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Is “Fake” Terrorism Still Terrorism? Here’s What the Sydney Caravan Incident Tells Us
The recent discovery of a caravan full of explosives in Dural, in Sydney’s northwest, caused significant fear about the possibility of a mass casualty attack. The Australian Federal Police declared it and 14 antisemitic attacks a “con job” by organized criminals who were trying to distract police or use it as a bargaining chip to influence prosecutions. Can “fake” terrorism still be terrorism, especially if it causes significant fear?
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From Home to Horror: The Association Between Domestic Violence and Terrorism
Domestic violence is an under-recognized early indicator of terrorism. It is not a reliable solitary indicator, but when observed alongside risk factors, it can prompt authorities to take a closer look at a potential terrorist.
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Industry-Backed Legislation Would Bar the Use of Science Behind Hundreds of Environmental Protections
Two bills in Congress would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from using hundreds of chemical assessments completed by its IRIS program in environmental regulations or enforcement.
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In Trump’s New Purge of Climate Language, Even “Resilience” Isn’t Safe
In his first hours back in the White House in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.” Yet it was immediately clear he was in fact imposing his own strict rules on language usage.In one executive order, he redefined “energy” to exclude solar and wind power.The term “climate change” was removed from federal website in Trump’s first term, and now “sustainability” and “resilience” have also disappeared.
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To Avoid a Ukraine-Style Quid Pro Quo, Australia Needs to Work with the U.S. on Critical Minerals
With Donald Trump back in the White House, Washington is operating under a hard-nosed, transactional framework in which immediate returns rather than shared values measure alliances. For Australia, this signals a need to rethink its approach to the US relationship. A key step would be to work with the United States in the extraction and processing of Australian critical minerals.
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Teenage Terrorists and the Digital Ecosystem of the Islamic State
As an older generation of Islamic State ideologues, fighters, and propagandists dies out or is arrested, and the center of gravity for the Islamic State as a group shifts to Central Asia and Africa, a younger cadre of supporters is taking up the mantle of support for the group. They are forming the backbone of an unofficial ecosystem of Islamic State support spread across platforms, while evading takedowns and producing unsanctioned content in the name of the group.
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How a Global Online Network of White Supremacists Groomed a Teen to Kill
Neo-Nazi influencers on the social media platform Telegram created a network of chats and channels where they stoked racist, antisemitic and homophobic hate. The influencers, known as the Terrorgram Collective, targeted a teen in Slovakia and groomed him for three years to kill.
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Extremists Align in Targeting LGBTQ+ Communities
Research has found that many terrorist groups with differing ideological motivations share common ground in targeting LGBTQ+ communities.
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Trump’s Data Deletions Pose a Stark Threat to Public Health
In just the first few weeks of his second presidency, Donald Trump has taken an axe to the US government’s stockpiles of health data. Sweeping changes have been made to federal websites, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). By gutting government records, the president is obscuring information about life-and-death issues.
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With Crumbling Public Health Infrastructure, Rural Texas Scrambles to Respond to Measles
The measles outbreak in rural Texas has exposed how hospital buildings are ill-equipped. Meanwhile, long distances between providers makes testing people and transporting samples difficult.
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Europe Will Need Thousands More Tanks and Troops to Mount a Credible Military Defense without the U.S.
Implementing a new defense strategy will mean answering many difficult questions, including whether an EU defense force would involve all EU member states, the potential roles of antagonistic EU members like Hungary and Slovakia (both pro-Trump and pro-Russia), and those of non-EU NATO members such as the UK, Norway, or even Canada.
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French Nuclear Deterrence for Europe: How Effective Could It Be Against Russia?
Does France have the capacity to defend Europe? Would the deployment of the French nuclear umbrella in Eastern Europe make Europe strategically autonomous, giving it the means to defend itself independently?
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Trump Is Giving Russian Cyber Ops a Free Pass – and Putting Western Democracy on the Line
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth last weekend announced that the U.S. will halt all offensive cyber operations –and planning for such operations –against Russia. The Kremlin has long sought to sow chaos in the United States and other democracies by using “information confrontation.” That job just got a lot easier.
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U.S.-Pakistan Operation to Capture “Top Terrorist”' Signals Deep Counterterrorism Cooperation Despite Cold Ties: Experts
The U.S. Justice Department plans Wednesday to present in a federal court in Virginia the alleged mastermind of the August 2021 bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The justice department said Islamic State Khorasan operative Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as “Jafar,” was charged on March 2 with “providing and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization resulting in death.”
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In Case We Forgot, Typhoon Attacks Remind Us of China’s Cyber Capability—and Intent
The Salt Typhoon incident reminds us that China has the intent, and increasingly the capability, to seriously challenge US and Western technology advantage.
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The long view
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
No Nation Is an Island: The Dangers of Modern U.S. Isolationism
The resurgence of isolationist sentiment in American politics is understandable but misguided. While the desire to refocus on domestic renewal is justified, retreating from the world will not bring the security, prosperity, or sovereignty that its proponents promise. On the contrary, it invites instability, diminishes U.S. influence, and erodes the democratic order the U.S. helped forge.
Fragmented by Design: USAID’s Dismantling and the Future of American Foreign Aid
The Trump administration launched an aggressive restructuring of U.S. foreign aid, effectively dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The humanitarian and geopolitical fallout of the demise of USAID includes shuttered clinics, destroyed food aid, and China’s growing influence in the global south. This new era of American soft power will determine how, and whether, the U.S. continues to lead in global development.
Water Wars: A Historic Agreement Between Mexico and US Is Ramping Up Border Tension
As climate change drives rising temperatures and changes in rainfall, Mexico and the US are in the middle of a conflict over water, putting an additional strain on their relationship. Partly due to constant droughts, Mexico has struggled to maintain its water deliveries for much of the last 25 years, deliveries to which it is obligated by a 1944 water-sharing agreement between the two countries.
How Disastrous Was the Trump-Putin Meeting?
In Alaska, Trump got played by Putin. Therefore, Steven Pifer writes, the European leaders and Zelensky have to “diplomatically offer suggestions to walk Trump back from a position that he does not appear to understand would be bad for Ukraine, bad for Europe, and bad for American interests. And they have to do so without setting off an explosion that could disrupt U.S.-Ukrainian and U.S.-European relations—all to the delight of Putin and the Kremlin.”
How Male Grievance Fuels Radicalization and Extremist Violence
Social extremism is evolving in reach and form. While traditional racial supremacy ideologies remain, contemporary movements are now often fueled by something more personal and emotionally resonant: male grievance.