Friday, March 18, 2022

CLARION PROJECT

 

The Extremism Roundup

Promoting Civil Discourse and Marginalizing the Extremes
A weekly compilation of the most important developments in the struggle against radical ideologies

Islamist Extremism

Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility

LVMPD/KLAS

Iranian Woman Stabs Date as Revenge for Killing of Qasem Soleimani

  • Police in Henderson, Nev. arrested Nika Nikoubin, 21, after she stabbed her date in the neck.

  • Nikoubin reportedly stabbed the victim “for revenge against US troops for the killing of Qasem Soleimani in 2020,” according to police.

  • Nikoubin faces charges of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon and burglary. Her bail was set at $60,000.

State Department Hires UN Official Who Aided Palestinian Antisemitism

  • The Biden administration hired Elizabeth Campbell as deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

  • Campbell was the former director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which was accused of promoting antisemitism and terrorism in Palestinian schools.

Instagram Bans Group After it Praised Palestinian Terrorists

  • Within our Lifetime (WOL), a New York City-based anti-Israel group, has been banned from Instagram after they posted a collage featuring prominent Palestinian terrorists.

  • In celebration of International Women’s Day, WOL posted a collage featuring PFLP terrorists Rasmea Odeh and Leila Khaled.

  • WOL is led by Nerdeen Kiswani, who has a history of harassing and making violent threats towards Jews.

Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism

Capital Riot

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Boogaloo Boi Sentenced to 3 Years for Conspiracy to Support Hamas

  • Michael Robert Solomon, 31, of New Brighton, Minn. was sentenced to three years in federal prison after he admitted to selling silencers and other firearm components to FBI informants he believed were members of the Hamas terror group.
  • Solomon is a member of the anti-government extremist group known as the Boogaloo Bois.
  • Federal prosecutors lowered their sentencing recommendation after information from Solomon led authorities to shut down a West Virginia operation that sold devices to convert semi-automatic firearms into unlawful fully automatic firearms.

BLM Rioter Sentenced to 5 Years for Throwing Explosive Device

  • Diego Vargas, of Aurora, Ill., was sentenced to five years in federal prison after he was convicted of throwing a lit explosive device through a Naperville restaurant (near Chicago) at a violent BLM riot in 2020.
  • Vargas was also accused of causing up to $10,000 in vandalism damage at several businesses in downtown Naperville the same night the restaurant was attacked.

More Alt-Right Developments

  • Activist Ammon Bundy was arrested after allegedly refusing to leave an Idaho hospital. Bundy, alongside “several” followers, arrived at St. Luke’s Meridian and “refused to leave the property when asked to do so.” Bundy was at the hospital protesting a child welfare case, where he claims a family’s baby was “medically kidnapped.”

More Alt-Left Developments

  • Prosecutors plan to drop a second-degree murder charge against Matthew Dolloff, who shot pro-police demonstrator Lee Keltner following a “BLM-Antifa Soup Drive” protest in downtown Denver in 2020.

Hate Crimes

Capital Riot

Brian Cassella/Pool/Chicago Tribune

Jussie Smollett Sentenced for Hate Crime Hoax

  • Actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail followed by probation for staging his own hate crime and filing a false report with police. In addition to his sentence, Smollett will pay $120,106 in restitution and receive the maximum fine of $25,000.

Five Florida Middle Schoolers Face Hate Crime Charges

  • Five Florida middle schoolers are facing battery and hate crime charges after attacking white students outside a community center, using racial taunts and slurs such as, “it’s opposite day” and “brown power.”

Two Men Charged With Burglary at St. Paul Mosque

  • Two men were arrested after they allegedly broke into Masjid Al-Ihsan in St. Paul, Minn. The two men were seen on surveillance video breaking into the mosque and stealing a safe containing $4,000 in cash, wallets and a checkbook.

Hostile Foreign Influence Operations

Russian Imperial Movement

Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Russia Seeking to Use Iran Deal to Evade Sanctions

  • Negotiations broke down last week after Russia placed demands on negotiations aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The demands included written guarantees that new Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine would not interfere with its trade and military cooperation with Iran.

Chinese Hackers Compromise 6 State Governments

  • A Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as APT41 successfully compromised the computer networks of at least six US state governments in ongoing espionage efforts carried out on behalf of the Chinese government.

Research and Analysis

  • According to a new poll conducted in early March, nearly half of respondents are not confident that the US will be able to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
    Read More

  • There is growing concern that the vetting process of Afghan refugees into America to weed out "known or suspected terrorists" is failing. A new Pentagon inspector general’s report highlights dozens of refugees who slipped through the process, even though they are suspected of being dangerous.
    Read More
Forward this email to a friend

QUOTABLE
“Remember Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself. There never was a Democracy Yet, that did not commit suicide.”


--John Adams

NOTE TO OUR READERS: We have pulled out the salient points of the articles in this newsletter to keep you informed and focused on the most relevant, important and timely news in national security and extremism. While our national security experts stand behind the summary bullets and deem them trustworthy, Clarion Project does not endorse all the views expressed in the articles linked.

No comments:

Post a Comment