In The News

The World Reacts to Candidate’s Proposed Ban on Muslims Entering US

Annie Gowen December 8, 2015
The leading Republican candidate for US president handed the Islamic State terrorists a new recruiting message by proposing a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Other candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, swiftly condemned the proposal as “unhinged” and “unconstitutional.” The billionaire, a former reality television star known for extemporaneous and shocking comments, called for “a...

The Islamic State Wants the West to Over-React and Hasten Apocalypse

David C. Rapoport December 8, 2015
The Islamic State’s brutality has shifted targets – from expanding territorial control for a so-called caliphate in the Middle East to inspiring random attacks on soft targets in the West. The terrorist group emerged during Syria’s civil war, initially targeting Shia and other Muslims who resisted the primitive beliefs. By 2015, air attacks by the United States, Jordan and other nations combined...

World War III?

Nayan Chanda December 2, 2015
Pope Frances has raised a concern that the Islamic State could spark a third world war. Nayan Chanda, the founding editor of YaleGlobal Online, points to a parallel: international powers, with major differences over strategy, targeting the extremists in Syria and Iraq. Aerial bombing alone won’t deter the 32,000 or so Islamic State extremists, an estimate from the CIA, or their ideology. Major...

There Is Only One Way to Defeat ISIS

Charles P. Pierce November 20, 2015
High-cost military equipment like fighter jets or missile defense shields won’t stop coordinated terrorist attacks like those in Paris against youth enjoying city life on a Friday night. Intrusive surveillance won’t prevent brothers, roommates or loners contemplating suicide and plotting murder, argues Charles Pierce for Esquire: “Abandoning the Enlightenment values that produced democracy will...

Air War May Be Satisfying, But Won’t Defeat ISIS

Mohammed Ayoob November 19, 2015
Air strikes pounding strips of territory in Iraq and Syria controlled by the Islamic State won’t destroy the ideology and can inflict civilian casualties. Analysts concur that ground troops are needed to deliver precise attacks. Public opinion in the United States and the European Union won’t permit use of their ground troops, and such force would only reinforce extremist claims about the West...

Paris Attacks: The Global Consequences

Gideon Rachman November 16, 2015
Cosmopolitan cities like Paris, London and France are vulnerable to terrorist attacks, yet also resilient. The Islamic State’s would-be caliphate imposed by coercion and violence on communities in Iraq and Syria suffering from power vacuums could never hope to match the allure of Paris and French culture. Still, acts of terror challenge freedom and liberal ways in countries like France. Gideon...

Hollande Blames ISIS for Attacks in Paris as Death Toll Rises

Adam Nossiter, Aurelien Breeden and Nicola Clark November 14, 2015
Terrorist attacks on a stadium, restaurants and concert hall in the heart of Paris, killing at least 127 and wounding more than 300, will test European unity. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility. France is under a state of emergency with borders closed. “The attacks, and the possibility that the Islamic State was to blame, promised to further traumatize France and other European...