Paris to London to Damascus to Karbala
So, while the world’s biggest buyers (of military hardware) and arms sellers were hugging and kissing in Riyadh – at the anti-terror summit recently – the savage terrorist outfit they were allegedly zeroing in on, for the benefit of the gallery of course, was simply expanding and killing. In the few days since, ISIS has gone active in mainland Europe, the Levant, and now in Arab proper. But don’t count on the al-Saud, or their dear friends in the White House for that matter, to realise, let alone explain, how those submarines, ships and (most likely) an aircraft carrier will help hunt down ISIS rebels in shanty towns littered across different continents.
The Karbala, Manchester and Damascus attacks came when the three countries were in a state of very high alert. That alone shows how frustrating it is to track down and defeat a guerilla army that leans, strategically and tactically, towards the softest targets. How smart do the Saudis look now spending in excess of three-hundred-billion dollars on weapons and weapon-carriers in the fight, allegedly, against ISIS and the like? The sooner everybody understands the mechanics of this new age of terrorism, the sooner all countries will make conditions that deprive the hidden terrorist of his ideal habitat; and that will require large non-military investments as well.