A BIG WHITE NATIONALIST TERRORISM PROBLEM, GOYIM.
Similarities and Differences between International Terrorists and White Nationalist Terrorists
Today, domestic extremist violence outpaces Islamist extremism, and the character of the threat has changed dramatically in the last three years. Right-wing extremists and international jihadists from the last decade have many parallels and some differences.
White supremacist terrorism appears to be following the inverse model of international jihadists by forming from the bottom-up rather than the top-down. White supremacists live and operate largely in Western countries hosting substantial law enforcement. Adequate policing prevents the formation of named groups and squelches the organizing, training, planning, and preparation jihadist groups enjoyed in failing states like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, or the Sahel.
Lacking a central core leadership, white supremacists emerge from grass roots, online organizing. Each attack inspires another one leading to a global network of online supporters spreading the ideology and offering technical and tactical assistance when possible to further additional attacks. Whereas jihadists needed money, training, weapons, and access to targets, white supremacists have easy access to African-American, Jewish, Muslim, LGBT, and other minority group targets; enough money to self-finance attacks; and plenty of weapons at their disposal. Continued successful attacks and online networking, if not addressed holistically by Western law enforcement, will likely lead to further in-person networking at rallies, movement to compounds domestically, or even regional or international white supremacist enclaves that could lead to the formation of named, global white supremacist groups. If left unabated, the pattern of jihadists (Top-down, Directed-Networked-Inspired) will reverse itself for white nationalist terrorists as they grow in strength (Bottom-up, Inspired-Networked-Directed). A good current example of this right-wing terrorist formation is Atomwaffen—a Neo-Nazi group linked to multiple murders in the U.S.
The West should now worry equally about the global networking, state sponsorship, and facilitation of right-wing extremists. Russia’s state-sponsored disinformation system amplifies racial divides in America, boosts anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment globally, and helps act as connective tissue linking like-minded white nationalist movements across the West. In Sweden, two of three bombers from the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement received military training in Russia before returning home to attack left-wing activists and a refugee home in Gothenburg. The Balkans and in particular Serbia, home to a long history of ethnic strife, surface regularly in white nationalist terrorism discussions, appear routinely in extremist circles, and may become an attractive hub for like-minded extremists seeking a new home abroad over time. A reminder, the Christchurch mosque attacker, Brenton Tarrant, was not from New Zealand, but Australia.
Signs already suggest the spike in white nationalist violence will likely lead to reprisal terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists and left-wing movements. Sri Lanka’s defence minister said that a preliminary investigation into the Islamic State-linked Easter bombings found the attacks to be “in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch.” New Zealand’s foreign minister later disagreed with this assessment and noted the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility didn’t mention the Christchurch attack. But even the suggestion of such a reprisal attack points to the growing risk of reciprocal Islamic extremist attacks and left-wing inspired attacks in response to right-wing aggression. Literally, the name Antifa comes from “anti-fascists,” as a countermovement to right-wing extremists. This past week, the FBI disrupted a plot by a U.S. Army combat veteran to bomb a white nationalist rally. In sum, unchecked violence begets more violence.
