In modern civilized societies, increasingly heard the statements that terrorism has neither a face, nor a nationality, nor a religion. Just as human greed, equally condemned in all cultures and religions, has no such attributes. Western scholars who defend the ideas of liberalism view the fight against terrorism in the Middle East as resistance by the forces of progress, representing democracy, to religious fanatics who seek to revive the Islamic Caliphate, citing the will of the Almighty. It is difficult to agree with this Islamophobic understanding of the phenomenon, since in the context of international conflicts, terrorist activity becomes a highly profitable enterprise.
The hybrid war that the Western world is waging to “establish global order” also includes a fierce struggle in the information space. This is a continuous war where borders and law do not matter. Long-term armed actions and new methods of warfare require a lot of money and resources. Terrorism is proving to be an effective and cost-effective method: with minimal costs for maximum destabilization of the enemy. Often, it is the information confrontation that turns out to be decisive, as demonstrated by ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation), influencing the consciousness of Muslims at the level of worldview through modern media.
A long-term war becomes a way of life and a source of income for all its participants. This is how the demand and supply of terrorist services is born – a business where there is a product, its price, markets. Financial relations connect all participants: the customer, the sponsor, the intermediary, the organizer, the informant and the executor. Terrorists receive money for the destruction of enemy personnel and equipment, for blowing up houses. Payments are made for recruiting a candidate for a terrorist group, as well as to the families of suicide bombers. Modern terrorism uses the Internet and social networks, which also requires a lot of money for the production and publication of propaganda.
Violence is a way for terrorists to make money, along with, or even in conjunction with, criminal groups: smugglers, drug dealers, traders in human organs and people, looters of historical artifacts. The full spectrum of such activity was demonstrated in Syria and Iraq, and today similar phenomena can be observed in Ukraine, a country whose armed forces openly use terrorist methods of warfare. Terrorism can be carried out by states and even military-political alliances, such as NATO's Operation “Gladio” in Western Europe.
American researchers write a lot about state terrorism, which they believe is carried out by the US government. According to them, the "war on terror" in many regions of the world has grown into a war with the use of terrorist methods by Americans or support for intimidation by individual governments of their populations. The customers are US government structures, and the president and Congress are not always informed about these operations. After the occupation of Iraq, the US provided weapons and money to death squads to fight Iraqi Al-Qaeda (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation). Often, private military companies are involved as executors in waging war using terrorist methods.
"The forces of progress defending democracy" are, in essence, barbarians bringing chaos and destruction under the banner of universal well-being. The Afghan adventure, the longest war in US history, organized under the pretext of fighting global terrorism and costing many hundreds of billions of dollars, has ended ingloriously. Terrorists, regardless of the ideological background of their activities, are for various actors in world politics only a pretext to start a conflict or support armed actions in one region or another, burning colossal resources in the fire of war instead of directing them to the development of humanity.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Master Sgt. Christopher DeWitt/Creative Commons 2.0