Few have had an opportunity to interview and spend time with the world's ‘A-Team' of terrorism. Many Westerners regards the Lebanese group as one of the most notorious terrorist organizations for its responsibility in carrying out the 1983 terrorist attacks against the U.S. embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut; the 1992 and 1994 attacks against the Israeli embassy and Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires; and a host of kidnappings, hijackings, and suicide bombings.
Jorisch provides his insider perspective on the context and background on this terrorist organization. To fully comprehend Hizballah and its relationship to Iran, it is critical to understand the rise of radical Islam and the future of low intensity conflict against non-state actors. International Shi'a Islamic terrorism and radical ideologies propagated by rogue regimes such as Iran are also explored in detail.
The United States is engaged in two wars, both in the Islamic world. In order to understand Islam and the Arab world, it is critical to have a clear grasp of the underlying theology and philosophy and how it relates to modern day organizations such as Hizballah, Hamas and al-Qaeda. In this highly interactive lecture, Jorisch details the critical tools to understand the Islamic view of the world, international Islamic terrorism, the radical ideologies propagated by both rogue regimes and organizations, and the nature of Islamic theology.
The United States has maintained sanctions of one sort or another against Iran since 1987. Originally enacted in response to Tehran's sponsorship of terrorism, these sanctions prohibit U.S. citizens, companies, and foreign branches from conducting business with Iran. But has this strategy yielded the desired effect of deterring the Islamic Republic from pursuing nuclear weapons, sponsoring terrorism, and other illicit objectives?
Washington sought to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction by freezing the assets of proliferators and their supporters, and by isolating them from the U.S. financial and commercial systems. The Treasury Department also quietly warned foreign banks and companies that do business with Iran that they too could lose access to U.S. markets if they deal with entities connected to terrorism or the Islamic Republic's nuclear industry. Jorisch provides the context and background to fully understand the U.S. government's financial war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the entities targeted to date and the geopolitical importance of doing so. Also outlined are the steps the United States will need to take in the banking sector in order to curb Iran’s appetite for pursuing the bomb. In addition, Jorisch reviews the implications for US national security and the banking community writ large.
The Arab-Israeli conflict spans roughly one century of political tensions and open hostilities. The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 by the international Zionist movement took place in territory regarded by the Jewish people as their historic and biblical homeland. The Pan-Arab and Pan-Islamic movements consider this territory to belong to the Palestinians. This highly interactive lecture explores both the Palestinian/Muslim narrative, as well as the Israeli/Jewish perspectives in detail. Jorisch provides the context and background to fully understand the complexity of the issue by promoting critical thinking with the goal of providing a solid understanding of all perspectives relating to the conflict.
Hizballah and Hamas are prominent examples of Islamist terrorist organizations which learned to exploit the communications revolution of the last decade. They make extensive use of the media, especially television and the Internet, in the battle for hearts and minds, waged in parallel to the fighting on the ground. They use the media to disseminate their ideology and political propaganda, generate public interest in their activities and attempt to win sympathy and support.
With a stated purpose of waging "psychological warfare," al-Manar and al-Aqsa, respectively owned by Hizballah and Hamas, represent potent instruments that incite violence among their viewers in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere. Programming includes calls for attacks against coalition soldiers in Iraq; efforts to recruit children to become suicide bombers; "Blood libels" against the Jewish people, i.e. falsely accusing Jews for killing Christian children and using the blood to make unleavened bread for the Passover holiday; claims that the September 11 attacks were conducted by the US government, Jews and the Mossad. These stations have also been known to solicit donations during commercial breaks, informing audiences worldwide how to contribute money to promote terrorism. In this lecture, Jorisch provides the context and background to fully understand the ideology propagated by terrorist-owned and controlled media outlets, their messages, and the influence these outlets wield.
