The Nazis prepared for war from the moment Hitler came into power in 1933. In the feverish building up of German striking power, they had the support of the professional military men. The Nazis not only produced the weapons of war; they geared their economy for the strain of a future conflict. They carried on political intrigues to promote their purposes. Their propaganda machine had long been a going concern when Hitler felt ready to strike at Poland, the first step in an ambitious plan to lay the world at his feet.
Military, economic, political, and propaganda weapons were forged for the fray. Britain and France and, soon after, other peaceful nations were compelled to forge them to resist the Nazi onrush.
Today’s war is four-dimensional. It is a combination of military, economic, political, and propaganda pressure against the enemy. An appeal to force alone is not regarded as enough, in the twentieth century, to win final and lasting victory. War is fought on all four fronts at once—the military front, the economic front, the political front, and the propaganda front.
To understand how this four-dimensional warfare has come about, we have to look at history. We have to go back to the rise of nationalism in the eighteenth century.
Before the American and French revolutions took place at the end of the eighteenth century, many armies fought in the pay of monarchies, such as the Bourbons, Hapsburgs, and Hohenzollerns, or of individual leaders. They were mercenary armies. They did not fight for patriotic motives. They did not fight for causes. They fought because fighting was their business. No fight, no pay!
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said at a news conference Oct. 18, 2022, that Lafarge and its Syrian subsidiary were responsible for providing significant funds to ISIS. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK — Global cement company Lafarge will pay the U.S. government nearly $780 million for conspiring with Islamic State militants to run a production plant in war-ravaged Syria during its civil war — a move that helped bolster the terrorist group’s meager finances, officials said Tuesday.
A top executive of Lafarge, which was acquired by Swiss-based Holcim in 2015, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn to a count of conspiring to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations, admitting that Lafarge knowingly engaged in a deal with Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and the al-Nusrah Front (ANF), a Syrian Islamist militia, in 2013 and 2014.
The guilty plea marked the first time a corporation was prosecuted under a U.S. statute that prohibits a person or entity from assisting foreign terrorist groups, officials said. The Justice Department has a broad ability to bring such cases in U.S. courts even if the conduct generally occurred abroad but also involves at least one wire transaction locally.
Justice Department officials said Tuesday that the two groups obtained at least $6 million in payments from Lafarge. The payoffs allowed Lafarge to operate the plant in the Northern region of Syria, near the Turkish border, and bought them protection from the militias.
The Islamic State also made more than $3 million directly through the sale of cement it obtained at the end of Lafarge’s operation there starting in late 2014.
In total, Lafarge agreed to forfeit $687 million and pay $91 million in criminal fines to the United States.
U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz, who accepted Lafarge’s guilty plea, said the case “impacts global communities [and] the national security of the United States,” as well as victims of the terrorists.
Lafarge, which is based in France, had dealings with ISIS at a time when the group was responsible for capturing and killing journalists and aid workers in the devastated region.
Justice Department officials said the company paid for access to the plant and for protection from ISIS at a time when other corporations were fleeing Syria.
The Islamic State even issued stamped driving permits for Lafarge workers to get access to the plant.
“To the brothers at the checkpoints of Qarah Qawzak Bridge, may Allah keep you safe,” a translation of the permit read. “Kindly allow the employees of Lafarge Cement Company to pass through after completing the necessary work and after paying their dues to us.”
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said at a news conference Tuesday that Lafarge and its Syrian subsidiary were responsible for providing significant funds to ISIS, which “otherwise operated on a shoestring budget.”
“This conduct by a Western corporation was appalling and has no precedent or justification,” Peace said.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said greedy intentions by Lafarge fueled rampant violence.
“In its pursuit of profits, Lafarge and its top executives not only broke the law, they helped to finance a violent reign of terror that ISIS and [ANF]imposed on the people of Syria,” Monaco said.
In France, six former executives and Lafarge are facing pending criminal charges in connection with their relationships in Syria. Those six people were referred to in court papers in the New York case but were not named.
“We deeply regret that this conduct occurred and have worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve this matter,” Lafarge said in a statement.
The conduct did not involve “Lafarge operations or employees in the United States and none of the executives who were involved in the conduct are with Lafarge or any affiliated entities today,” the statement also said.
The families of some 9/11 victims are still pursuing compensation from those complicit in the attacks – but is Sudan, already ravaged by years of US sanctions, really the right target?
Haroro J. IngramSenior Research Fellow at the Program on Extremism, George Washington University
Andrew MinesResearch Fellow at the Program on Extremism, George Washington University
Daniel MiltonDirector of Research, United States Military Academy West Point
Disclosure statement
The views expressed by Dr. Milton are his own and not of the U.S. Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or any other agency of the U.S. Government
Andrew Mines and Haroro J. Ingram do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence.
Ayman al-Zawahri, leader of al-Qaida and a plotter of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has been killed in a drone strike in the Afghan city of Kabul, according to the U.S. government.
Al-Zawahri was the the successor to Osama bin Laden and his death marked “one more measure of closure” to the families of those killed in the 2001 atrocities, U.S. President Joe Biden said during televised remarks on Aug. 1, 2022.
The operation came almost a year after American troops exited Afghanistan after decades of fighting there. The Conversation asked Daniel Milton, a terrorism expert at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and Haroro J. Ingram and Andrew Mines, research fellows at the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, to explain the significance of the strike on al-Zawahri and what it says about U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
The first news that militants had taken to the streets of the Islamic City of Marawi on May 23, 2017, came from Facebook. Pictures of masked men carrying assault rifles and waving the black flag of the Islamic State were swirling across social media well before Philippine and international news channels picked up the story. By the time the military and the media had begun to respond, Marawi’s residents were already streaming out of the city by the tens of thousands to seek refuge from the violence. Tiếp tục đọc “Philippines: The Black Flag Flies on Facebook”→
Đập tan những âm mưu, ảo vọng của tổ chức “Chính phủ quốc gia Việt Nam lâm thời”
Bài 1: Điểm mặt những kẻ cầm đầu tổ chức khủng bố “Chính phủ quốc gia Việt Nam lâm thời”
10:34 17/12/2018
Cơ quan ANĐT Bộ Công an cùng Công an các đơn vị, địa phương, cơ quan tố tụng đã nhanh chóng điều tra, bắt giữ và đưa ra xét xử những đối tượng khủng bố thuộc tổ chức khủng bố “Chính phủ quốc gia Việt Nam lâm thời”.
Các đối tượng (Từ trái sang, từ trên xuống): Đào Minh Quân (Đào Văn); Quách Thế Hùng; Phạm Lisa (Phạm Anh Đào); Kelly Triệu (Triệu Thanh Hoa).
Những bản án thích đáng, nghiêm minh đối với các đối tượng thuộc tổ chức này tiếp tục là những biện pháp nghiêm khắc, để răn đe những đối tượng trong và ngoài nước có âm mưu khủng bố, phá hoại, chống Đảng và Nhà nước Việt Nam.
(NLĐO) – Phiên tòa xét xử 12 bị cáo thuộc tổ chức khủng bố gọi là “Chính phủ quốc gia Việt Nam lâm thời” dự kiến được xét xử trong vòng 3 ngày, từ ngày 21-8.
Ngày 21-8, TAND TP HCM đã mở phiên tòa xét xử Trương Nguyễn Minh Trí, Đỗ Tài Nhân cùng 10 đồng phạm khác về tội “Hoạt động nhằm lật đổ chính quyền nhân dân”. Dự kiến TAND TP HCM sẽ xét xử vụ án này trong vòng 3 ngày, từ ngày 21 đến 23-8.
Đây là các đối tượng nằm trong tổ chức gọi là “Chính phủ quốc gia Việt Nam lâm thời” do đối tượng lưu vong đang bị truy nã Đào Minh Quân cầm đầu.
Các bị cáo trong tổ chức “Chính phủ quốc gia Việt Nam lâm thời” tại tòa
Two suicide bombers stormed a packed Christian church in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding up to 56, officials said, in the latest attack claimed by Islamic State in the country.
A policeman takes position after gunmen attacked the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, Pakistan December 17, 2017. REUTERS/Naseer Ahmed
(Updated: )
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QUETTA, Pakistan/ISLAMABAD: Two suicide bombers stormed a packed Christian church in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding up to 56, officials said, in the latest attack claimed by Islamic State in the country.
Police guards stationed at the church entrance and on its roof killed one of the bombers but the second attacker detonated his explosives-filled vest outside its prayer hall just after Sunday services began in Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province, said Sarfraz Bugti, the provincial home minister. Tiếp tục đọc “Suicide bombers attack church in Pakistan’s Quetta before Christmas, killing nine”→
Sheikh Sulieman Ghanem, 75, receives medical treatment at Suez Canal University hospital in Ismailia, Egypt, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, after he was injured during an attack on a mosque. Militants attacked a crowded mosque during Friday prayers in the Sinai Peninsula, setting off explosives, spraying worshippers with gunfire and killing more than 200 people in the deadliest ever attack by Islamic extremists in Egypt. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) The Associated Press
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — The Latest on mosque attack in Egypt (all times local):
8:55 p.m.
The U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have condemned the deadly attack on a mosque in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in “the strongest terms” and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
The council statement called it a “heinous and cowardly terrorist attack” and reiterated that all acts of terrorism “are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation.” Guterres called the attack, which killed at least 235 people, “horrific.” Tiếp tục đọc “The Latest: UN Condemns Deadly Mosque Attack in Egypt”→
The Philippines has declared victory over supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in the southern city of Marawi.
Five months of urban combat left 920 fighters dead and cost the lives of 165 government soldiers and at least 45 civilians.
The government had teamed up with its former enemies from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in its attempts to snuff out the fighters.
Fighting ended when troops finally overcame pro-ISIL fighters, including foreigners, who were holed up in several buildings in the heart of the city.
Officials say martial law will continue to be implemented in the wider Mindanao area.
The end of the clashes gave way to scenes of a historic city in ruins with soldiers patrolling the gutted out and pockmarked remains of apartment blocks and houses.
Pictures taken after the battle reveal it devastating impact; buildings turned to rubble, cars dotted with bullet holes, and personal belongings and furniture heaped beside the shell of a row of houses.
More than 600,000 locals were displaced by the fighting.
Multiple locations including New York’s subway, Times Square and certain concert venues were identified as targets in the plot that was foiled by an undercover FBI agent. (Photo: AFP/Loic Venance)
(Updated: )
MANILA: A Filipino suspect in a thwarted jihadist plot targetting New York City had boasted that his country was “a breeding ground for terrorists”, the US Justice Department said Saturday (Oct 7).
At least 13 people have died and 100 have been injured after a van ploughed into a crowd of people in Las Ramblas area of Barcelona, in an attack that mirrors the spate of recent atrocities by terrorists who used vehicles to ram down civilians across Europe.
Catalan authorities confirmed that 13 people have been killed and 15 people are seriously injured following the attack in the area popular with tourists.
Police continue to search a home in Surry Hills, Sydney, New South Wales, 04 August 2017. Two men will face court on 04 August, in relation to an alleged Sydney-based terror plot to bring down a plane, which included an aborted attempt to place an improvised explosive device on a flight out of Sydney. – EPA/VNA Photo
SYDNEY — A senior Islamic State commander directed a group of Australian men to build a bomb destined for an Etihad Airways flight out of Sydney, with a second poisonous gas plot also in the works, police alleged Friday.
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