Group items tagged

"the "commanding heights" (large-scale industry, foreign trade, banking, and transport) "

Excerpt from book Commanding Heights

The article that I chose to put in our Diigo list was about ISIS's ability to sway younger people in foreign countries through their use of social media. According to this article, ISIS is recruiting people from the West (USA/EU) through Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Kik and more. They are essentially the "new-age" terrorist organization because ISIS is able to very effectively use digital means to spread their message. For example, about two weeks ago, ISIS released a video in which they beheaded an American journalist. This video was posted on Facebook and Twitter and spread very, very quickly. Additionally, the article states that ISIS's recruitment message has been very successful as they have received hundreds of recruits from the West (USA/EU). Possibly as a response to the growing power of ISIS, today Germany decided to supply thousands of armaments to the Kurds in Iraq in order to fight off ISIS. I am curious to see how the USA handles in the situation with ISIS because they are obviously a group that has the capability to do a lot of damage but I doubt the USA wants to support a group that will eventually turn against them like the Mujahideen fighters in the 1980s.

It is alarming how quickly ISIS can recruit and spread information through social media. It truly is "online jihad 3.0".

Couldn't twitter and other online website deactivate their accounts? or block some of their posts or something, or is it a legal issue? ISIS seems appears to be an organized terrorist group. The fact that they have that kind of book keeping is strange. Their ability to publicize their actions and demands seems to put more pressure on the actions of intervening political parties.

The Iranian national currency, the rial has been in steady decline for months, and the only method that the government has used to combat the issue is to print more money-- not the best plan of action.

I agree with what Alexander said. I think it would be interesting to investigate whether or not the Obama administration has considered applying economic pressure to Iran in order to achieve diplomatic means. With Iran in such an unstable economic state (which I am surprised isn't covered more by American news media), why would the US government even consider using military force against Iran if the Ahmadinejad regime could be destabilized in another way. We'll see how Obama and Romney treat this issue in the foreign policy debate, as Obama could use an argument based on Iran's economic instability in going against Romney's position on using military force against Iran.

yes!

All eyes are on China as its president and prime minister, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, plan to implement economic liberalization while increasing the power of the state political party. This has drawn criticism from political scientists, as discussed in the article, because of its apparent contradiction: how can you encourage markets and the private sector to open up more if you don't want to decrease the eminence of the state (and state control over sectors)? The reforms proposed by the state and government heads will try to make Chinese economic growth more sustainable in more ways than one, a task the previous president Hu Jintao shirked away from. Some political scientists also believe the problems arising from the reforms won't originate from "ideological conservatism", but rather from state-owned, controlled, or subsidized industries that do not want the increased market competition. Protectionism, anyone?

Insight into the goals and values of ISIS. Interesting to compare with traditional Islam and how ISIS interprets the religion and then puts it into action. The opaque curtain between ISIS and the outside world has left a huge gap in our knowledge on how to predict their actions or defeat them. It's a really long article but if you only have time to skim: pay attention to the large statements in bold and sections the reading is organized in to learn about specific aspects of their regime.

"In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East, admitting that he had hardly begun figuring out the Islamic State's appeal. "We have not defeated the idea," he said. "We do not even understand the idea." In the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as "not Islamic" and as al-Qaeda's "jayvee team," statements that reflected confusion about the group, and may have contributed to significant strategic errors." Wow. That's concerning!