Even while crediting the
allure of the internet, it seems improbable that anyone would join a
cult or extremist group without some encouragement or introduction.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot that controls large portions of Iraq and Syria, has claimed to have beheaded yet another Western hostage,
along with more than a dozen captured Syrian soldiers. In a
newly-released video, a henchman for the group stands over what appears
to be the severed head of Peter Kassig, a former US Army Ranger turned
aid worker who was kidnapped in Syria in late 2013.
From the Islamic State's perspective, such videos serve multiple
purposes. They are meant to intimidate the organization's enemies in the
West and elsewhere, show defiance in the face of opposition, and to
convince other jihadists that Baghdadi's stateis the strong horse. Al
Qaeda, the Islamic State's rival, long ago determined that graphic
beheading videos do more harm than good for the jihadists' cause, as
they turn off more prospective supporters than they earn. But the
Islamic State has clearly come to the opposite conclusion, cornering the
market on savagery.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Jabhat al-Nusra, like the Lebanse Shi'ite organization, is emerging
as a movement that combines uncompromising jihadi ideology with tactical
flexibility. Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamist group which constitutes
al-Qaida's "official franchise" in Syria, this week carried out a
successful offensive against Western-backed rebel militias in northern
Syria. Key areas were captured.
Islamic State and its activities further east continue to dominate
Western media reporting on the war in Syria. But in northwest Syria,
Lebanon and the area immediately east of the Golan, it is Nusra which is
becoming the