Defeating Isis means Western Boots on the Ground

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2016

⏱️ 63 minutes

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Summary

Enough is enough. Paris, Sharm El-Sheikh, Istanbul, Jakarta. Isis is the global crucible of terrorism and must be stopped using all means available. After the Paris attacks last November, the US and its allies stepped up the bombing of Isis targets in Syria. Unquestionably, the campaign has had some effect and Isis is not the unstoppable force it seemed to be a year ago. Ramadi was taken by Iraqi forces a few weeks ago, and reports are filtering through of disillusionment and desertion amongst the caliphate’s fighters in Syria. That’s why some experts, such as General John Allen, Obama’s former special envoy to Syria, are calling for the West to finish off the job by deploying its own troops on the ground. After all, no one seriously believes that the war against Isis can be won from the air alone or by using existing local forces. But a judicious and limited use of Western ground forces could crush Isis in its vital nerve centres, after which local troops trained up by the West would take over security... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:29.3	Maybe 30 or 20 years ago, a Saudi might have said, I'm Muslim and I'm Arab and I'm Saudi.
0:37.0	Now they might say, I'm Saudi and I'm Arab and I'm Muslim.
0:40.0	You know, they're trying to radically refashion their country and they need help from the best experts in the world
0:45.1	Do you want to have your country's people be disqualified from that because of some essentially antiquated point of view about how countries work together?
0:53.0	In recent months it can feel like Saudi Arabia is intent on buying the world.
0:58.0	It's bought up much of golf, sports teams, many of the globe's best soccer players to its own domestic league and it owns huge chunks of many of the biggest companies on the planet.
1:07.5	But Saudi Arabia is not just on a shopping spree.
1:10.5	The once insular oil-rich kingdom is transforming into a major diplomatic and military
1:16.1	player, a pivotal actor in the energy transition and looks set to host high-end cultural events
1:21.7	like the FIFA World Cup.
1:23.0	You know, they know that buying a football club immediately brings you a
1:27.2	billboard into a global game that allows you to completely reposition yourself
1:32.2	or rebrand yourself.
1:33.4	It feels like we're entering the era of the Saudi project.
1:36.6	But what exactly is the kingdom trying to achieve and will it succeed?
1:40.4	Available now from Intelligence Squared, the Saudi project is a new podcast series seeking to answer some of these questions and more.
1:48.0	Britain does have choices. It's not either or situation. We either indulge in Hamad
1:54.0	bin Salma or boycott of Hamad
	...

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