Fall in Oil Prices Poses a Problem for Russia, Iraq and Others - 2 views
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/world/europe/fall-in-oil-prices-poses-a-problem-for-russia-iraq-and-others.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0 From Moscow to Caracas...
ISIS used to be al-Qaeda in Iraq - 2 views
US and Syrian Airstrikes Hit Islamic State Targets in Iraq and Syria | VICE News - 0 views
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The Syrian government has ramped up airstrikes in Raqqa since August after insurgents seized an airbase and other military posts, capturing and executing dozens of soldiers and forcing remaining Syrian troops out of the area.
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has previously called for support to fight the militants, but western governments have been hesitant to back a leader that has been accused of routinely carrying out dangerous tactics against militants, including the indiscriminate dropping of barrels packed with explosives that have killed scores of civilians across the country over the past three and a half years.
In Syria, the Enemy of America's Enemy Is Still a Lousy Friend | VICE News - 0 views
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The ball was set rolling by Ryan Crocker, the whiz diplomat who made his reputation as the US ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan. In an article for the New York Times, he argued that it was “time to consider a future for Syria without Assad’s ouster." His reason? “It is overwhelmingly likely that is what the future will be.” His circular logic found few takers, though notable among them was former NSA and CIA chief Michael Hayden.
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Crudely defined, the US has no interests at stake in Syria, and the Obama administration was never enthusiastic about overthrowing Assad.
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According to the Daily Beast, the administration is already debating whether to embrace Assad as an ally in a war against terror.
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One World, Rival Theories - 2 views
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He sketched out three dominant approaches: realism, liberalism, and an updated form of idealism called "constructivism."
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Realism focuses on the shifting distribution of power among states.
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Liberalism highlights the rising number of democracies and the turbulence of democratic transitions.
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Israel Kills 3 Top Hamas Leaders as Latest Fighting Turns Its Way - NYTimes.com - 7 views
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But the latest round of fighting appears to have given Israel the upper hand in a conflict that has already outlasted all expectations and is increasingly becoming a war of attrition.
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Israel’s advantage has never looked more lopsided. In contrast to the earlier phase of the war, Israel this week deployed its extensive intelligence capabilities and overwhelming firepower in targeted bombings with limited civilian casualties less likely to raise the world’s ire.
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“There’s a longstanding conventional wisdom that Israel doesn’t do well in wars of attrition,” said Michael B. Oren, an Israeli historian and a former ambassador to the United States. “That overlooks a broader historical view that Israel’s entire existence has been a war of attrition, and we’ve won that war.”
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Peter Theo Curtis, Abducted in 2012, Is Released by Nusra Front - NYTimes.com - 0 views
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Yet his surprise liberation by the Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, came less than a week after the decapitation of another American journalist, James Foley, held by a different and even more radical jihadist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
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“Our family wants to thank the country of Qatar in a big way,” said Amy Rosen, a cousin. “Every person that our family dealt with in Qatar said that under no circumstances would a ransom be paid — and that this was something the U.S. government had requested, and they had agreed to,” she said. “But at the same time, we don’t pretend to know everything that happened.”
UN human rights chief criticises security council over global conflicts | World news | ... - 0 views
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“These crises hammer home the full cost of the international community’s failure to prevent conflict,” Pillay said. “None of these crises erupted without warning.”
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Pillay said Syria’s conflict “is metastasing outwards in an uncontrollable process whose eventual limits we cannot predict”. She also cited conflicts in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Congo, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza.
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The resolution acknowledged that the United Nations has not always used the tools in its charter for preventing conflict. It prescribed several steps for improvement, focusing on addressing human rights violations earlier and recognizing that such abuses are often warning signs of looming conflicts.
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New U.N. rights boss warns of 'house of blood' in Iraq, Syria | Reuters - 0 views
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The Council has an independent investigation into war crimes by all sides in Syria, where more than 190,000 documented killings have occurred during the conflict that began in March 2011, according to a report by Pillay last month.
Ukraine Must Prepare to Rebuild Itself | Opinion | The Moscow Times - 7 views
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The three months of increasingly intense fighting between pro-Kiev forces and eastern separatists have unleashed both sides' worst instincts and demonstrated their high tolerance for loss of civilian life.
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These developments exclude any recovery of Ukrainian statehood, even in its dysfunctional post-Soviet form. The Ukrainian state, as it emerged after the Soviet dissolution, is finished.
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