Special to WorldTribune.com
By John J. Metzler, July 23, 2026
Transnational terrorism, namely the global links and support of targeted violence, is hardly a new phenomenon.
The September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States tragically underscored this grim reality. But what’s changed in the 25 years since September 11th has been the widening radicalization of various hard-Left groups from Islamists to Marxists operating in a shadowy subculture of American and European radicals responsible for assassinations, bombings and masked black-box “direct action” urban violence.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on July 16 convened an extraordinary ministerial meeting in Washington attended by key security representatives of sixty-five countries, primarily from Europe, Asia and Latin America. His message was direct:
“The most essential duty of the state, the first responsibility of any government, is to protect its people. This is a sacred obligation that should transcend all political or ideological divisions.”
He then outlined, “For 25 years ‘counterterrorism’, at least in the West, has meant, first and foremost, the fight against Islamist extremism.”
In the realm of terrorism, the specter of global jihad was the premier threat to peoples’ safety.
But he added:
“we destroyed the ISIS caliphate. We killed Al-Baghdadi, and Bin Laden. And we built intelligence and law-enforcement systems capable of anticipating and stopping attacks before the public ever hears about them. Jihadist attacks and plots in the United States are down about two thirds since ISIS’s peak. …. To a very great extent, our counterterrorism strategy worked. The threat has not disappeared… But it has been severely diminished.”
So where do we stand now? He then tightened his focus on contemporary violence.
“This was something worse than a double standard. Left-wing violence was not just excused, but treated as sacrosanct, a protected class unto itself. But that era is over,” Marco Rubio stated adding:
“Far-left political terrorism is not a novelty. It is not a fiction manufactured by conservative politicians. For most of the modern era, it was the dominant form of political violence.”
The Secretary of State recounted the armed and malignant Left-wing terrorist violence which plagued Western Europe and the U.S. in the 1970’s: The Red Brigades in Italy, Baader-Meinhof Gang in Germany and a gaggle of other groups such as the Greek Marxist 17 November group which were synonymous with kidnapping, bombings and mayhem.
|
‘Left-wing violence was not just excused, but treated as sacrosanct, a protected class unto itself. But that era is over.’ |
“Today, we face a new wave of this old evil,” Marco Rubio stressed. Such attacks and plots in the U.S., Germany and Greece is again driven by far-left and anarchist actors.
He told attendees, “This is a distinctive and unique evil. It has always been driven by a hatred, above all else, for civilization itself. It is a revolt of the worst against the best; of the weak and the cowardly against the strong and the good.”
The Secretary of State stated searingly, “It is a poisonous resentment cloaked in the language of equality and justice and liberation.”
Continuing, Marco Rubio intoned, “For these architects of revolutionary violence, the towering achievements of our civilization are an unbearable humiliation, a reminder of what they cannot do or be. So, they choose to destroy. They attack pipelines, railroads, laboratories, power grids: the physical, embodied symbols of power, invention and achievement.”
This is very true and naturally is a bane of society which seems to know no borders in the West.
He added, “They despise the West because the West is great.”
But beyond its hardcore ideological followers, many young people hold a flippant and fleeting view of the true meaning of socialism. That’s why it’s so important to underscore the roots and consequences of contemporary political radicalism.
|
‘Far-left political terrorism is not a novelty. It is not a fiction manufactured by conservative politicians. For most of the modern era, it was the dominant form of political violence.’ |
Secretary Rubio stressed the nature of what he deemed a “transnational threat. These are not distinct and isolated cells, but interconnected networks.” He cited Antifa militants who travel across Europe and the Americas to participate in focused violence against government and institutions and infrastructure.
He cited foreign regimes such as Cuba and the Islamic Republic of Iran as sponsors and supporters of far-Left groups and their camp-followers. The Trump Administration designated Antifa a domestic terrorist organization in 2025, and issued executive order NSPM-7, proscribing its activities.
Secretary Rubio underscored, “We can, and must, identify and map this threat, and rebuild our counterterrorism architecture to defeat it, just as we have done together before.” Indeed, the Secretary’s poignant address is a call to action among allies and partners who face this growing international threat. We would be wise to listen.
John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism the Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China (2014). [See pre-2011 Archives]
Rubio confronts Left’s ‘new wave’ of transnational terrorism, an ‘old evil’ added by Editor One on
View all posts by Editor One →