Jihad & Martyrdom in Contemporary Muslim Militants

Christopher Anzalone joins me to discuss conceptions of military jihad and martyrdom among contemporary Muslim militants, including an in-depth discussion of Liwa Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas in Syria and the different Sadrist groups in Iraq. Anzalone is a PhD student at McGill University and an adjunct research fellow at the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University.

Links:

• Jadaliyya
• Views From the Occident blog by Anzalone
• al-Wasat blog
• Middle East Research and Information Project
• Chrsitopher Anzalone on Twitter @ibnsiqilli
• Karl Morand on Twitter @KarlMorand
• Thomas Hegghammer on Twitter @Hegghammer
• Aaron Zelin on Twitter @azelin

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Iranian Presidential Election

Majid Rafizadeh joins me to discuss the upcoming Iranian presidential election. Majid is the president of the International American Council on the Middle East and North Africa and a contributing editor for the Harvard International Review.

• Foreign policy won’t be on the ballot for Iranians in June by Rafizadeh for The National
• Pre-emptive bans by hardliners will divide Iran further by Rafizadeh for The National
• Council on Foreign Relations
• The Middle East Institute
• Majid Rafizadeh on Twitter @majidrafizadeh
• Karl Morand on Twitter @KarlMorand

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U.S. Counter Terrorism Policy in Yemen: Past, Present, & Future

Gregory D. Johnsen, author of The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia joins me to discuss U.S. counter terrorism policy in Yemen, particularly the use of drones, as well as Attorney General Eric Holder’s letter confirming the death of four Americans by drone strikes and President Obama’s May 23rd speech on U.S. counter terrorism policy.

Links:

• Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will by Jo Becker & Scott Shane in NYT
• Does the US really try to Capture by Gregory Johnsen in Waq al-Waq
• Jeremy Scahill author of Dirty Wars
• Will McCants of Jihadica
• Aaron Zelin of Jihadology
• Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel
• The Lawfare Blog
• Gregory Johnsen on Twitter
• Karl Morand on Twitter

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Weapons in the Syrian Conflict

Eliot Higgins, the author of the Brown Moses Blog joins me to discuss the flow and use of weapons in Syria. Higgins’ blog has been an influential and widely read resource for tracking the various weapons that have been used in Syria, particularly related to the potential use of chemical weapons.

Higgins’ recommended sites:

• The Gun by C.J. Chivers
• The Rogue Adventurer
• Middle East Live by The Guardian

Twitter usernames:

• Eliot Higgins @Brown_Moses
• C.J. Chivers @cjchivers
• Karl Morand @Karl Morand

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Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross joins me to discuss Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST). We talk about AST’s background, operations, and the recent events surrounding the government crackdown on their Kairouan Conference. Daveed is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and has recently finished a research fellowship at the International Center for Counter-Terorism at The Hague where he focused on AST.

Articles relevant to our discussion:

• Meeting Tunisia’s Ansar al-Sharia by Aaron Zelin
• Did Tunisia’s Salafi Jihadists Just Announce Their Allegiance to al-Qaeda? by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Aaron Zelin
• Why is Ansar al-Sharia Tunisia’s Leader Threatening the Government by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
• Confronting Tunisia’s jihadists by Andrew Lebovich

Relevant Twitter usernames:

• Daveed Gartenstein-Ross @DaveedGR
• Karl Morand @KarlMorand
• Andrew Lebovich @tweetsintheME
• Aaron Zelin @azelin

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Shia Militias in Syria

Phillip Smyth joins me to discuss Shia militia involvement in the Syrian conflict. Smyth writes the Hizballah Cavalcade for Jihadology. He also conducts research on Hizballah for the University of Maryland’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies’ Lab for Computational Cultural Dynamics.

Roundup of Iraqis Killed in Syria, Part 1 by Smyth
@PhillipSmyth on Twitter
@KarlMorand on Twitter

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