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What do you know about terrorism? Posted by on Aug 30, 2014 in Current News

Image by slagheap on Flickr.com

Image by slagheap on Flickr.com

Understanding terrorism (terroryzm) has gained actuality after the September 11 attacks (ataki) in New York. The number of victims – and the direct material damages – is by far the largest in the history of terrorism, even if assessed in relative terms, compared to the US population and output. Despite huge fluctuations in intensity (duże wahania w intensywności) over time, the history of terrorism shows it has evolved from ideologically-based (oparte ideologicznie) to religious-based (oparte na bazie religijnej), and becoming more lethal (śmiertelne) over time. Its objectives are to disrupt the economy, destabilize the polity and influence a wide general “audience“, well beyond the immediate targets.

Recent news from Iraq make us all think about terrorism a little bit more. As ISIS, a group thought to consist of only a few thousand people led by a shadowy figurehead, defeats forces many times its size to capture a large part of Iraq, RT looks into what is ISIS, and how has it achieved its terrifying triumphs.The world’s most committed and fanatical radical organization  (najbardziej zaangażowana i fanatyczna organizacjia radykalna na świecie) has only recently gone by its current name, after the unrecognized Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) (Bojownicy Islamskiego Państwa Iraku i Lewantu) was proclaimed in April last year. Al-Sham has been most commonly translated from Arabic as the Levant, hence ISIL.

Al-Qaeda has been the touchstone for the Western understanding of terrorism ever since 9/11, but ISIS differs from it philosophically, organizationally, and even officially, as it has declared itself an entirely separate body. If anything the two organizations – though both espousing Sunni Islam – are currently more rivals than allies.While Al-Qaeda, in its most well-known forms, is a terrorist organization, with sleeper cells, training camps and terrorist attacks, ISIS as of now is more a militia and a rogue territory with its own infrastructure, more similar to Boko Haram and other localized fiefdoms that have spawned in lawless or failed African states.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

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About the Author: Kasia

My name is Kasia Scontsas. I grew near Lublin, Poland and moved to Warsaw to study International Business. I have passion for languages: any languages! Currently I live in New Hampshire. I enjoy skiing, kayaking, biking and paddle boarding. My husband speaks a little Polish, but our daughters are fluent in it! I wanted to make sure that they can communicate with their Polish relatives in our native language. Teaching them Polish since they were born was the best thing I could have given them! I have been writing about learning Polish language and culture for Transparent Language’s Polish Blog since 2010.