There are people fighting for and against the bloodthirsty creation variously called ISIS who think they are fighting in a religious war. There are observers, near and far, who think they are seeing a religious war. There have been religious wars in the world before. They always end.
There is no doubt there are people in the present conflict who believe they are serving Allah. Centuries ago, many of the men who risked their lives in the Crusades thought they were serving Jehovah. Their purpose was to expel the heathen Saracens from the holy places of Christendom. It is no coincidence that impecunious nobles and knights from Europe and the British Isles saw the Crusades as opportunities for plundering. It is no coincidence that returning Crusaders brought with them for sale in their homelands fragments of the true cross more than sufficient to build Noah’s ark. The wealth amassed by the warrior monks, the Knights Hospital of the Order of St. John and the Knights Templar is legendary. Even today, some believe in a fabulous treasure of Jerusalem that was hidden by the Knights Templar in a remote parish in France. The Arab nations still remember the Crusades.
The interest of European nations waned until oil was discovered under the sand. After the Second World War, the State of Israel was recreated from territories carved out of Palestine. For years, every international conference about anything that takes the moral high ground and condemns injustice fails to deal with the plight of the thousands of Palestinians displaced (and their descendants to the fourth generation) to make room for the New Israel. Arabs remember and the memory fuels the hatred that feeds ISIS.
Power grabs are made easier by propaganda that creates internal enemies. Hitler and his henchmen propagated the illusory belief in an Aryan master race by making Jews the internal enemies. This was their route to power over the German nation and to the horrors of the extermination camps.
ISIS wants to recreate the ancient Islamic caliphate across the Middle East and North Africa. It wants to purge this territory of all who do not share its beliefs and ambitions. It slaughters unbelievers such as Kurds and Coptic Christians. Its propaganda campaign is as skilful as the one directed by Hitler’s loyal follower Goebbels. But ISIS isn’t really about religion. It’s about territory, power and wealth.
We, the ordinary people in the West, know nothing about international affairs other than what our governments tell us and newsman are able to discover. In the shadows beyond our view are the people with a different agenda who suborn our politicians and manipulate our governments. They are not seeking visible territory. They are seeking power and wealth. They are looking for treasure chests.
