In the months since I released the first episode of my Rise & Fall podcast, focusing on Islamic totalitarianism, there have been several terrorist attacks around the world perpetrated by Islamic totalitarians. There was the bombing of a popular music concert in Manchester and a terrorist who opened fire on a shopping center in France. This week, details of a vehicle rampage attack in Barcelona are emerging, and now stabbing sprees in Finland and Germany. It seems that the list of horrible murders, perpetrated by Islamic totalitarians seeking to enact their ideal of an Islamic state ruling over the people of the world, is never going to end.

That first episode of Rise & Fall, titled “The Four Events that Significantly Emboldened Islamic Totalitarians,” examines the Iranian hostage crisis, the Salman Rushdie affair, September 11th and the Charlie Hebdo massacre. The experts in this episode make the point, over and over, that a principled moral stand for Western values, such as liberty, freedom and the right to free speech, is one component needed to stop terrorist attacks.

In the episode, I ask Elan Journo, ARI fellow and foreign policy expert, if the West’s response (or lack of it) to the Charlie Hebdo massacre helped set the stage for future terrorist attacks. He answers yes, even though “what the precise shape of the attacks will look like, it’s hard to say.”

This link will take you directly to my question and his full response within the video.

ARI has been writing and speaking on Islamic totalitarianism since the September 11 attacks. We have a wealth of resources, but here are some particularly relevant ones:

• “End States Who Sponsor Terrorism,” by Leonard Peikoff
• Winning the Unwinnable War, by Elan Journo
• Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: From George W. Bush to Barack Obama and Beyond, by Elan Journo and Onkar Ghate
• “Religious Goals Shape Jihadism,” by Elan Journo (video)
• “Why Free Will Is Crucial to Explaining the Jihadist Movement,” by Elan Journo (video)