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President Obama: New War on Terror

President Obama: New War on Terror
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US President Barack Obama made the most decisive steps to destroy the Islamic State terror group ordering massive airstrikes against IS targets and calling on the United Nations to build a coalition to dismantle militants of the “Network of Death”.

US President Barack Obama made the most decisive steps to destroy the Islamic State terror group ordering massive airstrikes against IS targets and calling on the United Nations to build a coalition to dismantle militants of the “Network of Death”. Responding to the appeal, UN Security Council meeting chaired by Obama passed a resolution on terrorists and foreign mercenaries.

Studio guest Victor Mizin, Deputy Director of the Institute of Strategic Assessment, Thomas Seifert, Deputy Editor in Chief of “Wiener Zeitung” (Austria), Edgar Bellow, Professor of International Management at NEOMA Business School (France), expert on geopolitics and international affairs, shared their opinions with Radio VR.

What will be France’s part in the fight against the ISIS?

Edgar Bellow: We are living in an instable world order today, and many new actors are trying to set up a new world order. And ISIS is seen like a new actor who is trying to impose a new world order. We see that the Security Council members should not let this terror group, no matter what the geopolitical situation today is, this new actor shouldn’t be allowed to clamp territory or to impose a new ideology and terror, and destabilize the world’s fragile economic situation today.

We think that the UN Security Council members should unite and take actions together to reduce and eliminate this movement, first of all, because all of the members are in danger, mainly because of these foreign fighters that will return back. I think that this is an opportunity for all the Security Council members to unite and take action to promote a new world order.

How this resolution is useful to actually fight against ISIS? What can each country do to contribute to this?

Thomas Seifert: I think it is quite useful, because it sends the signal to some of the backers of ISIS that it is not a good idea to do that. And that might be the financial sanctions. And at the beginning, before ISIS accessed oil income in Syria and parts of Iraq, the donors from the Gulf were actually involved in financing its operations. And I think it is very useful to send a signal to these countries, that whoever sends money to these people gets a massive problem.

When we see these massive airstrikes which are launched on the ISIS targets, do you really believe that this would enable us to dismantle the network?

Thomas Seifert: Of course, it is not that easy. But the thing is that by using air power, you deny them mobility. When you have the threat of action, be it drones or aircraft, you lose your ability to move, because a moving target, let’s say an armed vehicle, is an easy target for air force. So, I think that is something that on a tactical level will help the fighters on the ground. But the key point is that I don’t think that NATO, the US or anybody else in the alliance wants to contribute ground troops. So, what you need is to get allies on the ground, get the local population involved. And we know that the Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq want to do that.

Victor Mizin: A crime for which, probably, Mr. Rumsfeld should be prosecuted, is that the American forces just moved in 2003 and then moved out, and nothing has been done for rebuilding the infrastructure and something by the model of de-Nazification in the post war Germany after the WWII. Iraq was lost and I think this is the main cause that ISIS has come into existence.

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