Satan has been unleashed in the world.

Or, if you are an atheist or secular and uncomfortable with theological imagery: Dr. Frankenstein’s monster has escaped the laboratory and is rampaging across the landscape.

The most recent atrocities committed by the Islamic State — notably, the beheading of an American journalist by an ISIS mujahid on video, as a warni...ng to President Obama (see Fox News, CNN, and the Mail Online) — demonstrate that something unprecedented is at work in the Middle East. Not since the defeat of the Ottoman army in 1683 has barbarity of this magnitude gone unchecked in the region.

Actually, you’d have to go back farther than 1683, or even 1453, to find comparable events. During its entire suzerainty over Mesopotamia, the Ottoman Empire did not engage in the systematic demolition of Shiite mosques. But that is exactly what ISIS is doing, even as it massacres and enslaves Christians and Yezidis.

This is a moment of enormous historical import. The proclamation of a Caliphate by the Islamic State has electrified Islamic zealots all over the world, which is why the black flag of jihad is appearing now in so many places. ISIS is saying to the Ummah: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” And getting an enthusiastic response, based on all the demonstrators who have taken to the “Muslim street”.

The process that has now reached its maturity in Syria and Iraq began in earnest more than three years ago, when a Tunisian street vendor immolated himself and initiated what eventually became known as the “Arab Spring”. It became obvious fairly quickly that this was a moment that both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Western intelligence services had been waiting for. Assets that had been kept ready were set into motion, and long-standing plans were systematically implemented in the months that followed.

Much of the analysis below is pure speculation, but it is based on factual material. It is an attempt to fit the known facts into a plausible general framework that would help explain them. I don’t have the time (nor will my eyes hold up long enough) to find links to all the relevant material; readers are advised to hit the search engines to find corroborating material.