Rise of the Islamic State
"If a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant," said U.S. President Barack Obama seven months ago, referring to the jihadist group the Islamic State (IS). Since then, IS has taken over an estimated 35-thousand square miles of territory in Iraq and Syria and vows to establish an Islamic state over some 470-thousand square miles, upending the modern map of the Middle East. The Agenda discusses the growth of IS, the threat the group poses, and the appropriate response in both Iraq and Syria.