ISIS now demand $200 million in ransom or they will behead two Japanese hostages. This seems to be retaliation for last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged $200 million in non-military assistance to support countries affected by the campaign against ISIS during his six-day Middle East tour. This Islamic State has now released a video threatening to kill two Japanese hostages unless they receive a $200 million ransom in the next 72 hours.
Japan will not pay such a demand. The two will become heroes and ISIS now risks providing the very support needed in Japan to rekindle its military establishment. Concerns about China have been brewing. Nevertheless, all countries need a diversion from their fiscal mismanagement and historically there is nothing better than war to accomplish that.
We have to remain concerned about the target year 2017 on our war models. We already have seen a rise in tensions with the start of the trend in 2014. Civil Unrest has also risen sharply. It certainly appears these folks are begging for a religious war against fellow Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and Shinto. They have not left out anyone so far. They are more-likely-than-not going to destabilize the Middle East for as oil prices fall and budgets are forced to be cut, we will even see a rise in tensions throughout the region. We should expect the turnoil to pick up in the Middle East come 2016.
