Science & Tech

How Traffic to This YouTube Video Predicts ISIS Attacks

One company is using metadata from video posts, Wikipedia entries, and other sites to forecast geopolitical unrest.

Threats

Watch: This Is What It's Like to Live and Die for ISIS in Iraq

A violent and graphic new video suggests the reality of fighting for the Islamic State is much different from the dominating successes their online messages portray.

Ideas

Leave Root Causes Aside—Destroy the ISIS ‘State’

Of course it would be daunting to solve the conflicts the Islamic State feeds on. But that isn’t, or shouldn’t be, the mission.

Ideas

ISIS and the 'Loser Effect'

Could the Islamic State's recent failures foreshadow its demise?

Ideas

Meet the Small Iraqi Town that Breeds Jihadis

No matter where you turn when covering the Islamic State's two years of terror in Iraq and Syria, one name repeatedly crops up: Tal Afar.

Ideas

Disrupt ISIS’ Online Campaign in Africa

As Internet access expands in Africa, so does the Islamic State's network-facilitated extremism.

Ideas

America Can't Do Much About ISIS

That leaves patience, containment, and humanitarian aid as the least-bad policies while waiting for this awful war to play itself out.

Ideas

The Hell After ISIS

Even as the militant group loses ground in Iraq, many Sunnis say they have no hope for peace. One family’s story shows why.

Science & Tech

A Nuclear-Armed ISIS? It's Not That Farfetched, Expert Says

A Harvard researcher says the terror group might be closer to wreaking some sort of radioactive havoc than we think.

Threats

Citing ‘Momentum Shift,’ Pentagon Wants to Deploy More Troops to Iraq

ISIS is on their heels in Iraq and Syria, say U.S. military leaders who plan to ask the White House for more forces.

Ideas

The Changing Logic Behind Suicide Bombings

What was once purely a strategic action has become a tactical move meant to help hold territory.

Ideas

ISIS Is Using the Media Against Itself

It doesn’t matter if the coverage that follows an attack is negative. For ISIS, any coverage is good coverage.

Threats

The Battle for Mosul Has Begun

ISIS is under air, ground, and cyber attack as Iraqi and coalition troops encircle the group’s final stronghold in Iraq, the Joint Chiefs chairman says.

Policy

Trump is Wrong, ISIS Doesn't Want Rome

Trump's claim that Rome is 'ISIS’s ultimate trophy' deserves correction, just in case he thinks it’s true.

Science & Tech

Twitter Suspensions Are Muting Islamic State Messaging

Researchers found that suspending ISIS sympathizers' accounts reduced both the size of their networks and the pace of their activity,

Ideas

A Unifying Theory—and Plan—for Defeating ISIS Propaganda

Twitter suspensions are not nearly enough.

Ideas

Dispatch from the Turkish Border: Syrians Waiting in Vain for the World

‘People are waiting for the international community to stop this war.’

Ideas

Meet the Guerrilla Fighters of Kurdistan

While the fight against the Islamic State has been devastating for Kurdish communities, many guerrillas convey an optimistic message: When the war ends, the Kurds could finally have an independent state.

Threats

ISIS Fighters Have Entered Germany Disguised as Refugees, Berlin's Top Spy Says

That just one day after police arrested three Algerians with suspected ties to the Islamic State who were reportedly planning an attack on the German capital.

Ideas

The Rise of ISIS in Southeast Asia

Much of the region has witnessed a democratic regression that's fueling the spread of violent extremism.