I thought of the perfect analogy for what is going on in the world. It's a worldwide gang fight.

Every ethnic group has gangs whether they admit it or not and some take the form of religious extremists. I would bet each of these gangs is 'managed' by a cartel/elite protecting their 'property'. Problem now is that rather than fighting amongst themselves for a piece of turf they've turned to fighting for more turf from an opposing gang (city, county, country). It's a giant turf war and we are just peasants.

There are gang (criminals) in every religion working behind the scenes while their congregation is oblivious . I would even venture to guess that some 'religions' are just hanging back, waiting for the others to wipe each other out and they will come shining through as the peacemakers.