A "mosaic chart" of Middle Eastern relationships
THE rise of Islamic State has upended geopolitics in the Middle East and drawn America's military back to the region. Though IS is popular among militants, the group has no allies on the political stage, making it even more isolated than the official al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra. Our "relationship mosaic" above visualises the rapports among countries, political groups and militant organisations in the Middle East. It provides a quick glimpse of who is friends with whom (albeit a simplified depiction of relationships; the "neutral" category, for instance, embraces a large number of possibilities). The Syrian government is disliked by many countries but supported by Iran and Russia. The Iraqi Kurds count numerous friends and no sworn enemies among the entities listed. And the chart shows the degree to which America needs to play a delicate diplomatic game in holding together allies that may not always be friends with each other.