Inside ISIS Inc

Herzlos

We can't exactly cut off their funding if we don't know anything about it, can we?

I was under the impression they were starting to struggle as so many of their tax payers were fleeing, which apparently confused them. Ransoms won't work now, there are so many antiquities to sell, and their population won't be able to sustain the tax rate forever, especially if they keep getting killed.

princeofpounds

At some point they will collapse. The international jihadis will move on to the next hotspot (Sinai? East Africa? Western Capitals?) and the locals will meld back into the population where possible.

Thrugelmir

princeofpounds wrote: »

At some point they will collapse.

The Russians first invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to fight the Taliban.......

Not so easy to fight and defeat an unstructured force.

princeofpounds

Not so easy to fight and defeat an unstructured force.

I just meant that their state will collapse in its current form, not that they will go away - that's the point about melding back in to the local populace.

antrobus

Sapphire wrote: »

No – because 'their' 'economy' consists of what they've looted and pillaged from others, while murdering people in the most horrific way....

Which would be pretty much the same way that everybody started off.

Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.

setmefree2

British bombers made their first strikes on ISIL in Syria on Thursday, hitting oil fields that Prime Minister David Cameron says are being used to fund attacks on the West.
Tornado bombers took off from the RAF Akrotiri air base in Greek Cyprus just hours after British lawmakers voted 397-223 to support Cameron's plan for air strikes, a Reuters witness said. They returned to base safely several hours later.
The four bombers used laser-guided bombs to attack six targets in the Omar oil fields in eastern Syria controlled by the ISIL militant group which British officials call Daesh, using an Arabic acronym that the group rejects.
"That strikes a very real blow at the oil and the revenue on which the Daesh terrorists depend," Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC

http://www.todayszaman.com/latest-news_uk-bombers-strike-isil-oil-fields-in-syria_405968.html

Mistermeaner

Would my isis shares have dropped in value given yesterday's decision or has the UK opened its door to a new market opportunity for Isis expansion?

vivatifosi

Mistermeaner wrote: »

Would my isis shares have dropped in value given yesterday's decision or has the UK opened its door to a new market opportunity for Isis expansion?

Hmmm... using that analogy, would it be like a business facing a strong competitor in their "home" market, while recognising the opportunity for brand extension through franchising overseas?

I find the use of the word "franchise" in a terrorist setting interesting. I guess extending the analogy further, that people who have recently travelled to Syria may want to bring a bit of Syria back with them, while others may find the manuals and tools online to help them develop their franchise useful.

Another reason why cyber security is an important tool in fighting this part of the black economy.

vivatifosi

Another new article on the ISIS economy, this time from the FT:

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/aee89a00-9ff1-11e5-beba-5e33e2b79e46.html

It's very long and hard to do justice with quotes, so will leave as just a linky. Extremely interesting and well researched. Left me surprised at the level of organisation that they have achieved.

Generali

Another article in the FT series:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/aee89a00-9ff1-11e5-beba-5e33e2b79e46.html??ftcamp=crm/email//nbe/FirstFTEurope/product#axzz3uAMVNScw

Syria’s oil may ostensibly be the militant group’s most profitable resource but even if US, French and Russian planes succeed in trying to bring down its crude production, local revenues like taxes could keep the Isis economy churning. An FT investigation indicates Isis earns at least as much from taxation, extortion and confiscation as oil. Over the past year, taxation and confiscation probably rivalled oil as the group’s main source of revenue, according to intelligence sources and former fighters. Oil revenues, which go straight to the group’s top leaders, are estimated to have reached more than $450m during the past year.

Abu Mohammed, another trader who sells vegetables from rebel territory to Isis areas and also wanted to remain anonymous, says some of his friends moved their trade to Isis territory because business is more secure. “You could leave your warehouses open and no one would steal a pin. All you have to do is pay zakat,” he says. Isis imposes a common zakat framework across its territory. It takes 2.5 per cent of capital from wealthy residents and businesses, whether that business is a factory or a truck with a single driver. From farmers, Isis levies the equivalent of 5 per cent of irrigated crops and 10 per cent of rain-fed crops. But it can be flexible. Some Isis officials require services over money: doctors in eastern Syria do not pay zakat but volunteer once a week at Isis hospitals.

Recommend reading the whole article, it's fascinating stuff.

This zakat is apparently the Islamic version of tithing however instead of taxing income, wealth is taxed at a rate of 2.5%. If you run a shop for example, 2.5% of the value of your stock is taxed.