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gracegriffin

U.N.'s Ban urges Assad to seek political solution to Syria crisis | Reuters - 0 views

  • U.N.'s Ban urges Assad to seek political solution to Syria crisis
  • U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged President Bashar al-Assad to seek a political solution to Syria's war, saying this would help international efforts against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, al-Hayat newspaper reported on Wednesday.
  • In an interview with the pan-Arab daily, Ban said years of war between Assad's forces and armed rebel groups had allowed militants such as Islamic State to take root in the region.
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  • Asked whether Assad would have any role to play in an international coalition being assembled to fight Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the U.N. chief said Assad could contribute by working politically towards an end to the war in his country.
  • slamic State, a militarily-powerful al Qaeda offshoot that wants to create a jihadist hub in the heart of the Arab world, has made rapid territorial gains in both Iraq and Syria in recent months that have alarmed regional and Western powers.
  • when Assad was sworn in for a new term as president, he vowed to recover all Syria from Islamist insurgents and dismissed the Syrian opposition abroad as traitors. But he also said he would be willing to work with the country's internal opposition, without giving details.
  • The United States has carried out weeks of air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq, but the outlook for U.S. air raids in Syria is much less clear.
  • While Iraq's government welcomed the role of U.S. warplanes to attack the militants, Assad has warned that any strikes conducted without his country's permission would be considered an act of aggression, potentially plunging any U.S.-led coalition into a broader conflict with Syria.
  • OPPOSING SIDES
  • "But it is important that the international community is united and shows strong support for any action that has to be taken to root out this terrorism."
  • Assad's military has stepped up air strikes
  • which controls about a third of Syria's territory
  • International and regional powers have backed opposing sides in the civil war, with Russia and Iran supporting Assad and Western powers and Gulf Arab states largely backing the rebels.
  • Ban also said a U.N. Security Council decision to support military action against Islamic State would be "an excellent and an appropriate way" to deal with the group but that its brutal killings were why, "some countries took some military action," in a reference to U.S. air strikes in Iraq.
  • U.S. President Barack Obama is expected on Wednesday to outline a plan to deal with Islamic State. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Baghdad as he began a tour of the Middle East to build military, political and financial support to defeat the militants.
wmaley

The Grand Strategy Obama Needs - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • his effort this week to seem more muscular relies so much on a military solution that it risks a broader military entanglement.
    • wmaley
       
      history is repeating itself
  • look back to 1956
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  • he Soviet Union invaded Hungary to crush a revolution while Britain and France, seeking to regain the Suez Canal, collaborated with Israel in a war against Egypt.
  • backed away from challenging the Soviet suppression of Hungary, then forced America’s European allies into an ignominious retreat from Egypt.
  • Eisenhower had a larger goal — not upsetting the delicate balance of power in the Cold War. Above all, he sought to avoid greater conflict, especially when he was trying to start arms control talks with Moscow.
    • wmaley
       
      it was better in the long run to think ahead rather than solving the problem temporarily. 
  • Today’s Russian menace and Islamic State horrors are threats to be sure, but largely because Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and other potential targets all contain within them ethnic groups and sects fighting over power and influence.
  • Both trace to political fragmentation in weak states living within unsettled borders. That leaves those states prone to internal dissent, and America’s recent minimalist posture has given these brewing troubles room to explode into crises.
  • rallying allies into coalitions that would ultimately share in managing peace and security. Which is where a sound strategy lies.
  • America’s allies will play that game, but only if they are sure we have a strategy and the staying power to see it through.
  • American grand strategy should identify these weak countries before they turn on themselves;
  • American policy today sees the world in fragments
  • So Mr. Obama’s big challenge is to help weak states reconcile, compromise and unite, and thus deny enemies a chance to start civil wars.
wmaley

ISIS mass execution survivor: "I didn't want to make a sound" - CBS News - 0 views

  • The U.S. airstrikes in Iraq that began a month ago saved thousands of refugees
  • Mount Sinjar
  • topped the ISIS advance on the Kurdish capital of Erbil.
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  • with its own military called the Peshmerga
  • Kurdistan
  • Kirkuk is the gateway to Iraq's oil fields.
  • the American air campaign means ISIS can't mass its forces or move with any speed.
  • Thanks to the U.S. airstrikes, the Peshmerga are now on the offensive
  • moving toward Mosul which is an occupied city of more than a million and a half people.
  • The Kurds are asking the White House for tanks and artillery, to break lines like this.
    • wmaley
       
      will the long commitment be worth it end the end, or should the government strategize another solution?
  • Electricity only shows up once every two days.
  • shortage of medicine.
  • "They control life, clothing, everything in a very harsh way, very strict and very strict punishments," he said.
    • wmaley
       
      they want to instill fear in other people
  • posting those punishments online
  • "When I was hit, I didn't want to make a sound because anyone who made a noise, they'd come over and shoot them in the head," he said.
  • Mosul is like a big prison with limited water and gas,"
  • War is like a bridge - once you're on it, you can't get off until you see it through.
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