IS group ‘will not be defeated through academics and the establishment’

The gruesome roster of atrocities committed by the terrorist group that calls itself the "Islamic State" has fostered rage, revulsion and horror in the West and elsewhere. In her new book, "The Islamist Phoenix", Italian journalist Loretta Napoleoni explains the group's ambitions. She believes that the West has underestimated the Islamic State group, and continues to do so at its own peril. This is especially true since the terror group is winning the propaganda battle online.

Loretta Napoleoni is also highly critical of the West's strategy to counter the group. "It's not through academics, it's not through the establishment that we are going to defeat the Islamic State", she told FRANCE 24's Douglas Herbert. "It is through a different strategy. We should actually recruit young people, people that know how to use social media, people that know how to deconstruct this kind of message that goes through social media. Deconstructing is the key issue. We have to stop the seduction”.

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