“Sanctioned entities, like those linked to North Korean hacking groups and
U.S.-designated terrorist organizations such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, continue
to rely on cryptocurrency for fundraising, according to a new report from
Chainalysis. The American blockchain analysis firm’s “2024 Crypto Crime Report”
found that $24.2 billion of illicit cryptocurrency was transferred in 2023,
based on already identified illicit crypto wallets. Chainalysis retroactively
updates its yearly crypto figures when new illicit wallets come to light.”











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Eye on Extremism



March 1, 2024



CNBC: Over 60% Of Illegal Crypto Activity Is Tied To Sanctioned Groups Or
Terrorist Organizations, Report Finds
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“Sanctioned entities, like those linked to North Korean hacking groups and
U.S.-designated terrorist organizations such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, continue
to rely on cryptocurrency for fundraising, according to a new report from
Chainalysis. The American blockchain analysis firm’s “2024 Crypto Crime Report”
found that $24.2 billion of illicit cryptocurrency was transferred in 2023,
based on already identified illicit crypto wallets. Chainalysis retroactively
updates its yearly crypto figures when new illicit wallets come to light.”



Reuters: Some US Lawmakers Urge Biden, Blinken Not To Recognize New Pakistan
Government
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“Thirty-one members of the U.S. Congress have signed a letter to President Joe
Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging them to not recognize a new
government, opens new tab in Pakistan until an investigation of election
interference has been conducted. Voters in Pakistan went to the polls, opens
new tab earlier this month in a vote marred by a mobile internet shutdown on
election day; arrests and violence in its build-up; and unusually delayed
results, leading to accusations that the vote was rigged. The United States,
Britain and the European Union have expressed concerns, opens new tab about
reported election irregularities and urged a probe. The Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) agreed to form a
coalition government even as candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister
Imran Khan gained the most seats. Khan-backed candidates won 93 seats, opens
new tab, but did not have the numbers to form a government. He and his party
rejected the results of the elections, alleging widespread rigging."




Recent CEP Press Releases

* CEP Webinar: Cruel And Unusual Punishment – How The Houthis Target Women,
Journalists And Religious Minorities
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* New CEP Policy Paper: Six Years Later: A Status Update On The Prosecution
Of Female Returnees In Germany
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* Counter Extremism Project Condemns X’s Sale Of Subscription Service To
Terrorist Groups
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* Extremist Content Online: Antisemitic Propaganda Video Widely Promoted On
Telegram And Twitter/X
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* CEP Webinar: Violent Extremism And Terrorism In The Sahel
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CEP Mentions



AIO Information: Hostage Negotiations Between Israel And Hamas: Will There Be
A Ceasefire During Ramadan?
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“... A complete ceasefire is unlikely to be reached; a reduction in fighting
is more realistic. Hamas is fighting to continue existing as a power factor in
Gaza and for the survival of its leadership. Netanyahu’s government has three,
sometimes contradictory, goals: destroy Hamas’ infrastructure in Gaza, free the
hostages and ensure the government’s continued existence. It will be difficult
to reconcile these positions so that a general pause is possible. Proof of this
is the rejection of negotiation proposals by the Israeli government about two
weeks ago and by Hamas a few days ago. Therefore, it can be assumed that
fighting will continue, albeit at a reduced level, in the coming weeks and also
during Ramadan. However, a partial agreement, that is, an exchange of some of
the remaining hostages in exchange for a halt to fighting in part of Gaza,
appears to be an achievable goal in the current situation.”



United States



NBC: Missouri GOP Moves To Toss 'Honorary' Member Of Ku Klux Klan From
Governor's Race
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"The Missouri Republican Party said Thursday it was working to remove a
Republican candidate for governor from the primary ballot after a picture of
him appearing to do a Nazi salute while standing in front of a burning cross
resurfaced online. In the picture, the candidate, Darrell Leon McClanahan III,
is seen apparently saluting alongside a hooded man in Klan robes. “The Missouri
Republican Party has been made aware that Darrell Leon McClanahan III filed for
Governor as a Republican despite his affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, which
fundamentally contradicts our party’s values and platform,” the party said in a
post on X Thursday. “We have begun the process of having Mr. McClanahan removed
from the ballot as a Republican candidate.”



Reuters: US Senate Defeats Bid To Stop F-16 Fighter Jet Sale To Turkey
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“The U.S. Senate on Thursday soundly defeated an effort to stop the $23
billion sale of F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits to Turkey, which
President Joe Biden's administration approved after Turkey approved Sweden's
joining the NATO alliance. The Senate voted 79 to 13 against a resolution of
disapproval of the sale introduced by Republican Senator Rand Paul. Before the
vote, Paul criticized Turkey's government and said allowing the sale would
embolden its "misbehavior." Backers of the sale said it was important for
Washington to keep its word to a NATO ally. The Biden administration formally
informed Congress on Jan. 26 of its intention to proceed with the sale of 40
Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab F-16s and nearly 80 modernization kits
to Turkey, a day after Ankara fully completed ratification of the NATO
membership of Sweden. The sale had been held up for months over issues
including Turkey's refusal to approve Sweden's accession to the military
alliance. Turkey first asked to make the purchase in October 2021.”



Syria



Voice Of America: Who Is Syrian Christian Militia Targeted In Turkish Drone
Attacks?
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“Local officials in northeastern Syria said a series of Turkish drone strikes
on Wednesday killed and wounded several people in a Kurdish-controlled town
near the border with Turkey. Unlike other attacks carried out by Turkey in
recent months, those targeted Wednesday were not Syrian Kurdish fighters.
According to local sources, three members of a local Christian militia were
killed and two others were wounded in several Turkish drone strikes on the town
of Derik in northeastern Syria. Ankara has not commented on the recent attacks,
but Turkey has been targeting areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic
Forces, a Kurdish-led military alliance that has been a major U.S. partner in
the fight against Islamic State group militants. Turkey’s attacks have
increased in recent months. Turkey views the SDF as an extension of the
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by
Ankara and Washington. But the United States makes a distinction between the
two Kurdish groups.”



Middle East



Associated Press: Palestinians Say Israeli Troops Fired At People Seeking
Food. Israel Says Scene Was Deadly Stampede
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“Israeli troops fired on a crowd of Palestinians racing to pull food off an
aid convoy in Gaza City on Thursday, witnesses said. More than 100 people were
killed in the chaos, bringing the death toll since the start of the
Israel-Hamas war to more than 30,000, according to health officials.

Israel said many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic stampede for the food
aid and that its troops only fired when they felt endangered by the crowd. The
violence was quickly condemned by Arab countries, and U.S. President Joe Biden
expressed concern it would add to the difficulty of negotiating a cease-fire in
the nearly five-month conflict.”



Reuters: Hezbollah Signals It Will Cease Fire When Israel Stops Attacking Gaza
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“The Iran-backed Hezbollah signalled on Thursday that it would halt its
attacks on Israel from Lebanon when the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip
stops, but that it was also ready to keep on fighting if Israel continued
hostilities. Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been trading fire since the
Palestinian group Hamas stormed southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7,
in a steadily intensifying conflict that has fuelled concern of wider
escalation. "The war in the south is linked to the aggression on Gaza on the
one hand, and to securing means of protection for our country on the other,"
senior Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah said. "When the (Israeli)
occupation halts its aggression on Gaza, this front stops, because it is a
supportive front," he said in comments made at an event to commemorate a
Hezbollah field commander killed in an Israeli strike earlier this week. Two
sources familiar with Hezbollah's thinking told Reuters on Tuesday that the
group would halt fire on Israel if Hamas agrees to a proposal for a truce in
Gaza - unless Israeli forces kept shelling Lebanon.”



Africa



Associated Press: UN Experts: Sudan’s Paramilitary Forces Carried Out Ethnic
Killings And Rapes That May Be War Crimes
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“Paramilitary forces and their allied militias fighting to take power in Sudan
carried out widespread ethnic killings and rapes while taking control of much
of western Darfur that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity,
United Nations experts said in a new report. The report to the U.N. Security
Council, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, paints a horrifying picture
of the brutality of the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces against Africans in
Darfur. It also details how the RSF succeeded in gaining control of four out of
Darfur’s five states, including through complex financial networks that involve
dozens of companies. Sudan plunged into chaos in April, when long-simmering
tensions between its military led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid
Support Forces paramilitary commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out into
street battles in the capital, Khartoum. Fighting spread to other parts of the
country, but in Sudan’s Darfur region it took on a different form: brutal
attacks by the RSF on African civilians, especially the ethnic Masalit.”



Europe



Politico: Spain Opens Terrorism Probe Into Puigdemont
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“Spain’s top court has opened a terrorism investigation into former Catalonia
President and separatist chief Carles Puigdemont over protests linked to the
region’s failed 2017 independence referendum. The Supreme Court decided
unanimously to investigate Puigdemont and MP Rubén Wagensberg “for crimes of
terrorism in relation to the facts investigated in the ‘Democràtic Tsunami’
case,” the court said Thursday in a statement. Democratic Tsunami is a
secretive Catalan group that in 2019 organized a string of protests against the
jailing of several separatist leaders involved in the 2017 referendum; in the
unrest, thousands of protesters blocked access to Barcelona’s airport, clashing
with police and causing the cancellation of over 100 flights. The court said it
had decided to launch the probe after examining a statement by judge Manuel
García-Castellón, which includes “evidence that, in his opinion, proves the
participation of the two defendants in the events under investigation.”



Associated Press: Aid Groups Appeal To The European Union To Release Urgent
Funds For Palestinian Refugee Agency UNRWA
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“Humanitarian aid groups appealed on Thursday to the European Union to release
tens of millions of euros in funding due to the main U.N. agency that delivers
most aid to people in the Gaza Strip as the organization teeters on the brink
of financial collapse. The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, was
due to disburse 82 million euros ($89 million) to the UNRWA aid agency on Feb.
29. UNRWA said that it still hadn’t received the payment as of Thursday
morning. “This is a moment of reckoning for the EU as a humanitarian leader and
a critical donor for this crisis,” said Niamh Nic Carthaigh, from Plan
International’s EU Liaison Office. “Any further cuts to UNRWA funding would be
an effective death sentence for civilians trapped in Gaza and the region who
rely on the agency for their survival,” she said in a joint statement from 17
aid groups, including the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and
Oxfam.”



BBC: Strasbourg Christmas Market Attack Trial Begins
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“Five people were killed after gunman Cherif Chekatt opened fire on the crowd
at the open-air market. Chekatt was shot dead by police two days later. The
four men on trial are accused of crimes ranging from terrorism to helping to
supply weapons. All four suspects deny the charges. A fifth may be tried at a
later date. The trial started at the Court of Assize in Paris on Thursday.A
lawyer representing some of the families affected by the attack, Arnaud
Friedrich, told AFP news agency it was a "key moment" for his clients. One of
the defendants, Audrey Mondjehi, 42, is accused of terrorism and could face the
maximum penalty of life imprisonment if he is found guilty.”



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