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How to make Isis fall on its own sword. The Islamic State (Isis) is without question a very brutal extremist group with origins in the insurgency of the United States occupation of Iraq.

How to make Isis fall on its own sword

It has rapidly ascended to global attention by taking control of swaths of territory in western and northern Iraq, including Mosul and other major cities. Based on my experience as an all-source analyst in Iraq during the organization’s relative infancy, Isis cannot be defeated by bombs and bullets – even as the fight is taken to Syria, even if it is conducted by non-Western forces with air support.

I believe that Isis is fueled precisely by the operational and tactical successes of European and American military force that would be – and have been – used to defeat them. I believe that Isis strategically feeds off the mistakes and vulnerabilities of the very democratic western states they decry. The Islamic State’s center of gravity is, in many ways, the United States, the United Kingdom and those aligned with them in the region.

Robert Reich: Harvard Business School is ruining America. No institution is more responsible for educating the CEOs of American corporations than Harvard Business School – inculcating in them a set of ideas and principles that have resulted in a pay gap between CEOs and ordinary workers that’s gone from 20-to-1 fifty years ago to almost 300-to-1 today.

Robert Reich: Harvard Business School is ruining America

A survey, released on September 6, of 1,947 Harvard Business School alumni showed them far more hopeful about the future competitiveness of American firms than about the future of American workers. As the authors of the survey conclude, such a divergence is unsustainable. Without a large and growing middle class, Americans won’t have the purchasing power to keep U.S. corporations profitable, and global demand won’t fill the gap. Moreover, the widening gap eventually will lead to political and social instability. As the authors put it, “any leader with a long view understands that business has a profound stake in the prosperity of the average American.” News from The Associated Press. DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syrian and Iranian officials criticized the Obama administration on Thursday for excluding them from an international coalition coming together in the battle against the Islamic State group, while a state-run Syrian daily warned that unauthorized U.S. airstrikes on Syria may trigger the "first sparks of fire" in the region.

News from The Associated Press

The strongest reaction, however, came from Russia, Syrian President Bashar Assad's main international ally. A Russian Foreign Ministry statement said such military action without a U.N. Security Council resolution "would be an act of aggression and flagrant violation of international law. " Syria's main Western-backed opposition group, meanwhile, welcomed Obama's first-ever authorization of U.S. airstrikes in Syria, saying it stands "ready and willing" to partner with the international community to defeat the militants. But the Syrian National Coalition said that airstrikes need to be coupled with a strategy for ultimately toppling Assad.

Playstation Network and Blizzard hit with massive DDoS attack. A massive cyberattack is currently crippling some of the most prominent gaming services in existence.

Playstation Network and Blizzard hit with massive DDoS attack

A group known as Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility for attacks on the PlayStation Network (PSN), Blizzard’s Battle.net, Riot’s League of Legends, and Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile, according to a report by Shack News. President of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley confirmed the news on Twitter. A DDoS, or distributed denial-of-service, attack occurs when a group of people or bots flood the servers of a website with external communication requests, crippling it to the point of unusability. DDoS attacks can be set out for a variety of motives, from political to criminal. Lizard Squad appears to be focusing on Sony’s PSN service. . We're afraid @j_smedley's flight is about to get grounded. — Lizard Squad (@LizardSquad) August 24, 2014 The attacks appear to be political in nature.

This isn’t the first time Sony has been attacked. Gamers are far from amused. New study proves just how worthless TSA airport body scanners really are. Full-body scanners used for years at airports across the U.S. are even worse than previously believed—in fact, according to new research, they are easily tricked, which may have allowed passengers to smuggle guns, bombs, and other contraband through airport security.

New study proves just how worthless TSA airport body scanners really are

More troubling, researchers say, the study reaveals a severe lack rigorous testing of security systems by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). When the TSA pulled Rapiscan 1000 airport security scanners from airports last summer, it did so out of privacy concerns. However, according to a report released earlier this week by a team of researchers from U.C. San Diego, University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins University, anyone with knowledge of how the scanners work could have easily slipped weapons past security checkpoints. The results of the study are being presented this week at the USENIX Security Symposium in San Diego, Calif. What they discovered was shocking. ‟Our results suggest that while the ...