An excellent article which puts the violence of IS into context.
The following is an op-ed I recently published in the Otago Daily Times about the barbarism of ISIS and how we might put it in context:
The latest atrocity by Islamic State forces in Iraq in which a captured Jordanian pilot was burned to death has provoked an understandable wave of commentary from around the world. The horrific spectacle created by the killing raises a number of crucial questions for us to consider. Is Islamic State (IS) a new, more brutal kind of rebel group? What purpose can such brutality serve? How should the world respond to the increasing brutality of the war in Iraq, and what does this latest development tell us about Western strategy in the region?
Sadly, this atrocity, and those previously committed by IS, are actually fairly banal in the history of warfare. Depraved cruelty and inhumanity is part and parcel of the very nature of…
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Security, Conflict and International Development (SCID) 
This is a good article. It’s great to see an objective piece, and whilst not offering solutions it is a reminder to take a breath and not jump into the same mistakes that have been made in the past.
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Its a a great article you have written.. it is not clear at all what they are gaining from it, i believe they are not acheiving anything in the journey of building an independent and recognised islamic state.. however, it makes you wonder why we still havent heard or seen any threats against Israel, since israel is believed to be the enemy in that particular region.
And it also make me wonder, a while before the media started to focus and expand on the IS issue, Bashar al Assad in syria attacked his own people with illegal chemical weapons.. the question is .. why dont we think a little bit out side that box and get our thought together away from the media propaganda, and focus more on who is benefiting and whos not from the existence of IS!! And it facinates me more to realise how the media around the world is focusing on a single member of IS and his family who have been surviving on UK benifit system.. how is that relevant?
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