So ISIS that Islamic terrorist group that is choking up my news feed and causing me to have worries for the world. They are now referring to themselves as IS (Islamic State) according to Vice News. they are a terrorist group based out chiefly out of Syria. They have gone to immense costs to inflict harm and pain on others. A lot of this has been in an attempt to curtail the United States involvement in the Middle Eastern countries such as Syria, at also because they want to reestablish the caliphates, which is their primary goal.
You may be aware of what happened to reporter Jim Foley last week. If not let me catch you up. Reporter Jim Foley was captured awhile back. In 2012. ISIS didn't exist back then so we know that he must have changed hands at some point and become ISIS's prisoner instead of that of whoever capture him in the first place. I know crazy how this world of terrorism/international politics works. Anyway. So last week a video was published, pictured in the video is a orange clad Jim Foley kneeling on the ground while next to him stands a ISIS member dressed all in black with a knife in hand. The ISIS member goes into a diatribe about American Forces and such the like, and then it cuts for a brief moment and then the insurgent wields the knife and Foley's head is gone. That's the kind of atrocities ISIS handles. Can you even imagine? I can't bring myself to even look for the actual video of Mr. Foley's murder. I can only handle the news stories, but I cannot even imagine what this man went through. Much controversy has arisen over this video because the insurgent that goes into the diatribe does so in English and in an accent that many are identifying as from London and the England area. So they have tried to identify him. but also they have found that the insurgent who does the actual killing is not the same as who does the talking. it's fascinating stuff, go read the news articles, because that's not what I wanted to talk about. (CNN has some good ones, especially if you designate you want the International version).
What I really wanted to talk about is the similarities I'm seeing from ISIS to other "World terrors" I guess is how you could put it.
Recently on Vice news I read a story in which it described the executions ISIS holds in the areas it controls every Friday. they inform the inhabitants of the areas that there will be executions and encourage them to attend. Sometimes they force people on the street to come and witness these executions. Children have been front row as these executions took place. At they weren't pretty by any means. Executions are either beheadings (not pretty, see the French Revolution and Madame Guillotine), or close range shootings in the head (also not pretty). Children and innocents are being forced to watch this go down. I cannot even imagine, or recreate this horrifying experience in my head. Besides public executions they will hang the bodies, sometimes on crucifixes for up to three days at a time, just to make a point.
But it sort of reminds me of things like the French Revolution. and The Romans who hated the Christians. IS is not necessarily soemthing we want in our world, but they are following the same pattern. Following a pattern of fear that will hopefully turn into obeisance. I mean come on, ISIS has a PR guy. for real, they do. Also a lot of what we hear from them, how they take credit for mass killings like the one this morning, or how we saw the video of Jim Foley. it's all from the website or other social media sites.
I see so many different ties in what they are doing to what regimes and people have done in the past it's kind of crazy. but I only see glimmers since my knowledge of in depth history is sketchy. But I'm still learning. And after all, I'm just a College kid.
Sources:
https://news.vice.com/article/details-of-american-woman-being-held-by-the-islamic-state-emerge
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/25/world/meast/james-foley-killer-five-clues/index.html?iref=allsearch
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/19/world/meast/isis-james-foley/index.html?iref=allsearch
Disclaimer: I am a college student starting out in the political and international world. I know how to research and I don't like twisting the facts, so if there are facts, I will back them up with sources. But my personal opinions are just that. Opinions. And therefore you probably shouldn't take those as true or relevant. They are just my OPINIONS.
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