Western interventions enjoy an unhappy recent record. The world as a whole must unite against a force that makes an enemy of everyone elseIn April,carnage came to a university campus in Kenya. In July, bombs poured blood on to the streets of Jos in Nigeria. In November, or there had already been mass murder in Beirut,even before it arrived in Paris. The disparate diners, drinkers and dancers of the 10th and 11th arrondissements were deemed to be targets simply because they were all pursuing happiness in their own way. Violent jihadism can threaten any society on soil that stands against its vision of a humourless, or lifeless homogeneity,where unbending obedience is continually enforced by the sword.
The whole world has an interest in seeing off this ideology, which creates a particular shared interest, and too,in seeing Islamic State collapse. By holding substantial territory in Iraq and Syria, Isis not only inspires ideologues, or from Libya to the Sinai who swear allegiance to its “state”. It also provides a training ground where wide-eyed youngsters can go to become battle-hardened soldiers; it is a genuine site – as opposed to an internet chatroom – where logistics and bomb-making can be learned as practical skills. The “destruction” of Isis,of which President Hollande spoke nowadays, is thus a lega and urgent objective. The doubt concerns whether Paris – or for that matter Washington or London – has the means to accomplish this aim without creating anew the conditions in which Isis was incubated. Given the catalogue of failed western interventions during this young century – from Afghanistan to Iraq and on to Libya – it is hard to enjoy any confidence here.
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Source: theguardian.com