Guy Taylor
Articles by Guy Taylor
U.S. Embassy turns to ‘Cafe Talk’ to counter ISIS recruitment in Arab world
From afar, it looks like any gathering of old friends engaged in a time-honored ritual, sipping coffee while the hours slip by in one of this North African city's many cafes. But something more serious is going on. Published September 14, 2016
Tunisia emerges as ISIS’s No. 1 source for foreign fighters
It's considered the star performer of the ill-fated Arab Spring, the one country in the region where representative democracy has made major strides. But even here, the fight against radical Islamic violence requires an unceasing vigil. Published September 14, 2016
Islamic State financing needs a crackdown, U.S. expert says
NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: The Obama administration has dented the Islamic State's money-making operations with airstrikes against the terror group's oil-smuggling empire and blacklisting its known financial facilitators from the international banking system. Published September 14, 2016
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte moves raise fears for U.S. ties
A day after calling for the withdrawal of American troops from his nation, firebrand Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he does not want the Philippine Navy to engage in joint patrols of disputed waters in the South China Sea with the U.S. — despite an agreement struck by his predecessor just months ago. Published September 13, 2016
John Allen sees ISIS war lasting decades
NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: U.S. leaders must be prepared to fight extremism and radical jihad emanating from the Middle East for "decades," says a retired Marine Corps four-star general who has spent the past decade on the military and diplomatic battlefields of America's war on terrorism. Published September 13, 2016
ISIS exploits European nations unprepared for rising lure of radicalization
Political and law enforcement authorities across Europe are struggling to confront the depth of the terrorist group's recruiting hooks in disaffected Muslim enclaves. Published September 12, 2016
Michael McCaul blasts ‘willfully blind’ Obama for enabling ISIS ‘terror surge’
NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: The Obama administration oversaw the 2011 takedown of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden but has since failed to confront honestly the more dangerous rise of the Islamic State, according to the Republican head of the House Committee on Homeland Security, who worries that the president's "tone-deaf" posture toward Islamist terrorism has damaged the intelligence community's own assessment of the new group. Published September 11, 2016
Recep Erdogan, Turkish leader, calls for U.S.-Turkey ‘joint operation’ in Syria
EXCLUSIVE: A key political ally of Turkey's president says defeating the Islamic State in Syria will require U.S. troops joining Turkish military forces on the ground inside the war-torn nation -- a move that would require a significant shift in the Obama administration's current policy. Published September 8, 2016
U.S. payment of $1.7 billion to Iran made entirely in cash
Several top Republican lawmakers expressed outrage Wednesday as the Obama administration revealed how it flew planeloads of $1.7 billion in cash early this year to Iran as part of a deal to secure the Islamic republic's release of four American prisoners. Published September 7, 2016
U.S., allies offered secret concessions to Iran in nuclear deal
The Obama administration and its allies cut a "secret" agreement allowing Iran to evade key restrictions under last year's nuclear deal so Tehran would be able to receive major sanctions relief by the deal's deadline, according to a report Thursday that put the White House on the defensive again about the controversial deal. Published September 1, 2016
Abu Muhammad al-Adnani death: U.S. and Russia both claim they killed top ISIS commander
Disagreement between Washington and Moscow over who actually killed a top Islamic State commander widened Wednesday, with the Pentagon pushing back against Russia's claim that a Russian airstrike -- not an American one -- successfully targeted Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of the founding members of the brutal jihadi movement. Published August 31, 2016
Japan’s military posturing raises alarm in Asia as Shinzo Abe reconsiders pacifist constitution
A series of little-noticed moves has given new momentum to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to revise the nation's pacifist constitution, potentially allowing Japan's military to use offensive force against other nations for the first time since World War II. Published August 30, 2016
Suicide bomber hits Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan; Beijing vows crackdown on ‘terrorism’
China vowed Tuesday to "resolutely strike against all forms of terrorism" after a a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden van inside the compound of the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, killing himself and wounding several others. Published August 30, 2016
Iran confrontations reveal Obama nuclear deal having little effect on Tehran’s behavior
A pair of dangerously close encounters between the Iranian and U.S. navies in the Persian Gulf this week have raised fresh questions about Tehran's intentions, a year after Obama administration officials hoped the much-touted nuclear deal would moderate the behavior of the Islamic republic and its military. Published August 25, 2016
Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram leader, killed in airstrike as John Kerry arrives in Nigeria
Nigeria reported Tuesday that the leader of Boko Haram and several of his top commanders were killed or wounded in an airstrike, just as Secretary of State John F. Kerry arrived in the West African nation with a message that military action alone won't break the terrorist outfit's grip on the region. Published August 23, 2016
Riek Machar, South Sudan ex-vice president, flees; fragile peace deal in limbo
South Sudan's deposed vice president, now the leader of a rebel group fighting the government, has fled the East African nation, throwing the viability of the fledgling country further into doubt just a few years after it was touted as one of the Obama administration's top foreign policy triumphs. Published August 18, 2016
Vladimir Putin’s rumblings raise new fears of Ukraine conflict
Rumblings from Russian President Vladimir Putin and other top Moscow officials during recent days have set off new fears that the frozen conflict in Ukraine could be on the verge of dramatically heating up again. Published August 15, 2016
Donald Trump foreign policy team remains a mystery ahead of major speech
Donald Trump says he doesn't need and won't hire any of the 50 Republican foreign policy bigwigs who signed a scathing open letter last week against his candidacy. Published August 14, 2016
N. Korea fires mid-range missile close to Japan
A ballistic missile fired by North Korea landed in waters controlled by Japan on Wednesday, sparking an angry reaction from Tokyo, where military officials warned this week of the growing nuclear weapons threat from Pyongyang. Published August 3, 2016
Recep Erdogan, Turkey president, accuses U.S., EU allies of taking sides of coup plotters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the Obama administration and its European allies Tuesday, accusing the West of supporting terrorism and taking sides with coup plotters, and claiming that the attempted overthrow of his government by a portion of the military last month was scripted by foreign forces. Published August 2, 2016