2015: the year ahead
In 2015 the international community, particularly the US and its coalition partners, will have to reassess its strategy towards the Islamic State, which still controls vast areas of Iraqi and Syrian territory, and which continues to disgust the world with its acts of genocide and crimes against humanity.
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In Syria a strong dose of realpolitik is needed; President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime is unlikely to be defeated and the immediate priority has to be providing aid to the millions of displaced people, both inside and outside Syria, as well as defeating Islamic State in that country. Countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, meanwhile, will not be able to continue hosting the millions of refugees from Syria, should the situation not stabilise.
Some sort of dialogue with Assad will probably have to take place but Russia and Iran, Syria’s only allies, will need to show more responsibility in this conflict and exert pressure on Assad to be more flexible. The US, on the other hand, will need to encourage some soul-searching by its ally Saudi Arabia in an attempt to assess whether it has contributed to the rise of jihadism in the world.
The Western world, particularly Europe, will have to evaluate why a number of its Muslim citizens are joining the ranks of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and why some have chosen to commit acts of terrorism in their host countries.
Last Wednesday’s terrible atrocity in Paris when gunmen attacked the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people, is a case in point. Security will have to be re-evaluated, but Western society must not fall into the trap set by the terrorists and go for a knee-jerk reaction against Muslim communities. What al-Qaeda and Islamic State want is a ‘clash of civilisations’ and we must be careful not to allow this to happen. Muslim leaders in Europe, on the other hand, must continue to vocal in their condemnation of Islamist extremism.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150111/opinion/2015-the-year-ahead.551366
