US airstrikes have 'minimal effects' on Islamic State. Why that's not all bad.

Despite more than two months of US airstrikes against the Islamic State, there are still large cities in Iraq and Syria that are in danger of falling, Pentagon officials warn.

Against that backdrop, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gathered military leaders from 22 countries at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland Tuesday to, among other things, come to some agreement on what, precisely, victory might resemble in this latest war.

Pentagon officials said that a big goal of the meeting would be to “achieve deeper consensus on the nature of the threat” posed by IS, also known as ISIS and ISIL. This is coded language, of a sort – a nod to the notion that, in the eyes of US officials, some countries do not realize how dangerous the IS advances are.

Read the full article at Christian Science Monitor.