The Sri Lanka bombings were a preview of the Islamic State’s future.
The Parsons Green attack shows that governments and media outlets keep falling into the propaganda traps being set for them.
Long after the city is back in the hands of the Iraqi government, it will continue to be a prop for the Islamic State—although an altogether different one.
“What of the person who spends the sacred month ... oppressing people and killing innocents?”
The American president has reinforced the victimhood narrative at the core of the Islamic State’s recruitment pitch.
Neither the Islamic State nor al-Qaeda would be where they are today without Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir.
Despite the seeming propaganda value of the campaign, the group has been strangely silent about it—until recently.
As the group sheds territory, its propaganda wing has been forced to come up with a new storyline.
In the space of minutes, Omar Mateen transformed from an “ordinary” mass shooter into a global terrorist.
How a terrorist group effectively seized control over the coverage of its acts
And why stopping it requires that governments get out of the way