Tag Archives: IS

IS will be set back for many months, and perhaps even years. It will struggle to regain the momentum it had under Baghdadi's leadership.

The Charlie Hebdo killings, whatever their connections to the current wars in the Middle East, were acts of terrorism that should be handled by law enforcement. Blowback from these wars has so far been minimal in Europe. By resisting narratives of civilizational conflict and pushing for a ceasefire in the Syrian war, European governments can do even more to reduce the threat of this blowback.

The 16-hour hostage situation at Lindt Café in Martin Place at Sydney's busy Financial District came to an end but coverage of the siege continues to bring the best and worst of mainstream and social media in Australia.

Once the IS problem is defused, though, the conundrum of what to do with Assad will return. It is doubtful that the international community is really willing to pursue regime change in Damascus, so Turkey may have no choice but to soften its rhetoric and seek a diplomatic exit strategy from the Syrian quagmire.  Otherwise, the civil war could conceivably go on for years to come and continue to destabilize the entire region.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Jordan are all on board against Islamic State. What’s in it for them?

The reason why Sunni Gulf States support the IS is its strong opposition to the Shiites. It is not just Iran, which is 90 percent Shiite, that the Gulf Arabs believe to be a threat, but the Shiite population in their own countries. But the Saudis recently seem to have realized that their support of the IS and jihadism has resulted in the “chickens coming home to roost.”