ISIS and us: NZ and the wars for the Middle East

Waikato University law and war specialist Professor Alexander Gillespie says by sending troops to Iraq New Zealand’s got itself stuck in the middle of a very complex ISIS problem.

Professor Gillespie will give two public lectures next month, one in Tauranga, the other in Hamilton, to outline the complexity of the ISIS situation and the reasons for and against New Zealand getting involved.

“There’s no doubt ISIS is evil – they’re the fascists of the 21st century, with their regional and global ambitions and their crimes against humanity, but by helping fight them, New Zealand is getting involved in the Middle East in a complicated set of wars.”

Professor Gillespie says trying to combat ISIS is like playing whack-a-mole – you shut them down in one place and they pop up somewhere else. “We could end up fighting all over the world. I believe this is an issue that can only be solved through the United Nations.”

He says the war against ISIS has the potential to be the “next Vietnam” – that New Zealand entered that war in a non-combat capacity just as we have done in Iraq – and that our involvement does make us more of a terrorism threat.

“There have always been clashes of civilisation, but this issue is different in terms of the influence of social media and its size. We haven’t seen cities fall like this since the Second World War. We could see the disintegration of the Middle East – and what would that mean for the world? The Middle East may need to be redivided.”

Professor Gillespie’s lectures take place in Tauranga on Thursday 7 May at Tauranga Boys’ College and in Hamilton on Thursday 14 May at the University of Waikato’s Academy of Performing Arts. Both lectures start at 6pm.

ENDS

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