Global Affairs

Photo source            The Islamic State, commonly known as ISIS or ISIL has unofficially been ousted from many strongholds in Iraq and Syria. The terrorist organization, a once off branch of Al Qaeda, was able to swiftly rise to power in 2014. Three years prior to this, the United States officially backed out of the War effort in Iraq. That same year, President Assad of Syria propelled a gruesome civil war in his country that is just as ubiquitous now as it was in 2011. Terrorist organizations rise to power and thrive in unstable regions of the world. In doing so, groups like ISIS are able to take advantage and easily overwhelm underfunded and exhausted federal forces. In 2013, ISIS was able to capitalize on the instability in Syria and capture the city of Raqqa from rebel forces. Raqqa, the Islamic States’ Syrian capital was liberated from ISIS control in October of 2017 by counterterrorism forces. In 2014, the Islamic State began its campaign to establish a caliphate in Iraq.

Source: https://www.pinterest.com /pin/139541288431965767/ On November 6 th , Iraq’s highest federal court ruled that the referendum to declare independence from Iraq by the Kurdish people was unconstitutional. Two months prior to this decision, the Kurdish people successfully voted and passed a declaration that created the new nation in northern Iraq of Kurdistan. The movement to separate from Iraq had been decades in the making but had been temporarily ceased due to the rise of the Islamic State and the fighting that took place in the region. Kurdish militants, or YPG (Kurdish People’s Protection Unit), were extremely successful in the fight against the Islamic State. Without the Kurds, ISIL would be nowhere close to being ousted from Iraq and Syria and on a downward spiral. When ISIL first began to conquer large swaths of territory in 2014, the U.S. did not want to send more ground troops and engage in yet another war. So, the United States turned to the YPG to fight the

Later this week or early next week, President Trump is set to announce if North Korea will be listed as a state sponsor of terrorism. On the job currently is Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to investigate the claim. North Korea was put on the state sponsorship of terrorism list in 1988 after it bombed a South Korean airliner. North Korea was removed from this list in 2008 when President Bush hoped to strike a deal with the country in freezing it's nuclear program. Today the question remains, does North Korea sponsor terrorism? To answer this question, let's turn to the region of Lebanon and Palestine. In the area, there are two groups referred to as Hamas and Hezbollah. In short, Hamas is a pro-Palestine group whose aim is to take back the lands of Israel. In order to achieve success, Hamas has turned to killings and suicide bombings. Tactics that have condemned them by Israel, the EU, and the United States as a terrorist organization. Hamas' second goal is to establish

Imagine a foreign state that has no deterrence capabilities. On top of that, this particular country is experiencing serious poverty and a famine crisis. For an outside state, like the U.S., invading this country would be simple. There would be no option for the government of this state to retaliate if it had inadequate defense to deter. The presence of nuclear weapons, however, would completely change this dynamic. Now, you have a state that is able to deter outsiders from invading and implementing any type of regime change. This is where we stand with North Korea today. A country that is fully capable of deterring in order to sustain regime success. The presence of nuclear weapons in North Korea is as much strategic as it is threatening. Kim Jong-Un wants the world, including the United States, to fear North Korea. In doing so, North Korea can control the outcome. The United States and its allies are understandably afraid of Kim Jong-Un and his regime. In the foreign policy realm,