Islamists gaining more foes than friends in Middle East and all around the world

Begin quote from page 42 of the Economist November 22nd to 28th 2014 of the article "Gaining more foes than friends"

begin quote, "There is no cause yet for cheer, but for the first time since last summer's blitzkrieg by Islamic state (IS) the news from Iraq and Syria has been less than uniformly grim. General Martin Dempsey, America's chairman of the joint chief's of staff, on November 15th told the American troops in Iraq that the battle is "starting to turn"--though it will take time to defeat the jihadists. The UN's envoy for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, assured the Security Council that the strategy of enlisting local forces was showing signs of progress. "We're not looking at the collapse of the Iraqi state," he said, "We've turned the tide."