Sudden Change and ISIS

Seemingly out of nowhere a bunch of Mujahideen known as ISIS takes over goodly sized portions of Syria and Iraq. Everyone is surprised. Yeah right.

No one in any Western government has the right to be surprised. The signs were all there. Iraq's central government wasn't acting as a central government. Corruption was rampant. The needs of the northern part of the country had been ignored for years. Promises were not kept. Kurdish intelligence even warned their US contacts about ISIS.

How did ISIS conquer so much territory? It didn't. Sure, it took over a few places by force. Mostly though, cities ready for revolt started waving the ISIS flag. It wasn't so much a matter of ISIS taking over as people deciding ISIS was as good an excuse as any to revolt.

At least the US seems to realize the situation is more a political problem than a military one. It's actually a sign of political maturity to admit that all problems can't be solved by air strikes.

Force has its limits, and that's what scares the hell out of the Powers that Be.

We've seen in Iraq how problems can fester for years before something becomes the spark that ignites the conflagration. There are an awful lot of people in the world ripe for sparks of their own: unemployed youth, those with burdensome student debt, gutted retirement plans, income disparity, political powerlessness, inequality under the law, even health care issues. The list of grievances is long and tempers are getting short.

Here's an example how fast things things could change. Let's say that suddenly a movement arises where it becomes quite popular to not pay one's student loans. In sympathy, those who own massive amounts of credit card dept all refuse to pay. Smelling blood in the water, people with bad mortgages also refuse to make their monthly payments. Politicians, seeing where this is heading try to get in front of the movement and throw their bankster buddies under the bus. Bankers are tossed into jail and hauled before Congressional Committees. Next thing you know the world has a new financial reality.

That's just one example. We could be just one major scandal away from a massive political sea change. Who knows which crack in the dam will be the one that splits it wide open? World leaders are trying to band-aid problems in need of major surgery.

The patches may keep things going for a while. However, if the real needs of much of the world's population are not addressed . . . it's just tinder waiting for a spark on a dry and windy day.

-Sixbears