ISIS war aims are to seize lands and establish therein systems of religious practice and governance that hark back to an extreme interpretation of Islam. To achieve its global jihadist purposes Isis would sow fear and terror in the hearts of all those who dare oppose it, including moderate or different categories of adherents of Islam. In view of the recent terrorist events, many are asking the question whether Isis is actually winning its war of attrition on all others.
The incidents in Paris in which the attackers shouted the name Allah as a rallying cry before the deliberate shooting down of innocent victims saw Pope Francis declaring that the use of the name of God to justify violence was a blasphemy.
Isis shrugs off such comments. In a statement issued soon after the Paris incidents Isis claimed responsibility for the attacks and stated that the “soldiers of the Caliphate” had targeted Paris as “the leading carrier of the cross in Europe” in order to “cast terror into the hearts of the crusades in their own homeland”.
Isis aims to spread its unyielding message to the furthest corners of the earth so as “to fill the world with the truth and justice of Islam… even if America and its coalition despise us and fight us”. As expected, many Arab countries consider Isis a threat. The Arab League and the Cooperation Council of the Arab States in the Gulf (GCC) form a prominent part of the anti-Isis coalition (comprising also NATO and the EU).
The West needs to be very careful on how it tackles the extremely delicate situation that has now arisen. Unsolicited meddling in the complicated affairs of these volatile countries could be counterproductive. Former UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has admitted that the 2003 invasion of Iraq most probably caused the creation of Isis. Many of the young recruits of Isis have openly admitted that the sight of US, British, French and other Nato troops in Muslim countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya had been the determining factor in their decision to join Isis.
Countries in the West have now found themselves wedged in a dilemma of intractable choices. Firstly, because the unstable situations that have emerged in these volatile countries are mostly of their own making (such as the interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya) and, secondly, because the violence is now spilling over into their very heartlands.
Wisdom, in the aftermath of the negative results of the former flawed policies of armed involvement, would now dictate different solutions with diplomacy as the main ingredient. However, Western leaders are now faced with internal pressures to get back at the presumed perpetrators of the violence by providing for more surveillance and policing arrangements, closing borders with razor ribbon and high walls, and, perhaps also, returning to the discredited ghetto system.
All this turmoil is, of course, playing in the Isis leaders’ hands. A dangerous xenophobic scenario is creeping all over the West
What is all this unprecedented confusion in world affairs leading to?
The Republican leaders in the US demanded that the government stops accepting Syrian refugees. Republican front-runner candidate Donald Trump has even dared to declare that the US “has become the dumping ground for everybody else’s problems”.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has also changed her tune to accommodate the anti-migrant sentiments that are surfacing in the country. The House of Representatives has voted by a large majority, that included both Republicans and Democrats, to limit the number of Syrian refugees entering the US. All of a sudden the myth of the ‘American melting pot’ is being discarded by leading politicians of all shades.
In Europe Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader in Britain who thrives on sensationalism, has accused all Muslims of having “divided loyalties”. Marine Le Pen in France is riding the crest and her chances of becoming president in the next elections have been greatly enhanced. In Poland, the least EU country affected by immigration problems, the new right-wing government has decided to stop accepting refugees.
The EU eastern countries led by Hungary are creating formidable obstacles for an EU wide-wide consensus on the refugee crisis, mainly by going their own way. The indomitable Angela Merkel is under pressure by her Bavarian allies to reverse her open-door policy on refugees.
All this turmoil is, of course, playing in the Isis leaders’ hands. A dangerous xenophobic scenario is creeping all over the West. The calls for a crackdown on all Muslims would bring about a siege mentality on the established large Islamic communities in Europe and elsewhere. The great majority of these are law-abiding citizens and will now feel threatened, especially the new generation, sons and daughters of the original immigrant parents, who will find themselves ostracised from the rest.
It is from this new generation that Isis is finding its raw material and nurturing fanatical recruits. They are intelligent and educated and readily available after proper brainwashing and training to return to the countries where they were born and bred to cause havoc and pain.
Closing borders and making countries fortresses are sure recipes for the success of Isis and the triumph of their terrorist agenda around the world.