In a video posted on Youtube the US journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria, was beheaded by the unknown ISIS militant. The investigation of Foley's execution has revealed some shocking details. The cold-blooded ritual killing was presumably performed by British rapper who went to fight in Syria under the name “Jihadi John”.
Studio guest Sergei Utkin, Head of Department of Strategic Assessment at the Center for Situation Analysis at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ernest Sultanov, coordinator of MIR-initiative, independent think-tank, shared their opinions with Radio VR.
Sergei Utkin: I think this case has not changed much in the substance. We do have a lot of public interest to the case, because it sounds like a detective story and makes people curious. The guy who is the suspect had quite some background with the Muslim world. And if we speak about his ideas, whatever prosperous the society is, there is always a possibility that a person gets some crazy ideas in his mind. Look at the case of Breivik in the northern Europe.
What is more important, is that we have an organization, we have an institutionalized structure which course is developing the caliphate, developing the medieval kind of state, very different from what we know in the modern world.
I heard that their radical ideas are not supported by the population, but, on the other hand, if we speak about the Arab world, we have plenty of very practical problems with people having no access to real chances in their lives. And that makes them support these forces.
Why do you think so many young people become radicalized?
Ernest Sultanov: Most of the Muslims, especially the youngsters and especially in England, are good people. They are kind, open and reliable. They are ready to share with you their meal and home space, and they are working hard to improve their position in the society. I even remember one English young man of Sudanese origin, whose father was imam in a countryside, sharing a room in campus with a Buddhist from Sri Lanka. And it was a friendly relation in spite of all cultural and religious differences.
So, I think the story of this young man in this strange movement in Syria and Iraq is quite a different story. He shouldn’t be treated as a Muslim, but as a kind of rock-n-roller. He used to be very popular, but the popularity is kind of a beautiful lady that has a custom of vanishing after a while.
But this trend is really alarming, and not just in the UK, but across Europe. According to some estimates there are 2000 Europeans fighting in Syria and Iraq. And that number is not really accurate, because according to different sources it could be much higher.
Ernest Sultanov: Actually, this case is just 1-2 percent of the whole Muslim population. You’ve mentioned a few thousand people, but it is millions in Europe. So, it is just peanuts. It looks like the school shooting in the US. I mean, the teenagers are trying to attract attention to their problems killing the others. It is not good, it is bad. But it is not like in every school in the US you have shooting. These are rare cases. But I agree, we have to solve this situation, and it should be solved not only in England and in Europe, but also in the ME.
You must not create chaos in the ME, destroy the states there, create a gap and create ground for the Taliban and other movements like the one in Syria and Iraq. You must resolve this in the ME before resolving it in England. In England it is just a small percentage, the problem is in the ME. That’s what we should be focused at.
To what extent do you think it is different from our regular understanding of Jihadis and even Al Qaeda? What do you make out of this idea of global caliphate? To what extent it is dangerous to all of us?
Ernest Sultanov: You have to remember the situation in Afghanistan. They destroyed everything and left the country to the different gangs who were struggling between themselves. Then, the Taliban came and established kind of a power on that territory. This way of ruling was not very attractive to the West, but it was ruling.
The same situation is created all around the ME. They are bombarding the states without creating an alternative. And then, they are having their monsters, like this movement. And this movement tries to gain ground, because the state actually vanished on this territory.
Sergei Utkin: We should not overestimate the strength of this movement. On the one hand, we see some success in Iraq and Syria. And, of course, we should treat this kind of developments with all seriousness. But, on the other hand, it can stop at this point. The first success is not really the promise for the next success. It can end here.
