The Rio 2016 Olympics are at “high risk of a terrorist attack,” foreign policy expert Emanuele Ottolenghi of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) explains.
Ottolenghi believes that radical Islamist terror attacks on the Olympics are very possible because of multiple arrests in recent weeks and that Brazil has proven itself to be a fertile breeding ground for Islamist extremist ideology, as he argued in an editorial for Univision. Apart from the dangers posed by Islamic extremist ideology, Brazil also has a porous and poorly guarded border.
The FDD Senior Fellow explains that in Brazil, “terrorist groups move freely, taking advantage of local economies to launder their money and finance their operations.” Ottolenghi emphasizes the problems of the Triple Frontier where the borders of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina meet and there is a large community of Shia Muslims, many of Lebanese descent and some with an affinity for Shia terrorist group Hezbollah.
“The Triple Frontier is infamous for contraband, the sale of knock-offs, money laundering of drug traffickers, arms dealing, illegal cigarette sales, and the production of synthetic drugs in local labs,” according to Ottolenghi. The think tank expert goes on to frighteningly note that, “border controls at the Triple Frontier are non-existent.”
Brazil was put on edge in July when Brazilian Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes announced the arrest of 12 ISIS-inspired individuals who wanted to plan an attack against the Rio 2016 Olympics. The opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games is Friday evening at 7pm EST.
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