Introduction

With recent events going on across the globe, especially in the Middle East, I thought it would be time to finally write a blog, something that I have been considering for years, but haven’t found the requisite time and energy to write until now.

My name is Carsten, and I am a researcher who specializes in international relations. More specifically, I focus on conflict and politics in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, and extremist groups; the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and Hamas and how these groups communicate their respective ideologies among themselves and with a broader audience (both in-group and out-group). Furthermore, I am also in the process of learning German, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and dabble in various other languages when time and interest permits, and get into related fields of study (i.e. data science, OSINT, theology, political theory, foreign policy, history).

I study these issues largely because of the time period that I was brought up in. Seeing the World Trade Center burning on the TV as a young child, watching the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq unfold as the use of the internet grew exponentially, the Arab Spring, the Syrian Civil War, and the announcement of the Islamic State. These were the primary events that shaped my interest in the Middle East as a whole and jihadism and conflict in particular.

This blog is intended to be a venue to express my thoughts on these issues as they unfold and as I see interest in writing about whatever interests me at the moment. I hope that this blog serves as a benefit to anyone interested in conflict, jihadism, and the Middle East, scholar and layman alike.