“Today’s anti-Western influence networks are global, coordinated, top-down, well-funded and sanitised. Viewed graphically, they resemble a series of concentric circles. At their centre sit hostile state actors (Iran, China, Russia, Qatar), terrorist organisations (Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda), and extremist religious-political movements (Muslim Brotherhood). Around them operate charities, campaign groups, protest movements and advocacy organisations that can provide legitimacy, amplify propaganda and serve as vectors of transmission for extremist agendas to society more broadly. Some of these groups are directly funded by hostile actors, or in turn, divert publicly raised donations back to them.”
Why is the British government arresting more than 30 British citizens on average each day, including mothers and pensioners, for mostly harmless social media posts, while activists with links to terrorist groups working against those very societies are left free to unleash their worst?
(Photo by Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)