News:

Earlier in the week, the British Prime Minister David Cameron issued a grave warning and stated that Britain faced its greatest threat. He said, "What we are facing in Iraq now with ISIS (Islamic State) is a greater threat to our security than we have seen before." He added, "If we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain." The grim warning coincided with the UK's threat level raised to substantial from severe--meaning that a terrorist attack was very likely.

Cameron also went further with his assessment of the threat emerging from ISIS and warned European leaders. He said, "With designs on expanding to Jordan, Lebanon, right up to the Turkish border, we could be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Med and bordering a NATO member." So the question arises is this just scaremongering or is there a hidden motive behind Cameron's remarks.

Comment:

Cameron is not alone in his assessment of the ISIS's threat. In America, some government officials as well as a growing proportion of the public perceive ISIS to be a real threat.

"This is a group of people who are extraordinarily dangerous," said Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat. Mike Rogers, leader of the House Intelligence Committee warned, "ISIS would like to have a Western-style attack to continue this notion that they are the leading jihadist group in the world."

According to a Pew Research Center report issued recently about the American public's perception of ISIS, Americans feel threatened by the obscure jihadi group. The report states: "Following the beheading of American journalist James Foley, two-thirds of the public (67 percent) cite ISIS as a major threat to the United States. The report said that 91 percent of Tea Party Republicans described ISIS as a "major threat" as opposed to 65 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of independents. The report also said, "Half of the sample was asked about ISIS and the other half was asked about the broader threat of ‘Islamic extremist groups like Al Qaeda,' which registered similar concern (71 percent major threat, 19 percent minor threat, 6 percent not a threat).

However, there are number of intelligence analysts that question the severity of the threat posed by ISIS. Matthew G. Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center at the Brookings Institute said, "As formidable as ISIS is as group, it is not invincible," Mr. Olsen added. "ISIS is not Al Qaeda pre-9/11" with cells operating in Europe, Southeast Asia and the United States. Mr. Olsen's sobering but measured assessment of the organization stood in contrast to more pointed descriptions by other American officials. Olsen's assessment chimes extremely well with Obama's view in June 2014. Back then he conceded that the group had become more powerful in "some places," but downplayed the idea that ISIS's gains in Iraq meant the US was in greater danger. "We've also got a lot better at protecting ourselves," he said.

What makes a mockery of American and British assertion about the imminent danger posed by ISIS's is a resurgent Russian state that is well equipped with nuclear weapons, and is more determined than ever to make a stand against West's continued interference in Ukraine. Russia possesses both the motive and the means to really hurt the West, whereas ISIS only has aspirations. Last week, Vladimir Putin pointed to Russia's nuclear arsenal and warned the West: ‘It's best not to mess with us' on Ukraine.

The only other occasion such bellicose language was used by Britain and America was when they wanted to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. The same rhetoric is being employed today to justify another American led invasion of another Muslim country, and this time the target increasingly appears to be Syria and parts of Iraq.

As usual the West is aided in its invasion of the Muslim world by corrupt agent rulers, who spare no effort in providing America and Britain the necessary encouragement and pretexts to intervene. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said, "If neglected, I am certain that after a month they will reach Europe and, after another month, America. Terror knows no borders and its danger could affect several countries outside the Middle East."

If it were not for the agent rulers providing their airspace, waterways, air bases, intelligence and money, the West would not be able to invade Muslim countries. And even when they did invade--aided and abetted by agent rulers--the West struggled to defeat the brave sons and daughters of the Ummah in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What the Muslim world requires is permanent immunization against the virus of Western interventions in the Muslim lands, and this can only be achieved by the re-establishment of the rightly guided Caliphate. The Caliphate will not only cut the hand of any foreign power that dares to intervene in the affairs of the Ummah, but will use political guile and intrigue to make the Kaffir colonialist powers fight each other thereby making them weak and ineffective against the ascendency of the Islamic state.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Abu Hashim