Connections
The Mole and the Mallet: Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the ‘Thirty Years' War’ in the Middle East
This article investigates the developments of al-Qaida and The Islamic State in the context of the war on terror. The Iraq war 2003–2010, including the US Counterinsurgency strategy implemented in Iraq in 2007 onwards, together with the political developments in Iraq after the US withdrawal of combat troops at the end of 2011 is seen as the breeding ground for Islamic State in Iraq and thus for establishment of the Nusra Front (al-Qaida) in Syria. The chapter argues that without political developments based on reliable states in the Arab Middle East there is no solution in sight for ending the conflicts and wars in the region.
Previous Issue
The Fall 2015 issue of Connections: The Quarterly Journal addresses two main themes: (1) how the Ukraine crisis is perceived in Central Asia, and (2) can the NATO campaign against Milosevic in 1999 and the independence of Kosovo, declared several years later, serve as precedent, and justification, for Russia's annexation of Crimea. Other artic...
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