Last month, Armenia arrested several individuals accused of recruiting others to stage a coup in the country. The group has a history of recruiting Armenian citizens as foreign fighters in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Armenian government faces a potential vulnerability from militant groups as progress occurs in the normalization process with Azerbaijan following the 2020 44-day war and recent conflict in Karabakh, fueling discontent among many Armenians.
For many, the news of the assault on a police station in Yerevan over the weekend brought back memories of the two-week siege of another station back in 2016. The reasons were similar too. Eight years ago, just a few months after the four-day war, rumours spread throughout Armenia that then President Serzh Sargsyan was under pressure to accept the so-called Lavrov Plan in which five out of seven regions then occupied by Armenian forces would be handed back to Azerbaijan as part of an anticipated peace deal.
Nationalist and ultra-nationalist narratives increasingly resemble those disseminated by violent extremist groups. Not only are the themes similar, but so too are the ways in which they are amplified and disseminated online via different platforms. They also target specific demographic groups, but there are few if any attempts to address or counter them, especially in the context of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.
As Trump and others blame computer games for the gun violence in society, while ignoring their own contribution to the hatred and xenophobia in play, it’s worth remembering that this narrative has been used by successive governments and conservative groups against gamers for decades and has been persistently debunked.
Moreover, games can arguably be a useful tool in preventing and countering violent extremism and other sensitive issues. Discussing mental health issues, for example, was encouraged by the recent independent AAA game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which consulted mental health professionals at all stages of its development.
The 7 January attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a controversial Paris satirical publication that has always had its detractors, including at times the French and U.S. governments, was both shocking and callous. Twelve people were initially killed in the carnage perpetrated by Islamic extremists while an increasingly polarised discourse in its aftermath runs the risk of provoking more as latent, inherent Islamophobia surfaces in Europe.
Security was higher than at most Hedayah and Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) events I’ve attended, but perhaps with good reason. Following the murder of an American teacher at an Abu Dhabi shopping mall (as well as a foiled plot to kill another), it was understandable that metal detectors were installed on two levels at the Hilton Capital Grand where last week’s Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Communications Expo was held.