fp:

his process has been underway for a while now

Henri Barkey, a professor of international relations at Lehigh University:

"The border between the two has ceased to exist; in fact it had ceased a long time ago. I had a piece back in 2012 arguing this.

The Iraqi and Syrian states have ceded control of a number of provinces. If you think of what a state does from the perspective of the locals, especially in far-flung regions, it collects taxes and conscripts. Today there are no taxes to collect, no infrastructure to mend or maintain, and certainly no conscripts. Hence the state does not exist.

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