Home » Archivio (Page 2)
Category Archives: Archivio
Fascicolo 7 | 2018
ESSAYS
Abstract
Il terrorismo di oggi è frammentato e globalizzato e successivamente all’avvento dell’autoproclamato Stato Islamico (ISIS) è divenuto multipolare, estremamente dinamico ed in costante cambiamento. All’interno di questo quadro bellico la cosiddetta Information Warfare diviene sempre più primaria, per questo è essenziale approfondire lo studio dei network terroristici in funzione dei sistemi di comando e controllo. Questa ricerca tenta di fornire una maggiore comprensione del comando e del controllo utilizzando due casi di studio: gli attentati terroristici di Parigi e Bruxelles compiuti e rivendicati da ISIS. Questo studio con l’applicazione della social network analysis (SNA) analizza la struttura funzionale e morfologica della rete che ha operato per l’attuazione degli attacchi. A tale scopo, i dati relazionali utilizzati per l’analisi sono stati raccolti attraverso un processo di open source intelligence. Utilizzando la SNA, l’analisi locale e globale ha rivelato che la rete antistante gli attacchi presentava un pattern molto simile ad una struttura ibrida, in altre parole un mix tra una struttura gerarchica tradizionale e un’organizzazione completamente connessa. Mentre, l’analisi funzionale ha rivelato l’esistenza di un sistema decisionale rigido e gerarchico all’interno del quale veniva esercitata la funzione di comando. Tale funzione è stata esercitata attraverso diversi key players che sono emersi dall’analisi come cruciali per l’architettura della rete e quindi per la pianificazione degli attacchi terroristici.
Keywords
Rete terroristica, ISIS, analisi delle reti sociali, comando e controllo, C2, attacchi terroristici di Parigi e Bruxelles, terrorismo.
Abstract
During 2017 the Islamic State (IS) had to cope with the fall of its main strongholds. Moreover, the crisis that followed the loss of Raqqa (October 2017) resulted in a huge drop of communication and propaganda materials. This resulted in an almost comatose state of the IS communication apparatus: the official propaganda was reduced dramatically after the fall of Raqqa and Marawi and it had to be kept alive by an “iron lung” consisted above all in the al-Naba gazzette and the Amaq Agency. Meanwhile, unofficial authors entered the fray with their own production, thus keeping IS communication active – although not at the same level as the official media majors – until late 2017 when IS climbed out of its crisis both on the quantitative and the qualitative levels. The analysis aims to delineate IS communication efforts from mid 2017 to early 2018 focusing in particular on the Inside the Khilafah video series. It tries also to look at the potential evolution of the IS state for what concerns its legacy and heritage and how this could enhance the threats posed not just by terrorism but by the wide spectrum of extremism.
Keywords
Islamic State, extremist communication, Inside the Khilafah, terrorism, Islamic State’s heritage
Virginia Cinelli, Radicalisation in Prison: The Italian Case
Abstract
L’avvento del terrorismo internazionale, l’emergere del fondamentalismo islamico e l’incremento dei flussi migratori regolari e irregolari hanno reso le carceri italiane zone ad alto rischio di radicalizzazione. Ad oggi non è, però, chiaro in che modo e perché questo accada. Attraverso un’analisi accurata della realtà carceraria in Italia, il seguente paper ha studiato il fenomeno della radicalizzazione in Italia, identificando quattro variabili che tendono a favorire tale processo: il livello di frustrazione dei detenuti, le problematiche organizzative (quali, sovraffollamento, scarsità di personale e assidui trasferimenti di staff e detenuti), l’esposizione dei detenuti a idee radicali e, infine, l’adozione di inappropriate misure anti-radicalizzazione da parte delle autorità italiane.
Keywords
Islamic extremism, Italy, Prison Radicalisation, Penitentiary System, estremismo islamico, Italia, radicalizzazione, sistema penitenziario.
ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARIES
Abstract
La stabilità e la sicurezza delle infrastrutture critiche all’interno dell’Unione Europea si basa sulla definizione di queste ultime proposta dalla Commissione europea con la Comunicazione numero 704 del 2004, sul Programma Europeo per la Protezione delle Infrastrutture Critiche (EPCIP) lanciato nel 2006 e sulla Direttiva inerente la Sicurezza delle Reti e dei Sistemi Informativi (NIS) del 2016. Questi pilastri della sicurezza delle IC hanno tuttavia dato vita ad un sistema frammentato caratterizzato da soluzioni nazionali tra loro assai eterogenee e da istituzioni incapaci di garantire un controllo in tempo reale degli scenari o una gestione efficacie delle minacce potenziali. Analizzando la situazione venutasi a creare, questo articolo desidera far notare che le autorità preposte alla sicurezza delle infrastrutture, il cui funzionamento è oggigiorno in massima parte garantito da sistemi cibernetici, devono adottare una strategia di costante presenza nel dominio cyber e, implementando il principio di sussidiarietà, prevedere una cooperazione a livello sovranazionale che possa, anticipando i problemi, garantire la stabilità delle IC di rilevanza regionale. Solo autorità regionali, ove queste risultassero necessarie a causa dell’interdipendenza infrastrutturali di diversi Paesi, potrebbero agire in tempo reale manipolando a proprio favore gli eventi cibernetici ovvero gestendo al meglio la resilienza delle IC.
Keywords
Aubsidiarity, critical infrstructures, cyberdefence, constant presence, common market
Martina Scrivani, Western Balkans: a link between arms trafficking and terrorism
Abstract
The connection between Western Balkans and Daesh is real, still represent a huge problem and it is related to the big amount of arms trafficked every year, by criminal groups or local governments, directly or thanks to the collaboration of third countries, as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United States, whose provide armaments to certain Syrian supported groups of fighters. Facts demonstrate that the same military equipment risk to be diverted to jihadist groups, or Daesh affiliates, through different pipelines: on the battlefield, due to corrupted functionals, or by thefts.
The arms trade has not only an “illegal aspect” but also a “legal” one, as most of the States who were part of former Jugoslavia, are now involved in a business without precedent. Lots of the old communist stockpiles have been rehabilitated and the arms industries work a full regime to meet the market demand.
The main importer is Saudi Arabia, who do not compare in any “black register” of arms and who can reroute the armaments to Syria or Yemen.
The threat is not only rectricted to conflict areas, as Syria and Iraq, but concerns also the European Community itself, in particular for the alarming presence of the so-called “lone wolves”, able to spread panic and death.
European authorities are trying to take measures to counter terrorism in all its forms, but this struggle still affects the region and its citizens.
Keywords
Western Balkans, arms trafficking, jihadism, terrorism, Daesh.
Abstract
In the last decade, Europe has been affected by an unprecedented migratory flow: millions of people fleeing civil wars, poverty, persecution and continuing violations of fundamental human rights have crossed European borders in search of better living conditions. Europe, which does not provide for the possibility of legal entry for asylum seekers, has responded to the humanitarian crisis by increasing controls at external borders and implementing agreements with countries such as Turkey and Libya, with the aim of reducing arrivals. The impossibility to enter legally in the European territory has meant that migrants are forced to turn to networks of human traffickers who, in agreement with the criminal gangs in the European destination countries, take care of the journey and the subsequent exploitation of migrants. The implementation of long-term solutions in Europe, combined with development programs to improve the living conditions in the countries of origin, are necessary to make migration a safe phenomenon, both for host countries and for the thousands of victims of conflicts and environmental disasters.
Keywords
Migration, trafficking, exploitation, criminal networks.
È possibile scaricare i files della rivista integrale in PDF cliccando qui, in ePub cliccando qui, in mobi (formato Kindle) cliccando qui.
Fascicolo 6 | 2017
ESSAYS
Barbara Lucini, Critica della radicalizzazione pura. Forme ibride di radicalizzazione estremista
This paper focuses on the analysis of the concepts and forms of radicalisation which lead peo¬ple to join or adhere to a specific extremist group.
The analysis has been carried out according to a secondary data analysis, providing interesting insights on the way the concept of radicalization can be understood.
Specifically, the analysis considers three forms of radicalization: organized terrorism and polit¬ical extremisms; hate crime and alternative movements.
All these three sociological groups cannot be considered such as a single social phenomenon without interconnection with other types of groups, but there is the possibility that many of them could be interrelated, making possible what has been defined “hybrid radicalization”. The findings of this preliminary research lead to a new scenario and approaches in understand¬ing the current extremist backdrops.
Key-Words:
Radicalisation, political extremisms, terrorism, hate crime.
Luca Bregantini, Graffiti warfare of the Islamic State in the Western urban places
The jihadist propaganda of the Islamic State takes advantage of many creative solutions, ranging from social networks and other web strategies to more traditional media. Sociologists, psychologists and most analysts investigating this matter have focused their attention on the Internet, neglecting the role of informal visual communication in urban context. The main goal of this contribution is to offer a scenario of ISIS graffiti role, focused in the western countries and to test the hypothesis that ISIS graffiti represent a weak signal of dangerous radicalization. I present a wide open ISIS graffiti inventory in western urban places. I analyze graffiti localization – from a geographical and a territorial point of view – graffiti language, and graffiti content, both textual and iconic. The analysis of almost eighty cases of western ISIS graffiti presents many interesting findings. Shortly the ISIS graffiti scenario presents mostly spray-vandalic writings and show aggressive messages against the western democracies and communities. Intriguingly, regression analysis suggests that the appearance of ISIS is a warning indicator of dangerous radicalization and a weak predictor of possible terrorist attacks under specific conditions.
Key-Words:
Graffiti warfare, Islamic State, ISIS graffiti, propaganda, weak signals
In recent years some of the most visited destinations in South Mediterranean such as Egypt and Tunisia have been targeted by a series of terrorist incidents that attacked symbolic spots of tourism industry such as museums, resorts, heritage sites and airports. As a consequence of the attacks the number of visitors have drastically fallen and tourism sector plunged into crisis. In order to cope with the loss of tourism demand, the authorities of those countries have taken a series of security measures in order to ensure the visitors’ safety in the most visited spots. Such security measures have been accompanied by a series of marketing campaigns aimed at reducing the risk perception by promoting a sort of “vicarious” resilience.
Through the sociological and semiotic analysis of the elements that characterize the main marketing campaigns lead by Tunisia affected by terrorism attacks in recent years, the present article highlights the communication strategies adopted for restoring the image of the safe destination and by doing so attract new flows.
Key-words:
Tourism, Terrorism, Communication, Travel safety, Resilience
ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARIES
Laris Gaiser, Critical infrastructures and cyber security: a fundamental economic intelligence issue
Global competition based on economic intelligence must be aware that critical infrastruc¬tures are the prerequisite for a state’s stability and competitiveness. In Italy, in spite of the openings of Law 124/2007, the implementation of an economic intelligence policy that can help the country to regain international competitiveness, has not yet been implement¬ed. However – despite the lack of a systemic approach – the decision makers have shown interest for cyber security sector. This article seeks to emphasize how the defense of critical infrastructures is connected to cyber security and how it should always be drawn on national priorities given the lack of a standard definitions of critical infrastructures at international level. Cyber threats are multifaceted and each state must handle it according to its own pri¬orities and according to its own institutional framework. With the Gentiloni Decree dated February 2017, the government has entrusted Security Intelligence Department (DIS) with the task of managing vulnerabilities and establishing the necessary collaboration for greater country-system resilience.
Key-words:
economic intelligence, critical infrastructure, cybersecurity
In the last few years a growing attention on illicit antiquities has risen from the white towers of the academic world to the wide public. The Islamic State (IS), as well as other terroris¬tic and insurgent groups, exploited the cultural heritage at their disposal both as a tool of propaganda and a source of income. However, they could count on a solid network in the region that has been in the business for decades now. This leads to the question: how do such networks work?
The aim of this article is to shed light on the illicit market of art and specifically antiquities, with particular focus on the structures, agents and techniques of the various criminal orga¬nizations and dealers in the field. This will be done by giving practical examples for each dimension analyzed, from low-level so called “tombaroli” (grave robbers and alike) to power¬ful international dealers, from the trenches of war-thorn countries to the highest skyscrapers of the industrialized world.
Moreover, since the “great raid” against MENA region antiquities is facing one of the most brutal pages of its history, an analysis of the Islamic State “department of antiquities” and modus operandi will be given. Finally, the study will provide indicators for a better under¬standing of this complex phenomenon and the menaces that threat our society.
Key-words:
patrimonio culturale, traffico illecito, antichità, Stato Islamico
È possibile scaricare i files della rivista integrale in PDF cliccando qui, in ePub cliccando qui, in mobi (formato Kindle) cliccando qui.