ISIS

And not the awesome song by Dylan, either.

Pretty decent article on ISIS and its origins. 

While I largely agree with the Anand Gopal, I don't believe he is looking far enough back on the origins of the Arab Spring and ISIS.

It didn't start with the US involvement in the MENA region post-9/11 for the GWOT. It began with Britain and France carving up the Middle East out of the remains of the Ottoman Empire after WW I.

These borders lumped together ethnic enemies (divide and conquer, maybe?) to be ruled over by Western-backed strongman dictators to allow for "easy trade negotiations".

Despite that disagreement, I think the journalist is right on on the current state of affairs and his assessment on the best course of action for the US in response to ISIS.