Immediately after the Paris attacks, French President François Hollande called the terrorism “an act of war.” Then on Meet the Press, White House staffer Ben Rhodes went further, saying, “We’ve been at war with ISIS for quite some time.” How does ISIS conceptualize this state of affairs? On The Gist, Max Abrahms from Northeastern University examines the Islamic State’s seemingly paradoxical motives. For the Spiel, we ponder the role of leaders in the face of a handful of motivated killers.

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