Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The fight against the Islamic State is an ideological battle as much as it is a military one.
The Islamic State needs to be fought militarily, but the underlying causes of frustration and marginalization also have to be addressed.
Corruption acts as a thread tying recent frightening international security crises together.
Germany has expressed its readiness to join the coalition of the willing against the Islamic State. But can the country’s military forces live up to its NATO engagement?
While the Islamic State can be defeated militarily, the United States and regional countries will need to prevent the creation of more groups like it in the future.
The real challenge is not necessarily stopping the Islamic State, but rather ensuring that it does not reemerge.
It remains to be seen what role Arab countries will play in combined international efforts to defeat the Islamic State.
At various turns in the crisis in Ukraine, when it looked like Russia’s status on the ropes, Putin has chosen to escalate the situation.
With the international investigation of the Malaysian plane crash yet to begin in earnest, the West will base its understanding on evidence supplied mainly by the United States and Russia will see Western actions as punishment not for shooting down the plane, but rather for Moscow’s position on Ukraine.
Engagements with Israel have a contradictory effect of bolstering the credibility of Hamas.