NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Donna Miles-Mojab: Talk can end cycle of terror between Isis and West

By Donna Miles-Mojab
NZ Herald·
21 Jul, 2016 05:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Iraqi soldiers fire artillery towards Islamic State positions from a location outside Makhmour, Iraq. Photo / Washington Post
Iraqi soldiers fire artillery towards Islamic State positions from a location outside Makhmour, Iraq. Photo / Washington Post

Iraqi soldiers fire artillery towards Islamic State positions from a location outside Makhmour, Iraq. Photo / Washington Post

Opinion

Former IRA Commander turned Northern Ireland deputy first minister Martin McGuinness believes the peace process in Northern Ireland only became possible when both the British Army and the IRA conceded they could not win the seemingly intractable conflict militarily.

As France grapples with yet another murderous attack on its innocent citizens, the question has to be asked: is there anything the West can ever do to prevent a car, a truck, a suicide bomber, or a jihadi gunman from causing death and mayhem? The answer is no.

The fact is that the military machine behind the war on terror has brought us nothing but more war and more terror.

World-leading experts on suicide bombing, Robert Pape and James Feldman, have examined every suicide terrorist attack worldwide from 1980 to 2009.

Their research shows that the number one cause of suicide bombing is foreign military occupation (not Islam).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

This, of course, explains why the disastrous wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have led to the explosion of suicide bombings worldwide. Terrorism grows out of a desire for vengeance.

Following the Chilcot report, it is worth remembering the victims of the "unjustified" war in Iraq and elsewhere.

How many people were beheaded and burnt alive in their homes by the coalition's aerial strikes?

How do we distinguish between the brutality of the military extremism of the West and that of the Islamic terrorism?

Global terrorist expert Professor Louise Richardson says terrorist organisations are invariably weak which is why they resort to terrorism.

Discover more

World

With Turkey in chaos, fear grows among secular set

20 Jul 12:41 AM
World

Exhausted French police stretched thin by threats

20 Jul 01:11 AM
World

State of emergency in Turkey as purge goes on

21 Jul 12:11 AM
New Zealand

Disciplined Justices of the Peace kept secret

21 Jul 07:04 AM

She says the aim of a terrorist organisation is to provoke governments to overreact, and they often do, which attracts support for the terrorist groups.

The bigger the reaction then the more important the terrorist groups will appear and the closer they will get to their goals of glory and renown. So, if a strong response is not the solution, what is?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Professor Richardson, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, believes engaging the enemy is the only way of establishing if there are political goals that can be negotiated on.

She says dialogue with the enemy will offer valuable intelligence such as identifying the potential peacemakers and barriers to peace within the organisation.

In the media, we have heard much about the barbaric side of Isis: the terrorism, the beheadings and the ethnic cleansing, etc., but we have not heard about the other side of the Islamic State.

Italian journalist and political analyst Loretta Napoleon, in her book The Islamist Phoenix: The Islamic State (ISIS) and the Redrawing of the Middle East, describes a different side to the Islamic State.

Napoleon explains Isis is the first armed organisation to successfully transition into a state.

According to Napoleon, Isis is a modern state that responds well to the needs of the population under its control. It acts by consensus and by entering into joint ventures with local populations through the tribal leaders.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Isis might be sending us brutal images of beheadings, Napoleon says, but their message to the Muslim youth around the world appears positive and highly seductive: come help us recreate the Caliphate, the Sunni political utopia that will protect every single Muslim.

If you thought Isis were made up of just uneducated jihadists, you are very much mistaken. Isis has many highly educated followers who understand the full potential of science, technology and social media.

There is no doubt that Isis is barbaric and murderous, but so are the military responses of the Western and regional forces that contributed to its creation in the first place.

We have to shift our thinking from seeing the conflict in the Middle East as "good" versus "evil". The only way to end this cycle of bloodshed is to accept the important role of diplomacy and deep dialogue as a substitute to perpetual wars that only benefit the military oligarchs.

New Zealand is in an excellent position to use its seat in the Security Council to kick off this important process.

Donna Miles-Mojab is an Iranian New Zealander living in Christchurch.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Politics

Politics

Mandatory sentences could replace judge discretion – Goldsmith

05 Jul 11:35 PM
Premium
Editorial

Editorial: Kiwis support the business battler, not the shoplifter

05 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

Thomas Coughlan: Govt mulls dramatic local government reform, slashing councils

04 Jul 05:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
‘Who the hell was that?’: Lawson taken out on first lap at Silverstone
Formula 1

‘Who the hell was that?’: Lawson taken out on first lap at Silverstone

06 Jul 02:20 PM
'Serious-to-critical': Crash shuts SH1 in Northland, delays expected
New Zealand

'Serious-to-critical': Crash shuts SH1 in Northland, delays expected

06 Jul 08:48 AM
'No bad blood': Inmate apologises for shanking prison officer
Crime

'No bad blood': Inmate apologises for shanking prison officer

06 Jul 08:00 AM
'A nice marlin': Kiwi skipper makes history with $2m fishing triumph
Sport

'A nice marlin': Kiwi skipper makes history with $2m fishing triumph

06 Jul 07:33 AM
'Exercise caution': Investigation into Kiwi's death in elephant attack
Wellington

'Exercise caution': Investigation into Kiwi's death in elephant attack

06 Jul 06:58 AM

Latest from Politics

Mandatory sentences could replace judge discretion – Goldsmith

Mandatory sentences could replace judge discretion – Goldsmith

05 Jul 11:35 PM

That would be an alternative to the normal 'maximum' sentence regime.

Premium
Editorial: Kiwis support the business battler, not the shoplifter

Editorial: Kiwis support the business battler, not the shoplifter

05 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Thomas Coughlan: Govt mulls dramatic local government reform, slashing councils

Thomas Coughlan: Govt mulls dramatic local government reform, slashing councils

04 Jul 05:00 PM
Premium
Labour offers National a lifeline for costings unit

Labour offers National a lifeline for costings unit

03 Jul 10:33 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search