The Islamic State (IS) has received dozens of official pledges from in Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Indonesia, and several other countries. Perhaps the most interesting—not to mention alarming—of its pledges has been from former Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and tribal leaders in the “Khorasan,” an old name for the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

The speculation that Craig Hicks, who killed three Muslim college students in Chapel Hill, NC on February 10, 2015, may have done so out of anti-religious motivation highlights the dangerous but under-examined threat of domestic terrorism.

Take away the media group watermarks, and mute the spoken anti-Western propaganda, and the Islamic State's (IS) most recent video featuring John Cantlie might look more like a VICE News story: a brave, skinny jean-wearing journalist documenting a rubble-covered warzone. The video, titled "From Inside Aleppo," marks yet another step in one of history's most bizarre climbs to superstardom. In a matter of months, Cantlie, whom IS had originally intended to be a conduit into Western discourse, has surprised both himself and his captors by becoming a champion of the jihadist movement.

The Islamic State's (IS) January 20 release of "A Message to the Government and People of Japan," a video demanding a ransom from the Japanese government for the lives of two Japanese citizens, has raised many questions—perhaps the most prevalent of which being, Why Japan?