Iraq no longer exists as a unified state. The Kurdish north is moving towards increasingly greater autonomy that sooner or later will become outright independence; the Shiite south increasingly gravitate towards Iran, and the Sunni central region is home to the new-born, so-called caliphate proclaimed by ISIS, the jihadist-qaedist organisation that aims to redefine the Levant’s political framework. An otherwise little-known character, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has proclaimed himself “caliph” of this supposed new Sunni state.