DEVIL'S CULT - Muslim Extremism

"What’s driving European Muslims to extremism?" PBS NewsHour 1/8/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The brothers who attacked satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo had a secular Muslim upbringing before their apparent radicalization.  What's leading young European Muslims to embrace extremism?  Peter Neumann of King's College London says it’s a conflict of identity and acceptance.  Neumann talks to Judy Woodruff about increasing polarization and what governments can do prevent attacks.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The New York Times reported late today that one of the brothers being hunted for the Paris attack received training at an al-Qaida training camp in Yemen. This is according to a senior American official.

The brothers, who were born and raised in France, had a secular Muslim upbringing before their apparent radicalization.  There have, of course, been other attacks on the continent, and thousands of European Muslim extremists have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight.

To find out more about what’s leading to the radicalization of many of these young men, I spoke earlier this afternoon to Peter Neumann, director of The International Center for the Study of Radicalization.  He’s at King’s College.

Peter Neumann, thank you for talking with us.

First of all, what do you think is most important for us to know about this attack, about these two brothers in terms of understanding what went into this, what was behind it?

PETER NEUMANN, King’s College, London:  I think the two brothers are interesting because they had a long history of extremism.

At least one of them has been active in jihadist circles for over 10 years.  So these were not inexperienced people.  These were not people who were the typical lone wolves who were radicalized over the Internet.  These were experienced operators.

The second important thing is the change of modus operandi that we are witnessing.  Really, over the past 10, 15 years, we have been lucky, because the jihadists have been trying to emulate 9/11, very complicated, complex, big attacks.  Now they are trying to do less complicated attacks, which they realize can inflict as much horror and terror and polarization on society, but which are much more difficult to detect.

I would expect to see more things like that to happen in 2015.

"Why resentment is growing between Christians and Muslims in Marseille" PBS NewsHour 1/8/2015

COMMENT:  The article title begs a "DUH?"

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo puts a spotlight on the growing tensions between France's Muslim and immigrant communities and a large portion of French society, which is traditionally Catholic.  The NewsHour’s Megan Thompson recently visited Marseille, one of the country’s most diverse cities, to report on the root of the conflict and the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in France.