Thank God that these extremists are decimated and on the run... because... Obama told us so... remember:
In the meantime, reality is an itch-bay. In Syria, crucifixions:
A man has survived being crucified by Isis in Syria, after the jihadists raided his village and nailed him to a cross for eight hours.
The unnamed man from Al-Bab, near the border with Turkey, was crucified as a punishment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
He managed to survive the ordeal.
But eight others who received the same punishment did not survive. The men, from Deir Hafer in the east of Aleppo province, were subjected to the same treatment and crucified "in the main square of the village, where their bodies will remain for three days", the Britain-based monitor said.
The men were reportedly rebels fighting against both President Bashar al-Assad and jihadist groups including Isis.
And speaking of ISIS... they've changed their name and declared a caliphate:
Brookings analyst Charles Lister explains more about why he thinks the caliphate announcement is so
significant.
In an email breifing he writes:
The impact of this announcement will be global as al-Qaida affiliates and independent jihadist groups must now definitively choose to support and join the Islamic State or to oppose it. The Islamic State’s announcement made it clear that it would perceive any group that failed to pledge allegiance an enemy of Islam. Already, this new Islamic State has received statements of support and opposition from jihadist factions in Syria – this period of judgment is extremely important and will likely continue for some time to come.
In retrospect, one could surmise that ISI and then ISIS, has been working towards this point for years now. As an organization, ISIS has become the wealthiest militant group in the world with assets in the low $ billions and has developed an almost obsessive level of bureaucracy, account keeping, and centrally controlled but locally implemented military-political coordination. Moreover, since the seizure of territory and crucially, population, in areas of Syria in 2013, it has developed an increasingly efficient model of governance, capable of simultaneously implementing harsh medieval justice and a whole range of modern social services.
Geographically, ISIS is already fully operational in Iraq and Syria; it has a covert presence in southern Turkey, appears to be establishing a small presence in Lebanon; and has supporters in Jordan, Gaza, the Sinai, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. This could well be the birth of a totally new era of transnational jihadism.
significant.I remember well when we were promised that under Obama's leadership, his open-hand policies, things would change for the better with the Islamic world.
How's that working out for us?
