Just as the term Christianity covers widely diverse interpretations, so does the concept of Islam. In a repeat of history, there were times when the Roman Catholic theocracy launched generation-long crusades against ‘heretics’ and the attacked would, in turn, launch counter-attacks against the “Whore of Babylon” in Rome.
In this ISIS screed and attack, they seem to be recapitulating the Byzantine Iconoclasm movement of the 7th thru 9th Centuries. The Iconoclast took the view that Christian Iconography, the visual depiction of Saints and other Christian memes was antithetical to the 2nd Commandment concerning the worship of graven or other images. We still have this battle, now un-bloody, going on in the Christian world. The clean and unadorned churches of various Denominations as opposed to those on the opposite spectrum that seem to have no unadorned space.
Except for the fact that in today’s high technology environment, a single fanatic can wreak devastation with the proper equipment, it would be nice to allow these RoP Jihadists to do the maximum damage to each other. However, given that there are nuclear powers involved and the world dependence upon the oil flows from that area, isolation does not seem to a viable course for long-term good outcome!
let them kill each other, the oil will still be there for the rest of us.