European officials have been known to express regret of failure that their own societies, mired in economic malaise and ethnic tension over migrants, proved fertile recruitment grounds for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The regret could apply to any number of failures to tackle root problems that have prompted lone wolves to strike fear in major European cities, at tourist attractions in North Africa, and in Shi’ite mosques in the Gulf.

Thousands of Europeans, Arabs and others were also moved to join ISIS as foreign fighters; and tens of thousands have sought refuge in Europe from civil war, brutal repression and economic despair.

… The writer is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and co-director of the Institute of Fan Culture of the University of Wurzburg, Germany. A longer version of this article appeared in RSIS Commentaries.