A caliphate — a medieval-style Islamic empire led by a successor to Muhammad — has arisen for the first time in nearly 100 years in Iraq, as President Obama stands by and does nothing.

The recent takeover of Iraqi cities by ISIS, and its holding of cities in eastern Syria, has led the al-Qaida-linked group to declare a united caliphate, with their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the new head of the empire, or caliph. Muslims believe that the caliphs throughout history have been legitimate successors to the prophet Muhammad, though they have differed in how they believe a caliph should be chosen.

The rise of a new caliph has long been a dream of Islamists around the globe, ever since the last one was legally disbanded by Turkey in 1924. A caliph will undoubtedly serve as a rallying figure for the forces of radical Islam.

It was an event that had been foreseen by many people. ISIS, al-Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood and all the rest of the terrorist groups have never tried to hide the fact that a caliphate was their major goal, and ultimately the spread of Islam throughout the world.

While the U.S. under President Bush fought hard to defeat al-Qaida and replace Saddam Hussein with a government formed along democratic principles, President Obama must own this utter failure of U.S. foreign policy.

Obama nearly singlehandedly has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, first by his encouragement and material and financial support of the Arab Spring that saw the overthrow of several existing governments and their effective replacement by Islamist groups. Second, his Administration oversaw the smuggling of guns and personnel to the so-called “rebels” in Syria, who turned out to be dominated by al-Qaida-linked mercenaries, many of whom we helped supply. Third, the pulling out of our troops from Iraq and declaring the War on Terror “over,” which clearly it is not.

 

Obama has traded U.S. victory for personal bragging rights, and in the process has made a mockery of the sacrifices of American troops and handed Iraq over to radical Islamists, not to mention other U.S. rivals.

First, Iran stepped in to help the Iraqis because we were nowhere to be seen. Then Syria began bombing ISIS positions inside Iraq. Now, Russia is supplying fighter jets to the Iraqis, even as a U.S. fleet of ships sits offshore and does nothing.

The rise of ISIS has been accompanied by the mass slaughter of anybody who stands against it, and the army’s advances have been marked literally by piles of bodies beside roadways. The advance of ISIS, with its call for a Sharia law state, has spurred the murders of Christians, not only in beseiged cities in Iraq, but across the Muslim world.

At the root of all the radical groups with all their different names and acronyms, is the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been calling for a renewed caliphate since the 1930s. To understand the monstrous violence and hatred spewed by Islamists, you need look no further than the origins of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose founder was a huge fan of Adolf Hitler’s. Hitler funded the Brotherhood throughout the 1930s, and his Gestapo trained what became known as the Handschar divisions. (Handschar is German for scimitar.) In World War II, the Handschar divisions acted as spies and troops in service of the Nazi cause in the Middle East.

To this day, the Nazi influence lurks within the Islamist movement. The Muslim Brotherhood still gives recruits their own personal copies of Mein Kampf, translated into Arabic. The Nazi salute can still be seen among groups such as Hamas.

Why fear a caliphate? Because when you look at Islamist terrorist groups like ISIS and the Brotherhood, you’re not just seeing some religious fanatics — you’re seeing a resurgent Nazism coupled to the always-violent religion of Muhammad.

Beyond the current borders of this new caliphate lies Europe, which in recent years has seen a resurgence of Nazi groups such as the Golden Dawn in Greece, which has already had success gaining political power. The Golden Dawn originally was one of those hush-hush cult groups at the heart of Nazis’ fascination with the mystical and mythological.

Right now, standing between the Nazi-inspired ISIS caliphate and the Nazi-derived Golden Dawn of Greece is the remnants of the Syrian military, and Turkey, which is a member of NATO.

Any fool can see the potential for another world war in that mix. If ISIS and the Golden Dawn should feel an urge to get together, NATO could easily get dragged into a fight in Turkey. The outcome of such a scenario would hinge upon whether Russia would see resurgent Nazism or NATO as the bigger threat on its border.

The growing crisis in the Middle East leads to the uncomfortable possibility that, while Obama dithers and diddles, the fate of the world could rest in the hands of Vladimir Putin.

Analysis of how we arrived at this situation leads to two equally painful possibilities: Either Obama is a blathering idiot of epic proportions, or the president has been so influenced by the documented Muslim Brotherhood-connected members of his Administration that he has deliberately led us down this road, meaning we truly do have a traitor in the Oval Office.