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Recent gains by Islamic State in Iraq have raised questions about the viability of the Obama administration’s strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat it. Thus far, President Barack Obama has ruled out the use of U.S. ground forces and opted for a mix of air strikes and arming elements in Iraq that have a vested interest in fighting Islamic State. The results of this approach have been mixed. What has become clear, though, is that to defeat Islamic State, the Obama administration must engage with elements of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, who are increasingly on the front lines battling Islamic State alongside motivated Iraqi forces.…  Seguir leyendo »

ISIS in the driver’s seat

It has been argued by many analysts of the Middle East that the Islamic State, or ISIS, is less of a threat to American interests in the region than Iran. Alas, that point may be true, but what is also true is that ISIS has imperial ambitions of its own. Its influence in Syria and Iraq has been established as its army of young recruits and hardened Sunni militia veterans march across the desert sands leaving chaos and devastation in their wake.

Surely these are sanguineous nihilists. Some would say means and ends are the same for them. However, there is a strategic strain in ISIS thinking.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Obama's decision to target militants from ISIS -- which is now calling itself the "Islamic State" or "IS" -- operating in Iraq comes as a huge relief to the Iranians. Officials in Tehran have been panic stricken since ISIS forces overran the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on June 10.

All political factions in Tehran would like to see ISIS suffer and its latest advances rolled back. At the same time, contradictory statements made in Tehran make it clear that the Iranian authorities are divided about the implications of the American military's return to Iraq.

The moderates, the group of people associated with President Hassan Rouhani's presidential administration, are nudging toward an open admission that American military operations in Iraq compliment Tehran's policy goals.…  Seguir leyendo »