The Caliphate Lives!

"The legality of all emirates, groups, states and organizations becomes null by the expansion of the caliph's authority and the arrival of its troops to their areas."
"Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day."
Abu Mohammed Al-Adnani

AP Photo, File   An al-Qaeda-inspired militant stands guard at a checkpoint captured from the Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, Iraq on June 19, 2014. The Al-Qaeda breakaway group that has seized much of northern Syria and huge tracks of neighbouring Iraq formally declared the creation of an Islamic state on Sunday, June 29, in the territory under its control.

And so, it is done; the al-Qaeda breakaway Islamists whose brutality seemed a tad too much for even al-Qaeda to stomach, has declared itself the state of all states, destined to be enlarged as it enters and occupies an ever broadening swath of Middle East territory. All Muslims have been gravely advised by Abu Mohammed Al-Adnani, to surrender completely to the invading Islamists liberating them from the oppressive administration of government, and to welcome and pay homage to their new tyrant.

Handout   Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the new caliph

Just as there is no god but Allah and the Prophet is his spokesman there is evidently no caliph like Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and he must be revered and above all obeyed. He is the new leader of leaders, the caliph of the Islamic State. For it is now the formal name of that state, shortened pithily from its current cumbersome two-name status to the far more emphatic and undeniable title of Islamic State. A state that runs, for the time being from northern Syria to the Iraqi province of Diyala.

"Now the insurgents in Iraq have no excuse for working with ISIS if they were hoping to share power with ISIS. The prospect of infighting in Iraq is increased for sure", observed Aymenn Al-Tamimi, an analyst specializing in Islamic militants and Iraq and Syria.

A brief thought of sympathy for al-Qaeda might be suitable at this juncture, as it fades into the sunset, having had its day in the sun, hoping that it would represent the mechanism through which the fabled caliphate would roar back to life. ISIS has done what its mentor group could never quite manage; carve out a huge swath of territory within the Arab world, with complete and utter control of it, their unspeakable brutality inspiring terror in those they threaten, and admiration in those eager to join them.

"This announcement poses a huge threat to al-Qaeda and its longtime position of leadership of the international jihadist cause. Taken globally, the younger generation of the jihadist community is becoming more and more supportive of ISIS, largely out of fealty to its slick and proven capacity for attaining rapid results through brutality."
Charles Lister, visiting fellow, Brookings Doha Center

The larger battle is joined, however. The United States has sent 300 advisers to Baghdad, and drones to protect its immensely expensive embassy in the capital, having drained it of most of its 5,000 staff for the time being; perhaps forever; that is yet to be seen. And Iran, of course, along with Russia have both become 'allies' of the United States in its fervent bid to shield Baghdad at the very least, from the Islamist horde.

A Russian SU-25 plane arriving in Baghdad.

REUTERS/Stringer

Russia, it seems, is contributing a dozen warplanes to the arsenal being assembled to aid the haplessly self-destructive Nouri Al-Maliki from losing the entire country to fanatics. What a triumphant triumvirate coming to the rescue; the Axis of Can-Do: America, Russia, Iran.