By David Singer ——Bio and Archives--July 10, 2015
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"... Da'esh is not Hitler's Germany, Tojo's Japan or Stalin's Russia. Its leaders dream that they, like the Arab armies of the 7th and 8th century, will sweep across the Middle East into Europe itself. They predict that before long they will be stabling their horses in the Vatican. We should be careful not to say or do things which can be seen to add credibility to those delusions."Turnbull used the term "Daesh"--instead of Islamic State - on 16 occasions during his address. This was in itself an indication of the confusion that he and other leading politicians around the world are experiencing - continuing to use an outdated Arab acronym from 2013 to identify an enemy whose original objectives have now extended far beyond Syria and Iraq--as its self-declaration of Statehood on 29 June 2014 makes clear:
"Accordingly, the "Iraq and Shām" in the name of the Islamic State is henceforth removed from all official deliberations and communications, and the official name is the Islamic State from the date of this declaration."
"The... most important part of the Government's response to Da'esh, is of course lending the support of our armed forces to defeating them in the field. The means of doing so are well beyond the scope of this speech, but the roll back and destruction of Da'esh in Iraq and Syria is critical to ending not just their barbaric rule in the Middle East, but their appeal beyond it, even, as we know, to a few of our own citizens."The illusion that Islamic State can be destroyed by the 62 nation coalition presently led by America--rather than by a United Nations force sanctioned under Article 42 of Chapter V11 of the United Nations Charter--represents a lack of genuine international will to stop Islamic State--and its threat to international peace and security - dead in its tracks. The parallels with failing to stop Hitler's Germany much earlier become clearer with each passing day.
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David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International—an organization calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at: jordanispalestine.blogspot.com