The Allies, after their victory in the Second World War, reflected in their existence the principles and ideals that formed a lesson for many countries across the globe, especially in Europe rendered barren by the Second World War. The surge in print journalism, the evolution of radio broadcasts, and the breakthroughs in digital content, first in the form of television, and then in the form of Internet, ensured that the world was governed by a liberal order.
China gave in, the Soviet Union collapsed, Europe was able to resolve its conventional differences, and India too in 1991 followed suite. Free trade, globalization, open markets, the right to expression, gender equality, equal wages, improved living conditions, decreasing unemployment, and a hope for a better life was the way ahead. The Middle-East, however, remained an exception, and to this day, remains one.
This did not stop America along with its trusted allies in 2003 when they attacked Iraq on the basis of faulty intelligence. When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, the world saw an end to a war that had plunged the United States into a debt that amounted to trillions. However, the end was for America alone, for the Middle East had felt the essence of freedom, and was now ready to erupt in unison for complete independence.
The Arab Spring of 2011 was the biggest political illusion of the 21st century. What many assumed to be a path to freedom, ended up being a tunnel to endless misery and war. Syria, plunged into the revolution by a few school boys, continues to burn even after 7 years. With over 500,000 people dead, there is no account for the ones who are missing, and their estimate can only be made from the occasional dead bodies that are thrown to the shores every now and then.
The liberal arrogance of the United States made them back the Free Syrian Army with weapons to fight the Syrian Government. However, their arrogance shackled their ability to learn from their own history of the 1980s when they had backed Taliban to fight the Soviet Union. Citing personal agenda, a faction of the Free Syrian Army broke away and eventually formed the now dreaded Islamic State of Syria and Iraq. Obama had appealed to the liberal shenanigans while withdrawing his troops from Iraq, but there was no exit strategy, and even today, the regime the US tries to topple in Syria is an exercise in futility without an exit strategy. If not Assad, then who else? Does this also mean that the Assad regime holds a future for peace in Syria?
We have reached that point in civilization where no action against the chemical gassing of children on a regular basis serves as a necessary precaution against 2 superpowers going to direct war. Last week, when President Trump chose to retaliate with over 50 Tomahawk missiles, many liberals across the world blamed him for escalating the conflict and creating a possibility of the Third World War. The regular readers of CNN, NYT, and similar platforms shall be able to recall with ease multiple scenarios when the world was facing the Third World War since Trump entered the White House (Once, we faced WW-III when Ivanka Trump brought her son to the Oval Office). Many even questioned the authenticity of the chemical attacks, for the videos only stand valid when they are shot by people they agree with, and much like Obama, they expected President Trump to retaliate with words alone. What makes the Syrian problem so complex with respect to diplomacy?
Putin, facing elections in 2018 and anti-corruption protests back home won’t risk a full-scale military escalation with the US. About to enter a transition, Putin won’t risk his political career for a fight he doesn’t have much to gain from. Undoubtedly, they are going to target ISIS from time to time, but one can’t expect them to care for the difference between ISIS and the rebels fighting against the Assad Regime.
Trump, leading a transition back home won’t risk a war, given the twenty trillion-dollar domestic debt his country faces from the last war they fought in the Middle East. Given he needs five trillion dollars more to implement his plans for infrastructure and defense, one can be assured of his missiles and tanks being more of a stationary display of power. Iran, allied with Assad and Russia, is looking to cease the opportunity to increase their influence, but don’t expect them to pay for this in human lives. The biggest stakeholders in the Syrian conflict are going to engage in limited encounters, thus sustaining the life of the Syrian crisis, and alongside that of ISIS. Unable to constrain the Syrian conflict, does the world need to prepare for a longer war with ISIS?
ISIS is a byproduct of the Syrian Civil War, and irrespective of the ground they continue to lose, the former is going to thrive. Today, countries world over battle a new breed of terrorism. The enemy lurks within, as a refugee or as someone battling acute poverty, manipulated by extremists through mediums like social networking sites and other discreet chat rooms. The prolonged drought in Syria from 2007 to 2010 is what led to many civilians joining ISIS in the first place.
ISIS doesn’t fuel its existence through displaced army officers but cleverly targets the civilian population too. When Syria collapsed in the war being fought between the Assad regime and the Free Syrian Army (the rebels), civilians were hired by ISIS, the former desperate for any form of employment. Today, as US and Russia bomb ISIS in isolated incidents, the terrorist group is dispersing into the shadows where it is difficult to track or account for. This is not the Taliban of the early 2000s that shall fight from the caves and perish within them, but shall seek refuge elsewhere, even in the virtual world. Many civilians in Iraq and Syria empathize with ISIS, for they feel that it has managed to give them food, shelter, and jobs; something their own governments couldn’t manage. There is plenty of support for ISIS on the ground, and this is what fuels their growing presence in Europe. Yes, ISIS continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria but what if that’s no longer a parameter to judge its strength?
Europe, along with facing the collapse of the European Union, is staring right at a migration crisis of epic proportions. Clearly, since the attacks have amplified in number and scale, borders have become inaccessible to the refugees from Syria and other countries in the Middle East. Britain’s exit from the European Union, complemented with the increasing number of attacks, could well mean the election of the Nationalist government led by Marine Le Pen in France the next month. The liberal order finds its existence unstable in Italy too, and thus, the entire Europe is having a Nationalist Spring of its own in parts, and this is where ISIS finds its momentum.
Islamic extremism has always been about agendas, and self-victimization is their favorite after the one where they claim to have born to rule the world with their religion. Today, for every one refugee that is turned away from the border of a European country, an Islamic extremist, anywhere in the world, seeks that one weak mind to manipulate or wreck. Why take the risk of physical training when all it takes is a mad man behind the wheel? Authorities in London were quick to label the terrorist in London as a ‘Lone Wolf’ with newfound extremist teachings. Certainly, these extremist teachings did not present themselves to the attacker on one glorious night, and how much may the liberal media deny, there is no dearth of online extremism to fuel such attacks across the globe.
Europe could well be just the start, with India next.
They use the resistance of the West against the refugees to create terrorist groups world over. For many Muslims, it’s fast becoming about their own brotherhood than the countries that house them.
Paris, Nice, Brussels, London, and Stockholm, to name a few, are strong pieces of evidence of how the ISIS continues to thrive. What the liberals defend as lone wolf agendas or isolated accidents are actually a carefully planned string of incidents to evoke fear in the minds of the Europeans.
Just a day before the attack in Stockholm, a think-tank in Sweden had published a report of how the Muslim Brotherhood was taking over the country, forcing their own culture and a regressive way of life in an otherwise modern setup.
For Islamic extremists, seeking refuge in Europe isn’t about finding shelter, but displacing the original inhabitants to create a new home for themselves, similar to what they achieved in Kashmir in the 1990s and are now attempting in the Indian state of West Bengal.
ISIS, with its channels spread across countries now, finds it easier to coordinate attacks from the online world, and therefore, the ground it loses is no longer an accurate estimate of its strength, which brings us to the next question.
Is ISIS undefeatable?
At this time, yes. ISIS has learned to fight in the shadows, and with both US and Russia reluctant to make a Vietnam for themselves in Syria, one can expect the conflict to linger on. If Assad doesn’t fall, the rebels shall continue to fight him, and amongst themselves, and if Assad does fall, he shall leave a void for extremist groups to fill in. Collective action against ISIS by Russia and US along with other stakeholders does seem a far-fetched option for now, but the way ISIS is spreading its wings through extremist channels in multiple forms across Europe and South-Asia, collective action may not remain an option.
As of now, the Coalition across the world to counter ISIS consists of over 60 countries, and with close to 20,000 air-strikes alone, ISIS has been made to bleed on the ground, and yet, it hasn’t been enough to stop trucks and other automobiles into killing machines. As they lose ground, Jihadists who had once turned up to fight for ISIS, are now returning home, taking with them the virus of extremism, and this is what helps ISIS succeed instead of fail. Intelligence sharing, diplomatic cooperation, and community programs are essential to counter this threat, and yet, they are not going to be enough, as it was evident in the Cairo bombings earlier this week.
The liberal outcry has been meek and submissive, for their inclinations are more about going against the Nationalist surge world over.
Don’t expect the liberal media to tell you this, for they are busy hiding the mistakes of the politicians they once famously backed. For the Syrian refugees, the closest shores still remain the ones they can reach in death and not in life, and for liberals across the world, trucks, knives, axes, and cars shall continue to remain the tools of terrorism.
In the age of ISIS, ignorance is bliss for the Left, and a force to reckon with for the Right.
India, with PM Modi at the helm, isn’t immune to the madness of ISIS, as the terrorist group looks to find ground on the shores that were once used by British to gain a foothold in India, and unfortunately, they have the assistance of some domestic elements for the same.