With the assaults on the Islamic State (IS) strongholds of Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria, underway, it appears the group we know today is facing its last days. This is not to say it will disappear completely, but the organization will look very different in a year or so. This begs the question: what comes after the Islamic State? Does …

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the author and Ohio University Students for Liberty. They do not reflect those of The New Political or its editorial team. ________________________________________________________________________________ By Conor Fogarty This week, an additional 400 American military personnel, mostly in special forces, went overseas to Syria in an effort to wrest control of Raqqa …

On March 8, it was reported U.S. forces had arrived in Syria, marking a significant escalation of U.S. efforts in the country to loosen the Islamic State’s (IS) hold on Syrian land. Specifically, U.S. military personnel will be supporting a force consisting of Syrian Arab and Kurdish militias liberating Raqqa, the de-facto capital of IS. This is a continuation of …

So far in this featured blog, I have mostly explored the role the Islamic State (IS) plays in Middle Eastern politics. This piece, however, analyzes the dynamic domestic terrorism creates in Western politics. To frame this discussion, I think it would be best to dive into a specific case: the Berlin truck attack that occurred last December. On Dec. 19, …

President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy has always been peculiar, to put it lightly. In order to make himself appear less hawkish than his opponents in the Republican primary, he falsely claimed to have opposed the invasion of Iraq. But while on the campaign trail, Trump vowed to place 20,000 to 30,000 United States military personnel on the ground …

The Syrian Civil War is the nexus of many challenges the United States faces in its foreign policy. This conflict is one of intense complexity, with several state and non-state actors with cross-cutting motivations making it a difficult situation for the U.S. to address. This column is devoted to issues surrounding the Islamic State (IS) and how the beginning of …

Perhaps the greatest responsibility the president of the United States has is ensuring the nation’s security at home and abroad. In this article, I will be analyzing President Donald Trump’s plans to deal with threats to national security, primarily the Islamic State (IS). In May 2015, in an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, Trump claimed to have a …

In the following weeks, I will be writing about the role the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) plays in modern conflicts and global politics. Some refer to the group as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to the group simply as the Islamic State (IS), except in …

In Syria, Aleppo seems to have taken a backseat to the fight against ISIS in Mosul. The location for the next major offensive in the war-torn nation will be Raqqa, the capital of the so-called Islamic State. This is good — the long, convoluted U.S.-Russia proxy war in Syria has been divisive, and humanitarian aid is desperately needed in Aleppo. …

The second debate of the general election was, in a single word, tense. In the past 48 hours, a 2005 video exposed Donald Trump as having made comments about women the Washington Post deemed “lewd”; WikiLeaks released emails that contain excerpts of Hillary Clinton’s Wall Street speeches Hillary Clinton; and Trump held a pre-debate press conference with three women who …

Sept. 19, 2016, marked the end of the ceasefire agreement in Syria brokered by the United States and Russia. The ceasefire was designed to open up major roads in Aleppo — the center of the humanitarian crisis stemming from the civil war between the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and rebel forces — for foreign aid to come …

While Donald Trump is burning bridges with Mexico in an attempt to force them to pay for a wall, President Barack Obama is trying to restore a broken relationship with Cuba. Obama is the first U.S. president to visit communist Cuba since 1959, according to CNN. While many people discuss the Islamic State Group as being a threat to the …

On Nov. 13, 129 people died, 352 were wounded with 99 in serious condition because of hatred. The Islamic State’s attacks in Paris occurred in six different locations, devastating the city and shocking the world. France declared the attacks acts of war, and its military carried out multiple bombings on the Islamic State’s stronghold in Raqqa. An attack in such …