How's ISIS doing these days? Apparently not well – according to Foreign Policy, its revenues are down 80% since 2015. The group's apparent collapse is backed up a study released Thursday morning that found three years after Islamic State declared its caliphate on parts of Iraq and Syria, it has lost 80 percent of its revenue and roughly two thirds of its territory. The report, by IHS Markit, a London-based information and analytics group, found the Islamic State's average monthly revenue has fallen dramatically from $81 million in the second quarter of 2015 to $16 million in the second quarter of 2017 – an 80 percent drop. As money runs out, so does power and legitimacy, particularly in the hard-realities world of the Middle East.  It has to mean that the end is near.  It's always a matter of money. To paraphrase the late great Lady Thatcher, the terrorists are running out of other people's money.  Foreign policy...(Read Full Post)