Photo Gallery 'A Disgrace for Islam'
Harvard Professor Michael Ignatieff argues that the Islamic State is threatening to unleash a "global conflagration" in the Middle East. "The Islamic State is as much a threat in terms of realpolitik as it is an attack on all values of civilization," he told SPIEGEL in an interview. "With their barbarism, the terrorists are a disgrace for Islam."
Yezidis who fled the Islamic State's violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar sleep on the ground at the Bajed Kadal refugee camp. "The Middle East is a multi-ethnic, multi-denominational region in which Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and Yezidis have lived together for many centuries," says Ignatieff. "The West may have imposed borders and nation structures on the region, but it didn't have to push multi-ethnicity because it already existed. And this structure of tolerance worked in the past, at least for the most part."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem (left) as he takes the oath of office before Syrian President Bashar Assad (right) in August. Ignatieff argues that the conflict with the Islamic State will create strange alliances in Syria. He believes keeping Assad in power may be the lesser of two evils. "It's hard to imagine an uglier tradeoff for peace and justice than this one," he says, "but continuing to demand Assad's removal without having real leverage to force it to happen has become an empty threat -- and even more hopeless strategy. The alternative is more years of civil war, death and destruction."
A sea of destruction in eastern Gaza City on August 31. "The rocket attacks by Hamas are undoubtedly a violation of international law," says Ignatieff. "Israel has the right to self-defense, to destroy the rocket launchers from which they are fired. But the Israel army also has to respect international law and avoid indiscriminate force, especially to the civilian population."
