extremism Gab Remains Extremists' Online Destination of Choice

    Two years ago, white supremacist Robert Bowers killed eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh after posting antisemitic, anti-immigrant rants on Gab. Today, supported by a founder who encourages hate speech, the social media site appears to be gaining traction among far-right extremists, including white supremacists: Sixty percent of the 47 far-right extremist groups currently on Gab were created this year.