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Defeating IS
Ahn Seong-jin
2015. 11. 18. 17:00
Solution may be easier done than said
Our sorrow for the victims in the Paris mayhem by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS) should only harden our will to handle the world's biggest terrorist group so as to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy. This stronger will is only part of a reality-based overall strategy of an honest analysis about what factors are helping IS flourish before finding ways of dealing with it so as to reduce its sphere of operation and then exterminate it as it is known today.
The urgency for this task can't be overestimated, considering the fight against IS appears to be developing into a clash of civilizations, or maybe even the Third World War. Finding solutions may be easier, for the lack of a better word, than it looks.
First, the causes can be summed up as a class struggle with different twists. Karl Marx promoted his version on the basis of the proletariat's uprising against the bourgeoisie but IS' version has three dimensions: 1) a fundamental Islamic case of inferiority that spews a sense of vengeance against the prevailing Christianity, 2) a gaping chasm between the ruling class, sometimes cooperating with the Western world, and the "nothing-to-lose, status quo-defying class of discontents," 3) the state of anarchy in Iraq and Syria, the IS' breeding ground.
Adding to this is the lack of coordination among Western leaders. The United States started the effort to change the regime of autocrat Bashar al-Assad but has failed to finish the job, shown in the ceaseless streams of refugees, as a result, Syrians are caught between the ever-vindictive but weakened Assad and the IS, which is thriving in the power vacuum left by the waning state.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin is assisting Assad, its client state, in a vain effort to regain Russia's "glory" as a superpower, defying Western sanctions imposed on it for power grabs in the Crimean Peninsula and Ukraine. Putin's move was torpedoed by the downing of a Russian airliner, for which IS claimed responsibility. U.S. President Barack Obama has been indirectly rebuked by Prime Minister David Cameron, leader of his supposedly closest ally, Britain, for creating the Syrian mess. Ahead of the latest IS attack, France suffered from an Islamic extremist terrorist attack against satirist magazine Charlie Hebdo's religious lampooning.
Regarding possible solutions, the first in the order of business is to use the latest Paris attack for leading Western countries to set aside their differences and make this their collective top priority. Of course, the use of force should remain as an option but more effective coordination among the leading states is also called for. At the same time, as Cameron partially and correctly suggested, it is also important to address the problem at its cause broadly for an inter-religious reconciliation and narrowly for the weakening of IS power. The rest of the world, besides the leader states, must bear in mind that the IS issue is a problem for all and the selfish act of pretending it is somebody else's problem is one of the root causes that has blown it up to now tragic proportions.
The urgency for this task can't be overestimated, considering the fight against IS appears to be developing into a clash of civilizations, or maybe even the Third World War. Finding solutions may be easier, for the lack of a better word, than it looks.
First, the causes can be summed up as a class struggle with different twists. Karl Marx promoted his version on the basis of the proletariat's uprising against the bourgeoisie but IS' version has three dimensions: 1) a fundamental Islamic case of inferiority that spews a sense of vengeance against the prevailing Christianity, 2) a gaping chasm between the ruling class, sometimes cooperating with the Western world, and the "nothing-to-lose, status quo-defying class of discontents," 3) the state of anarchy in Iraq and Syria, the IS' breeding ground.
Adding to this is the lack of coordination among Western leaders. The United States started the effort to change the regime of autocrat Bashar al-Assad but has failed to finish the job, shown in the ceaseless streams of refugees, as a result, Syrians are caught between the ever-vindictive but weakened Assad and the IS, which is thriving in the power vacuum left by the waning state.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin is assisting Assad, its client state, in a vain effort to regain Russia's "glory" as a superpower, defying Western sanctions imposed on it for power grabs in the Crimean Peninsula and Ukraine. Putin's move was torpedoed by the downing of a Russian airliner, for which IS claimed responsibility. U.S. President Barack Obama has been indirectly rebuked by Prime Minister David Cameron, leader of his supposedly closest ally, Britain, for creating the Syrian mess. Ahead of the latest IS attack, France suffered from an Islamic extremist terrorist attack against satirist magazine Charlie Hebdo's religious lampooning.
Regarding possible solutions, the first in the order of business is to use the latest Paris attack for leading Western countries to set aside their differences and make this their collective top priority. Of course, the use of force should remain as an option but more effective coordination among the leading states is also called for. At the same time, as Cameron partially and correctly suggested, it is also important to address the problem at its cause broadly for an inter-religious reconciliation and narrowly for the weakening of IS power. The rest of the world, besides the leader states, must bear in mind that the IS issue is a problem for all and the selfish act of pretending it is somebody else's problem is one of the root causes that has blown it up to now tragic proportions.