MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) – The fact that almost a half of British, German and French citizens think that the current situation in Iraq is not connected to US invasion of Iraq in 2003 can be explained by short collective memory, Vladislav Belov, a senior analyst at the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences, told RIA Novosti Friday.
"This is short historical memory. Only few people remember the events as they unfolded in 2003, what exactly was the basis of the invasion of Iraq. Only few people remember a very restrictive approach of the "troika" - Russia, France and Germany," Belov said.
A survey commissioned by the International Information News Agency Rossiya Segodnya and conducted by ICM Research in France, Germany and the UK showed that 47 percent of voters believe that the instability in Iraq is the result of internal political development with only 32 percent thinking that what is happening now are consequences of the military invasion.
"This is an example of the formation of a one-sided position without an integrated approach and a comprehensive assessment of the events that took place ten or fifteen years ago," the expert added.
The poll revealed that 15 percent of French voters, 7 percent of British voters and 2 percent of Germans have a positive perception of the Islamic State (IS). Experts believe that such numbers correlate with number of immigrants from Arab countries and the Middle East in these countries.
"The presence of a significant number, the largest in Europe, of immigrants from Islamic countries in France, clearly displays itself. Many representatives of the younger generation long ago broke away from the countries from which their parents had arrived, but they choose demonstrative solidarity with radical Islamists as a form of protest," Yuri Rubinsky, the head of the French Studies Department of the Institute of Europe, told RIA Novosti.
The expert added that the poll results also indicate that discontent is rising among the French population.
"This is simply a manifestation of the country's accumulated rejection of the existing system as a whole," Rubinsky said.
The Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS, is a Sunni group that has been fighting in Syria and launched an offensive in Iraq in June. The group has taken over large parts of the country, with a goal of seizing Baghdad. The group has also announced the establishment of a caliphate on the Iraq-Syria border.
