On Wednesday morning (Sydney time) I started the day on 2GB with Australia's indestructible morning man, the great Alan Jones. We discussed events in Paris, and I said something almost en passant prompted by the octopus logo of Spectre in the new James Bond film. That's to say, in the two years since Obama declared ISIS a JV team and embarked on the sophisticated, nuanced strategy of doing nothing, the Islamic State has, like Spectre, grown many tentacles:
They have the characteristics of a state: They control territory - and valuable oil-rich territory at that.
Having looted the towns they conquer, they are the wealthiest terrorist group on earth.
They have important terrorist allies and subsidiaries from Nigeria to Pakistan.
They have effectively an organized-crime racket running a lucrative people-smuggling operation from the Libyan ports to mainland Europe.
They have people on the inside at popular tourist airports willing to assist them in blowing passenger jets out of the sky.
They have an Internet presence that motivates freelance jihadists from California and Quebec to New South Wales.
And they are able to move assets across the world and pull off multi-pronged attacks of mass murder in western capitals.
All in two years. Heckuva job, Bammy.
They're nimble, they adapt, they evolve. Obama stands still and watches.
Click below to listen:
~In the latest evolution of US policy, John Kerry, the botoxicated buffoon in charge of foreign relations, has decided that, as their killers and far too many other people believe, the dead of Charlie Hebdo had it coming.
~Back in the US, on Tuesday night I'll be checking in with Sean Hannity, coast to coast on Fox News at 10pm Eastern/7pm Pacific. On Wednesday morning - not Down Under, but back in what we used to call the senior Dominion - I'll be starting the day with Toronto's Number One morning man John Oakley on AM640, live at 8.30am Eastern.
