counterterrorism

Editor’s Note: Yemen's civil war has dragged on for years, and the destruction and suffering there intensified after the Saudi and UAE intervention in 2015. Although Riyadh's role gets far more attention than Abu Dhabi's, it was UAE forces that often had the biggest impact on the ground. Earlier this year, however, the UAE announced it was suddenly ending its intervention. Michael Knights of the Washington Institute spent considerable time with UAE forces in Yemen, and he assesses the lessons that the UAE is learning, and should learn, from its intervention.

On Aug. 4, in Dayton, Ohio, a gunman opened fire and killed nine people. The day before, another shooter killed 22 people in El Paso, Texas, apparently after posting a racist message to the anonymous online forum 8chan decrying an ostensible “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Though there is no indication so far that the Dayton shooting was motivated by extremist political beliefs, the violence in El Paso is the third mass shooting in 2019 to be linked to 8chan and to some form of far-right extremism.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on Order from Chaos.

In recent years, counterterrorism policy has focused on making social media platforms hostile environments for terrorists and their sympathizers. From the German NetzDG law to the U.K.’s Online Harms White Paper, governments are making it clear that such content will not be tolerated. Platforms—and maybe even specific individuals—will be held accountable using a variety of carrot-and-stick approaches.