Henry Johnson is a fellow at Foreign Policy. He has previously written for LobeLog and graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a degree in history.
Iraqi Shiite fighters from the Popular Mobilisation units deploy in the city of Baiji, north of Tikrit, as they fight alongside Iraqi forces against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group to try to retake the strategic town for a second time, on June 9, 2015. Baghdad regained control of Baiji -- located on the road to IS hub Mosul and near the country's largest oil refinery -- last year, but subsequently lost it again. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit should read )
TONGXU, CHINA - JANUARY 04: (CHINA OUT) A huge statue of Chairman Mao Zedong, 36.6 meters in height, is under construction at Zhushigang village on January 4, 2016 in Tongxu County, China. The statue costs nearly 3 million yuan (459,300 USD) donated by several entrepreneurs and some villagers in Zhushigang village. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)
BAGHDAD, IRAQ - JANUARY 4: Members of Sadrist movement hold posters of Nimr Baqir al-Nimr during a protest against the execution of prominent Saudi Shia cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by Saudi authorities, in Baghdad on January 4, 2016. (Photo by )
Lee Yong-Soo (R), along with two other former South Korean "comfort women" Kim Bok-Dong (L) and Gil Won-Ok (C), voices criticism at talks with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-Nam (not pictured) during his visit to a shelter for women, who were forcibly recruited to work in Japanese wartime military brothels, in Seoul on December 29, 2015. South Korean officials met with former "comfort women" to seek their support for a landmark deal with Japan, after criticism it does not properly atone for the treatment of women forced into WWII army brothels. AFP PHOTO / POOL / JUNG YEON-JE / AFP / POOL / JUNG YEON-JE (Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images)
French policemen patrol at the Christmas market area in Strasbourg, eastern France, on November 27, 2015, on its opening day. For security reasons the city center has been closed to car traffic during the whole period of Strasbourg's Christmas market, following the November 13 Paris attacks. AFP PHOTO / PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP / PATRICK HERTZOG (Photo credit should read PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images)
BERLIN - OCTOBER 13: The book 'Mein Kampf' (My Struggle) is pictured during a press preview of 'Hitler and the Germans Nation and Crime' (Hitler und die Deutschen Volksgemeinschaft und Verbrechen) at Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum) on October 13, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. The exhibition seeks to answer the question of why so many Germans chose to follow Hitler and his fascist ideology and so devotedly despite the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. The exhibition will be open to the public from October 15 until February 6, 2011. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
ZAGAN, POLAND - JUNE 18: A Polish Army MI-8 helicopter participates in the NATO Noble Jump military exercises of the VJTF forces on June 18, 2015 in Zagan, Poland. The VJTF, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, is NATO's response to Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Troops from Germany, Norway, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Holland were among those taking part today. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
skates against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Nassau Coliseum on December 29, 2010 in Uniondale, New York. The Islanders defeated the Penguins 2-1 in the shootout.
This picture taken on November 17, 2015 shows people walking past a McCafe near the famed West Lake tourist spot in the former home of late Taiwanese President Chiang Ching-kuo in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province. A branch of Mcdonald's opened in a historic Chinese building once inhabited by a former leader of Taiwan is serving up muffins and coffee amid a storm of controversy, state media said on November 18. CHINA OUT AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)
A man holds a placard reading "Yazidi children want to live" and sporting the Yazidi flag next to others holding placards during a demonstration mainly by Yazidi refugees in support of their community in Iraq, on August 20, 2014 in Angers, western France. Yazidi refugees living in France's Maine-et-Loire department, whom arrived in the region in the last 10 years, demonstrated along with Kurdish speakers on August 20 in Angers in support of Yazidis persecuted in Iraq by the Islamic State (IS). AFP PHOTO / JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER (Photo credit should read JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians carry the coffin of General Nur-Ali Shushtari, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces and other members of the Revolutionary guardians, killed two days ago, near the Pakistani border, during a funeral in Tehran outside the Revolutionary Guard garrison on October 20, 2009. Sunni group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that killed seven Revolutionary Guards commanders and 28 other people, including several tribal leaders. AFP PHOTO AFP PHOTO/BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read )
PALEMBANG, SOUTH SUMATRA, INDONESIA - OCTOBER 02: A firefighter holds a water pipe as they extinguish the fire on burned peatland and fields at Sungai Rambutan village, Ogan Ilir district on October 2, 2015 in Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia. The air pollution or haze has been an annual problem for the past 18 years in Indonesia. It's caused by the illegal burning of forest and peat fires on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo to clear new land for the production of pulp, paper and palm oil. Singapore and Malaysia have offered to help the Indonesian government to fight against the fires, as infants and their mothers are evacuated to escape the record pollution levels. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)
