Jon Stewart knocks Obama for letting Syria's Kobani fall to ISIS


A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
U.S. officials, from President Obama down to the most junior House backbencher, have gravely warned that ISIS poses a serious, existential threat to the United States, Jon Stewart said on Wednesday night's Daily Show. But if ISIS is really "the most evil thing since Hitler's sliced bread," he asked, why is it that two weeks after America and its 40-member international coalition started bombing ISIS inside Syria, they haven't been able to stop the Islamist militants from overrunning Kobani, a Syrian Kurdish town on the Turkey border?
After making a yogurt joke (spoiler: Chobani), Stewart got serious. As one reporter said in a clip, Kobani matters "because a lot of people will get slaughtered, and that's an awful, awful thing," but it isn't a key city strategically — in other words, the ongoing U.S. airstrikes may help with the U.S. goal of saving civilians but won't do much to further the goal of destroying ISIS. "So Kobani seems to fall somewhere between a town about to fall to the greatest threat we've ever seen and uh, you know, a slow drip from a kitchen sink," Stewart said. Correspondent Jordan Klepper brought that point home with a sardonic report from "Kobani." --Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.
-
Tuberville's military promotions block is upending lives, combat readiness, 3 military branch chiefs say
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Ukraine's counteroffensive is making incremental gains. Does it matter in the broader war?
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
US commissions first-ever Navy ship in a foreign port
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
British spy chief, Wagner video suggest Prigozhin is alive and freely 'floating around'
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
The US will soon finish destroying its last chemical weapons
Speed Read
By Brigid Kennedy Published
-
Putin and Prigozhin offer rival explanations for Wagner's brief rebellion
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
The future of the Wagner Group is murky
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Wagner Group stops armed rebellion toward Moscow
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published