![]() For a movement whose tenets are supposedly drawn from the religious norms of the 7th century CE, Isis has a very modern and manipulative approach to dominating the news agenda by means of attention-grabbing PR stunts in which merciless violence plays a central role. Highly publicised atrocities or acts of destruction, such as burning to death a Jordanian pilot, decapitating prisoners and destroying the remains of ancient cities, are deliberately staged as demonstrations of strength and acts of defiance. The rest of the world has watched with fascinated horror over the past eight months as Isis, which calls itself Islamic State, imposed its rule over a vast area in northern Iraq and eastern Syria inhabited by six million people. All those not pledging allegiance to the caliphate declared by its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on 29 June last year are considered enemies. Punishments such as beheadings, amputations and flogging become the norm. ![]() People deemed to be pagans, like the Yazidis, can be bought and sold as slaves. Women are to be treated as chattels, forbidden to leave the house unless they are accompanied by a male relative. ![]() The Islamic State wants to force all humanity to believe in its vision of a religious and social utopia existing in the first days of Islam. It is one of the strangest states ever created. ![]()
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