OSINFO - Open Sources Information

Make no mistake. Both of these plagues will continue to afflict humanity in the coming months and years. No community, nation or region is immune from their dire economic and strategic implications, including Scandinavia.

Consider the marked deterioration of the security situation during the past several years in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Since Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and subsequent bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005, radicalization, extremism and violence in the region have intensified.

Two major trends have contributed to this development. First is the branching of al-Qaida – the most dangerous international network aiming to establish a worldwide Sharia government under the rule of the Caliphs – into Scandinavia.

This framework has continuously provided for formal and informal collaboration with various affiliate organizations present in the region, such as Ansar al-Islam, Ansar al-Sunna, al-Aqsa, Hizbut-Tahrir, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic combatant groups, Islamic Jihad, and Chechnyan 'freedom fighters.'

• READ FULL ARTICLE HERE…

Yonah Alexander is Director of the International Center for Terrorism Studies at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies (Arlington, Virginia). His latest book is, "Evolution of U.S. Counterterrorism Policy" (Praeger Publishers). Erik Brattberg is a researcher on terrorism at Uppsala University.