Western strategists are routinely taught to remember a number of maxims, one of the most popular being that “the enemy has a vote”. This fundamental truth of strategy has so far gone apparently unheeded…
An Australian Super Hornet refuels from a KC30 tanker while flying over Iraq.
@VCDF_Australia/Twitter
There are two reasons why we should ignore the growing calls in the United States, Canada and Australia for Western “boots on ground” – meaning ground troops – to fight and destroy the Islamic State (IS…
Islamic State flags flown by militants in the east of the Syrian city of Kobanê, within sight of the Turkish border.
EPA/SEDAT SUNA
The black flag of ISIS has been sighted in the Syrian city of Kobanê. For three weeks, heavily armed ISIS gangs have advanced on Kobanê – also known as Ayn al-Arab – steadily pushing back the local YPG…
“Yeah, it’s totally legal, I promise…”
EPA/Andy Rain
The advanced disintegration of Syria and Iraq has allowed the gradual consolidation of the power of increasingly unsavoury actors. Under its black banner, Islamic State (IS) is doing its best to challenge…
Known as White Rocks, this quartz outcrop was the site of a three-hour gun battle in 1915 between police and two Afghans, who had shot and killed picnickers leaving Broken Hill.
Amanda Slater/Flickr
It’s another hot Australian New Year’s Day, and 1200 people are aboard a train bound for a picnic when a burst of gunfire shatters the festive atmosphere. Police return fire, killing the attackers – but…
Troops conduct an anti-terrorist drill in front of a banner of one of the Saudi royal family. Despite the kingdom’s role in fostering extremism, the US sees Saudi Arabia as an ally against Islamic State.
EPA/Saudi Press Agency
As Australia prepares to join combat operations, the coalition of nations stitched together by the US in response to the developing threat of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS or ISIL) is overlooking the…
The UK’s air assault on Islamic State (IS) began with two RAF Tornado GR4 bombers attacking targets in Iraq: one using a Paveway IV precision-guided munition (PGM) to destroy an IS heavy weapon position…
A Syrian boy sleeps on a blanket on the stony ground at a Turkish refugee camp.
EPA/SEDAT SUNA
Few people had heard of the Syrian town of Kobanê until recently. But since coming under sustained attack in the last fortnight by Islamic State (ISIS) militants, the town has attracted international attention…
Air strikes in Syria are the latest phase of the war against Islamic State, each stage involving a fresh set of moral judgements.
EPA/US Air Force
Every generation in recent memory has had seminal historical conflicts which demand that lessons must be learnt. The baby boomers had the Vietnam war. Their parents: the second world war. And our generation…
Only the day before the UK parliament’s controversial decision to re-engage British military forces in Iraq, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, claimed to have intelligence that Islamic State (IS…
As the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly to take action against Islamic State in Iraq, I was reminded of The Big Lebowski, one of my favourite films. Set in August 1990, the opening scene introduces…
Displaced Iraqis have found refuge in the Kurdish capital, Erbil, only to be threatened by advancing Islamic State fighters until international military forces intervened.
EPA/Mohamed Messara
To those of us living in Australia, conflict can seem surreal and distant. Yes, we see it on the television, but it is hard to imagine the chaos and horror that accompanies war and conflict. It is not…
With instability plaguing the Middle East since the emergence of Islamic State (IS), Iran is once again faced with spiralling instability and Western military interventions just across its border. It also…
Ever since arriving in Canberra in July, Senator Jacqui Lambie has had the media in a spin.
AAP Image/Alan Porritt
If a movie is ever made about the life of the well-known PUP senator from Tasmania, we can be sure it won’t be titled “Silence of the Lambie”. After a little over two months in public life, quiet and stillness…
US President Barack Obama announces the start of a campaign of allied airstrikes against Islamic State forces in Syria.
EPA/Win McNamee
Having secured some sort of tacit agreement with Damascus, the coalition bombing campaign inside Syria proper has begun in earnest. The US, France and an ambiguous array of allies is unleashing the bleeding…
Salafi mosques are among the few to reach out to local converts in Europe.
EPA/Julian Stratenschulte
Esra Özyürek, London School of Economics and Political Science
Governments in Europe have been horrified to see their young nationals turning to extremist groups and committing terrible acts in their name, but few have stopped to think about how their own policies…
The decision by President Obama to launch missile and air strikes against Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaeda affiliate “Khorasan” in Syria draws the United States ever closer to yet another prolonged…
Hear no evil? Many politicians have labelled Islamic State ‘evil’, but what does that really mean?
See-no-hear-no-speak-no-evil monkeys/Shuttterstock
Our time, this decade even, has shown us that man’s capacity for evil knows no limits. – Then United Nations’ Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 1997 Over the past few weeks leading up to the US-led bombing…
The United States has commenced major air operations against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. Aircraft from bases in the Gulf, supported by air-to-air refuelling, struck a substantial range of targets…
The ultimate test of success of raids such as last week’s is whether those charged can be deradicalised so they do not present a threat after the justice system has dealt with them.
EPA/NSW Police
The dust is settling after the extensive police raids across Sydney and Brisbane last week. Authorities say this was the largest counter-terrorism operation in Australia’s history. Not only was it the…