Episode 27

ISIS are a terrifying, devastating Sunni militia that emerged out of the Iraqi insurgency and the anti-Assad jihad … except they aren't particularly religious! And their origin story makes no sense. And militarily speaking they are a joke who could be wiped out within weeks if NATO wanted that. In this episode I take a sideways look at the Islamic State, which isn't very Islamic and isn't a state, and ask what they really are, if anything.

Guillermo Jimenez Presents Ioan Grillo
On this edition of De-Manufacturing Consent: Guillermo is joined by investigative journalist and author of the book El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency, Ioan Grillo. Guillermo and Ioan discuss the ongoing struggle in Mexico with focus on the state of Michoacan and the rise of “autodefensas” (civilian self-defense groups) that some have compared to the Zapatista movement of the 1990s.