Disturbing images and accounts of the Islamic State’s brutal onslaught in Iraq have become the source of outrage and concern worldwide, and states are frantically searching for a strategy to resolve the crisis caused by the rise of the extremist group.  President Barack Obama, who previously dismissed the group’s advances by comparing it to a JV team, has gone out of his way to authorize airstrikes against the group in Iraq.  He recently affirmed expanding the offensive to Syria, and is seeking support from Congress and allies in NATO and the Middle-East region to fight the Islamic State. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime has tried to take advantage of the confusion surrounding the ultimate solution to the crisis to pose as a potential game-changer in the conflict and restore its waning influence in Iraq after the ouster of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Javad Zarif, the regime’s foreign minister, vowed to help fight the Islamic State during his...(Read Full Article)