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mcmecke

ISIS, ISIL Or Islamic State: What's In A Name? : Parallels : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...-islamic-state-whats-in-a-name

state middle ISIS ISIL political International Midde East Social Cultural Levant Syria Islam Islamic

shared by mcmecke on 12 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • "They're claiming to represent all Muslims everywhere — they have declared the establishment of a new caliphate,"
  • the abbreviation IS — Blank says he's seen its usage increase over the past two months.
  • the self-declared Islamic State" or some equivalent phrase, use ISIS in later references and, when necessary, explain that ISIL is another widely used acronym.)
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • That's a direct translation of the group's full name in Arabic, but "Syria" in this case means "Greater Syria" — not the modern nation by that name.
  • "It refers to Syria, Lebanon, parts of Turkey, parts of what are now Jordan," Blank explains. "The 'S' in the Arabic is "al-Sham."
  • It's a bit confusing: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-but-not-just-"Syria."
  • preferred by the Obama administration translates "al-Sham" as "the Levant," another name for the same region — one that isn't as misleading as "Syria."
  • The word "Levant" isn't very common today.
  • a once-common term that now has something of an antique whiff about it, like 'the Orient.' Because of the term's French colonial associations, many Arab nationalists and Islamist radicals disdain it, and it is unlikely that the militant group would choose 'Levant' to render its name."
  • "the Islamic State" — is a key piece of propaganda for the group, especially when it comes to targeting potential terrorist recruits.
  • none of these foreign fighters see themselves as terrorists. They see themselves as knights. They see themselves as mujahedeen. They see themselves as freedom fighters," Blank says. "So they're very interested in fighting for the Islamic State, and they do not regard what they are doing as in any way an act of terrorism."
  • "That's a totally different narrative, and it's one that the U.S. can facilitate, but the U.S. cannot really control."
  • mcmecke on 12 Sep 14
     
    Acronyms: ISIS or ISIL?
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