Coincidence

Granting that there's no evidence, really,  to prove a connection, Islamic State and Ukraine issues seem to keep coming up at the same time.

The MH17 wreckage is finally being cleaned up. It is surely no coincidence that this week Russia released "proof" that it was Ukraine that shot the passenger plane down. At the same time, Putin is making noises about what will happen next there.

Another beheading from Islamic State, meanwhile, has indicated to some that they are having operational difficulties. (Although that had also been noted before the beheading, including reports of a significant member of the group being injured in an airstrike.) In any case, it's not clear where ISIS can go next.  The death of Peter Kassig is tragic, but not surprising, and won't result in any changes to policies or tactics. Which raises the same question as ever: What is expected to be gained?

Beyond the activities themselves is that they are happening this same week. Coincidences happen, perhaps more so in geopolitical events where there are many countries and many interests among them. Indeed, if you are looking at generational cycles you expect related events during the same period - that's what the model says. Sometimes, though, events related in time are related in other ways as well.

And sometimes, yeah, there's no correlation between correlation and causation.