Nathan S. French

BREAKING | NBC News: A man previously convicted of providing material support to ISIS, Mohammad Jalloh, and recently released from prison has been identified as the shooter at Old Dominion earlier today, two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter say.

We'll see how the reporting shakes out, but my co-authors and I spent a considerable amount of time on his ISIS case, including interviewing the agents on that case. We wrote it up for our ISIS book, an excerpt of the chapter is here: airforcetimes.com/opinion/commen…

1/What is an Ayatollah? How does one become one? A thread for non-specialists and political analysts. 🧵

I’m afraid the reading of this statement that’s gaining traction online is done by non-specialists who don’t understand Shii clerical culture. Sistani didn’t issue this; his local office in Mashhad did. It is not a fatwa. And it doesn’t call communal defence.

New al-Qaeda group Ajnad Bayt al-Maqdis drops AQ really not beating the allegations that it’s just become a tool of Iran since Zawahiri was killed

The GIF when you see another media headline about ISIS resurgence (in the areas from Afghanistan to West Asia & North Africa).

#AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has just released a startling 7-pager explaining why #Trump’s rule represents a historic opportunity for #jihad. Here’s a synopsis of what the jihadis are predicting & planning for: ▪️World is “sliding towards a third world war” which will change the map ▪️US soft power has gone; it’s now about brute force ▪️East-West conflict will weaken both ▪️#China, #Russia, #Iran, #Turkey & others who oppose the West cannot ally with al-Qaeda but will seek to benefit from its efforts. States “We will not enter into conflict with them at this stage unless they initiate it”. Fascinatingly, it adds: “Some of them may even provide support, but sparingly, cautiously, & deliberately, allowing us to survive”. But it warns jihad groups not to trust or rely on them. ▪️“Make America Great Again” will ultimately result in the collapse of #NATO, Europe & the entire West ▪️Predicts that “the foolish pirate Trump” will remain in power by cancelling elections or changing the constitution ▪️Trump’s “thuggish, colonial approach” & obsession with power will generate internal conflict that will further weaken the US ▪️Blames #Maduro’s failure on religious bankruptcy ▪️Societies (incl in Arab countries) will be divided by economic crises, growing inequality, consumerism (at the expense of development), loss of trust in leaders, disillusionment with institutions ▪️Jihad stands ready to harness growing global anger at “Zionist-Crusader arrogance”

@McCutcheonSays @seedpods Just sent an email to Prof. Newton. Looking forward to working on this however I can.

@innesseff @seedpods He could sure use your experience & input.

@seedpods is taking over managing the #RELtoolbox and is starting a new initiative to help depts. Go see. religion.ua.edu/blog/2025/10/0…

What will it take to get @WDRBNews to convince @ByCasagrande to do the unthinkable and fill the unfillable seat of @rickbozich in coverage of Louisville and Kentucky sports? #BringBigHousetotheVille

@SamAdlerBell @Tyler_A_Harper I think it’s great to want to hear from students, but it might be a bit telling that you’re more likely to get that response from TikTok (a visually-driven platform) and not X (mostly text, some video).

@Tyler_A_Harper I don't doubt that at all. it's gotten harder for me to read a whole book! but I actually want to hear from students lol.

As much as people say this, I just don't believe it. (Maybe I'm naive.) If you're an undergraduate, could you please tell me (1) whether you regularly read books, and (2) your impression of how common that is among your peers.

How it started... how it ended. 12 years and almost 8 months to the day. Crazy.

More signs of IS ramping up activity again, which coincides with the U.S. withdrawing 3/4 of its troop presence since mid-April. Reality is, SDF can’t do it alone and neither will Turkey’s coalition of the willing. Without the Global Coalition it’s going to be open season for IS.

@azelin Just sitting here, researching, thinking, and he just … tweets it out. He just tweets it.

Welp. That’s it.

The end of Jihadi Salafism? The religious governance of HTS, the Post-Jihadi rebel ruler in Northern Syria - Jerome Drevon (@jeromedrev) and Patrick Haenni (@patrickhaenni), Mediterranean Politics: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

*taps the sign*

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia plans to pay off Syria's debts to the World Bank, three people familiar with the matter said, paving the way for the approval of millions of dollars in grants for reconstruction and to support the country's paralyzed public sector reut.rs/3ExumHk

This past week, I was invited as a guest speaker to brief the US Congressional staffers on US Counterterrorism policy and where Pakistan fits into it. Here are some key points that I made: 1. Audit of US CT Policy - US has spent over $8 trillion on CT since 9/11 and the results after 24 years is that there is a 357% growth of domestic terrorism in the US, Taliban is back in power in Afghanistan, ISKP is surging, and most of the Middle East, including Pakistan is still under turmoil. - CT was meant to be a temporary fixture in US policy after 9/11, unfortunately as it is with big federal money, it got institutionalised, taking a life of its own, and turning into a CT economy that made America less safer and open to manipulation from foreign actors. - At home in the US, CT securitised the diplomacy and policy domain the price America is continuing to pay. 2. How Foreign Actors view CT - If you look closely, terrorism is prevalent primarily in postcolonial states where the extractive ruling elite bypassed structural reforms & democracy in favour of a centralised authoritarian state that could play the "geopolitics" game in hopes of securing foreign aid and domestic stability against the democratic voices in their countries. - Essentially terrorism is a direct outcome of the absence of democracy and presence of a brutal authoritarian regimes that relies on extraction as a national policy. - The ruling elite in most of these extractive state look at the US and all it sees is $$$ and more $$$ - The ruling elite in most of these terror-hit countries has been at war with their own population for decades, and got the US embroiled in their domestic politics and crackdown against democracy and human rights. - Net result? A) The US has been been conned by the foreign ruling elite to be a part of and help fund their authoritarian control over their country in the name of "CT ops" B) In cases where the US did understand the con, its short-term security interests trump the long term democratic and development interests of these countries making it convenient for the the US to align with the authoritarian regimes around the developing world. 3. What should the US do? - Run a serious audit of CT space and de-institutionalise it permanently so that the US policy community can starting thinking and talking in diplomatic, and political language. - As a strict policy, send out a message that the US will only engage, fund and endorse legitimate democratic governments around the world. - On Pakistan, the US must stand by the people of Pakistan and undo the Biden era damage of playing "favourites" in the country. Imran Khan is the only chance for any stability in Pakistan; all other avenues have now been exhausted. Only in standing with democracy in Pakistan, the US will win hearts and minds of the people, and at no cost. Conclusion: The world is changing, and it's a good time for the US to move on from the post 9/11 era framing of policy, reality and global engagement through a CT lens. The new world will require doubling down on Democracy and Technology, and that is exactly what the new pillars of US foreign policy must be.

@shahanSean Now excited for totally different reasons. Sounds like a great course.

@innesseff Every year I teach a class on the medieval Islamic reception of Greek practical philosophy (politics, ethics). Tomorrow we're reading a selection from Ṭūsī, and I'm chasing down curious things he says as I prep.

The mighty dīnār🪙: “the preserver of justice, the universal rectifier, and the lesser law (ḥāfeẓ-e ʿadālat va-moqawwim-e kollī va-nāmūs-e aṣġar)” From Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s work on ethics.

@shahanSean Gotta ask, what’s this reading to be part of? Because whatever it is, I’m excited to read it and hear more about it. I’ve been thinking about the artificiality of law / economy divisions. And, reading through a lot of Bonner.

[NB: it's a spurious quote but see NE 1133a-b]