It is clear that ISIL, rather than being a grand revolutionary force trying to overturn the mistaken conquests like the Iraq War by the US in the Islamic world as it claims, is no Islamic state but a plaything of various other countries.

A typical terrorist group, ISIL can only be called a proxy of other countries. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other countries provide reckless channels of weapon supplies, men and propaganda against the governments of Iraq and Syria. Ultimately, these states are responsible for the plague of ISIL. ISIL has no life of its own, hanging on the puppet-strings of these countries, and doomed to collapse. ISIL will never be a country.

Even worse, ISIL and its supporters are gullible. Unable to recognize the tapestry of power politics and scheming behind the countries and groups trying to topple the governments of Syria and Iraq, they are blown around by schemers, all the while giving praise to their God. This is the power of superstition and gullibility, and it gives rise to the ideal puppet organization.

It doesn’t matter what schemes are developed by Syria and Iraq’s enemies to use ISIL and direct it against both countries. ISIL will not realize that it is being manipulated. It is helping to divide the Muslim world between the sane and the insane, between a developed capable civilisation and a Stone Age cult that can only kill Muslims and destroy Muslim countries.

When your goal in life is to be the plaything of a capricious god, it is more likely that you will become the plaything of scheming men. For people who earnestly believe in God, I ask this. Is God so petty that he is the schemer behind the power politics in the Middle East, behind the assassins of any of the various competing factions? For ISIL supporters, I ask, has your God told you that you will all die, and is this part of your plan? If you are God’s chosen, then is it your God’s wish to turn you into a mound of corpses, and to what end? I doubt a few people, let alone a God, would wager anything on the success of a pitiful and shrinking group like ISIL.

If God is behind the success of nations and power cults, he is on the side not of ISIL but of Russia and the United States. If God has armed and strengthened political factions, then clearly he has strengthened the US and Russia – not ISIL. The theology of divine intervention in petty political squabbles and assassinations will always be absurd, but the day ISIL realizes its folly will be the day it is surrounded by all the United Nations and doomed to defeat.