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The 9/11 hijackers were armed with mere utility knives – relatively innocuous tools that led to terror attacks the aftershocks of which are still felt today. The 'utility knife effect' refers to seemingly unassuming tactical operations deployed in direct action missions, with far-reaching results. Yair Ansbacher and Ron Schleifer highlight the important role special operations forces can play in combating terrorist activity and the changes the West needs to make to enable them to be successful.◼ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Troops with special skills have typically played strategic and tactical roles as valuable components of conventional military organizations. The start of World War II marked a change, wherein special forces (SF, as they were referred to in Britain, and special operational forces [SOF] in the United States) were separated and played roles distinct from conventional military forces. Recently, Finlan (2019) advanced the notion that since the start of World War II, three unique, punctuated ages of SOF have existed, reflecting various political-military needs and realities. First-age SOF were largely restricted to operations behind enemy lines, aiding the conventional forces. Second-age SOF fought in proxy wars, with and against guerrilla forces, and engaged in aiding political ends when nuclear realities rendered direct military confrontations between world powers too risky to contemplate. The advent of extremist ideology-related terrorism initiated a rethinking of the role of SOF and their initial mobilization to combat this growing threat. Third-age SOF became invaluable in the global fight against terrorism. This paper advances this theory by further delineating differences between the three ages and providing in-depth evidence supporting the soundness of the construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the modern Russian press covers the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict, both historically and currently. Since print media are some of the most popular sources of information in Russia, such analysis helps us understand the media's priorities in presenting the conflict to Russian society. The article focuses on the inherently manipulative, albeit hidden, essence and layout of this material, which increases the likelihood of information bias. While the quality of the reporting on this conflict demonstrates the proximity of contemporary Russian media to the interests of the country's ruling powers, it also provides opportunities for the government to influence its audience's comprehension of Middle East politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The content of mass information in any society is closely linked to the patterns of its political development. A typical example of this concerns the modern Russian media, which have been influenced particularly by their embeddedness with the authorities. Indeed, the Russian media have served as the mouthpiece of the country's political leaders, and this fact has left a significant imprint on media coverage. To understand the symbiotic relationship between Russian political leaders and media, this article focuses on the Syrian Civil War, which is currently one of the most important issues on the international political agenda. The Russian government's role in the conflict over the last several years has affected the Russian media's tremendous interest in this topic. Nonetheless, Moscow's participation in the war was determined uniquely by how the communication sphere related the conflict to its audience so that its involvement in the Syrian imbroglio was not an objective reflection of reality. Guided by the political interests of the authorities, the Russian media created an emotionally oriented story, which intended to advance an extremely positive interpretation of Russia's role in this conflict in the minds of the audience. Therefore, in terms of propaganda, these media acted not as "pure" promoters of the state's will, but rather as its "interpreters." This study highlights how leading Russian publications approach this agenda and the consequences this fact has for the Kremlin's political priorities. The authors come to a definite conclusion regarding Russian media's unconditional dependence on the political priorities of modern Russian society. It was crucial for the Kremlin that the media present a positive view of Moscow's involvement in the conflict given that Russia's military presence in Syria caused a very controversial reaction throughout the world and led to increased tensions and contentious disputation between Russia and many Western countries. Therefore, the Kremlin needed to justify its policies and did so through manipulating the Russian public by means of a large-scale propaganda campaign conducted through the Russian media. This phenomenon is pivotal to understand not only the case of Russia's involvement in Syria but also contemporary international media development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented to a special issue on intellectuals and terrorism, which discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the relationship between Jewish tradition and radical ideology, existential philosophy, and the Lehi terror group in Palestine.