Will Islamism cease to be a threat?

[Samof94]

Will Islamism ever stop being a threat??? I’m not talking about Islam, I am talking mostly about Salafi Jihadism, an ideology that is obviously genocidal and created refugees in the millions.

[Samof94]

"Islamism" isn't really a single thing. In the Islamic world you've got your caliphate restorationists, but also those whose Islamism has more in common with Christian democracy than with ISIS, plus a much broader mass of voters and parties who may have generally politically conservative Islamic mores but who also have other material concerns that will affect their political affiliations.

And then you've got Islamist identities in western countries, which take different forms based on the political context they're reacting to it in that country.

There's enough variation there that it's possible for some of them to be in structural/cyclical decline whilst others are resilient or growing forces.

The OP was referring primarily to Salafi jihadists that we are all familiar with from the 1990s and 2000s:





And to answer the OP, not anytime soon, if this article from last summer is of any indication:

Report: Taliban allowing Al Qaeda training camps and providing support, despite U.S. agreement to cut all ties

Exactly. These people aren’t going anywhere when they can use people like Trump in their propaganda.

[Samof94]

Will Islamism ever stop being a threat??? I’m not talking about Islam, I am talking mostly about Salafi Jihadism, an ideology that is obviously genocidal and created refugees in the millions.

I love how this definition of "Islamism" excludes the Islamic Republic of Iran, which most fearmongerers about Islamic fundamentalism would (laughably) point to as threat #1.

And the answer is embedded right there. With the Middle East turning into a Saudi vs Iranian battle for domination of the region, the jihadi types are mostly agitated about fighting Iran and its proxies (Assad, the Houthis in Yemen, etc), not "the West."

They are also a threat but Shia terrorism is a lot less global.

[Samof94]

Will Islamism ever stop being a threat??? I’m not talking about Islam, I am talking mostly about Salafi Jihadism, an ideology that is obviously genocidal and created refugees in the millions.

I love how this definition of "Islamism" excludes the Islamic Republic of Iran, which most fearmongerers about Islamic fundamentalism would (laughably) point to as threat #1.

And the answer is embedded right there. With the Middle East turning into a Saudi vs Iranian battle for domination of the region, the jihadi types are mostly agitated about fighting Iran and its proxies (Assad, the Houthis in Yemen, etc), not "the West."

Honestly the only country in the Western World where Iran is seen as part of the threat from Islamism is USA, pretty much everyone else recognize that the vast majority of Islamic terrorism is funded by our good allies in the Persian Gulf.

Iran harbors a lot of al-Qaeda senior leadership and they, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime have facilitated and allied with jihadists many times. They have plenty of Sunni allies in the Arab world, which makes sense because merely supporting Shiite groups limits the degree of their influence in the Arab and Islamic worlds (Shiites are a minority of Muslims, after all). Moreover, Iran supporting Shiite groups is obvious and expected, whereas supporting Sunnis (including Salafi jihadists) gives them more plausible deniability and a broader array of options.

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 may have been Shiite, but its aspirations were, and are, pan-Islamist and it inspired Islamists across the board. Khomeini and his supporters condemned the United States, Israel, and the Gulf monarchies; in Iran, they had helped overthrow a monarchy that had been allied with the US and Israel. Al Qaeda and other Salafi jihadist groups similarly despise the US, Israel, and the Gulf monarchies. They can be pragmatic enough, and opportunistic enough, to find common cause with Iran here.

Hesbollah??

[Samof94]

Will Islamism ever stop being a threat??? I’m not talking about Islam, I am talking mostly about Salafi Jihadism, an ideology that is obviously genocidal and created refugees in the millions.

I love how this definition of "Islamism" excludes the Islamic Republic of Iran, which most fearmongerers about Islamic fundamentalism would (laughably) point to as threat #1.

And the answer is embedded right there. With the Middle East turning into a Saudi vs Iranian battle for domination of the region, the jihadi types are mostly agitated about fighting Iran and its proxies (Assad, the Houthis in Yemen, etc), not "the West."

Honestly the only country in the Western World where Iran is seen as part of the threat from Islamism is USA, pretty much everyone else recognize that the vast majority of Islamic terrorism is funded by our good allies in the Persian Gulf.

Iran harbors a lot of al-Qaeda senior leadership and they, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime have facilitated and allied with jihadists many times. They have plenty of Sunni allies in the Arab world, which makes sense because merely supporting Shiite groups limits the degree of their influence in the Arab and Islamic worlds (Shiites are a minority of Muslims, after all). Moreover, Iran supporting Shiite groups is obvious and expected, whereas supporting Sunnis (including Salafi jihadists) gives them more plausible deniability and a broader array of options.

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 may have been Shiite, but its aspirations were, and are, pan-Islamist and it inspired Islamists across the board. Khomeini and his supporters condemned the United States, Israel, and the Gulf monarchies; in Iran, they had helped overthrow a monarchy that had been allied with the US and Israel. Al Qaeda and other Salafi jihadist groups similarly despise the US, Israel, and the Gulf monarchies. They can be pragmatic enough, and opportunistic enough, to find common cause with Iran here.

Hesbollah??

Yes. What about them?

They are Shia militants and one of the few well known examples.
Houthis is a more hardline one.