British prime minister, David Cameron, is trying to persuade the British Parliament to join the US and the French in attacks against the Islamic State but is encountering a high degree of skepticism from British lawmakers. The hesitation stems from the earlier experience in invading Iraq in 2003, an episode that failed to realize specific strategic objectives and led to the high degree of instability that the world currently faces in the Middle East. This hesitation also reflects a perennial problem in the analysis of world politics: what lessons can be learned from history and how to interpret previous experiences with contemporary circumstances which are always slightly different from the historical record.
There was a shooting incident near a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. Early reports indicated that several police and civilians were injured in the shooting. Planned Parenthood has been the target of some anti-abortion groups who believe that abortion is immoral. I wonder if the media will refer to this tragedy as an act of “Christian” terrorism?
There was a gun attack on a Shia mosque in Bogra, Bangladesh. The international media is blaming the Islamic State for the attack on a mosque frequented by both Sunni and Shia Muslims. But the Bangladeshi media is reporting that the attack was carried out by a local group, not the Islamic State. The Shia Muslim population of Bangladesh is believed to be quite small, but, until recently, the country did not have a history of sectarian violence. More recently, however, there have been violent attacks on Christian, Shia Mulsim, and atheist populations.
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