Isis

We are told today: 

Mosul, and up to 1/4 of the area of Iraq and modern Mesopotamia, including all of the province of Ninevah has come under the control of Isis in less than a day, and almost without a fight;

The Americans took 3 weeks to get that far - Life trumps Shock & Awe. 

The 1700 fighters seemingly took the town, and much of the surrounding countryside, almost without firing a shot - the deserting/defecting Iraqi Army obliging left much, if not all of it's military equipment abandoned for the brigands to comandeer, and so the fledging Caliphate is now well-equipped for Civil Defence and future, far more ambitious operations to expand their territory

(and ultimately, attack Iran, and cleanse the Shi'ia appostates and heretics, no doubt.)

Tel Aviv must be delighted.

Initial reports told that anywhere between 150,000 and 500,000 local residents had fled their homes and become internally displaced refugees; 

Subsequent reports have suggested that many, if not all of them, have now returned home, absent any actual danger to lives or property, or the chastity of their womenfolk.

(Which certainly cannot be said to be the case with any areas under the control of the Iraqi Army, very different to, and totally unlike the Syrian Army, which is built upon a basic foundational grounding in the integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Monopoly on Law and Armed Force which is it's core, fundamental and ideological underpinning, and the hallmark of the modern, viable nation-state - in Iraq, this is completely absent.)

Isis "has ties to al-Qaeda" - 

“If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” 

― Malcolm X

So-called ISIS Militants "with ties to al-Qaeda" - most certainly not the brigands of the Nusra front, also known as the Arab Legion of NATO Command, that kill multuculturalists and secularists, cut out and eat their hearts.

"These people? You want to fund these people?

I hardly think we should be giving money to those who kill their enemies and eat their organs..."

- Vladamir Putin, 

Q&A with David Cameron, 

2012 G8 Conference

Pazuzu, Demon-God of the North Wind, Bringer of Locusts, Lord of the Flies.

Ninevah, Northern Iraq, 1973.

The Clash of Civilisations