Would you prefer the Western powers sent in a lot of troops, trained up the locals to look after themselves, handled security in the meantime, stuff like that?
Or did nothing at all and kept out of it all?
What?
If the choice consits of wack a mole, every couple of years in the middle east or do nothing. I choose nothing.
We should have never left Iraq, probably take a generation of stability to have functional state. Libya, we should have backed it up with troops and still be there.
Self interested measures and we are now reaping the fullness of our endeavours!
On Facebook, Brotherhood In Islam.
Two brothers from Sousse in #Tunisia left messages and placed flowers during a gathering at the scene of Friday's shooting attack. The message they left was "We are sorry." They came out to show their respects, dressed in Islamic clothing to show the real etiquette of Muslims: Kindness, respect and peace. May Allah reward them.
https://www.avforums.com/attachments/11209551_10153517618174124_8198871779826936711_n-jpg.602849/
https://www.avforums.com/attachments/10375993_10153517618164124_4222048670951539833_n-jpg.602850/
https://www.avforums.com/attachments/11229405_10153517654324124_1947510472322532369_n-jpg.602852/
This too http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/28/this-is-how-people-are-standing-in-defiance-against-terrorism-in-tunisia-5270475/
The point is IS has a global reach fuelled by the internet, in a way that Al Qeada never had. We need to up our game in the propaganda war.
We should have had a proper plan in place to deal with the chaos that the fall of Gadaffi caused and the exploration of the situation by various Jihadists. Instead we got Cameron basking in the initial adulation, then as the news agenda changed back to domestic politics it seems the Government lost interest in doing anything more to stabilise Libya. It's Iraq all over again.
Obama's policy of disengagement from the Middle East has backfired and allowed ISIS to gain a foothold where it wouldn't have otherwise got one had the US Military been around helping to get Iraq back on it's feet properly. The Arab spring opened up Syria for the Jihadists to move in when Putin butted heads with Obama and the US did not intervene.
We can deal with ISIS on a military front, it's the propaganda war we need to take a long hard look at and change. Young angry people and violent causes have always been around, this particular one is supercharged due to the power of the internet breaking down the old order of communications.
Another family has gone over it seems, 3 generations, although the young children are hardly to have had much say in it.
From what I saw the other day, it's believed the younger women (20's) in the family had been radicalised.
Something must be missing in our Western way of life for these people, especially younger women, to turn to ISIS.
I wonder what it is?
A sense of community, a sense of belonging?The womenfolk especially it seems to me are really quite vulnerable to being forced to "keep out" of Western Society by menfolk who are often under pressure from the more militant members of their faith.But they aren't denied access to modern life so the internet is there for them.
Bearing in mind that we now have a generation of bright, well educated and switched on youth, a fair few of whom it seems, have been persuaded that sexting and behaving like porn stars is what they should do, how do you think those who find themselves on the edge of society cope with the internet?
How easy do you think it is for dedicated and well trained people to track down and "turn" these vulnerable members of society?I can sit here and wind people up into an indignant rage quite easily here, without even trying.(Not that I would ever do that kind of thing!)
So a persistent, persuasive and well trained mentor picking on vulnerable and malleable victims for weeks on end, can without any shadow of a doubt, persuade the victim to do almost anything.And when the objective is as simple as a "better life, blessed by their God and fighting the Good Fight with friends and like minded soul mates", turning them must be fairly straightforward.The evidence presented each week seems to suggest it isn't hard.
So who do we blame?The victims of this brain-washing?For being weak and vulnerable?
The community from which they come, for not being there for them?
Society because they don't feel welcome?
The Internet, because that is the tool that is being used to poison their minds?
The mentors behind the scenes?(I suppose you can blame them, but that would be pointless as they can't be stopped).
All of the above?
And what solutions do we offer?Are there any?Where do you even start to fight this particular grouping of circumstances that is poisoning the minds of so many?
More questions than answers.Which isn't hard as there don't currently seem to be any answers at all.
There has been a lot of research done into the psychology of how people are radicalised. It only offers a partial answer. In general it seems to be the same old things - Feeling isolated from society, angry at the world and looking for a cause to follow. You will find that Jihadists will target vulnerable people and slowly coax them into committing suicide bombings and so on.
Strip away the religion for a moment, and all you are left with is the innate need for violence against those who are different or don't follow your world view.