ISIS-linked militants are threatening huge natural gas reserves the world needs badly right now.
They’re telling the world that they’ll be back.
The U.S. and other Western countries — which are trying to contain ISIS via airstrikes, which are often successful — are now telling Russia that they’ve got to send more fighter jets to Syria. Why? Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that more ISIS attacks would lead to a major conflagation, and Russia could not risk its air defenses being breached, according to the New York Times.
Russia is already in charge of an air war there, while the U.S. has only one military jet, according to the Times.
These are just two examples of the increasing importance placed on Russia’s role. Russia has been helping Syria and the Syrian leadership for years, and now that ISIS has been defeated in Syria and in Iraq, Russia is stepping up to make sure its allies’ oil, gas, and other wealth stay where it belongs.
And, of course, Russia has very real interests in preventing Iran and its allies in Syria from gaining complete dominance in that country.
Russia is also working on the nuclear front, with an agreement not only with Iran to allow Russia to have a new reactor at Bushehr but also with China, which has been working on its own nuclear reactor.
It’s an ugly and complicated picture.
The good news is that the West and the world as a whole are becoming even more aware of the threat that ISIS poses and are increasingly willing to work together to solve it.
“We now see a much more unified international response,” said Robert Fordham, an expert on the Middle East at the University of California, Irvine, who’s been following ISIS for a long time. “It’s the best thing we could have done because by working together, we are saving the entire world. We are saving the whole world from the potential that this group can wreak.”
And, he added, the West cannot sit still and allow ISIS to be resurrected elsewhere.
“What happened in Paris will not happen again,” Fordham said. “This is a group that is seeking to establish a caliphate not only in Syria and Iraq but also in Libya