An organization such as the Islamic State may still flourish by looting cities and oil wells in the Middle East—it seized more than $500 million from Iraqi banks and in 2015 made an additional $500 million from selling oil—but for a major power such as China or the United States, these are trifling sums.7 With an annual GDP of more than $20 trillion, China is unlikely to start a war for a paltry billion.
