Global Security Studies Practicum

26 October 2011 China proposed a new legislation with the goal to define terrorism in better terms. The new definition is broad and will include explicit legal terms such as: violence, sabotage, threats, coercing, incitement, funding, and any other kind of support for terrorist acts. It will also enforce the present rules regarding seizing domestic assets for terrorism purposes. China’s current terrorism threat comes from radical Muslim groups that reside in the northwestern region of Xinjiang . The new law will help prosecute those that decide to violate any given term in the new definition. Jiang Yu , the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, declared that China is learning from other countries that have dealt with terrorism, and will now help cooperate with regional and international organizations to prevent terrorist acts. Source: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/china-considers-defining-terrorism-14807269 Reliability: 9

12 October, 2011 Anwar al-Awlaki is dead, but the threat of al-Qaeda online recruitment still continues. In order to prevent new terrorist members, U.S. officials are monitoring social networks, internet forums, chat rooms, and videos encouraging individuals to recruit. Nine officials who speak Arabic and Urdu expose their identity to angry young Muslims with the goal to steer them away from their radicalization views. Critics state that their role models al-Awlaki and bin Laden’s illegal sexual activities of possessing porn and hiring prostitutes should be exposed to the public and not held confidential by the government. Exposing their behavior may change the views of potential members in a positive or negative way. The battle against internet al-Qaeda recruitment is on, unfortunately it’s being fought by a small army of officials. Source: http://http://www.searchevolvedoptimization.com/2011/10/06/social-networks-used-to-counter-al-qaeda/ (Reliability: 8.5)