I guess it's not much of a question since that region of the world is hell. It's extremely hot, bland, arid, and everything that walks on two legs is trying to kill the world.
What scares me the most is not the threat of some radical group gaining power and launching an invasion into North America or Europe. That kind of threat is minuscule. A radical group's only hope of attacking the United States is carrying out some terrorist bombing much like the Boston Marathon. Even if they got their hands on a nuke, snuck it into the United States and blew up part of a city, while tragic and forever changing, the loss of a million lives is 1/313 of the population of the country.
What scares me is the media. The reporting of world events is much like the side stories of Entertainment News. It's the same feel as TMZ articles and videos except we're presented with more commentary from "experts," something John Stewart in his comedy sketch last night pointed out; these experts are routinely incorrect and yet are consistently reused on the same news programs and have been for the last 15 years.
What's the focus right now? Is it the Syrian war? Is it Hezbollah in Lebanon? Is it the Ukraine? Russia's snatching of territories based on race and ethnicity? The Arab Spring? The Muslim radical groups taking over Egypt? Is Iran the supreme evil? What about that Axis of Evil, North Korea, Iraq, and Iran?
Is it ISIS? An acronym that sounds more like a Star Trek ship than a scary group like al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Muslim Brotherhood?
I guess now it's ISIS and the rhetoric is much the same as it has been since 2001.
ISIS is the worst of them all! They are relentless, heartless, sociopathic extremists wanting to advance Islam in the most bloody manner. They hate America, white women with blond hair, and all things you hold dear. They are marching in large numbers. They are sophisticated and organized. They have advanced weaponry and military strategists. They will be in Baghdad soon and then true chaos begins! Welcome to your hell, America!
Now whose fault is it? That's the rub! Yes, yes! Whose fault? Bush! It was Bush says the people on this side of the ring. No! Wait! It's Obama! He's the current president! It's his fault! It's his fault Crimea was annexed by Russia!
Wait, wait. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the rebels in Syria! That's Bush's fault for causing instability in the region and providing motivation for citizens to join radical Muslim groups! No, no. Wait a second. It's Obama's fault for intervening in the war!
I don't know much about ISIS, but it's the same story from that region of the world since 2001. Really, it's the same story from that region since, well, thousands of years ago.
Factions of brown people with extreme and ignorant ideology form to fight the other factions of brown people with extreme and ignorant ideology. Most established governments involved are supporting certain factions while fighting others and the United States is often involved somehow. Here was a funny quote from Reddit:
So the Syrian government (which the US is working to overthrow) is now cooperating with the Iraqi government (which the US installed) to fight the Jihadist terrorists/"rebels" (which the US opposes in Iraq but supports in Syria)???
Meanwhile, Iran (which the US opposes) has offered to help Iraq (its former arch-enemy) AND the US (its current enemy) and Syria (its ally) in suppressing the the Jihadists (which the US opposes in Iraq but supports in Syria)???
And where does Israel, (who hates Iran, hates Syria, hates Iraq and hates Jihadists) stand in all of this???
I'll finish my rant with a quote from Orwell:
Since about that time, war had been literally continuous, though strictly speaking it had not always been the same war. For several months during his childhood there had been confused street fighting in London itself, some of which he remembered vividly. But to trace out the history of the whole period, to say who was fighting whom at any given moment, would have been utterly impossible, since no written record, and no spoken word, ever made mention of any other alignment than the existing one. At this moment, for example, in 1984 (if it was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. In no public or private utterance was it ever admitted that the three powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge, which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.
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