COMMENT “Virulence is the sound of a self-selecting community talking to itself and positively reinforcing itself with no obligation to answer to anyone or look anyone in the eye.” - Thomas L Friedman, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century

After the Paris attacks, when bellicosity as some sort of catharsis permeated the discourse, Andrew J Bacevich from the Realist school of American political discourse wrote, “Rather than assuming an offensive posture, the West should revert to a defensive one. Instead of attempting to impose its will on the Greater Middle East, it should erect barriers to protect itself from the violence emanating from that quarter. Such barriers will necessarily be imperfect, but they will produce greater security at a more affordable cost than is gained by engaging in futile, open-ended armed conflicts. Rather than vainly attempting to police or control, this revised strategy should seek to contain.”

This article is not about the West’s reaction to the threat of Islamic extremism but rather on whether we, as a nation, have a “defensive” posture when it comes to the IS? The answer is an emphatic “no”. Before we go any further, perhaps it is best to define what the goals of IS are.