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originally posted by: daaskapital
a reply to: voyger2
Yes, there's no doubt that IS has killed Westerners. I can see how that may go against their very own ideology of first uniting all Muslims before drawing themselves into another battle with non-Muslims. That said, perhaps the beheadings were used in a purely defensive manner, meaning that IS' intention was not to wage war with the West, but to halt any international response to their activities. This was shown in the message of their videos which was along the lines of them continuing the beheadings if the West doesn't stop airstrikes. And for their recent statement urging Muslims to kill infidels in the USA, Europe and Australia, i don't see that conflicting with their base ideology. They are just urging lone wolf types to carry out terrorist attacks.
The fact is that IS operates under a Salafist Jihadist ideology. History shows how this ideology works, and experts have a fair idea of what IS' prime objectives are. They want to establish a caliphate of united Muslims before directly attacking non-Muslim states. The beheading and threats may seem to go against this, but they seem to be used in a purely defensive manner of attempting to halt Western attacks on them. This is seen in their key messages.
originally posted by: absente
all of you guys realize that 20 years ago there was almost no conflict at all in the middle east, and all "fractions" lived peacefully together, no matter if sunni, shiite, salafi etc. We (the west) created this division between the "sects". Look up the news from 20 years ago, seriously.