The director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) Mike Burgess has warned that the threat of rightwing extremism in Australia was real and growing. Burgess said the number of overall terrorism leads under investigation had doubled over the past year. The director general did not mention leftwing extremism at all during his media address. Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton said it was important for security agencies to deal with threats from both rightwing and leftwing “lunatics”. Has there been an overemphasis on leftwing and Islamic extremism while being blindsided by the rise of ultra rightwing extremism in Australia?

Paul,

I've never understood how Islamist extremism could possibly be left-wing - surely, as the rotten excrescence of the most reactionary versions of a not-too-progressive religion, Islamism is extremely right-wing ?

Yes, yes, there are many varieties of what might be called right-wing extremism - fascists don't particularly like each other. But surely any ideology which calls for the extermination of entire groups, as both neo-Nazi and Islamist fascism do, is right-wing ?

Or am I completely naive ?

Joe

You're right, Joe. Genuine leftwing extremism mostly died out when the Soviet Union collapsed - there are a few exceptions around the world, but most (probably all) are in decline.

Many people, particularly on the right, have tried to associate Islamism with the left because the left generally believe the Palestinians deserve a fair go, and the right-wingers are more likely to be antiIslamic. But it's not a good fit, and is really just an artefact of older people seeing things through a left v right prism.

Hi Aidan,

That Palestinians deserve a fair go, is a completely different issue, which the 'left' confuse, and exploit, and in the process, conveniently overlook the terrorist atrocities of splinter groups. But surely that doesn't justify terrorist acts, even if they could be 'understood' that way ? By definition, a terrorist act can never be justified.

Cheers,

Joe

It feels like a curtsy to Israel if you ask me.

One thing that should be noted is that near 20% of the worlds investment in cyber security goes to Israel.
If you don't bow to them, they might use their capabilities against you.
And Israel isn't afraid to put their cyber tools into the hands of dictators if it suits their own global agenda.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-israel-s-cyber-spy-industry-aids-dictators-hunt-dissidents-and-gays-1.6573027?fbclid=IwAR2X4-E0m6P8thLCpmC5tuVKSR0qmLQ1Vxt97HSPQ1bU2ZnaXiJLtKdii3Y

I read an article a few days back where Mike Burgess stated we should be more like Israel in our approach to cyber security.
I'd say this is an acknowledgement they are the global leader in this field.
The articles a few years old though.
https://www.policyforum.net/learning-israels-cyber-playbook/

People who think US and Russia are the worlds superpowers are living in the past.
It's Israel that is the global leader in tech and surveillance, and China who rule the worlds manufacturing.
They are both nuclear powers and they are the planets new superpowers.
The US and Russia are no more than husks of a largely bygone era, though they still have significant military capabilities.

Neo-Nazis?
Ok I'm sure there's a few, doing the old mock beheading but this isn't the 80's with widespread groups of skinheads wearing Doc Martins crowding your local shops.
Who are they kidding?
Did Hilter mustaches suddenly come into fashion?

No mention of Islamic terrorists running people down on the streets and beheadings - it's Neo Nazis that are the problem?

Israel hates Hezbollah not ISIS.
Why does this feel like the same stupid thing?

It feels like baby steps in a war on nationalism in support of globalism and the expansion of the use and definition of anti-semitism.

2020 here we are.

Leftists a way more extreme right-wing than Conservatives !