Reporter Jen St. Denis on the news that caught her eye this week. Image: Syrian refugees fleeing war - and a terrible economic system | Ververidis Vasilis/Shutterstock
It’s been another week dominated by news about Syrian refugees and the reaction to the Paris attacks. Several news outlets have explored just how ISIS, the most well-funded terrorist organization in the world, gets its money.
This September in the Atlantic, reporter Joanna Paraszczuk described how “ISIS controls every detail of the economy” and takes ownership of factories and businesses of territories they control. Taxes are high, the cost of consumer goods and food has shot up beyond the reach everyone except ISIS militants, and unemployment is soaring.
The Washington Post explored the diversified revenue streams of ISIS, which include selling oil and antiquities on the black market, taxation and extortion, ransoms from kidnappings and donations from wealthy donors. Tax and spend? Not really, reported the New York Times in May: “The group minimizes costs by looting military equipment, appropriating land and infrastructure, and paying relatively low salaries.”
Meanwhile, Charles Pierce argued in Esquire that “there is only one way to defeat ISIS:” follow the money.
Millions of Syrians have fled ISIS and civil war in Syria, and this week the idea that Syrian refugees could pose a security threat persisted — but there was pushback too.
Several U.S. governors have said they don’t want to take refugees, but American mayors are asking for more. (One exception would be the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia, whose comments prompted a sharp retort from actor George Takei.)
The mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, spoke up after Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall asked Justin Trudeau to suspend his plan to bring in 25,000 refugees by December.
A resident of Northern B.C. started a petition against refugees being resettled there; meanwhile, a call centre in Nova Scotia was flooded with offers of help and a Vancouver synagogue raised $40,000 in just one day to sponsor a Syrian refugee.
(By the way, B.C. could use a few thousands new immigrants right about now.)
Vancouver developer Ian Gillespie went public with his plan to use an apartment building his company owns and plans to redevelop as temporary housing for refugees. He told Daphne Bramham at the Vancouver Sun he hopes his plan will spark others to offer help — and it looks like that’s already happening.
@jenstden
