World View: Ignore recent revisionism. The Norsemen carried out atrocities to equal those of the German SS

World View: It has helped to restore authoritarian rule in the Middle East, but the costs are becoming clear

World View: Corruption has blighted the torrent of dollars poured into the country by America since 2001

Our foreign correspondent's investigation into the jihadi resurgence

In the final part of his series, Patrick Cockburn explains how Sunni fundamentalist groups are successfully winning recruits through well-funded internet propaganda

In the fourth of his series about the resurgence of al-Qa’ida, Patrick Cockburn examines how Islamists have turned the uprising against President Assad into a sectarian war

In the third part of his series, Patrick cockburn looks at the growing influence of Isis, formerly al-Qa’ida’s force in Iraq, which dominates Sunni areas and is wreaking havoc among the Shia majority

In the second part of his series, Patrick Cockburn examines the role of Saudi Arabia as the jihadists’ greatest ally – and asks whether the kingdom will be forced to change tack in the face of American impatience and anarchy in Syria

In 2014 al-Qa’ida-type groups are numerous and powerful… In other words, the ‘war on terror’ has demonstrably failed

World View: Its government has no real power; militias are ever more entrenched, and now the state itself is under threat