Russia Presents Detailed Evidence Of ISIS-Turkey Oil Trade - by Tyler Durden

Turkey’s sultan President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said something funny. In the wake of Vladimir Putin’s contention that Russia has additional proof of Turkey’s participation in Islamic State’s illicit crude trade, Erdogan said he would resign if anyone could prove the accusations. 
 
Now obviously, conclusive evidence that Ankara is knowingly facilitating the sale of ISIS crude will probably be hard to come by, at least in the short-term, but the silly thing about Erdogan’s pronouncement is that we’re talking about a man who was willing to plunge his country into civil war over a few lost seats in Parliament. The idea that he would ever “step down” is patently absurd.

But that’s not what’s important. What’s critical is that the world gets the truth about who’s financing and facilitating “Raqqa’s Rockefellers.” If a NATO member is supporting this, and if the US has refrained from bombing ISIS oil trucks for 14 months as part of an understanding with Erdogan, well then we have a problem. For those who need a review, see the following four pieces:

• The Most Important Question About ISIS That Nobody Is Asking
• Meet The Man Who Funds ISIS: Bilal Erdogan, The Son Of Turkey's President
• How Turkey Exports ISIS Oil To The World: The Scientific Evidence
• ISIS Oil Trade Full Frontal: "Raqqa's Rockefellers", Bilal Erdogan, KRG Crude, And The Israel Connection

Unfortunately for Ankara, The Kremlin is on a mission to blow this story wide open now that Turkey has apparently decided it’s ok to shoot down Russian fighter jets. On Wednesday, we get the latest from Russia, where the Defense Ministry has just finished a briefing on the Islamic State oil trade. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Turkey may be in trouble.
First, here’s the bullet point summary via Reuters:

• RUSSIA'S DEFENCE MINISTRY SAYS RUSSIA'S AIR STRIKES IN SYRIA HELPED TO ALMOST HALVE ILLEGAL OIL TURNOVER
• RUSSIA'S DEFENCE MINISTRY SAYS TURKISH PRESIDENT AND FAMILY INVOLVED IN BUSINESS WITH ISLAMIC STATE OIL
• RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY SAYS WILL CONTINUE STRIKES IN SYRIA ON ISLAMIC STATE OIL INFRASTRUCTURE
• RUSSIA'S DEFENCE MINISTRY SAYS KNOWS OF THREE ROUTES BY WHICH ISLAMIC STATE OIL IS DIRECTED TO TURKEY
• RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY SAYS TO PRESENT NEXT WEEK INFORMATION SHOWING TURKEY HELPING ISLAMIC STATE

That’s the Cliff’s Notes version and the full statement from Deputy Minister of Defence Anatoly Antonov is below. Let us be the first to tell you, Antonov did not hold back.

In the opening address, the Deputy says the ISIS oil trade reaches the highest levels of Turkey's government. He also says Erdogan wouldn’t resign if his face was smeared with stolen Syrian oil. Antonov then blasts Ankara for arresting journalists and mocks Erdogan’s “lovely family oil business.” Antonov even calls on the journalists of the world to "get involved" and help Russia "expose and destroy the sources of terrorist financing."

"Today, we are presenting only some of the facts that confirm that a whole team of bandits and Turkish elites stealing oil from their neighbors is operating in the region," Antonov continues, setting up a lengthy presentation in which the MoD shows photos of oil trucks, videos of airstrikes and maps detailing the trafficking of stolen oil. The clip is presented here with an English voice-over.

Read more: Russia Presents Detailed Evidence Of ISIS-Turkey Oil Trade | Zero Hedge

Turkey - Freedom of the Press - Turkey detains journalists who allege army lorries carried weapons for ISIS

Recep Tayip Erdogan dragging Turkey into the abyss

Between one and two thousand people protested outside the Istanbul offices of opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet.

The paper has seen its Editor-in-chief and Ankara correspondent arrested and charged with espionage and treason on Thursday for daring to accuse Turkey of doing business with ISIL.

Both men say they have only done their jobs and deny their reporting is helping enemies of Turkey.

“As you know, an investigation has been launched into our reports on intelligence agency MIT trucks carrying weapons. The plaintiff is President Tayyip Erdogan himself.

We came here to defend journalism. We came here to defend people’s right to be informed, their right to learn the truth if the government is lying,” said Can Dündar, the senior of the two men.

“If the country is under a certain threat or in danger, a journalist has to report it,” said Erdem Gül.

Both men were placed in custody after their declarations. Turkey is currently rated near the bottom of global tables for press freedom and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the author of the lorry story “will pay a heavy price”.

Read more: Turkey detains journalists who allege army lorries carried weapons for ISIL | euronews, world news

Paris attacks: Where does Isis get its money and arms from? - by Tom Brooks-Pollock

Jeremy Corbyn posed a series of rhetorical questions when asked whether bombing Isis following the Paris terror attacks would make a significant difference to the situation.

In an interview with Lorraine Kelly on ITV, the Labour leader answered "probaby not", adding: "Who is funding Isis? Who is arming Turkey? Who is providing safe havens for ISIS. You have to ask questions about the arms everyone has sold in the region."

The Paris attackers were armed with AK-47s and identical suicide vests, while police seized a rocket launcher and a huge cache of weapons in terrorists raids in Lyon following the attack. Some are said to have been trained in Syria.

So where does Isis get its money, guns and bombs, both in Europe and in the Middle East?

To a large extent Isis is now funding itself – through oil sales, kidnap ransoms, smuggling, extortion, taxes, looting, bank robberies.

When it was starting out, Isis was ‘seed funded’ by wealthy donors –individuals and charities from across the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.

At first, the governments of the Persian kingdoms openly gave money to the opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including Isis. This has since become politically and diplomatically incorrect – but large amounts of money still finds its way to Isis from wealthy individuals from the Persian gulf.

Note EU-Digest: Wouldn't it be far more effective if the West and specially the US, which probably has the worlds most sophisticated surveillance and electronic spy network, also starts gathering information on who are buying ISIS commodities and where ISIS buys their weapons?  Nothing would work faster in stopping their maniactic activities than closing their access to financial sources and putting those who buy and sell from them in jail. Then again, this information could probably open a can of worms for the West?

?

Read More: Paris attacks: Where does Isis get its money and arms from? | World | News | The Independent

ISIS: Hacker Group Anonymous Announces 'Biggest Operation' Against ISIS After Paris Attacks

The Hacker group Anonymous declared "total war" on the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group on Sunday following the wave of attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people and left dozens more in a critical condition.

A masked, French-speaking figure with a distorted voice is shown reading a statement from the group in the two-minute-long YouTube video. Clips from the attacks in Paris are shown in the video.

"War is declared. Get prepared," the masked figure says in the video in reference to ISIS. "The French people are stronger than you and will come out of this atrocity even stronger. Anonymous from all over the world will hunt you down. You should know that we will find you and we will not let you go. We will launch the biggest operation ever against you."

The escalation in Anonymous's operation against ISIS comes after at least seven suspected attackers carried out gun and bomb attacks against a number of civilian targets across the French capital, leaving 352 wounded and at least 99 in a critical condition. French police are continuing a manhunt for a man they believe took part in the attacks, identified as 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam.

Anonymous has targeted ISIS for a number of months, revealing the Twitter accounts of ISIS members and hacking a number of the group's sites. U.S. magazine Foreign Policy estimates that the group has dismantled at least 149 of the extremist group's affiliated websites, flagged approximately 101,000 Twitter accounts and nearly 6,000 propaganda videos.

Note EU-Digest: Excellent initiative. The more the better . Unity is the best defense against terrorism and fear.

Read more: Hacker Group Anonymous Announces 'Biggest Operation' Against ISIS After Paris Attacks

Paris Massacre: It's not only a "war on terrorism" but also a war on "political hypocrisy" - by RM

The tragic events in Paris are deplorable, but when you listen to the comments of the politicians, or most of the corporate controlled press, very few are focusing on the real reasons behind this ongoing  tragedy..Is it maybe that the root of the problem lies in the failure of the political establishment to accept failure and change course.?

In a way, it is quite simple. Anyone who has a bit of a brain and has been watching the developments in the Middle East over the past  20 years will be able to recognize that the result of this disaster really is the totally failed Western foreign policy in that region. .

Unfortunately even though the real culprits of this failed policy - based on lies and greed - are known - for some reason the facts are usually covered up.  Why are Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Tony Blair., still enjoying a comfortable life, instead of being locked up for war crimes and misleading the public about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and for leading the so called "coalition of the willing" -  which really should have been called "a coalition of the dimwits", - into a war, which basically destroyed the social and cultural structure of Iraq. A war, which also probably lies at the origin of the creation of ISIS. 

The political hypocrisy, however, continues unabated. 

Just look at the reasons politicians give us today when it comes to our ongoing friendship with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel. United Arab Emirates, and Egypt.. Terrorism, in this case, is the keyword  used for their smoke screen, and the cover-up of  the real problems. Right wing politicians even go one step further and blame it all on either the influx of refugees or the Islamization of Europe.

Don't get misled by your politicians or Government. Keep asking  the critical questions and vote them out of office when they avoid telling the truth.

Therefore as is stated in 1 Thessalonians 5. - "Test everything - hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil".

EU-Digest

ISIS: Al Jazeera Arabic media network site, recently conducted poll showing 81 percent Arab Muslim support Isis

AlJazeera.net, the Al Jazeera Arabic media network web site, recently conducted an online poll asking the question, “Do you support the organizing victories of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria?”  Thirty-eight thousand people across the Arab world responded to the poll and a shocking 81 percent of those polled came back with an answer of “Yes.”

This poll should be taken with a grain of salt for many reasons.  First, Al Jazeera has a well-documented track record of sympathizing with radical Islamic extremists.  The network is run by the royal family of Qatar, which has been accused several times of directly funding the Islamic State.

A similar poll was released by Al Jazeera following the tragic events of 9/11, and 50 percent of respondents voiced support for Osama bin Laden.  Words like “terrorism” and “insurgency” are rarely mentioned on the network and are often replaced with “resistance” or “struggle.”

The second reason to question this poll is that it took place online.  It is very difficult to track any background information when surveying people online and it is nearly impossible to prevent anyone from voting more than once or from sharing it with ideologically similar friends.

However, despite the possibility that 81 percent might not be the exact figure, it is still surprisingly high.  Even if the poll is off by 30 percent in terms of how most Muslims in the Arab world feel, that still means that half the people in the Middle East are sympathetic toward ISIS. That would completely contradict the popular claim that the “vast majority” of Muslims are peace-loving people who abhor terrorism.

Almere-Digest

EU-Digest poll shows 78% consider total failure of US Middle East policy cause of EU refugee crises

In an EU-Digest poll held from September 14 to October 13 close to 79 % consider the total failure of  US Middle East policy as the major cause for the  EU refugee crises.

The lack of a strong EU- wides supported refugee policy is seen by 10.53% of those polled as the cause of the crises.

The fact that most Middle East governments are undemocratic and repressive is only seen by 5.26% as a potential cause for the crises. ISIS also ranks a low 5.26% as a factor influencing the EU refugee crises.

This month's EU-Digest poll looks at possible solutions for the Syria crises.

EU-Digest  

EU - Middle East: ISIS Defectors Reveal Frustration Over Corruption, Atrocities and Sunni Infighting - by Jack Moore

An increasing number of ISIS fighters are becoming disillusioned with the group and defecting from its ranks, according to a new study published on Monday. Furthermore, Western governments should protect these defectors from reprisals and legal "disincentives" to encourage them to speak out about the group, the study says.

A report published by the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) at King's College London, entitled Victims, Perpetrators, Assets: The Narratives of Islamic State Defectors, argues that governments and activists should "recognize the value and credibility" of defectors speaking out against the group and should assist in their "resettlement" and "safety."

The jihadi monitoring think tank, which has tracked foreign fighters traveling to and from the terror group's self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria, has recorded 58 defectors in total but says that these only "represent a small fraction" of the total number as there are many more who are unwilling to come forward for fear of reprisals or imprisonment.

Read more: ISIS Defectors Reveal Frustration Over Corruption, Atrocities and Sunni Infighting: Study

Wanted Dead or Alive: ISIS' Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi profiled - by Pamela Engel

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,

The world knows little of the Islamic State terror group's brutal leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but a new article from counterterrorism expert Will McCants provides one of the most extensive accounts yet of his background.

McCants, director of the Project on US Relations with the Islamic World at the Brookings Institution, wrote an upcoming book on the Islamic State — aka ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh — and researched Baghdadi's life to explain his rise to become one of the most wanted terrorists in the world.

Since Baghdadi became the self-proclaimed "caliph" of ISIS in 2014, he has only appeared in public once, at a mosque in Mosul, Iraq. He was rumored to have died in an air strike earlier this year, but ISIS subsequently released a statement from him along with proof that he was still alive.

Even with new information about his life tricking out in the press, Baghdadi — aka Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Al-Badri — remains a mysterious and reclusive figure.

Click on the link below to know more about his background, as laid out by McCants in his Brookings essay.

Read more: ISIS' Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi profiled - Business Insider

Turkey: ISIL video threatens Turkey over support for US

ISIL VIDEO

The self-proclaimed Islamic State has released a propaganda video threatening Turkey,describing its president as an “infidel” and a “traitor”.

Euronews has blurred the faces of the men believed to be ISIL militants, who urge Muslims in Turkey to support the extremist group.

The video was uploaded onto a social media website and is believed by Reuters to be genuine.

The militants accuse President Erdogan of opening up Turkish airbases to “crusaders”, allowing the US to “bombard the people of Islam”.

Six F-16 fighter jets arrived at a Turkish base last week and began flying missions against ISIL over Syria.

Read more: ISIL video threatens Turkey over support for US | euronews, world news

Middle East - US launches first manned strikes on IS group from Turkey

The U.S. on Wednesday August  12  launched its first airstrikes by Turkey-based F-16 fighter jets against Islamic State targets in Syria, marking a limited escalation of a yearlong air campaign that critics have called excessively cautious.

In a brief statement the Pentagon announced the F-16 strikes were launched from Incirlik air base in southern Turkey but provided no details on the number or types of targets struck. It did not say how many of the six F-16s now based at Incirlik were used in the initial strikes.

Earlier this month the U.S. began flying armed drones from Incirlik, but the F-16 flights add a new dimension to the air campaign, in part because of the added risk to pilots who might encounter Syrian or other air defenses.

Pentagon officials have said the main advantage of using Incirlik is its proximity to Islamic State targets in northern Syria, although a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday that the F-16s may also be used on missions over Iraq. The official was not authorized to discuss F-16 mission details publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Most U.S. aerial combat missions over Iraq and Syria are being flown from more distant air bases in Qatar and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region, although the U.S. also is flying F-16s from Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan.

Read more: Middle East - US launches first manned strikes on IS group from Turkey - France 24

ISIS: How to Speak With Young Muslims About The Dangerous Aspects Of ISIS - by Imam Sohaib Sultan

The so-called solution provided by ISIS propaganda basically boils down to something along the lines of: "The West is the problem; Islam is the solution."

And, then young people are told that the "Islamic solution" can only happen with the total domination of societies from top down. And, that this totalitarian vision can only be achieved through war and fighting against all those who oppose this radical vision -- even against fellow Muslims.

In fact, the more that ISIS is condemned the more appealing it can be for some who are precisely seeking a movement or cause that will stick it to the status quo. The more that the West, in particular, speaks and mobilizes against ISIS and even heightens its rhetoric against them, the more appealing it can be to those who have come to see the world as a polarization that pits Islam against the West and sees the West as an unrelenting enemy of Islam.

So, what is really needed instead on college campuses and beyond is to offer young people a different radical and bold vision for how to engage with the world and how to make real and positive change in society.

The fire that many young people have to change the world should be honored. It is about getting students involved -- as early as possible -- in the more difficult, but ultimately more satisfying and successful, work of social justice organizing and human rights advocacy and grassroots mobilization.

If the passions that young people have are not directed in good and constructive ways, then some will find evil and destructive ways to engage their passions. That's a hard, but simple truth. So, the responsibility lies on all of us -- young and old and people of all backgrounds -- to counter violent extremism not just with words of condemnation, but more importantly with actions of compassion and models of construction.

Note EU-Digest: Imam Sohaib Sultan is to be commended for speaking out against this radical and maniacally dangerous ISIS doctrine and providing solutions other than just bombing them and in the process also killing many innocent civilians. Imam's everywhere  in the Muslim world need to follow in Imam Sohaib Sultan foot steps and start speaking out again ISIS. 

Read more: How to Speak With Young Muslims About ISIS | Imam Sohaib Sultan

Middle East - UN says 25,000 foreigners have joined IS group, al Qaeda

The panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions against al-Qaida said in the report obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press that its analysis indicates the number of foreign terrorist fighters worldwide increased by 71 percent between mid-2014 and March 2015.

It said the scale of the problem has increased over the past three years and the flow of foreign fighters “is higher than it has ever been historically.”

The overall number of foreign terrorist fighters has “risen sharply from a few thousand ... a decade ago to more than 25,000 today,” the panel said in the report to the U.N. Security Council.

The report said just two countries have accounted for over 20,000 foreign fighters: Syria and Iraq. They went to fight primarily for the Islamic State group but also the Al-Nusra Front.

Looking ahead, the panel said the thousands of foreign fighters who traveled to Syria and Iraq are living and working in “a veritable ‘international finishing school’ for extremists,” as was the case in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

A military defeat of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq could have the unintended consequence of scattering violent foreign terrorist fighters across the world, the panel said.

 And while governments are focusing on countering the threat from fighters returning home, the panel said it’s possible that some may be traumatized by what they saw and need psychological help, and that others may be recruited by criminal networks.

Read more: Middle East - UN says 25,000 foreigners have joined IS group, al Qaeda - France 24

Middle East - Mideast's religious minorities at risk of 'genocide'

Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East are being targeted and some are facing a possible "genocide" by Islamic State militants, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the UN on Friday.

Speaking at a UN Security Council debate, Fabius said an "action charter" was needed to address the threat from the Islamic State group.

"We are witnessing a true genocide," Fabius said. "The Islamic State group in particular kills, enslaves or exiles people who don't think like them, especially Christians. It's not enough to raise awareness – we need to implement concrete solutions to protect these vulnerable populations."

Read more: Middle East - Mideast's religious minorities at risk of 'genocide' - France 24

The Media: Stop giving PR lip service to ISIS/ IS - They Are Enemies of Humanity - Not A Marketable Product - by RM

ISIS Psychopathic Derelicts Execute Innocent Civilians

It is amazing and questionable why the Media in general goes to such great length in providing ISIS or IS with all this free publicity and PR.

The Islamic State is a Fata Morgana, and all the stories about its legality are bogus. Unfortunately the cruel crimes committed by these psychopathic derelicts are a reality.

But sadly, not much has been done to curb the ability of these fanatic criminals to project a (deluted) image which continues to attract numerous individuals to their cause.  An image which indirectly is reinforced by the publicity the media provides them.

Twitter, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, who all have the means to track our whereabouts and activities should at least also be able to use those same capabilities to track these Enemies of Humanity and bar them from using their services to recruit followers and spout their nonsense.

As to the general corporate controlled press, they should, in this particular case at least, forget their profit motives for once. Stop giving these Enemies of Humanity the time of day in your news reports.

EU-Digest

Middle East : Iraq - Islamic State thugs destroy Iraq's ancient city of Hatra

The Islamic State group has destroyed the ancient Iraqi fortress city of Hatra, Kurdish and Iraqi officials said Saturday, just two days after "bulldozing" the ruins of Nimrud and weeks after smashing artefacts in the Mosul museum.

Speaking from Mosul, Kurdistan Democratic Party official Said Mamuzini told the Kurdish news site Rudaw that militants from the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had begun looting and destroying the site with shovels
.
"The city of Hatra is very big and many artefacts of that era were protected inside the site,” he said. “ISIS has already taken away all the ancient currencies from the city that are in gold and silver."
Iraqi officials from the tourism and antiquities ministry confirmed the reports.

Read more: Middle East - Islamic State militants destroy Iraq's ancient city of Hatra - France 24

Terrorism:"Jihadi John’ Whose Real Name is Mohammed Emwazi Wanted Dead or Alive

Wanted Mohammed Emwazi alias Jihadi John dead or alive

The world knows him as “Jihadi John,” the masked man with a British accent who has beheaded several hostages held by the Islamic State and who taunts audiences in videos circulated widely online.

But his real name, according to friends and others familiar with his case, is Mohammed Emwazi, a Briton from a well-to-do family who grew up in West London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming.
 dead or alive.

He is believed to have traveled to Syria around 2012 and to have later joined the Islamic State, the group whose barbarity he has come to symbolize.

 The families of hostages killed by ISIL have been reacting to the naming of a British militant who fronted some of the beheading videos.

Will Mohammed Emwazi be killed, captured by the people chasing him or has his discovery become a liability for ISIS who will execute him themselves - or is this all a hoax - lets not hope so.

Some are calling for Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, to be caught alive to face justice.

The Kuwaiti-born man first appeared in a video in 2013 showing the murder of US journalist James Foley.

The victim’s mother, Diane Foley, told reporters: “He (Emwazi) did have the benefits of a comfortable upbringing and yet he’s using gifts and talents for such hatred and brutality.”

EU-Digest

ISIS: Its time to take off the gloves and combat ISIS with more effective measures

REWARD FOR KILLING OR CAPTURING AN ISIS  EXECUTIONER

Japan ordered heightened security precautions Sunday and said it would persist with its non-military support for fighting terrorism.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday he is "infuriated" by the purported beheading of journalist Kenji Goto by the ISIS and vowed to hold the terror group responsible.

The killing of Goto, a freelance reporter whose work focused on refugees, children and other victims of war, shocked Japan, which until now had not become directly embroiled in the fight against the militants.

But is all this going to stop ISIS doing more of their despicable deeds. Not likely.

What is required are more drastic measures.

First of all the Press should stop glorifying or even publicizing the deeds and actions of these barbaric deranged criminals. ISIS should certainly not be referred to in the Press as  "the Islamic State", because they are not a state, and they do not represent basic Islamic values in any way or form. 

YouTube, Twitter and Facebook must stop ISIS from accessing their sites. This is not  an issue about Freedom of Expression but rather about giving the liberty to a criminal organization to operate freely on the Internet.

Governments, Corporations, Including Media Empires, and Wealthy Citizens Should Start Putting Their Money Where Their Mouth is To Help Weed Out This Problem, Rather Than Just With Lip Service, Or In the Case of Governments, By Areal Bombardments. 

Instead,  Large Sums Of Money Should Be Offered To Local Citizens In ISIS Occupied Areas For  Capturing ISIS Leaders and Executioners Dead Or Alive.

It Should Be Made Profitable For Local Citizens In The Middle East To Chop Of An ISIS Head. 

Obviously, This Would Also Work Perfectly In Any Area Of The World Where Jihadists operate.




EU-Digest

Middle East: Kurds fear Isis use of chemical weapon in Kobani - by Emma Graham-Harrison

Kurds battling Islamic State militants for control of Kobani fear the extremist group may have used an unidentified chemical weapon, according to officials and one of the few doctors still working in the besieged Syrian town.

Patients with blisters, burning eyes and breathing difficulties turned up at a clinic after a blast was heard on Tuesday evening, Dr Walat Omar said. He described the symptoms as abnormal and said he could not identify their cause, but suspected a chemical weapon.

“After a loud explosion [on Tuesday night], we received some patients with abnormal symptoms. They reported a bad smell which produced some kind of allergic reaction,” Omar said in a telephone interview that was periodically disrupted by heavy explosions.


Read more: Kurds fear Isis use of chemical weapon in Kobani | World news | The Guardian

ISES: The European Union Must Face the Islamic State

Diplomatic missions, think tanks, and the media are rife with analyses of the Islamic State. Assessments of how to deal with the jihadist group range from “wait and see” to “degrade and destroy,” and there are even mundane controversies about whether the entity should be called the Islamic State (IS), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or Da’esh (the movement’s Arabic acronym)—even though these names carry almost identical meanings.

The bottom line is that the self-proclaimed Islamic State, which has now taken hold in large parts of Iraq and Syria, is posing unprecedented challenges to the Western community of nations. The group is a particular threat to European states. To cope with those aspects of the situation that are specific to Europe, EU leaders must focus their efforts on five key areas: counterterrorism cooperation, the interruption of financial flows to the Islamic State, humanitarian assistance, political dialogue, and long-term policy reforms.

There are striking differences between the Islamic State’s modus operandi and that of other jihadist movements active in recent years, namely al-Qaeda from September 2001 onward and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in 2013. Three particular contrasts are discernible.

First, the Islamic State’s current military strategy—including its funding, equipment, manpower, and operational capabilities—is much more sophisticated than anything the West has witnessed from similar groups. The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in 2001, in Djerba in 2002, in Madrid in 2004, or in London in 2005, as tragic as they were, were one-off and localized. Some were suicide operations, while others were hit-and-run bombings. In January 2013, AQIM conducted a military surge in Mali, in an attempt to “acquire” an entire country by force and turn it into a base for further operations in the region, using captured airfields and military or communication facilities; but even that attack was very modest compared with current IS operations.

The second element that distinguishes the Islamic State from other terrorist groups is the deep roots it has developed in Western Europe, the Maghreb, and Turkey, as well as the Middle East, where it has recruited several thousand jihadists. Data show that the larger contingents come from the Middle East (5,800), the Maghreb countries (5,300), the EU (2,600 to 3,000), and Turkey (anywhere between 400 and 1,000). Numbers given by official agencies are substantially higher.

More importantly, the Islamic State’s power to attract young, underemployed, loosely indoctrinated people can be very high. The combination of recruitment circuits, networks of sympathizers, and returnees from the Middle East with a mission to recruit more jihadists produces a substantial potential for social destabilization, especially as radicalized Muslim communities tend to be geographically concentrated. What is more, this radicalization is happening in a political context in which xenophobia and extreme right-wing political parties are rising at an accelerated pace.

Thirdly: The EU’s 28 countries have a total population of 505 million. Counting citizens and immigrants, these states’ Muslim population is about 20 million. For 2,600 to 3,000 young men and women to be actively involved in jihadist movements may therefore seem almost negligible. 

This would be an erroneous assessment, in part because estimates are growing by the day.Given this context, the overwhelming aims for European governments must be to severely curtail the recruitment of European jihadists by the Islamic State, impede the recruits’ transit to Syria and Iraq, and put returnee militants under strict surveillance. Preventing jihadists from leaving Europe is also key. The European countries concerned have already revamped procedures and launched new forms of cooperation to address these tasks, but they should do more. The implications of such steps are momentous and concern many domains: freedom of movement within the EU, management of the Schengen area, counterterrorism coordination, antiterrorism legislation, regulation of political activities, and even freedom of expression.

Read more: The European Union Must Face the Islamic State