Being one of only four countries in the world with a majority of Shiites, Azerbaijan represents an interesting case of secular Shiism surrounded by countries and regions where theocracy and religious movements (both Shiite and Sunni) seem to thrive. After the fall of the Soviet... MORE

On January 14, 2004, the Arab television station Al-Jazeera broadcast a report about the death of Mamoun El Hodeiby, the “spiritual leader” of the influential Egyptian fundamentalist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimoon). The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is often regarded as the forerunner of many... MORE

The Uzbek regime of Islam Karimov held parliamentary elections in December, simultaneously with the contested second round of voting in Ukraine. As a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Tashkent government is openly anxious about the possibility of rapid and extensive democratic reform... MORE

Investigations by the Italian security services since 2001 indicate that Italy has become a platform for al-Qaeda associated terrorist operations in Europe and Iraq. Italy's Muslim population is concentrated in Milan, with an estimated 100,000 Muslims residing in the northern city. Not surprisingly Milan appears... MORE

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salih appears to have weathered the worst of his terrorist problem. Indeed, with no al-Qaeda related incidents in two years, Salih's previously suspect security credentials are beginning to look brighter. A high-profile visit from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder scheduled for March,... MORE

Mauritania, the vast desert refuge of the Arab/Berber Moors in northwest Africa, may seem a distant front in the war on terrorism. Yet the pro-Israel/U.S. policies of its President, Maaouya Ould Taya, have sparked an Islamic revival in this traditionally moderate nation, a country that... MORE

Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT – Army of the Pure) is the most well-organized and powerful Islamic militant organization in Pakistan. Designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and banned by the Pakistan government after the September 11 attacks, and notorious for its suicide attacks in... MORE

I first heard the term "Wahhabi"--referring to the ultrafundamentalist Islamic sect that is the state dispensation in Saudi Arabia--in a Yugoslav context, in 1989. Specifically, Wahhabism was compared with Stalinist Communism, a parallel that seemed immediately appropriate. But little did I imagine that as a... MORE

Half-heartedly trumpeted as a potential breakthrough against the insurgency, the Iraqi elections – in the short-term at least – seem to have made the security difficulties even more intractable. Indeed, any wishful thinking by American military and political planners in Iraq and their local allies... MORE

Last December, the departing Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, used his farewell address to highlight the vulnerability of the U.S. agricultural sector to a biological terrorist strike, remarking: "For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not [targeted]... MORE