International terrorism as a global problem. Terrorism is a global problem of the world Global problems terrorism country

Terrorism today is the most powerful weapon, tool,

used not only in the struggle against the Power, but very often - by the Power itself to achieve its goals.

Modern terrorism takes the form of: international terrorism (terrorist acts of an international scale);

Domestic political terrorism (terrorist actions directed against the government, any political groups within countries, or aimed at destabilizing the internal situation);

criminal terrorism, pursuing purely selfish goals.

Terrorism appears when a society is going through a deep crisis, primarily a crisis of ideology and the state-legal system. In such a society, various opposition groups appear - political,

social, national, religious - for which the legitimacy of the existing government becomes doubtful

People in most countries are unaccustomed to political violence and fear it.

Therefore, today the most common and effective methods of terror are violence not against government officials, but against peaceful, defenseless and, what is extremely important, people not related to the "addressee" of terror, with the obligatory demonstration of the catastrophic results of terror as it was, and to America during the explosion buildings of the shopping center in September 2001 Or the terrorist attack in Budenovsk. The object of the attack is a hospital, a maternity hospital. Or the events that took place in Kizlyar, Pervomaisky, as well as the explosion in Moscow, etc.

The task of terrorism is to involve a large mass of people for whom either the goals of terror are so lofty that they justify any means, or they are so indiscriminate in means that they are ready to realize any abomination.

Through "lofty motives" they usually involve young people, who, due to mental and moral immaturity, easily "bite" on radical national, social or religious ideas. It is involved most often through totalitarian (ie, completely suppressing the will of people and subordinating them only to the will of the "leader", "teacher"), religious or ideological sects. The most famous example is the Aum Shinrikyo sect.

The main method of financing is criminal activity. Which includes "usual" organized and unorganized

crime, taking control of key areas of the criminal business.

Today, the main source of financing for terrorism is the control of the drug business, racketeering, prostitution, arms trafficking, smuggling, gambling, and so on. For example, the main source of financing for the Peruvian Sendero Luminoso movement, the Afghan Taliban movement, the Lebanese Hezbollah is the drug business, and the Ceylon Tigers of Tamil Islam's Liberation are drugs and deals "weapons - precious stones." Such an "economically formed" terrorism is already capable of to serious independent activity, and not only on the scale of "their" country. However, today the deployment of such activities is possible only if there are structures for "laundering" money - in the form of controlled banks, firms, manufacturing enterprises. "

"Laundering" is most often carried out in crisis zones of the world, where state control is weakened. For this reason, Russia is now among the largest "laundries".

The capture of the "black" and "gray" economies with their multibillion-dollar turnovers and armies of organized crime turns the leaders of terror into the masters of a powerful economic, political and military force. This "sphere of terrorist services" cannot remain unclaimed, including by "legal players" - states. Many states use terrorism for their own purposes - an example is the American "irangate", where the CIA financed the terror of the "contras" in Nicaragua with the proceeds from the sale of weapons to the "enemy" - Iran. The 8,000-15,000 terrorist fighters left after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan have now become one of the pillars of the development of terrorism in North Africa, Bosnia, the Middle East, Chechnya, Tajikistan and... the United States itself.

What happened and is happening in Bosnia, in turn, shows that the United States is systematically creating an Islamic terrorist environment in Europe in order to prevent the latter from becoming too independent.

The cooperation of special services with terrorism creates a qualitatively new phenomenon - special terrorism. The most famous example is Colombia, where only emergency international measures managed to wrest the state from the almost complete control of the drug mafia.

And Turkish terrorists - "gray wolves" - both inside Turkey and outside it, including in Azerbaijan, operate not only under the control, but also with the active participation of Turkish special services.

Terrorism as a mass and politically significant phenomenon is the result of an endemic "de-ideologization", when certain groups in society easily question the legitimacy and rights of the state, and thus self-justify their transition to terror in order to achieve their own goals. Covert operations, unfortunately, have become a necessary and widely used instrument of interstate

fight. Russia, too, cannot abandon them unilaterally. But playing it irresponsibly is extremely dangerous, as the United States learned from the example of Afghanistan when it tried to oppose bin Laden and his al-Qaeda movement.

The main strategic conditions for the fight against terrorism subject to the following:

Recreating a sustainable block world;

lead; blocking terrorism at the initial stage and preventing its formation and development of structures;

Prevention of the ideological justification of terror under the banner of "defending the rights of the nation", "defending the faith", etc.; the debunking of terrorism by all the forces of the media;

Transfer of all management of anti-terrorist activities to the most reliable special services, with no interference in their work by any other control bodies;

The use of an agreement with terrorists only by these special services and only to cover up the preparation of an action against

complete destruction of terrorists;

No concessions to terrorists, not a single act of terrorism with impunity, even if it costs the blood of hostages and random people - because practice shows that any success of terrorists provokes a further increase in terror and the number of victims.

Konstantin EGOROV

international terrorism as a global threat

Achieving the necessary level of security for any society and state requires "seeing" all threats (real and potential) to its vital interests simultaneously and in a complex. In the total set of global threats, one can distinguish natural, anthropogenic and civilizational (social) threats. The latter also includes the threat of international terrorism.

Today, international terrorism is officially recognized by the entire world community as one of the most important global threats of our time, along with the threat of nuclear war and environmental catastrophe. What characterizes international terrorism today as a global problem of our time?

First, the ever-expanding scope and geography of the activities of terrorist organizations in the world. Today, international terrorism makes itself felt in almost all corners of the globe. But it is most pronounced in the so-called "arc of instability", which stretches from Indonesia to Kosovo through Central Asia, the Hindustan subcontinent and the Caucasus. A network of 28 training camps for militants from the North Caucasus, Central Asian states, China, mercenaries from the countries of the Middle East, North Africa and even the United States has been deployed on the territory of Afghanistan alone by the combined efforts of international terrorists. For the period since the mid-1990s. and up to 2001, according to various sources, from 20,000 to 1,000,000 militants were trained on Al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan and other countries alone, who in one way or another maintain links with individual nodes of the global terrorist network1. Al-Qaeda branches are now, according to some sources, located in more than 60 countries around the world2. Terrorist organizations are scattered all over the world. But if, within the framework of the model of a centralized and hierarchical terrorist organization in the beginning of the second half of the 20th century. it was possible to talk about the functioning of the terrorist underground and a more moderate (less radical) wing, designed to present articulated ideas to their government entities (Irish Republican Army, Basque separatists, etc.), today the scope of their activities has expanded significantly: the same Irish terrorists are all bombings are more often carried out not in the conflict-ridden Belfast, but in the center of London (2005), Basque terrorists are increasingly threatening France, Islamic separatists are operating not only in Palestine, but also in New York, and Chechen fighters are bombing far beyond the North Caucasus .

It should be emphasized that the network of militant Islamic terrorist groups and organizations is also scattered across the territory of many Western states, as evidenced by specific facts. For example, in 1994, in Belgium, the authorities discovered a large secret weapons cache,

Konstantin

Yurievich -

Moscow

state

regional

university

1 Solovyov E.G. Transformation of terrorist organizations in the context of globalization.M. : LENAND, 2006, pp. 25-26

2 Ayman Al-Zawahiri. Knights Under the Profet's Banner. Quoted from: Foreign Affairs. 2005. Vol. 84. No. 1. P. 150

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appointed, apparently, for the Front for the Salvation of Islam (FSI), whose task is to overthrow the government in Algeria. Germany also became one of the epicenters of militant Muslim activity in Europe. On its territory there are not only organizations associated with terrorist groups of Iranian Shiites and Sunni Mujahideen, but also those that serve as a base for the third wing of the terrorist movement of militant Islam - fanatical Turkish Islamism, which has a foothold among the two million Turkish community in Germany. And in Turkey itself, terrorist acts committed by Islamists have recently become more frequent, not to mention Turkey's protracted struggle with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), sponsored by Syria. Of exceptional influence is the Association for a New Worldview in Europe (AMGT), which is the European offshoot of the Turkish Party for the Improvement of Social Conditions (PR), advocating the spread of Islamic rule throughout the world. AMGT has 400 chapters in Europe and has 30,000 members.

According to the author, an important feature of the expansion of the geography of terrorism is the increase in the number of so-called "non-canonical Muslims", that is, people from among Europeans and Americans who converted to Islam and took the path of fighting the West. They drink alcohol and eat pork, but Al-Qaeda accepts them because they converted to Islam in secret, adopted the philosophy of Al-Qaeda and are ready to use weapons. According to various estimates, converts make up from 3 to 8% of the number of international terrorist organizations. According to international experts, approximately 80% of the "new Muslims" who joined terrorist structures were previously arrested for committing various crimes or had criminal experience. The absolute part of them was not satisfied with the state of modern society and sought to find a way to change it after changing their religion. In Islam, they saw an environment ready to accept them in order to start a new life. It must be borne in mind here that the leaders of Islamic fundamentalism, including Ben

Laden, see in the neophytes of Islam a particularly powerful weapon, since the new adherents of all religions, as a rule, are characterized by increased intolerance towards other views, they are more radical and sacrificial. "New Muslims" who embarked on the path of terror have already been arrested in the USA, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and India. Most foreign experts are inclined to believe that the “new Muslims” will increasingly become involved in terrorist acts1.

Secondly, international terrorism as a global problem of our time is characterized by ever-increasing political and religious extremism. Political extremism involves the development and dissemination of views and concepts that justify the use of violence to achieve various political goals, the formation of politicized structures for the implementation of violent acts and the very practice of using them to solve certain problems of political struggle. The activities of terrorist organizations, as a rule, have as their goal not just the aggravation and destabilization of the situation in a particular area in the name of solving some local problems, but ultimately the seizure or redistribution of power, territorial redistribution, violent change in the constitutional order and state structure. in certain countries according to their own ideas and on their own terms. The objects of international terrorism as a form of manifestation of political extremism are often foreign states and their organizations, foreign citizens, international law and order and security. The most striking example of this is the events of September 11, 2001 in the United States.

The modern practice of international terrorism as political extremism is characterized by the widespread use of its particularly sharp violent criminally punishable forms and methods (destruction and intimidation of political opponents, destruction of their political structures and material objects

1 Ivanov V. New Muslims enter the struggle with the West. "Independent Military Review". 2006.

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etc.), which is observed in almost all regions of the world and has become a distinctive feature of the political situation in the CIS countries

Religious extremism is closely related to political extremism.

Adherence in religion to extreme views and actions. Modern religious extremism (Islamic in the form of Wahhabism) has set a goal - the creation of a state that does not recognize borders between Muslim countries, which directly means its close connection with politics and nationalism; therefore, the term “religious-political extremism” is often used in scientific literature.

The peculiarity of religious extremism lies in the fact that, calling for a return to the tradition of the dominance of religion in the life of society, it is a modern project for building a "new world order" based on the rejection of the principles of humanism and democracy and the establishment of a totalitarian religious ideology using the technical means of modern civilization. Supporters of religious-political extremism are distinguished by extreme intolerance towards everyone who does not share their political views, including coreligionists. For them, there are no "rules of the political game", the boundaries of what is permitted and what is not permitted. Confrontation with state institutions is the norm and style of their behavior. The principles of the "golden mean" and the requirements "do not act towards others as you would not like them to act towards you", which are fundamental to world religions, are rejected by them. Violence, extreme cruelty and aggressiveness, combined with demagogy, are the main ones in their arsenal.

Thirdly, when characterizing international terrorism as a global threat, one should not forget about its expanding connection with international, local, national and ethnic conflicts.

The expansion of the scale of terrorism is largely due to the growth in the world of inter-civilizational and socio-economic contradictions, the confrontation between the developed North and the south that is lagging behind in development, and the strengthening of marginal extremism.

The recently bipolar world has entered a period of extreme instability, uncertainty and reduced security. The mechanisms of state, regional and international control are increasingly failing. It is no coincidence that at the current stage the diversity of terrorist activities is increasing, which is increasingly linked to interethnic and interfaith conflicts, separatist and so-called liberation movements. Terrorism usually finds ground for itself where geopolitical voids, hot spots appear, where power is weakened, where state and international mechanisms of political and legal regulation of the development of society and the resolution of contradictions and conflicts arising from this weaken or disappear altogether. States engaged in resolving internal conflicts and fighting terrorism become vulnerable to the external environment - there are always external forces that want to use an extremely difficult internal situation exclusively for their own purposes. Hot spots, according to experts,

The most favorable conditions for the activities of terrorists. In many ways, their activity is connected with an attempt to export radical Islam, in particular, Wahhabism, to those regions where there is favorable ground for this: the central government is weakened, poverty, unemployment, and economic decline reign.

In recent history, there are many examples of how even the leading states of the world did not shun contacts with terrorist groups and extremist organizations, using their activities for their own purposes. None of their statements in defense of human rights (actually, terrorists and murderers), calls for resolving conflict situations by political means, none of the efforts of well-known international organizations such as PACE or the OSCE aimed at depriving states fighting terrorism and extremism of the right to ensure national security cannot hide the fact that there is a double standard here.

This can be seen in the events of the last 20 years in Afghanistan and the development of the situation in the Russian

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North Caucasus. Large-scale support provided by the West through Pakistan and some radical Islamic regimes to anti-government extremist groups of the Afghan opposition in the 80s. last century, cost the Soviet Union dearly. However, the short-sightedness of Western strategists, who saw only the immediate goal of their policy in Afghanistan, eventually led to the fact that today the United States and its closest allies do not always know how to eliminate the dangerous source of terrorism and drug trafficking, which was actually created by their own hands on Afghan territory. Often they do not want his final elimination in the expectation that he may still be needed in the geopolitical game that continues south of the Russian borders.

Fourth, international terrorism as a global problem of our time is characterized by another

The most heinous manifestation: the desire to make a business on human trafficking in order to use slave labor and sexual slavery.

The US Department of State's annual human trafficking reports indicate that of the approximately 600,000-800,000 people who fall victim to international human traffickers each year, 80% are women and girls and up to 50% are minors. Most of these victims end up in commercial sexual exploitation (these figures do not include the millions of people worldwide who are trafficked within their countries of residence). The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour, debt labour, forced child labor and sexual exploitation at any given time; according to other estimates, there are from 4 million to 27 million. These figures do not include kidnappings for the purpose of subsequent blackmail of relatives or official bodies and obtaining a significant ransom.

Russia is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for various purposes. She remains a significant source of women trafficked to more than 50 countries for commercial purposes.

Czech sexual exploitation. In the Russian Far East, men and women are trafficked to China, Japan and South Korea for both forced labor and sexual exploitation. Russia is also a transit and destination country for men and women trafficked from Central Asia, Eastern Europe including Ukraine, North Korea to Central and Western Europe and the Middle East for forced labor and sexual exploitation. The violence (physical and psychological) and intimidation that characterize indentured working conditions often leads victims to refuse to identify themselves as victims. Victims are usually told to be wary of law enforcement and non-governmental organizations.

Profits from human trafficking fuel other types of criminal activity. It is closely linked to money laundering, drug trafficking, document forgery and people smuggling. In particular, only in the Chechen Republic in 2007, according to the republican prosecutor's office, 274 people were listed as abducted. Over the entire period of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya, the prosecution authorities initiated and investigated 2018 criminal cases on the abductions of 2,816 people (of which only 542 were found or returned home)1.

Thus, the escalation of terrorist activity that has continued in recent decades, the expansion of its geography, forms and methods of manifestation and struggle, the increase in the number and sophistication of terrorist acts are increasingly indicating that international terrorism is becoming international and acquiring a global character. Neither highly developed nor economically and socially lagging countries with different political regimes and state structures are immune from outbreaks of terrorism. The ongoing processes of globalization that are changing the nature of the modern world order, the emergence of new global means and systems of communication and information reduce the importance of state borders and other traditional means of protection against terrorism.

1 In Chechnya, most kidnappings are carried out for ransom. http://www. skavkaz. g£n. gi

The main sources of the threat of terrorism.

The 20th century will go down in the history of mankind not only with its outstanding scientific and technological discoveries and achievements, but also as a century that has written a number of black pages in this history, including one of the most tragic social and social phenomena.

The very concept of "terrorism" comes from the Latin word - "terror" - fear, horror.

Terrorism- violence or the threat of its use against individuals or organizations, as well as the destruction (damage) or the threat of destruction (damage) of property and other material objects, creating the danger of death of people, causing significant property damage or other socially dangerous consequences.

These actions are carried out with the aim of violating public security, destroying the population or influencing the adoption of decisions by the authorities that are beneficial to terrorists, or satisfying their illegal property and (or) other interests, encroachment on the life of a state, public or other figure, committed in order to stop it. activities or out of revenge, etc.

Terrorism is the danger facing the modern world. It is a reality of today that terrorism increasingly threatens the security of most countries.

As a socio-political phenomenon terrorism is a set of crimes committed with the use of violence by individuals and specially organized groups and communities. It is aimed at expanding the influence of certain forces in society, eliminating or subjugating the activities of their political opponents, and, as a result, at seizing and subjugating political power.

The history of terrorism goes back centuries. Terrorist acts accompany the development of civilization.

One of the first mentions is connected with the terrorist attacks committed in 66-73. BC. a Jewish political group that fought by methods of terror against the Romans for the autonomy of Thessalonia.

In subsequent history, one can find examples of terrorism of various kinds. St. Bartholomew's Night, the French bourgeois revolution, the Paris Commune entered history as symbols of cruelty and unjustified violence.

The main sources of the threat of terrorism

Terrorism - this is a global problem.

The most famous international terrorist organizations:

- "Irish Republican Army";

- "Aum Shinrikyo";

- "Hamas";

- "World Front of Jihad";

- "Radical Islamic Wahhabi sect" created by Bin Laden.

The organizers of terrorist actions seek to sow fear among the population, protest government policies, cause economic damage to the state or private firms, and so on.

According to the State reports of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia for 2005-2007. and the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for 2007, over the past 5 years, terrorism has claimed the lives of 1275 people, and in total more than 5 thousand people have suffered from terrorist acts (Table 1).

Table 1

Structure of medical losses and medical support

victims of terrorist attacks in 2002-2007. in Russia

An analysis of the consequences of the terrorist attacks, as a result of which more than 5,000 people suffered, shows that irretrievable losses ranged from 3.1–41.8%, while most of the losses were sanitary (Table 2).

table 2

Structure of losses in terrorist acts in the Russian Federation (1999-2004)

Location of the attack		Dead Losses	Sanitary
				of them hospitalized
Manezhnaya Square, st. Gurianova
Buynaksk
Volgodonsk

The largest share of irretrievable losses was determined in Buynaksk, Mozdok and Beslan, where a large proportion of severe sanitary losses was also observed.

The wave of terrorism swept over not only the republics of Transcaucasia, but also reached the Republic of Tatarstan. In Kazan, in preparation for the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the city, acts of a terrorist nature were uncovered (an explosion on January 8, 2005 of a gas pipeline in the city of Bugulma, an attempt to undermine a power line support in the Vysokogorsky district on January 20, 2005, product pipeline in the Laishevsky district). In addition, crimes of a terrorist nature are recorded annually by law enforcement agencies. Among them are contract killings, criminal explosions, kidnappings, threats of terrorist attacks.

Feature of modern terrorism- terrorist organizations have a highly developed infrastructure, which often includes a whole network of strongholds, camps for the training of saboteurs.

Many terrorist organizations have the latest means of electronic communications. The latest equipment allows them to connect to the communication systems of law enforcement agencies fighting them.

According to foreign experts, fissile materials, components of chemical and biological weapons are now more accessible to terrorists than ever before, because there is free trade, weak export controls, openness of data on the latest developments in the field of chemical and biological weapons.

In a number of states, terrorists are trying to create a biological formulation similar to the Ebola virus and pathogenic types of microorganisms that can affect certain ethnic groups and races. Many of them are able to exchange information on chemical and biological weapons via the Internet.

And in the new training program for terrorist groups "World Jihad Front" there is a section on working with toxic substances and gases such as "sarin". Terrorists are taught how to make strong agents to infect water bodies on the basis of commercially available chemicals.

The underground structures of the "World Jihad Front" in a number of European countries may have portable, easily camouflaged explosive devices, incl. chemical agents. In this regard, from January 1, 1998. all units of the US Armed Forces in Europe and even members of the families of military personnel have received means of protection against chemical weapons.

International terrorism is a relatively new threat to human development that emerged in the 1970s. Meanwhile, the destruction of political opponents is a phenomenon as old as politics in general. But can, say, Brutus be considered a terrorist? Hardly, since such actions were one-time, aimed at eliminating specific figures. Terrorism in the proper sense of the word performs a "symbolic" function - "intimidation" (as it is written in the dictionary of V. I. Dahl), which is achieved as a result of systematic actions, as well as resonance in society. If you do not go completely into the distant past (the Sicarii in Palestine, the Ismaili Assassins in the Arab Middle Ages, the European Inquisition, etc.), then the origin of modern terrorism can be traced back to the days of Narodnaya Volya in Russia. In 100 years, terrorism is turning into an international phenomenon, acquiring the features of a global problem of human society, the so-called plague of the 20th century, and now the 21st century.

Despite the huge amount of both foreign and domestic scientific literature devoted to the study of terrorism (including in its international form), the analysis of this phenomenon presents considerable difficulties. In the origin of terrorism there is something ominously mysterious, as if irrational, not fully understood (G. Mirsky). They also talk about the gloomy charm of terrorism and the difficulty of its interpretation (W. Lacker). Wars, including civil ones, are largely predictable in nature, they take place, as they say, in broad daylight, the warring parties do not think to shroud themselves and their actions in a halo of secrecy. The main signs of terrorism are secrecy of actions and the denial of any norms whatsoever. The prospects for getting rid of terrorism are also unclear. The massive entry into the world arena of so-called transnational actors, the associated weakening of state sovereign control in the field of national security and the activity of international terrorism are phenomena of the same order associated with the globalization of international life, which allows us to raise the question of whether the "plague of the XX-th century" XXI centuries" incurable disease of mankind for the foreseeable future.

The concept, types and history of terrorism

There are many definitions of terrorism, and a single universally recognized one has not yet been developed. Attempts to define terrorism within the framework of the UN were unsuccessful, which is not surprising, since for some terrorism is a crime, for others it is a struggle for a "just cause." Here is one definition given by the US State Department: terrorism is "premeditated, politically motivated violence used against non-combatants by subnational groups or clandestine government agents." This is one of the most complete yet concise and least vulnerable definitions. In general terms, it coincides with the opinion of prominent Western experts. Thus, W. Laker writes that "terrorism is the use of non-state violence or the threat of violence in order to cause panic in society, weaken the position or even overthrow officials and cause political changes in society." B. Crozier, director of the London Institute for the Study of Conflicts, is brief in English: "Terrorism is motivated violence with political aims." Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan put forward his definition: “Any act is terrorist if it involves the death or serious injury of civilians and persons not participating in hostilities, with the aim of intimidating the population or coercing any government or international organization to take action or refrain from action.

Let us single out those general signs of terrorism that contain these and other definitions, noting in advance that all of them are to some extent ambiguous and contradictory, just like the phenomenon of terrorism itself. First, the most important feature of terrorism is its political motivation, which allows you to immediately cut off mafia "showdowns", gangster wars, even if they do not differ in the nature of the methods of struggle used in them from political actions and for this reason can be classified as terrorism. However, there is a fundamental difference between these types of violence in terms of goals, which implies different approaches to combating them: terrorism is always associated with a struggle for power, while its subjects tend to advertise their goals, which is not at all characteristic of mafia structures, for the most part motivated by financial interests intersecting with corrupt segments of state power and for this reason striving to be "in the shadows" (although, of course, a combination of political and financial interests of criminal groups is also possible).

Secondly, the direct victims of terrorists are, as a rule, not military personnel or government officials, but representatives of the civilian population, ordinary people far from politics. However, this is also not always the case. Suffice it to refer to the assassination of Italian Prime Minister A. Moro by the "Red Brigades" in 1978. or Israeli Prime Minister I. Rabin by Jewish terrorists in 1995. Terror was also widely used against military personnel in Chechnya. The assassination attempt on General A. Romanov received a wide response. And yet, it is typical for modern terrorism to strike precisely at the so-called non-combatants. (non-combatant targets), those. civilian population.

Here it is necessary to make a small historical digression regarding the change in the 20th century. general (not related only to the problem of terrorism) attitude to the issue of "civilian" and military participants in conflicts, the difference between armed and civilian objects and persons. In this sense, mankind, unfortunately, has returned to the times of barbarism, when the conquerors did not recognize the difference between armed enemies and civilians at all. In the XVIII and XIX centuries. the belligerents tried as far as possible not to cross the established line between combatants and civilians, but this did not last long. The return to the refusal to recognize this line is associated primarily with the spread of small wars, i.e. conflicts not between states, but within states, wars of "low intensity" such as guerrilla warfare, urban guerrillas, etc. For a small war, a conscious desire to strike at the most vulnerable, sensitive sides of the enemy, namely non-combatants, is typical. Accordingly, the behavior of terrorists has also changed: in Russia at the beginning of the last century, there are cases when SR militants refused to carry out an assassination attempt if they saw that members of his family were near the intended object. In the future, the terrorists became characterized by a completely opposite logic: if, for example, they demand the release of their arrested comrades, they should take not soldiers, but children and women as hostages - then it will be psychologically more difficult for the government to refuse to satisfy their demands, dooming innocent victims to death.

Thirdly, a feature of terrorist activity is its demonstration, intimidating effect. One can argue with those who attribute irrationality and spontaneity to terrorism. Terrorism is a frighteningly calculated attempt to use violence to achieve a specific goal. The main target of terrorists is not the direct victims of their actions, not those specific people whom they doom to death, but those who, with bated breath, are watching the unfolding drama on TV screens. According to R. Falk, “a terrorist usually tries to use violence in a symbolic sense in order to reach an audience of millions. The number of spectators of the Munich Olympics in 1972 was estimated at 800 million people, when 12 Israeli athletes were killed. Violence was directed at everyone who watched They intended to use it as a form of blackmail - pay attention to us or ... "And the attention of tens of millions of people who had a very vague idea about Palestine, in fact, was drawn to the Palestinian problem - in In this sense, the terrorists have achieved their goal. The same can be said about dozens of other terrorist attacks. Suffice it to recall the television appearance of the relatives of the hostages in the Moscow theater center on Dubrovka in October 2002, when, with tears in their eyes, they asked the Russian leadership to agree to the demands of the terrorists and withdraw federal troops from Chechnya. It was hard not to sympathize with these people. Of course, terrorist organizations existed long before the advent of television. But even then they sought to act in such a way as to intimidate the public and thereby draw the attention of the official authorities to their goals.

Finally, the fourth feature of terrorism can be called its organized, or group character. This is one of the most controversial characteristics of terrorism, although it is noted by many experts. Indeed, if this criterion is followed, a lone killer who is not part of a terrorist organization does not qualify as a terrorist. A fighter from the HLMLS organization who carried out an explosion in a disco or a cafe can rightfully be called a terrorist, while a simple Palestinian who is not part of any organization, but under the influence of indignation caused by the actions of the Israeli authorities, decided to take up arms and open fire on street by the Jews, does not fit this definition. No matter how controversial it may seem at first glance, but this is most likely the case. The fact is that terror is a long-term, well-planned, financially secure activity that only organized groups can do, and not lone killers who act emotionally and spontaneously. In this sense, Oswald, who killed Kennedy, cannot be called a terrorist, since his affiliation with any organization has not been proven (even if his crime was initiated and planned by someone). On the contrary, the murderers of Alexander II, V. Plehve, other representatives of the ruling circles of Russia, as well as Gavril Princip, who killed Archduke Ferdinand, were terrorists; The Tamil woman who blew herself up with Rajiv Gandhi could also be classified in the same category. In all these cases, it was proved that the killers were part of organizations that pursued political goals. This division into homicidal maniacs and representatives of criminal organizations is of great importance in the fight against terrorism.

As regards the definition of terrorism, and regarding its classification, there is no consensus. Dozens of typologies have been developed. There is a distinction between terror "from above" and "from below", left, right, separatist, revolutionary, etc. To understand the diverse manifestations of the phenomenon under consideration, we will introduce the following criteria: the goals and nature of the participants in terrorist activities.

Ethnic (nationalist) terrorism characterized by the action of ethnic or ethno-religious sub-national organizations that seek to achieve independence from any state, i.e. pursue separatist goals. A classic example is the ethnic terror in Northern Ireland, where the Catholic Irish Republican Army (IRA) fought for almost a century against the Protestant community and the British authorities for the independence and reunification of Ireland. In the modern world, ethnic terrorism is represented by many examples. In Europe, these are the Basque organization ETA in Spain, the National Liberation Front of Corsica (FNC) in France. These organizations are much more active and numerous in developing countries. These include Palestinian terrorist organizations (for example, Hamas), organizations of Indian extremists (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, Sikh and Kashmir militants), the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey, etc. Terrorism in the North Caucasus in Russia also has ethnic overtones. At the same time, it should be emphasized that we are talking about militant extremist organizations, which have nothing in common with representatives of ethnic groups that solve their problems in a non-violent way or abandon terrorist methods (for example, Francophones in Canadian Quebec, Walloons and Flemings in Belgium).

The second type of terrorism is class, or rather socially directed terrorism, the purpose of which is the social reorganization of society or certain aspects of its life, and the participants are non-state actors. The best known is left-wing terrorism, which was quite widespread during the Cold War in Latin America and Europe. In the 1960s in Latin America, under the banner of the "urban guerrilla", numerous left-wing terrorist groups (in the USSR they preferred to call them leftists) launched their activities. The first to appear among them were the Uruguayan "Tupamaros", the Venezuelan "Left Revolutionary Movement" and the "Armed Forces of National Liberation". Several well-known left-wing groups were active in Peru. Among them are Sendero Luminoso, whose official name is the "Communist Party of Peru" - an organization of the Maoist persuasion, as well as the "Revolutionary Movement named after Tupac Amaru", whose ideology was a vinaigrette of Marxism-Leninism and Che Guevara's theory of "exporting revolution". An important role in the activation of these groups was played by the "Cuban factor": the example of the Cuban revolution, together with the persistent attempts of the Cuban secret services to export it to the countries of the American continent south of Mexico.

Since the early 1970s the urban guerrilla, gradually dwindling to a minimum on the periphery of the capitalist world - in Latin America, began to move to its main European centers. Youth riots that swept across industrialized countries in 1968 played a significant role in the formation of left-wing terrorist groups in Europe. Almost all prominent representatives of European terrorism were formed in their bowels, for whom protest actions became a transition from legal to illegal activities. The most famous among these groups are the "Red Army Faction" (RAF), which proclaimed the goal of fighting the "criminal fascist regime" of the FRG and promoting the proletarian communist revolution there, and the Italian "Red Brigades". By the way, a special role in the creation of the latter organization was played by the sociological faculty of the University of Trento, which was under the influence of the "new" left. At this faculty in the late 1960s. some leaders of the "Red Brigades" studied, their preferred set of book authors was specific: Karl Marx, Karl Clausewitz, Herbert Marcuse, Mao Zedong. The "brigadiers" were guided by the idea that there was a revolutionary situation in Italy and the possibility of a proletarian revolution in that country. Other well-known left-wing terrorist organizations in developed countries include Direct Action in France, as well as the Japanese Red Army. Like other leftists, these groups proclaimed their goal to provoke the masses to fight for socialism, interpreted in the Stalinist and Maoist spirit. An important role in the very possibility of the functioning of the left radicals in developed countries was played by the multilateral support of the socialist countries, primarily the USSR, as well as the GDR, from where the terrorists received material assistance, where many of them studied and underwent combat training.

Unlike the left, right-wing terrorism does not appeal to class contradictions, but proclaims the goal to be the fight against democratic values ​​and mechanisms of modern societies. Right-wing terror is imbued with the spirit of chauvinism, racism or nationalism, often based on the cult of a strong personality and the belief in superiority over the rest of the masses, and affirms the totalitarian principles of the organization of society. Neo-Nazism is a characteristic feature of the far right. In the late 1960s in many countries of Western Europe and America, the ultra-right launched their terrorist activities. The main hotbeds of ultra-right terrorism were based in Italy ("Aryan Brotherhood", "Benito Mussolini Detachments", etc.), Spain ("Spanish Anti-Communist Front", "People's Catholic Army", etc.) and Germany ("Hoffmann Military Sports Group " and etc.). However, the most famous (although by no means the most powerful and dangerous) right-wing radical racist group is the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the United States. It was created back in 1865 after the Civil War of the North and South, recreated in the early 1920s. and is still in effect. The ideology of the KKK is characterized as racist and radically fundamentalist Protestant.

The third type of terrorism is state terrorism. It differs from the previous types, first of all, by the subjects of activity. These can be, firstly, states that use methods of total suppression of civil society and mass repressions. Examples are Stalin's, Hitler's, Pol Pot's (in Cambodia) regimes. Secondly, methods similar to terrorist ones are present in the activities of the special services of many countries of the world - the Israeli Mossad, the American CIA, the Russian FSB, etc. and are used in response to the extremism of radical groups. So, after the death of Israeli athletes at the Olympics in Munich in 1972 at the hands of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir imposed a resolution: "Destroy everyone." The Israelis have decided to "respond with terror for terror" - that is, destroy terrorists if there is no way to bring them to justice. As subsequent events showed, this turned out to be the most effective way to fight terrorists: by 1980, all of the “sentenced” list, as well as most of the Black September activists, were liquidated, and the organization itself ceased to exist. A similar decision was made by President Putin regarding the death of Russian diplomats in Iraq in 2006 at the hands of terrorists. Thirdly, the activities of countries that provide all kinds of support to international terrorist groups can be attributed to state terrorism. Iran is now accused of such activities.

Of course, state terrorism has its own specifics and with good reason can be considered as an independent phenomenon. At the same time, it has common "generic" features of terrorism, perhaps with the exception of the "demonstration effect": both the special services and the states involved in terror are not inclined to advertise their activities.

Finally, the fourth type of terrorism is religious in nature. Its participants are non-state extremist groups whose ideology is one or another religious teaching, as a rule, in a fundamentalist interpretation. The terrorist attacks carried out by the Japanese sect "Aum Shinrikyo" in Moscow and Tokyo are now almost forgotten, and this was perhaps the first religious terrorist group that Russia encountered. But, of course, mainly here we need to talk about Islamist terrorism, represented by the criminal activities of numerous groups in the Islamic world - Al-Jihad, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Taliban, ethno-Islamic groups in the North Caucasus, etc. According to Western intelligence agencies and Russian experts, in 1968 there were 13 such organizations, in 1995 - about 100, and by the end of the 20th century. - about 200". At the beginning of the 21st century, there were already about 500 of them. It is this branch of modern terrorism that poses the greatest danger to the modern world. Islamist terrorism will be discussed in more detail below.

Summing up the analysis of the varieties of terrorism, it is worth referring to the remarkable opinion of W. Laker about their paradoxical similarity. Those who engage in terrorism, the scientist writes, have a certain ideological community. They may be on the left or the right of the political spectrum, they may be nationalists or, more rarely, internationalists, but in the main points their mentality is strikingly similar. Often they are much closer to each other than they themselves suspect. Just as the technology of terrorism can be successfully mastered by people of various persuasions, its philosophy also easily overcomes the barriers that exist between separate political doctrines. It is universal and unprincipled.

Different types of terrorism prevailed in different historical periods of time. Starting from the second half of the XIX century. left-wing terrorism, well known from the history of pre-revolutionary Russia, prevailed (although there was also a right-wing terrorism, for example, the Ku Klux Klan in the USA). At the same time, radical nationalist groups acted - Armenians, Irish, Macedonians, Serbs, who used terrorist methods in the struggle for national autonomy and independence. For the first half of the XX century. was most characteristic of state terrorism, terrorism "from above" (Stalin era, fascism). After the Second World War, left-wing terrorism again for some time was the leading one - both in developed countries ("Red Army Faction" in Germany, "Red Brigades" in Italy, "Direct Action" group in France, etc.), and in the developing world, especially in Latin America ("Tupamaros", "Sendero Luminoso", etc.) with the urban guerrilla methods characteristic of the latter. But gradually, left-wing terrorism is fading away. Apparently, the last nail hammered into his fob was the collapse of socialism and the socialist system.

Currently, we can talk about three prevailing types of terrorism - ethnic, legal and Islamist. It is no accident that terrorist organizations of the ethnic (nationalist) type are among the most durable. Some of them have existed for over 100 years, others for decades. Nationalism has become one of the main forces of change in the world community in the post-bipolar world. Therefore, we can confidently assume that ethno-nationalist terrorism will not only not disappear in the foreseeable future, but will become even more widespread.

Today's far right uses terrorist actions for the same purpose as in the past - to seize power. But now there are no mass fascist (and similar) parties anywhere. Ultra-right groups can only be accomplices of some other forces that occupy more powerful positions in the political world, but at the same time are close to them in spirit, ideas and aspirations. A particularly dangerous trend has been the strengthening of right-wing radical sentiments in the CIS countries, where the difficulties of the post-socialist period give rise to a craving for a "strong hand", according to some, capable of "putting things in order", and chauvinistic moods.

The most dangerous trend in the modern world is Islamist terrorism. That is what they mean first of all when they talk about international terrorism. By definition, international (or, as it is sometimes called, transnational) terrorism involves the use of territory or the involvement of citizens in the terrorist activities of more than one country. It is possible to define the specifics of international terrorism in another way: as a rule, these are terrorist acts undertaken by citizens of one country against citizens of another country and carried out on the territory of third countries. Both of the above definitions do not cover all cases of manifestation of international terrorism, but allow us to capture its specifics: the most significant feature of modern terrorism has become its globalization. In accordance with popular belief, the already mentioned terrorist attack, which led to the death of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, is considered the symbolic date of the birth of international terrorism.

Modern terrorism is characterized by the integration of individual terrorist organizations into larger structures on a religious, ethnic, ideological basis. As a rule, these structures are well organized, use modern means of communication to coordinate their actions, have reliable sources of funding and suppliers of weapons, which are both economically developed countries and poorly developed regions where armed conflicts take place. International terrorism is the same terrorism, but, having already crossed state borders, it is a system of reliable ties between terrorist organizations among themselves and with their "sponsors". It can also be seen as a kind of force carrying the idea of ​​global decentralization, the first stage of which has already ended with the collapse of the major colonial powers after the Second World War. But if the first stage was headed by national liberation movements, then the second stage, the essence of which is actually the dismemberment of large states into many small autonomous entities, is headed by international terrorist organizations. This process is clearly expressed in the Eurasian and, partially, in the African regions and is almost invisible in North America, mainly due to a convenient geopolitical position.

Thus, international terrorism can be defined as a well-established system of interrelations between terrorist organizations around the world, each of which is well structured, has reliable channels for the receipt of funds and weapons, is popular with some segments of the population and is on the side of the forces of separatism and decentralization.

For many countries, terrorism has already become a factor in domestic and foreign policy: anti-terrorist legislation is being tightened, the costs of maintaining law enforcement agencies are growing, police and military operations are being carried out, and attempts are being made to organize international cooperation, the purpose of which is to exchange information and experience in combating various forms of extremism. /nine/

1. Typology of terrorism.

Experts studying the phenomenon of terrorism identify six main types of modern terrorism:

nationalist terrorism;

religious terrorism;

state-supported terrorism;

terrorism of the left extremists;

right-wing extremist terrorism;

anarchist terrorism.

Nationalist terrorism

Terrorists of this type usually aim at the formation of a separate state for their ethnic group. They call it "national liberation" which they think the rest of the world has forgotten about. This type of terrorist often wins sympathy in the international arena.

Experts say that it is nationalist terrorists who, in the course of their armed struggle, can reduce the level of violence they use, or at least correlate it with the actions of their enemies.

This is done mainly in order not to lose the support of their ethnic group. Many nationalist terrorists claim that they are not terrorists, but fighters for the freedom of their people.

Typical examples are the Irish Republican Army and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Both organizations declared in the 1990s that they were abandoning terrorist methods. Experts refer to the same type of terrorists the Basque Homeland and Freedom organization, which intends to separate the areas of traditional residence of the Basques from Spain, and the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which wants to create its own state in Turkey.

Religious terrorism

Religious terrorists use violence for purposes they believe are determined by the Lord. At the same time, the objects of their attacks are blurred geographically, ethnically, and socially. In this way, they want to achieve immediate and dramatic change, often at a global level.

Religious terrorists belong not only to small cults, but also to widespread religious denominations. This type of terrorism is developing much more dynamically than the others. So, in the mid-1990s, out of 56 well-known terrorist organizations, almost half declared religious motives.

Since the "religious" are not concerned with the restoration of rights in any particular territory or the implementation of any political principles, the scale of their attacks is often much greater than that of "nationalists" or ideological extremists. Their enemies are everyone who is not a member of their religious sect or denomination.

This category of terrorists includes Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, the Sunni Muslim group Hamas, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, the late Rabbi Meer Kahan's radical Jewish organizations, some American Ku Klux Klan "people's militia" ", and the Japanese cult "Aum Senrikyo".

State-supported terrorism

Some terrorist groups have been deliberately used by various governments as a cheap way to wage war. Such terrorists are dangerous primarily because their resources are usually much more powerful, they can even bomb airports.

One of the most notorious cases was Iran's use of a group of young militants to take hostages at the American embassy in 1979.

Currently, the US State Department considers Iran one of the main sponsors of terrorism, but Cuba, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria are also accused of supporting terrorists.

Among the known terrorist groups, the following links with governments can be distinguished: Hezbollah is supported by Iran, the Abu Nidal organization by Iraq, the Japanese Red Army by Libya.

Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda was so closely linked to the Taliban when they were in power in Afghanistan that some experts place it in the same category.

Terrorism of the left extremists

The most radical left wants to destroy capitalism and replace it with a communist or socialist regime.

Since they usually consider the civilian population to be victims of capitalist exploitation, they do not often resort to terrorist attacks against ordinary citizens. They resort much more to kidnapping rich people or blowing up various "symbols of capitalism".

Examples of such groups are the German Baader-Meinhof, the Japanese Red Army and the Italian Red Brigades.

Right-wing terrorism

Right-wing extremists are usually the most unorganized groupings, often associated with Western European neo-Nazis.

Their task is to fight against democratic governments to replace them with fascist states.

Neo-fascists attack immigrants and refugees, in the views of such groups are primarily racists and anti-Semites.

Anarchist terrorism

Anarchist terrorists were a global phenomenon from the 1870s to the 1920s. One of the US presidents, William McKinley, was assassinated by an anarchist in 1901.

In Russia during the same period, anarchists carried out many successful terrorist attacks. The Bolsheviks, who came to power in Russia as a result of the October 1917 coup, were closely associated with many "exploders", although they themselves were mainly engaged in bank robberies - the so-called "expropriations".

Some experts suggest that modern anti-globalists may give rise to a new wave of anarchist terrorism.

More detailed information on the classification of terrorism can be found in English in the encyclopedia "Terrorism: Questions and Answers".

Characteristics of Islamic terrorism

The specificity of Islamic terrorism is largely determined by the characteristics of Islam as a religion. The Qur'an preaches peace among the "believers" (i.e. Muslims), allows peaceful coexistence with the infidels, but justifies the extermination of the latter if they act as "enemies of Allah and Muslims."

In America, Islamists see it not only as a stronghold of Israel, but also as the center of "world evil" - the vanguard of Western liberal, materialistic civilization, not so much "Christian" as "godless." Islamists are also hostile to such countries as India (because of Kashmir), Russia (because of Chechnya), Serbia (because of Bosnia), Ethiopia (because of Eritrea). Accordingly, these countries are also real or potential targets for terrorist attacks.

A characteristic feature of the ideology of Islamic terrorism is the justification for the killing of civilians (including women and children) because they pay taxes, are potential soldiers and are "involved in wartime in ancillary activities."

Popular in Islamic terrorism is the doctrine of jihad (war for faith), which arose in the Middle Ages. Jihad considers participation in war as a religious duty of a Muslim, and death "for the sake of Allah" - as the best, direct way to paradise.

The main objects of "jihad" are Israel and the United States. Israel "captured Muslim Palestine"; he controls the territory of al-Haram ash-Sharif (Temple Mount) in Jerusalem, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located - the third most important shrine of Islam after the Kaaba in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. Many Muslims are sure that the "Jews" dream of destroying this mosque in order to restore the Temple of Jerusalem in its place.

Islamic terrorist organizations successfully use kamikaze to carry out terrorist attacks. This practice is based on the cult of "martyrdom for the sake of Allah" stemming from the doctrine of jihad.