The Western world was introduced to the new Islamic era on Monday. It does not matter if the terrorist in Sydney was or was not a part of the Islamic State group, formerly known as ISIS -- the ISISism of his actions was very apparent. For Australia, the writing was on the wall. A few weeks ago, in a joint operation, security forces foiled a plot by a group of Islamic State operatives who were planning to take dozens of people in central Sydney hostage, and behead them one by one, every hour, on live television. That plan may have been foiled, but the desire for such attacks continues: An official Australian assessment published a few days ago wrote that around 15 to 20 Australians are killed in Iraq and Syria every month after leaving their homes and joining up to fight for Islamic State. To Western intelligence agencies, including the Australians, it was clear this day would come, that one of these Islamic State fighters would return home and carry out a terrorist attack (like the attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels), or that someone would try to "import" the success of Islamic State and on their own initiative carry out a kidnapping, beheading, or suicide attack. This is why security apparatuses have been beefed up in more than a few Western hubs, including Sydney. The fact that Australia was caught by surprise is surprising in and of itself. Not because of the timing, which is always unexpected, but in the drawn-out and seemingly complicated tactical response. Australia has an excellent military with a long decorated history which took part in every significant engagement of the 20th and 21st centuries, as well fielding respected elite units. And still, it took too long until the takeover was carried out, and not without civilian casualties. The debriefing and post-operation analysis will likely focus on the intelligence gaps and the time it took to come up with an operational plan, as well as a question for the masses: Why did the dozens of hostages not run to overpower the lone terrorist- The consequences of this event are not important just to Australia, but to the entire world. Attacks of this nature tend to encourage copycats, and those who watched the news on Monday and Tuesday may be inspired to carry out similar acts. It could be a coffee shop in New York, a mall in London, a restaurant in Paris. If in the past these kind of attacks were solely perpetrated by professional terrorist groups -- from the Red Brigades, to Baader-Meinhof to al-Qaida -- today any frustrated or brainwashed citizen is a potential terrorist, a messenger for Islamic State, whose defeat is the sane world's responsibility.
