In light of all the ISIS-inspired crap being committed around the world, I think it's worth remembering that these are the flails of a group that has been consistently losing ground on all fronts for two years, recently losing Fallujah and Palmyra. And has lost money from those losses and tightening of the Turkish border. And they're losing popularity from what we can tell. For all the noise they make, all the crap they talk, they're losing. And have been losing.
And it makes you wonder, if the reason we have seen this spike in rather slap-dash attacks that lack the subtlety and careful elaborate planning of attacks of years past is that they are...well incapable of that? Not to say thes eattacks aren't tragic, but it is a marked difference. Like they are just desperate for a perceived "win" to trumpet, desperate to rope in more western involvement so they have a "common enemy" to point fingers at and rally people against, desperate for something to boost their rep.
But regardless of that speculation, let's not forget when they run their mouths and talk crap or pull off a cowardly attack on civilians somewhere, they aren't winning. They haven't been for a while.
Edit: Just to cover my rear, I don't subscribe necessarily to the political views and comments of these sites.
Edit2: Also, not saying everything is perfect over there or everything is going swimmingly, so please don't come at me like I am saying that.