Russia Hiring Troll Farms in Mexico & Africa to Spread Disinformation

Clarion Project April 1, 2021View in browser ([link removed])


** The Extremism Roundup
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Promoting Civil Discourse and Marginalizing the Extremes
A weekly compilation of the most important developments in the struggle against radical ideologies
NOTE TO OUR READERS: We have pulled out the salient points of the articles in this newsletter to keep you informed and focused on the most relevant, important and timely news in national security and extremism. While our national security experts stand behind the summary bullets and deem them trustworthy, Clarion Project does not endorse all the views expressed in the articles linked.


** Islamist & Anti-Muslim Extremism
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NOORULLAH SHIRZADA/AFP via Getty Images


** Investigative Reporting
Taliban Expected to Take Over Most of Afghanistan, Let Al-Qaeda Return if US Withdraws ([link removed])
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* The intelligence community is warning the Biden administration that the Taliban could control most of Afghanistan within 2-3 years and allow Al-Qaeda to reconstitute if U.S.-led military forces withdraw before the Afghan government and Taliban strike a deal to share power.
* However, some senior administration officials argue that the threat of ISIS or Al-Qaeda turning Afghanistan into a major base is overblown because the Taliban is an enemy of ISIS and claim that Al-Qaeda’s presence is small.
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** Defense Department
US-Led Coalition & Iraqi Forces Continue Offensive Against ISIS in Iraq ([link removed])
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* The Air Force is targeting ISIS in northern Iraq and has conducted 312 airstrikes on 120 hideouts. An estimated 27 ISIS terrorists were killed.
The US estimates that between 8,000 and 16,000 ISIS fighters remain in both Iraq and Syria, according to a February Defense Department Inspector General report.
* The pace of strikes so far this month appears to be higher than any other period since March 2019, when ISIS made its last stand in Syria before moving underground to become an insurgency.
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** Investigative Reporting
Lawsuit by West Virginia Teacher Fired for Anti-Muslim Tweets is Dismissed ([link removed])
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* Former West Virginia teacher Mary Durstein was fired once her anti-Muslim tweets became known. She filed a lawsuit, arguing that the action threatened teachers’ free speech rights. A federal court has dismissed her lawsuit.
* One of the tweets from 2016 described Muslim people in general as “the enemy,” saying, “Who cares if we offend Muslims at least they keep their heads on tact. They’re the enemy!”
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** Calgary Police Service
Calgary Police Say Muslim Woman Assaulted for her Faith; Hate Crimes Against Muslims in Calgary Increasing ([link removed])
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* Det. Craig Collins, the Calgary Police Service’s hate crimes coordinator, said a suspect targeted two girls for being Muslim. The suspect allegedly punched one girl in the face, kicked her in the stomach, shouted racial slurs and tore her hijab until two men stopped the assault.
* Calgary police reports that hate crimes against Muslims have increased in recent years.
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** Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism
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AXEL SCHMIDT/DDP/AFP via Getty Images


** Investigative Reporting
Anarchists Ambush Police in Alt-Left Enclave in Germany ([link removed])
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* German police report that a group of 30 to 40 Alt-Left extremists lit garbage cans on fire in Connewitz, an area known for anarchist violence targeting police, and then ambushed police when they responded. The attackers threw objects like glass bottles at the police car and then dispersed.
* Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has assessed that “the violence-oriented left-wing extremist scene is reaching a new level of escalation.”
* An analysis by the Federal Office in 2020 warned about the “emergence of terrorist structures within the far-left extremist scene.”
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** Investigative Reporting
Alt-Left Extremists Take Over Abandoned Police Station in London ([link removed])
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* An abandoned police station in London was taken over by a coalition that included Antifa and anti-police extremists, taking advantage of laws protecting squatters.
* The Metropolitan Police responded, “We have instructed our lawyers who are in the process of obtaining a writ of possession. The property is in the process of being sold with a completion date scheduled for the end of the month.”
* The Alt-Left insurrectionists described themselves as a “coalition to resist the authoritarian state” who demand “the defunding of the police” and “refunding of communities that have been marginalized by white supremacist, patriarchal ableist capitalism.”
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** Think-Tank
Study: Dallas-Based Patriot Front Produces Majority of White Supremacist Propaganda ([link removed])
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* Dallas-based Patriot Front is responsible for 80% of the 4,105 incidents involving white supremacist propaganda around the country last year. The group’s distribution of propaganda doubled in 2020.
* Ninety-two percent of the propaganda incidents involved Patriot Front, the New Jersey European Heritage Association and the National Socialist Club.
* The remaining 8% came from other neo-Nazi groups, such as National Alliance, Folks Front and 14 First.
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** Justice Department
Indictments Show D.C. Riot Pre-Planning for Violence ([link removed])
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* The communications of Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida chapter of Oath Keepers, show he claimed to be organizing for violence in Washington, D.C. with other members of Oath Keepers, Three Percenters and Proud Boys.
* Prosecutors also accuse two Oath Keepers members of conspiring to “wage a guerilla war against the United States.”
* An Oath Keeper in Ohio named Jessica Watkins who took part in the riot had her home searched, and two bomb-making manuals were found.
* At least 13 members of Oath Keepers and 20 members of Proud Boys have been arrested for participating in the attack.
* Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes denies involvement or foreknowledge and says Oath Keepers who participated in the attack “went totally off mission.”
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** Hostile Foreign Influence Operations
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NICOLAS ASFOURI, LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images


** Investigative Reporting
Russia Hiring Troll Farms in Mexico & Africa to Spread Disinformation ([link removed])
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* Lakhta Internet Research, a “troll farm” used by the Russian government to spread disinformation, received attention from US law enforcement so it began hiring “unwitting third-country nationals” in Mexico, Nigeria and Ghana, according to US intelligence.
* The Russian operation uses fake social media accounts and news websites to promote its favored narratives and disinformation, particularly about contentious issues that divide Americans.
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** US Cyber Command
US Defended 2020 Election with Two Dozen Cyber Ops Against Foreign Influencers ([link removed])
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* The head of the US Cyber Command says that over two dozen cyber attacks were conducted to defend the 2020 presidential election from hostile foreign influence operations.
* It was previously reported that the cyber operations targeted Chinese, Russian and Iranian efforts.
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** Other Ideological Extremism
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Marvin Joseph / The Washington Post via Getty Images


** Justice Department
California Woman Sentenced for Threatening to Bomb Catholic Prep School ([link removed])
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* Sonia Tabizada of San Jacinto, California, was sentenced to 15 months and 13 days for threatening to violently attack the Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School in Washington, D.C.
* In May 2019, Tabizada left several messages with the school threatening to bomb and burn the building and kill school officials and students because it began publishing same-sex wedding announcements in its magazine for alumni.
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** Investigative Reporting
Violent Incel Movement Growing in US & Canada ([link removed])
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* In Canada, a judge has found the perpetrator of a vehicular terrorist attack in Toronto in 2018 guilty. The perpetrator, who murdered 10 people and injured 16 others, followed the “Incel” ideology that has claimed an estimated 40-50 lives in the US and Canada since 2014.
* The movement of “Incels” (meaning “involuntary celibates”) demonizes females for rejecting them and also legitimizes hatred of male students for allegedly obstructing their social and romantic advancement.
* Other attacks influenced by the Incel ideology include the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida; a 2017 school shooting in New Mexico; a 2015 shooting at a college in Oregon and the 2014 shooting near the University of California-Santa Barbara by Elliot Rodgers, who is seen as a “martyr” by Incels.
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QUOTABLE


** “I have been happy … in believing that … whatever follies we may be led into as to foreign nations, we shall never give up our Union, the last anchor of our hope, and that alone which is to prevent this heavenly country from becoming an arena of gladiators.”
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— Thomas Jefferson (1829), “Memoirs, correspondence and private papers of Thomas Jefferson,” ed. by T.J. Randolph, p.359

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