There are three key reasons why success for the West hasn’t followed. Together, these reasons point towards an urgent need to shift strategy to avoid a stalemate.
Syrians are the single largest group of displaced people in the world. How to make sure that the plight of these refugees doesn’t fuel future conflicts?
If governments are to maintain public support for their military ventures, war narratives must be kept simple and consistent. The underlying message must not change: the West is always the innocent victim of terrorism, never its perpetrator.
Simplistic views of terrorist recruitment focus on online messages to Western youth. Foreign fighters are coming from many other countries, lured by many means, and we need more sophisticated responses.
There are religious and non-religious extremists and we should not confuse violent believers with religion itself, which has a long history of peacemaking.
Dire government warnings and counter-terrorism raids in our suburbs paint a picture of the worst threat Western nations have ever faced. A little historical perspective is in order.
Already a trillion dollar industry, Islamic finance is making inroads in China, where it is being trialled in a small province in the country’s northwest.
We are used to thinking of Gaza as a war-torn stretch of ground. A place where life goes grimly on in the face of an intractable conflict. A graveyard not only for civilians caught in the crossfire, but…
Australia made progress on restoring trade and sharing intelligence on Islamic State in Iraq. Iran was less open to accepting the return of asylum seekers, which may prove a blessing in disguise.
By reaching out to Iran, Australia can help end a long stand-off with the West that prevented solutions to many of the world’s most dangerous problems, including Syria’s civil war and Islamic State.
While social media was the main forum for Syrian demonstrators to confront Bashar al-Assad’s media machine in 2011, FM radio is now the battleground for Syrian hearts and minds.