Abdul Aziz Said who was born in Syria founded American University's International Peace and Conflict Resolution program. It is one of the earliest and most successful program of its kind. Dr. Said, who recently retired, also consulted for numerous US Administrations in the sadly unsuccessful pursuit for regional peace.
The pirate image is an interesting one but isn't the image of a newly born "revolutionary" state with greater ideology- export ambitions such as Soviet Russia (as a commentator above suggests), Cuba or even Iran (in their early days) more on point? Some commentators (e.g G. Wood in The Atlantic this past march) have suggested, the key to ISIS appeal is as a territory-holding caliphate of Islamic purity that will also defeat the "armies of Rome" at Dabiq and grow from there. If this is the case (or at least a major factor in its appeal), isn't the most promising antidote, a military defeat of ISIS and the stripping away of its territorial base? Can we really expect even middle-term social, attitudinal, political and economic changes in the region and in Europe that would make the Caliphate promise less appealing to marginalized and disrespected populations? If not, is any kind of "quarantine" of the ISIS caliphate really going to work? I ask these questions despite my profound suspicion of the use of force and particularly the use of American force in the region.
This is not new, just a little less disguised. It's the Southern Strategy launched by Nixon after Lyndon Johnson "betrayed" White Southerners. Tied to rural areas elsewhere and exploitative big money, and working within our peculiar federal system, the Southern states provide more than enough power to assure effective control of most if not all of the political institutions. Short of ending gerrymandering, the best solution is to recognize that after 150 years the Civil War gap isn't healed and it's time for divorce. The revanchist tail should not be wagging the dog. We should find a way to expel the most defiant and benighted of the old Confederate states from the Union. To hear some of their spokespeople, that would be what they want anyway.
Abdul Aziz Said who was born in Syria founded American University's International Peace and Conflict Resolution program. It is one of the earliest and most successful program of its kind. Dr. Said, who recently retired, also consulted for numerous US Administrations in the sadly unsuccessful pursuit for regional peace.
The pirate image is an interesting one but isn't the image of a newly born "revolutionary" state with greater ideology- export ambitions such as Soviet Russia (as a commentator above suggests), Cuba or even Iran (in their early days) more on point? Some commentators (e.g G. Wood in The Atlantic this past march) have suggested, the key to ISIS appeal is as a territory-holding caliphate of Islamic purity that will also defeat the "armies of Rome" at Dabiq and grow from there. If this is the case (or at least a major factor in its appeal), isn't the most promising antidote, a military defeat of ISIS and the stripping away of its territorial base? Can we really expect even middle-term social, attitudinal, political and economic changes in the region and in Europe that would make the Caliphate promise less appealing to marginalized and disrespected populations? If not, is any kind of "quarantine" of the ISIS caliphate really going to work? I ask these questions despite my profound suspicion of the use of force and particularly the use of American force in the region.
This is not new, just a little less disguised. It's the Southern Strategy launched by Nixon after Lyndon Johnson "betrayed" White Southerners. Tied to rural areas elsewhere and exploitative big money, and working within our peculiar federal system, the Southern states provide more than enough power to assure effective control of most if not all of the political institutions. Short of ending gerrymandering, the best solution is to recognize that after 150 years the Civil War gap isn't healed and it's time for divorce. The revanchist tail should not be wagging the dog. We should find a way to expel the most defiant and benighted of the old Confederate states from the Union. To hear some of their spokespeople, that would be what they want anyway.