PROSPECTS FOR COLLECTIVE OPPOSITION TO THE ISLAMIC STATE M. S. KHODYNSKAYA-GOLENISHCHEVA Candidate of Historical Sciences Employee of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva Keywords: Syria, "Arab spring", terrorism, "Islamic State", multipolarity, foreign policy The crisis in Syria and the resulting surge in radicalism and the unprecedented rise of the global terrorist international have raised questions about the need to develop a unified, collective strategy based on international law to counter jihadists. The operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), which began on September 30, 2015 and caused damage to the potential of terrorist groups operating in Syria-the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra and others-has certainly become a factor that will largely determine the vector of developments around Syria and the Middle East in the near future. On October 30, 2015, in Vienna, 19 States - countries of the region and world powers, as well as regional organizations-adopted a Joint Statement on Syria, one of the points of which set the task of defeating terrorist groups operating in the country1. This is the first internationally agreed document since the Geneva Communique of June 30, 2012, which combines steps to resolve the Syrian crisis with measures to eliminate the main threat to Syria - terrorism. At the same time, Russia and the United States began agreeing on a "single list" of terrorist groups that are not included in the relevant lists of the UN Security Council, but are de facto terrorist or acting jointly with jihadists. Thus, we can assume that there is a chance to translate into practice the initiative of Vladimir Putin to create an international counter-terrorism front. RUSSIA'S POSITION AND THE WEST'S REACTION The Russian position on Syria, which focuses on the urgent need to unite the efforts of all interested players to fight terrorism, did not appear today or even on the eve of the s ... Читать далее