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Leaders Meet in Paris to Discuss ISIS Threat
Representatives of twenty countries gathered in Paris (France24) Monday
to coordinate a global response to combat the militant group ISIS,
which released a third video over the weekend showing the beheading of a
British aid worker. French president François Hollande called for
united international action (Reuters) to tackle the threat, while Iraqi president Fuad Masum urged world powers (NYT)
to take broader military action against ISIS. So far, about forty
countries—including ten Arab states—have committed to a coalition to
help fight the extremist Sunni insurgency in Iraq and Syria.
Analysis
"Because ISIS is quite entrenched in both Iraq and Syria, it will take a long time to build up Iraqi capabilities to
take them on, and it will take an even longer time to build up ground
capabilities inside Syria. So we're going to need a diplomatic effort
that will, among other things, gradually increase the participants in
any coalition and the significance of what the participants bring to the
efforts, particularly inside Syria," says CFR President Richard N.
Haass.
"The
risk of 'leading from behind' is that it leaves the US dependent on the
efforts of its partners. If they do not succeed, Mr Obama could find
himself sucked into the ground war in Iraq he staked his presidency on ending," writes Geoff Dyer for the Financial Times.
"Mr
Obama thus needs to show a commitment to sustained personal diplomacy
that has so far been lacking in his presidency. He also needs to demonstrate the potency of American firepower—to
give countries pause before turning their backs on him. But most of
all, a president who wanted to focus on home needs the resolve to stay
the course abroad," writes the Economist. | 
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