Welcome to the age of anger

In the hopeful years that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the universal triumph of liberal capitalism and democracy seemed assured; free markets and human rights would spread around the world and lift billions from poverty and oppression. In many ways, this dream has come true: we live in a vast, homogenous global market, which is more literate, interconnected and prosperous than at any other time in history.

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And yet we find ourselves in an age of anger, with authoritarian leaders manipulating the cynicism and discontent of furious majorities. What used to be called “Muslim rage”, and identified with mobs of brown-skinned men with bushy beards, is suddenly manifest globally, among saffron-robed Buddhist ethnic-cleansers in Myanmar, as well as blond white nationalists in Germany. Violent hate crimes have blighted even the oldest of parliamentary democracies, with the murder of the MP Jo Cox by a British neo-Nazi during the venomous campaign for Brexit. Suddenly, as the liberal thinker Michael Ignatieff recently wrote: “Enlightenment humanism and rationalism” can no longer adequately “explain the world we’re living in.”

The largely Anglo-American intellectual assumptions forged by the cold war and its jubilant aftermath are an unreliable guide to today’s chaos – and so we must turn to the ideas of an earlier era of volatility. It is a moment for thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, who warned in 1915 that the “primitive, savage and evil impulses of mankind have not vanished in any individual”, but are simply waiting for the opportunity to show themselves again. Certainly, the current conflagration has brought to the surface what Friedrich Nietzsche called “ressentiment” – “a whole tremulous realm of subterranean revenge, inexhaustible and insatiable in outbursts.”

 Yet a mechanistic and materialist way of conceiving human actions has become entrenched, in part because economics has become the predominant means of understanding the world. A view that took shape in the 19th century – that there is “no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest” – has become orthodoxy once again in an intellectual climate that views the market as the ideal form of human interaction and venerates technological progress and the growth of GDP. All of this is part of the rigid contemporary belief that what counts is only what can be counted and that what cannot be counted – subjective emotions – therefore does not.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/08/welcome-age-anger-brexit-trump?CMP=fb_gu

Italy votes for new constitution

If people vote "yes", there will be a change to Italy's bicameral parliament of two chambers, the Chamber of Deputies and the senate. They currently have equal powers and are filled with directly elected lawmakers.
If the reform moves forward, the senate would lose much of its power. Instead of the current 315 senators, there will be 100, and rather than being directly elected, they will be selected by regional assemblies.

The reform would dissolve Italy's 110 provinces, Italy's second-level administrative divisions - considered expensive and redundant - while municipalities, metropolitan cities and regions would remain.
The central government would take back some of the prerogatives of the regions, like managing transport and infrastructure and regulating the supply of key energy resources.

Carlo Fusaro, a prominent constitutionalist, said that, if approved, government institutions will become more efficient, legislative procedures will be streamlined and the regions will be given better representation in parliament.
As a result, the country's governability will improve, and future governments will be able to implement those economic reforms that are essential to restructure the country's battered economy.
"Italy has stopped growing; its productivity is one of the lowest in Europe and the country is highly indebted. We badly need structural and quality reforms within reasonable timeframes," he told Al Jazeera. "Italy is functioning on emergency mode with a weak government forced to act by decrees … Too many veto-players jeopardise policymaking at a time when the country needs both efficient institutions and governability."
The reform would put an end to Italy's unique anomaly of a "doubler senate", a chamber that has the same functions as the Chamber of Deputies, and often vetoes or slows down the approval of key legislation.
Today tens of legislative proposals passed by the lower chamber wait to be approved by the Senate; some take more than two years.
Supporters of the reform say such concerns are baseless.

"I can hardly see how a strong executive can be a problem in a country that had 63 governments in 70 years," said Guido Crainz, a political scientist teaching history at Teramo University, who has published extensively on the subject. 
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/12/italy-votes-constitution-political-turmoil-161203103657041.html 

Ato Unilateral (Protesto) China lodges protest after Trump call with Taiwan president

Protesto => Ato Unilateral - China x EUA


China lodged a diplomatic protest on Saturday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, but blamed the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own for the "petty" move.
The 10-minute telephone call with Taiwan's leadership was the first by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of "one China".

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-taiwan-idUSKBN13R2NT

Latin America has most unequal land distribution, Colombia fares worst: charity

Land distribution in Latin America is the most unequal in the world where only one percent of the farms and estates control more than half of the region's productive land, aid group Oxfam said on Wednesday.
Colombia, where two thirds of agricultural land is concentrated in just 0.4 percent of farmland holdings, fares the worst, Oxfam said in a report analyzing land censuses and policy in 15 countries over the last 50 years.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-latam-landrights-idUSKBN13P2NX

Iran: More than 1,000 soldiers die in Syria since 2011

The death toll was a major increase from one reported just four months ago when Iran announced 400 of its soldiers had died on Syria's battlefields.
Iran has been sending fighters to Syria since the early stages of the more than five-year-old war to support its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, against armed groups trying to topple him.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/iran-1000-soldiers-die-syria-2011-161122132955852.html

Aleppo convoy 'war crime' could go to Security Council: deputy U.N. chief

If investigators identify who was to blame for the deadly Sept. 19 attack on a U.N. aid convoy in Syria, the "war crime" could be brought to the Security Council, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said on Friday.
The United States has said it believes two Russian aircraft carried out the strike near Aleppo, which killed 20 people, destroyed a warehouse and 18 trucks, and shattered a one-week truce. Russia has denied involvement.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midast-crisis-syria-aleppo-un-idUSKBN13D14I

No compromise in sight, EU ministers at odds over immigration

European Union interior ministers were at odds on Friday over how to handle immigration, with heated discussions between states who want more burden sharing and those who oppose any kind of obligatory relocation.
"We are looking for compromises but at the moment they are not there," said Thomas De Maiziere of Germany, which last year took in about 900,000 migrants and refugees.
The ministers disagreed over a proposal by the EU's current chair Slovakia on reforming the bloc's asylum system, which collapsed last year as 1.3 million refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa reached Europe and member states quarreled over how to handle the influx.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-un-idUSKBN13D1MD

U.N. council extends inquiry into Syria toxic gas attacks

The U.N. Security Council approved on Thursday a one-year extension of an international inquiry to determine blame for chemical weapons attacks in Syria, paving the way for a showdown over how to punish those responsible.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemicalweapons-idUSKBN13C230 

Demolitions leave 30,000 homeless in Nigeria's megacity: rights group

Some 30,000 residents of the Nigerian megacity Lagos have become homeless because of state-ordered demolitions and fighting between rival communities, residents and a rights group said on Thursday.
The violence highlights the challenges of a rapidly rising population unable to provide enough jobs and housing for its 180 million people. Many end up trying to migrate to Europe by boat from lawless Libya.
www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-violence-idUSKBN13525M

Islamic State executes scores, stockpiles chemicals in Mosul: U.N.

Islamic State fighters have executed scores more people around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul this week and are reported to be stockpiling dangerous chemicals in civilian areas, the U.N. human rights office said on Friday.
A mass grave with over 100 bodies found in the town of Hammam al-Alil was one of several Islamic State killing grounds, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said. She cited testimony gleaned from sources including a man who had survived an execution of some 50 former Iraqi soldiers by playing dead.
"Clearly there are many other killing fields. We also have reports of other mass graves which we haven’t yet been able to verify,” Shamdasani told reporters, mentioning sites at Mosul airport and the village of Tal al-Thahab.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-un-idUSKBN1360XN

Watchdog condemns Syrian government, IS use of banned chemical weapons

The executive body of the global chemical weapons watchdog voted on Friday to condemn the use of banned toxic agents by the Syrian government and by the militant group Islamic State, a source who took part in the closed session said.
Roughly two-thirds of the 41 members on the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), endorsed a text compiled by Spain, sources told Reuters.
An initial U.S. draft was replaced with a compromise text drafted by Spain, which dropped a reference to sanctions against those responsible for violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, sources added.
The OPCW's Executive Council, which meets behind closed doors, seldom votes on such matters, generally operating through consensus. But this text was supported by 28 members, including Germany, France, the United States and Britain.
It was opposed by Russia, China, Sudan and Iran. There were nine abstentions. Russia and Iran are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main allies against rebels seeking to overthrow him. Western and Gulf Arab states back the rebels.
"There is a clear determination across the international community to hold those who have used these heinous weapons to account," said British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson in a statement responding to the vote.
But a U.S.-Russian split over Syria highlighted continuing divisions. It was these two countries that in 2013 took the lead in getting the Damascus government to join the OPCW and avert threatened U.S.-led military intervention in Syria's civil war.
A 13-month international inquiry by the OPCW and United Nations concluded in a series of reports that Syrian government forces, including helicopter squadrons, were responsible for the use of chlorine barrel bombs against civilians.
The OPCW-U.N. mission found that the Syrian government carried out three toxic attacks in March and April of last year, while Islamic State militants had used sulphur mustard gas.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-chemicals-idUSKBN1361BE

Trump ignorant of Europe, poses risk to relations: EU's Juncker

"The election of Trump poses the risk of upsetting intercontinental relations in their foundation and in their structure," said Juncker, who as head of the EU's executive is one of Europe's most powerful political figures.
His blunt remarks reflected widespread shock and concern among Europeans at the election of Trump, who among other statements has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and questioned the principle of collective defense in NATO.
His comments contrasted with the more diplomatic reactions of European leaders who have said they look forward to working with the next Republican president.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-eu-juncker-idUSKBN136250

Islamic State brutality comes to light after military advance

Islamic State had used the town's agricultural college as "a killing field" for hundreds of people in the days before the Iraqi government advance, Ahmed said.
"They would torture them inside and then take them out of the neighborhood and either shoot them or slit their throats."

The military says its forces at the complex have discovered the decapitated corpses of at least 100 civilians.
HIDING
The jail opposite Ahmed's house was once the home of an army officer who fled Islamic State's blitz across a third of Iraq's territory in 2014. Its walls are covered in soot from a fire apparently set by fleeing fighters, but metal cages only slightly larger than an adult male are still intact.
Ahmed, who learned English when U.S. forces occupied Iraq for nine years after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003, was delighted to speak to a foreign reporter after two years during which he feared he would be killed for using English.
"We have been living in hell, like zombies," he said.


http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-mosul-executions-idUSKBN1322CH

France reproduces Geneva Peace Proposals to end the Syria conflict to Israel-Palestine conflict

France has repeatedly tried to breathe new life into the peace process this year, holding a preliminary conference in June where the United Nations, European Union, United States and major Arab countries gathered to discuss proposals without the Israelis or Palestinians present.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-france-idUSKBN1321NL 

British newspapers react to judges' Brexit ruling: 'Enemies of the people'

On Thursday morning, the high court ruled that parliament – and not the prime minister by use of prerogative powers – would need to trigger Article 50 to start the UK’s exit from the European Union.
On Thursday evening, a portion of the British media exercised its own prerogative: to attack the judges behind the ruling.https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/04/enemies-of-the-people-british-newspapers-react-judges-brexit-ruling

Suicide bombers in ambulances kill 21 people in Iraq: officials

Suicide bombers driving ambulances packed with explosives detonated their vehicles at a checkpoint and a car park for Shi'ite pilgrims in two Iraqi cities on Sunday, killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens, officials said.
The twin attacks took place in Tikrit and Samarra, as Iraqi troops and security forces battled to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State militants who have controlled it for more than two years.
They appeared to be part of a series of diversionary attacks by the ultra-hardline Sunni Islamists, who have struck the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk, the capital Baghdad and a western desert town during the three-week Mosul campaign.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-blasts-idUSKBN13107V

German ministry wants migrants returned to Africa: report

The German Interior Ministry wants to stop migrants ever reaching Europe's Mediterranean coast by picking them up at sea and returning them to Africa, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday.
In what would be a huge shift for a country with one of the most generous asylum policies, the ministry says the European Union should adopt an Australian-style system under which migrants intercepted at sea are sent for processing at camps in third countries.
"The elimination of the prospect of reaching the European coast could convince migrants to avoid embarking on the life-threatening and costly journey in the first place," the paper quoted a ministry spokeswoman as saying.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-germany-idUSKBN131042

UK Supreme Court asked to rule on abortion funding for Northern Ireland residents

Women's rights groups are to ask the British Supreme Court on Wednesday to compel the government to fund abortions for Northern Ireland residents traveling to England to avoid some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.
While the National Health Service routinely provides free abortions to women in most of the United Kingdom, abortion is only permitted in the British province of Northern Ireland when a woman’s life is at risk or if there is a risk of permanent and serious damage to her mental or physical health.
Last year just 16 abortions were carried out in Northern Ireland but women's rights groups estimate that around 1,000 women travel to Britain each year for terminations, which they must finance themselves along with travel and other costs.
The Republic of Ireland has similarly restrictive laws, although the government there has said it will consider changes in the next two years.
In 2014, the High Court in London ruled that the British Health Secretary had a duty in relation to the physical and mental health of the people of England, but not those ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-nireland-abortion-idUSKBN12X007

Belgian minister says prefers to pay fine than grant visas to Syrian family

Belgium's immigration minister has said he is ready to sell off his office furniture to pay daily fines rather than honor a court order to issue tourist visas to a Syrian family from war-battered Aleppo.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-belgium-idUSKBN12Y2DU 

Ghost soldiers: the Russians secretly dying for the Kremlin in Syria

Officially, Russia is participating only in an air war over Syria with a small number of special forces on the ground. Moscow denies that its troops are involved in regular ground combat operations.
However, in interviews with more than a dozen people with direct knowledge of these deployments, Reuters has established that Russian fighters are playing a more substantial role in ground combat than that the role the Kremlin says is being played by the regular Russian military.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-insight-idUSKBN12Y0M6

Egypt Central Bank devalues currency by 48 percent

Devaluation of pound meets IMF demand in exchange for $13bn loan over three years to overhaul country's ailing economy.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/egypt-central-bank-devalues-currency-48-percent-161103084641123.html 

Armed and Emboldened, U.S. Militias Gear Up for Civil Unrest After Election read more: http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.750516

With Trump's candidacy spurring extremists to speak more openly about challenging the rule of law, paramilitary groups say they won't leave their guns home if Hillary Clinton is elected.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/u-s-election-2016/1.750516

Nearly 1,000 treated for breathing problems south of Mosul: hospital

Nearly 1,000 people have been treated for breathing problems linked to toxic gases from a sulfur plant which Islamic State militants are suspected to have set on fire near the city of Mosul, hospital sources said on Saturday.
No deaths were reported in connection with the incident, said the sources at the hospital in Qayyara, a town south of Mosul. The first cases began arriving on Friday morning, they said.
A sulfur plant caught fire earlier this week as the Iraqi army dislodged Islamic State fighters from the area of Mishraq, north of Qayyara. The U.S. military said the militants had deliberately set it on fire.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-sulfur-idUSKCN12M0K4

Turkey's Erdogan says respects borders, even if it 'weighs on our hearts'

Turkey respects every nation's geographical boundaries, even if it "weighs on our hearts", Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, in what appeared to be a reference to the Iraqi city of Mosul, once a part of the Ottoman empire.
His comment came after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declined an offer from Turkey to take part in the battle to dislodge Islamic State from Mosul. Turkey has wanted to take part in the battle. It still sees Mosul as firmly within its sphere of influence.
"Some ignorant people come and say, 'What relation could you have with Iraq?' Those geographies that we talk about now are part of our soul," Erdogan said in a speech.
"Even if it weighs on our hearts, we respect every nation's geographical borders."
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-iraq-erdogan-bo-idUSKCN12M0LP

Inquiry finds Syrian government forces responsible for third gas attack

An international inquiry found Syrian government forces responsible for a third toxic gas attack, according to a confidential report submitted to the U.N. Security Council on Friday, setting the stage for a showdown between Russia and western council members over how to respond.
The fourth report from the 13-month-long inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons watchdog, blamed Syrian government forces for a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib governorate on March 16, 2015, according to a text of the report seen by Reuters.
The third report by the inquiry in August blamed the Syrian government for two chlorine attacks - in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and Sarmin on March 16, 2015 - and said Islamic State militants had used sulfur mustard gas.
The results set the stage for a Security Council showdown between the five veto-wielding powers, likely pitting Russia and China against the United States, Britain and France over how those responsible should be held accountable.
Following the submission of the third report, Russia said the conclusions could not be used to impose U.N. sanctions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemicalweapons-idUSKCN12M007

White House condemns Syrian government forces use of toxic gas

The White House on Saturday condemned the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government after an international inquiry found its forces responsible for a third toxic gas attack in Syria's civil war.
The fourth report from the 13-month-long inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the global chemical weapons watchdog, blamed Syrian government forces for a toxic gas attack in Qmenas in Idlib governorate on March 16, 2015, according to a text of the report seen by Reuters.
In August, the third report by the inquiry blamed the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for two chlorine attacks - in Talmenes on April 21, 2014 and Sarmin on March 16, 2015 - and said Islamic State fighters had used sulfur mustard gas.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Assad regime's defiance of the longstanding global norm against chemical weapons use and Syria's abrogation of its responsibilities under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it joined in 2013," White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Saturday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-chemicalweapons-idUSKCN12M0UT

Turkey bombs Syrian Kurdish militia allied to U.S.-backed force

The Turkish military confirmed its warplanes had carried out 26 strikes on areas recently taken by the Kurdish YPG militia, the strongest force in the SDF, and that it had killed between 160 and 200 combatants.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kurds-idUSKCN12K0ER 

ICRC steps up aid for Iraq amid fears of post-Mosul sectarian strife

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is prepared to provide aid to 800,000 people who could flee the looming battle for Mosul, including against any use of chemical weapons, said Patrick Hamilton, the ICRC's deputy director for the Near and Middle East.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-redcross-idUSKCN12K1ZV 

Masculinity, Jihad and Mobilization

To engage gender analysis and application, we have to start by asking the “man” question, interrogating where and how men are situated in relation to the creation, perpetration, and institutionalization of politically motivated violence. In what ways does hegemonic masculinity work in these contexts, and how do masculinities operate to benefit even those men who are at the margins of masculinity norms and practice in the context of terrorist actions? Somewhat ironically, even within the hierarchies of masculinity, subordinated masculinities can benefit from the social construction of male privilege, and value and terrorism may provide a defined outlet for masculinities that would otherwise be subordinated and devalued by society. Thus, men who cannot meet traditional expectations of masculinity—such as bread winner, respect and honor, wealth, access to sexual partners of choice—may precisely find that radical or extremist political mobilization offers a compelling substitute for regular masculinity authentication. It is therefore not accidental that terrorist/violent extremist groups manipulate gender stereotypes to recruit men and women. ISIS notably employs hyper-masculine images to portray its fighters, as well as promised access to sexual gratification, marriage and guaranteed income as a reward for the glory of fighting. These motifs have proven indisputably alluring to marginalized men whose capacity to access any similar social capital or status in their own communities will be extremely limited.
https://www.justsecurity.org/33624/masculinity-jihad-mobilization/

Battle for Mosul: Offensive sheds light on ISIL’s tactics

Civilians are fleeing rural areas near Mosul. The areas they have left shed some light on the tactics used by ISIL fighters. Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker reports from the town of Gweir, southeast of Mosul. 

http://video.aljazeera.com/channels/eng/videos/battle-for-mosul%3a-offensive-sheds-light-on-isil%e2%80%99s-tactics-/5177798624001

U.S. expects Islamic State to wield chemical weapons in Mosul fight

In a previously undisclosed incident, U.S. forces confirmed the presence of a sulfur mustard agent on Islamic State munition fragments on Oct. 5, a second official said. The Islamic State had targeted local forces, not U.S. or coalition troops.
"Given ISIL's reprehensible behavior and flagrant disregard for international standards and norms, this event is not surprising," the second official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity, and using an acronym for Islamic State.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-chemicalweapons-idUSKCN12I2WZ?

Aleppo, Ukraine, cyber attacks, Baltic threats: what should we do about Putin?

The key question is no longer how best to remove the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad. It is how to stop the Russian military, Assad’s main backer, which is held responsible, directly or indirectly, for numerous lethal aerial attacks against civilians, hospitals and schools, including last month’s destruction of a UN aid convoy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/15/what-should-we-do-about-russia-aleppo-ukraine-cyber-baltic-vladimir-putin

Favela Nova Brasilia the first case on police violence in Brazil’s favelas before a human rights tribunal

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/580158abe4b06f314afeb3eb?timestamp=1476483361797

Burundi’s National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of withdrawing from the Rome Statute,

NEW YORK, October 13, 2016—Amid deteriorating human rights conditions in the country, the lower house of Burundi’s National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of withdrawing from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the world’s first permanent criminal court to investigate and prosecute the world’s worst crimes and an international system to fight impunity. The bill still must be approved by the upper house and then be signed by the president, triggering a year-long withdrawal process from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Most recently, the country slid into political crisis after Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza won a third term in an election that many have called unconstitutional. Since April 2015, an estimated 564 have been killed and more than 260,000 have fled. The African Union has been among those to criticize Nkurunziza’s third term.
“Burundi should reconsider this ill-conceived decision, which undermines efforts at the national level to bring justice, peace, and stability to the country,” said ICTJ President David Tolbert. “The vote is particularly troubling given Burundi’s clear unwillingness and lack of capacity to prosecute those most responsible for crimes during the recent violence and before.”
The passage of the draft law comes months after the ICC, tasked with trying serious crimes when states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves, said it will investigate violence sparked by Nkurunziza’s re-election, including killings, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, and enforced disappearances.
Some in the Burundian government, including vice president Gaston Sindimwo, have accused the ICC of plotting to harm the country and violate the rights of Africans. The charge arises from the perception, promoted by some African states, that the ICC unjustifiably focuses on African situations and disproportionately indicts political and rebel leaders.
“The Burundi government has done a great disservice to its citizens, especially victims, by adopting this decision which uses the false accusations of the court’s ‘anti-African’ bias to avoid the possibility of justice being done,” said Tolbert.
While nine of the ten situations now before the ICC are from Africa, five result from the Governments referring their own situations to the ICC. Two situations were referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council, which includes Darfur. One voluntarily accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction. The ICC acted on its own initiative in only two African countries: in Kenya, only after this country failed to initiate domestic prosecutions and in Cote D’Ivoire where the State voluntarily declared acceptance of ICC jurisdiction.
There are currently ten countries under preliminary examination by the ICC, only four of them are African nations, including Burundi.

https://www.ictj.org/news/burundi-icc-leave

EU sanctions on Moscow are hostage to politics and bureaucracy.

Oct. 11, 2016 7:06 p.m. ET European leaders will gather in Brussels next week to discuss Russia strategy, and one important question will be whether and for how long to renew sanctions on Moscow. Given Vladimir Putin’s behavior in recent days, they have reason to be wary.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-realism-in-brussels-1476227204

Greece Denies Asylum Bids of Four More Turkish Officers

http://www.wsj.com/articles/greece-denies-asylum-bids-of-four-more-turkish-officers-1476210740

German cabinet approves more troops for air surveillance of Islamic State

The Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft will be based at Konya air base in southern Turkey. They will be used for reconnaissance in support of air strikes against Islamic State targets.
The German military, or Bundeswehr, provides about one third of the crews used to operate and maintain NATO's AWACS planes, but German law requires that individual missions must be approved by parliament. No details were provided on exactly how many troops would be part of the deployment.
Germany already has about 500 military personnel involved in the fight against Islamic State, including over 240 who are based at Incirlik air base in Turkey to operate six Tornado surveillance aircraft and a refuelling plane. Others are on board a German frigate that is operating in the eastern Mediterranean with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-germany-turkey-awacs-idUKKCN12C0YM

Russia scorns Boris Johnson's 'hysteria' as bombs hammer Aleppo

Moscow has responded forcefully to accusations by Britain’s foreign secretary about its involvement in an attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month, as intense violence in Aleppo’s besieged east continued.
The Russian defence ministry said Boris Johnson’s comments that Russia should be investigated for war crimes in Aleppo were “Russophobic hysteria”.
“There were no Russian planes in the area of the aid convoy to Aleppo. That is a fact,” the ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. Johnson’s speech was “a storm in a glass of muddy London water”, he added.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/12/russia-boris-johnson-syria-aleppo-war-crime-russophobic-hysteria

Pentagon Confronts a New Threat From ISIS: Exploding Drones

In the last month, the Islamic State has tried to use small drones to launch attacks at least two other times, prompting American commanders in Iraq to issue a warning to forces fighting the group to treat any type of small flying aircraft as a potential explosive device.

The Islamic State has used surveillance drones on the battlefield for some time, but the attacks — all targeting Iraqi troops — have highlighted its success in adapting readily accessible technology into a potentially effective new weapon. American advisers say drones could be deployed against coalition forces by the terrorist group in the battle in Mosul.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/world/middleeast/iraq-drones-isis.html?_r=0 

Saudi forces down missile fired by Yemen's Houthis

Saudi air defence forces shot down a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi group toward Khamees Mushait city in the kingdom's southwest on Tuesday night, a Saudi-led coalition said in a statement carried by the state news agency SPA.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security-missile-idUKKCN12C0G9 

It’s Time to Release the Real History of the 1953 Iran Coup

Sixty-three years ago, the CIA and British intelligence fomented a coup d’état that toppled the prime minister of Iran, restored a cooperative shah and strengthened a regional buffer against possible Soviet aggression. It also unwittingly set Iran on a course toward dictatorship and helped inject the 1979 Iranian revolution with an anti-American cast that continues to animate hardline elements within the current regime.
More than six decades later, the coup against Mohammad Mosaddeq and its aftermath are still haunting U.S.-Iran relations. Yet amazingly, Americans do not have access to the full historical record of U.S. involvement in the event, even though much of that record (at least the parts the CIA has not destroyed, by its own admission) is unclassified.

Most recently, John Kerry’s State Department, which has shown real acumen in dealing with Iran, has decided not to release its long-overdue official compilation of internal documents on U.S. diplomacy covering the coup period, basing its reasoning on a concern for the fragility of relations with Iran.
The desire to protect the hard-won 2015 nuclear accord is fully understandable, but this decision appears to be based on misperceptions about the risks—and a disregard for the potential benefits—of releasing this important historical material.
Specifically, the State Department is declining to publish the relevant volume in its venerable series, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), the “official documentary historical record” of U.S. foreign policy, according to the State Department’s web site. The series has already endured one major public scandal over its Iran coverage. In 1989, the State Department published a volume on the early 1950s that deliberately airbrushed out any trace of American and British authorship of the coup.
Scholars called it a fraud, and Congress was sufficiently outraged to pass legislation requiring FRUS to present a “thorough, accurate, and reliable documentary record” of American policy. The State Department Historian’s Office promised a make-up volume, which it painstakingly compiled several years ago and expected to publish in 2013. In other words, as the Department’s own historical advisory committee noted in its latest annual report, it is finished and ready to go. But it has yet to appear.
Numerous excuses for refusing to publish documentation on the Iran coup have surfaced over the years. A standard rationale invoked by the intelligence community on a wide range of subjects has been the need to safeguard “sources and methods.” Protecting individuals from harm is praiseworthy, though arguably less meaningful in cases such as this when every major participant is deceased. Protecting methods is also perfectly reasonable in theory, but CIA claims deserve some scrutiny when the agency has used similar assertions to keep World War I-era techniques like the use of invisible ink classified until almost a century later—far beyond the method’s usefulness.
Besides, a 200-page internal CIA history of the coup that leaked to the New York Times in 2000, as well as two other agency histories that have been partially declassified under the Freedom of Information Act, have almost certainly revealed every method the agency utilized in 1953.
Another basis for State Department and CIA interest in blocking access to these records has been the desire to honor a British government request to keep a lid on their part in the coup. The problem with this rationale is that the lid has been off for years. For example, Kermit Roosevelt, who ran the operation in Tehran, published an entire memoir about it in the late 1970s—with CIA consent—and it included references to British involvement. Furthermore, the 200-page CIA history mentioned above contains extensive detail about the British role in planning the operation. In the extraordinarily unlikely event that there is specific information that still deserves protection, government declassifiers can always excise the particulars while leaving the larger picture intact.
In recent years, the CIA appears to be placing less stock in some of these older excuses when it comes to Iran in 1953. To its credit, in 2011 the agency finally declassified part of an internal document confirming its coup activities, and its historical staff reportedly cooperated well recently with their State Department counterparts in compiling the FRUS volume. Other parts of the government have become more candid as well. Two presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have broken with precedent and publicly owned up to the U.S. role in the coup.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/its-time-to-release-the-real-history-of-the-1953-iran-coup-214353#ixzz4MvpNNGY8
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Aleppo doctor files against Russia at ECHR

London-based lawyers acting on behalf of Dr Moawyah Al-Awad, a cardiologist at one of east Aleppo’s last functioning hospitals, said his claim at the European Court of Human Rights is based on Russia’s violation of his and his patients’ right to life and to live free from inhumane and degrading treatment, as specified under international law. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/aleppo-doctor-legal-action-russia-assad-bombing-hospitals-syrian-civil-war-latest-a7358026.html

NATO officers arrest in Turkey

Some 32,000 people have been jailed, and 100,000 military officers, police, teachers, judges, prosecutors.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-turkey-security-idUKKCN12C0W1

Russia vetoes Aleppo cease-fire resolution

Russia vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Saturday that would have demanded an immediate end to air strikes and military flights over Syria's Aleppo city and called for a truce and humanitarian aid access throughout Syria.

Meanwhile, a rival Russian-drafted resolution that aimed to revive a failed Sept. 9 U.S. and Russia ceasefire deal on Syria did not garner the minimum nine votes.

Fighting continued in the almost six-year conflict with Syrian government forces recapturing territory from insurgents in several western areas.

President Bashar al-Assad's forces, backed by Russian air power and Iranian, Lebanese and Iraqi fighters on the ground, hold the upper hand around the key battleground of Aleppo, whose opposition-held eastern sector has been encircled for all but a short period since July.

The government side's bombardment of Aleppo since a ceasefire brokered by Washington and Moscow in September collapsed after a week has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and countries supporting the Syrian opposition.

France, which opposes Assad, demanded in its draft resolution an end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo city. Russia has backed Assad with a year-long air campaign against the rebels.

French President Francois Hollande on Saturday had urged United Nations Security Council members not to use their veto against a resolution that calls for an end to bombardments of Aleppo.

Russia's draft, which does not include that demand, urges Moscow and Washington to revive the ceasefire deal.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN1280JS

ONU manda tropa do Brasil para área destruída por furacão no Haiti

O general Ajax Porto Pinheiro, comandante das tropas internacionais da ONU na missão de paz no Haiti (Minustah), deslocou o comando do Brasil e cerca de 330 soldados brasileiros, cuja base é a capital, Porto Príncipe, para as cidades mais destruídas pelo furacão Matthew, que deixou até o momento mais de 800 mortos, segundo as autoridades locais ouvidas pela agência Reuters. Para Pinheiro, o número de mortes ainda deve aumentar, e passar de mil.
http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2016/10/onu-manda-tropa-do-brasil-para-area-destruida-por-furacao-no-haiti.html

Brasil quitará suas dívidas com órgãos globais, afirma ministro

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mundo/2016/10/1820281-brasil-quitara-suas-dividas-com-orgaos-globais-afirma-ministro.shtml

Colombia's FARC rebels say will forfeit assets for victim reparations

Colombia's FARC rebels will forfeit all their assets to fund victims reparations, the group said on Saturday, one day before the Colombian people are set to vote on a peace deal between the insurgency and the government.
Colombian authorities say the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, possess huge tracts of valuable land, as well as cattle ranches, shops and construction companies which have allegedly helped the group launder money from drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.
"We will proceed to declare before the government all the monetary and non-monetary resources that have formed part of our war economy," the Marxist group, which has fought the government for 52 years, said in a statement.
The peace deal, which will receive final approval or rejection at the polls on Sunday, requires the group to hand over all money and property before it can transition into a political party.
The funds will be given to victims of FARC killings, kidnappings, bombings and displacements and will be handed over during the demobilization process, set to begin in the days after the referendum vote.
"We will proceed to the material reparations of victims," the statement said, adding that the FARC "has no monetary or non-monetary resources additional to what it will declare during the laying down of arms."
The government had previously said it would seize all guerrilla assets to fund the reparations, but confiscations of rebel property have so far been limited.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-peace-idUSKCN1213N0

El Salvador judge reopens case of 1981 civil war massacre

A judge in El Salvador has reopened the case of a massacre allegedly carried out by soldiers in 1981 that is considered the worst atrocity committed during the country's brutal civil war, a lawyer involved in the matter said on Saturday.
The massacre took place in the northeastern town of El Mozote, allegedly at the hands of an elite army unit, and resulted in the deaths of between 900 and 1,200 people, mostly women and children.
The decision by Judge Alberto Guzman to reopen the matter marks the first time such a case has been allowed since an amnesty law was declared unconstitutional in July.
The law sought to absolve militants on both sides of the conflict who took part in war crimes, and was often invoked by judges to explain why they could not hear such cases.
"The reopening of the case is an open door to seek justice that has been denied for so many years to victims of crimes against humanity in El Salvador," lawyer Ovidio Gonzalez told Reuters.
The reopening of the case follows formal complaints by local human rights groups and victims families seeking justice for those killed in El Mozote.
Those pushing the case seek a truthful accounting of what happened and the facts surrounding who ordered the massacre, Gonzalez said. They are not seeking punishments such as jail terms, he added, but want those responsible to admit their roles and ask for forgiveness.
Judge Guzman has ordered military records from the time of the massacre to be turned over, as well as additional records on 14 named ex-army and security officials.
The first public hearing is not expected for several months.
While victims' families pushed for a trial as early as 1990, the case has never been heard locally. In 2010, the human rights commission of the Organization of American States recommended that El Salvador repeal the amnesty law as a means for those responsible for the massacre to be held to account.
El Salvador's civil war stretched from 1980 to 1992, taking around 75,000 lives and leaving another 8,000 people missing.

A truth commission created by the United Nations in 1992 published a report that declared the El Mozote massacre the worst war crime perpetrated during the conflict.
El Salvador's government denied for years having perpetrated the slaughter, but in 2012 the government of then-President Mauricio Funes acknowledged the state's role and apologized to the families of the victims.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-el-salvador-massacre-idUSKCN122014

EUA convidam OEA para observar eleições presidenciais pela 1ª vez

A OEA recebe esse passo "histórico" como um "ótimo sinal" ao considerar que "a melhor maneira de consolidar a democracia é com o exemplo", segundo disse neste sábado (1) à Agência Efe Francisco Guerrero, secretário para o Fortalecimento da Democracia na organização.
Durante os 54 anos de história da observação eleitoral da OEA, os EUA "foram centrais" na hora de financiar missões nos pleitos dos países latino-americanos, mas nunca tinham permitido que a organização analisasse os seus próprios.
"Isso estabelece um precedente que dá aos Estados Unidos mais legitimidade quando pede a outros governos do continente que convidem a OEA para observar suas eleições", comentou à Efe o presidente do centro de estudos Diálogo Interamericano, Michael Shifter.
Os Estados Unidos permitiram a observação eleitoral da Organização para a Segurança e a Cooperação na Europa (OSCE), entidade à qual também pertence.
Na OSCE os membros aceitam automaticamente por uma cláusula a observação eleitoral, enquanto na OEA cada país pode decidir se convida ou não a organização para supervisionar seus pleitos.
Perguntado pela Efe sobre os motivos de agora para abrir as portas à OEA, o Departamento de Estado se limitou a dizer que recebe a observação da organização como "uma oportunidade de demonstrar a dedicação e o apoio dos Estados Unidos a esta importante função da instituição".
"Avaliamos enormemente o importante trabalho da OEA para promover eleições livres e justas na região, e convidamos a OEA a observar nosso processo eleitoral", afirmou à Agência Efe um porta-voz do Departamento de Estado.
Na OEA, Guerrero agradece este "gesto de confiança" com a organização e constata, sem entrar em avaliações, que a abertura dos EUA à apuração da organização coincide com "uma eleição muito concorrida, que foi motivo de atenção mundial, porque é uma eleição polarizada".
O candidato republicano à presidência, Donald Trump, disse em várias ocasiões que teme que haja fraude contra ele em estados-chave como Pensilvânia, sobretudo através dos sistemas de voto eletrônico.
As modalidades de votação serão um dos elementos que a OEA estudará, junto ao registro de eleitores, o financiamento das campanhas, a inclusão das minorias, a igualdade de gênero e o papel dos veículos de imprensa.
"Nos Estados Unidos, a fraude aberta no processo eleitoral é muito rara, mas há contínuas controvérsias sobre o financiamento das campanhas, as leis de identificação dos eleitores, a descentralização e os inconsistentes mecanismos e tecnologia de voto", apontou Shifter.
Em função dos fundos arrecadados pela missão, que não podem ser dos EUA, a OEA determinará o número de observadores que pode desdobrar em um país onde a grande extensão e a descentralização das regras eleitorais supõem grandes desafios.
A organização está agora "em pleno processo de pedido e discussão" com as autoridades estatais, levando em conta que 11 estados limitam ou proíbem a presença de observadores internacionais.
Estes estados, alguns dos quais já puseram impedimentos à observação da OSCE em anos anteriores, são Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississipi, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio e Connecticut.
A OEA quer ter observadores pelo menos em um estado fronteiriço com o México, em outro fronteiriço com o Canadá e nas duas costas.
A missão, que é dirigida pela ex-presidente da Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla, utilizará para a observação nos EUA a mesma metodologia e princípios que nas mais de 240 experiências que tem em 26 países do continente desde que começou suas tarefas de supervisão eleitoral em 1962.
Com a incorporação dos Estados Unidos neste ano, restam sete países onde a OEA não enviou missões de observação eleitoral: Argentina, Barbados, Brasil, Canadá, Chile, Trinidad e Tobago e Uruguai.
Guerrero interpreta esta "abertura" americana como um reconhecimento ao secretário-geral da organização, Luis Almagro, "por sua contribuição ao debate democrático no último ano e meio", desde que chegou ao cargo em maio de 2015.
http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2016/10/eua-convidam-oea-para-observar-eleicoes-presidenciais-pela-1-vez.html

 

 

Turquia prorroga missão de tropas na Síria e Iraque por um ano

A Turquia lançou em 24 de agosto uma ofensiva denominada "Escudo de Eufrates" para expulsar os extremistas do grupo Estado Islâmico e as milícias curdas. Ao menos 20 tanques, cinco blindados de transporte de tropas, caminhões e outros veículos blindados cruzaram a fronteira com a Síria.
Os veículos de combate cruzaram a fronteira a partir da província turca de Kilis em direção ao povoado sírio de Al Rai para apoiar militarmente os combatentes rebeldes sírios, depois de expulsar os extremistas de Jarablos e outras cidades do norte da Síria em sua operação "Escudo de Eufrates", lançada em 24 de agosto, informou a agência estatal turca Anatolia.
Nos últimos meses, Al Rai mudou repetidamente de mãos entre os rebeldes e o EI. Durante esta nova operação terrestre foram disparados morteiros contra vários alvos do EI.
http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2016/10/turquia-prorroga-missao-de-tropas-na-siria-e-iraque-por-um-ano.html

Russian and Syrian missiles pound Aleppo, destroy hospital: rebels and aid workers

Russian warplanes and their Syrian government allies battered rebel-held areas in and around Aleppo on Saturday and rebels and aid workers accused them of destroying one of the city's main hospitals, killing at least two patients.
The strike on hospital M10 in eastern Aleppo - the city's main trauma hospital - came as the United States and its allies urged Russia, which is trying to crush resistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to halt the bombing and reach a diplomatic resolution.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN12133Z

Colombia and FARC sign historic pact ending 52-year war

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Marxist rebel leader Timochenko used a pen made from a bullet on Monday to sign an agreement ending a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people and made their nation a byword for violence.
After four years of negotiations in Havana, Santos, 65, and Timochenko - a nom de guerre for 57-year-old revolutionary Rodrigo Londono - shook hands on Monday on Colombian soil for the first time.
Some 2,500 foreign and local dignitaries attended the ceremony in the walled, colonial city of Cartagena.
The agreement to end Latin America's longest-running conflict turns the FARC fighters into a political party fighting at the ballot box instead of the battlefield they have occupied since 1964.
The special pen was used "to illustrate the transition of bullets into education and future", said Santos, who staked his reputation on achieving peace.

Colombia and FARC set to sign historic peace pact

Guests included United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, Cuban President Raul Castro, US Secretary of State John Kerry and victims of the conflict.
"The UN will assist in the implementation of the accord and offer Colombians our complete support at a time that sees a new destiny for the nation," Ban said.
The European Union said on Monday it was removing the group from its "terror" list simultaneously with the peace signing.
Kerry lauded the deal during a visit to a training centre for war victims, ex-combatants and other young people.
"Anybody can pick up a gun, blow things up, hurt other people, but it doesn't take you anywhere ... Peace is hard work," he said.
The US Department of State has pledged $390m for Colombia next year to support the peace process. Washington would also review whether to take the FARC off its list of "terrorist organizations", Kerry said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/colombia-farc-sign-historic-pact-52-year-war-160926211928052.html

Islamic State and the crisis in Iraq and Syria in maps

 

Who is fighting 'Islamic State'?

The US-led coalition has conducted more than 9,600 air strikes against IS targets in Iraq since August 2014.
The UK launched its first air strikes on the group in Iraq the following month. Other nations taking part include Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Jordan, and the Netherlands.

 

 Where are the refugees?

More than 4.8 million Syrians have fled abroad to escape the fighting in Syria, according to the UN. Most have ended up in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, but in 2015 a growing number tried to reach Europe.

Since then a deal between the EU and Turkey has curbed the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean - although Syrians still form the largest group of asylum-seekers in Europe.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27838034

UN calls for stepped up security for planes and airports

UNITED NATIONS — Responding to increasing attacks on airports and aircraft, the U.N. Security Council on Thursday unanimously approved its first-ever resolution to address extremist threats to civil aviation and urge beefed-up security.

The U.N.’s most powerful body called for stepped up screening and security checks at airports worldwide to “detect and deter terrorist attacks.” And it called on all countries to tighten security at airport buildings, share information about possible threats, and provide advance passenger lists so governments are aware of their transit or attempted entry.

“The Security Council has delivered a resounding call to action for the international community,” said Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. “This is the first U.N. Security Council resolution ever to focus on the threats by terrorists to civil aviation and it demonstrates our joint resolve to protect our citizens from an escalating danger.”

The resolution reflected growing global anxiety following attacks on airplanes and airports from Ukraine, Egypt and Somalia to Brussels and Istanbul.

While aviation security has improved, Johnson said the recent tragedies demonstrate “the urgency of our task” and the dangers posed by “terrorists who probe relentlessly the chinks in our collective armor.”

The British-drafted resolution expresses the council’s concern “that terrorist groups continue to view civil aviation as an attractive target, with the aim of causing substantial loss of life, economic damage” and air links between countries.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-to-call-for-stepped-up-security-for-planes-and-airports/2016/09/22/e22614fc-80c8-11e6-9578-558cc125c7ba_story.html

Boris Johnson urged to back probe into international law violations in Yemen

Boris Johnson has been urged by two senior MPs to back an independent probe into whether international law has been violated during the Yemen conflict.
The Commons committee chairs told the Foreign Secretary the matter was urgent in the light of a growing death toll in the country, where Saudi Arabian forces have led an intense bombing campaign.

Chris White, chairman of the Committees on Arms Export Controls, and International Development Committee Chair Stephen Twigg said an inquiry was needed because almost 7,000 people have died in the Yemen conflict, including some 1,100 children.
Their letter to Mr Johnson said: “We urge you to seize this opportunity and support the establishment of an international, independent mechanism under the auspices of the UN.
“Hopefully this will serve to deter future violations of international humanitarian law as well as providing independent and conclusive evidence in relation to allegations that have been levelled at both sides of the conflict.”
They said the international community could not be sure inquiries already set up by Saudi Arabia and Yemen were “transparent” and “credible”.
A Saudi-led air campaign was launched in March last year and aimed to put down a rebellion by Houthis, a Shia Muslim minority from the north of the country, who have backing from Iran.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-urged-to-back-probe-into-international-law-violations-during-yemen-war-a7321496.html?

Syria toxic gas inquiry report delayed; France, Britain urge U.N. action

The inquiry was due to submit its report this week, but Ban told the 15-member council in a letter, seen by Reuters on Thursday, that the inquiry needed extra time and wanted to delay its deadline until Oct. 21. The council has extended its mandate until Oct. 31.
In its most recent report to the Security Council last month, the joint United Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inquiry said that Syrian government troops were responsible for two toxic gas attacks and Islamic State militants used sulfur mustard gas.
France, Britain and other council members want the body to act after receiving the next report, the inquiry's fourth.
"There have been two incidents documented by the UN/OPCW of the dropping of chlorine gas. How can we sit by and let that happen? Burning, blistering, barbaric chlorine gas being dropped on innocent people," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told a Security Council meeting on Syria on Wednesday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemicalweapons-idUSKCN11T021

Overnight airstrikes on rebel-held Aleppo kill dozens

"Aleppo has suffered its worst bombardment in months with dozens of civilians killed overnight, hours before talks between the US and Russia talks in New York attempted to restore Syria’s shattered ceasefire."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/22/overnight-airstrikes-rebel-held-aleppo-kill-syrians?

A resumption in fighting signals even darker days for Syria

"A ceasefire that had taken months to negotiate took only hours to unravel. “They were unloading the aid in a warehouse when the bombs hit. I spent the night pulling the dead out,” says Ammar al-Selmo, the director of Aleppo’s White Helmets, a volunteer civil defence force that works in rebel-held areas, of the attack on the UN aid convoy."

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21707495-resumption-fighting-signals-even-darker-days-syria-ceasefire-unravels

South Korea says time to reconsider North Korea's U.N. membership

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se accused North Korea on Thursday of "totally ridiculing" the authority of the United Nations through its nuclear and missile tests and said it was time to reconsider whether it was qualified for U.N. membership.
In an address to the annual United Nations General Assembly, Yun said the U.N. security Council should adopt "stronger, comprehensive" sanctions on North Korea after its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9 and close loopholes in existing measures.
"North Korea's repeated violations and non-compliance of Security Council resolutions and international norms is unprecedented and has no parallel in the history of the U.N.," Yun said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-assembly-southkorea-northkorea-idUSKCN11T04N

Shell Fired by ISIS at U.S. and Iraqi Troops May Have Contained Chemical Agent

WASHINGTON — Fighters with the Islamic State fired a shell onto a military base in northern Iraq, home to American and Iraqi troops, that may have contained a chemical agent, military officials said on Wednesday.

The shell did not explode, and the officials said no American or Iraqi troops were injured in the attack.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/world/middleeast/iraq-isis-chemical.html?ref=world&_r=0 

U.S. calls on Russia and Syria to ground all aircraft in northwest Syria

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary of State John F. Kerry called on Russia and Syria on Wednesday to “immediately ground all aircraft” flying in key areas of northwest Syria where a humanitarian convoy was destroyed Monday, and accused Moscow of inventing its “own facts” to explain the air attack for which Russia is responsible.
“The simple reality is we cannot resolve this crisis if major parties . . . are unwilling to do what’s necessary to avoid escalation,” Kerry told the U.N. Security Council. “We don’t get anywhere by ignoring facts and denying common sense.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-calls-on-russia-and-syria-to-ground-all-aircraft-in-northwest-syria/2016/09/21/ea602cbc-8013-11e6-8d0c-fb6c00c90481_story.html

Conselho de Segurança da ONU se reúne para discutir situação na Síria

 "A porta-voz Maria Zakharova disse que os ataques teriam provocado a morte de 62 soldados sírios. "Vamos exigir de Washington explicações completas e muito detalhadas que deverão ser expostas ao Conselho de Segurança da ONU", afirmou Zakharova.

Segundo a portz-voz, a Rússia se mostrou "muito preocupada" com esses bombardeios que "atingiram diretamente o exército sírio que combatia os contingentes do grupo EI".

"Esses ataques colocam em risco tudo o que foi conquistado até agora pela comunidade internacional", pelo Grupo Internacional de Apoio à Síria, por Moscou e por Washington, padrinhos do processo de paz na Síria, afirmou Zakharova.

Ainda neste sábado, i Pentágono admitiu que é "possível" que bombardeio da coalizão internacional tenha atingidos membros e veículos do Exército do governo sírio na cidade de Deir al-Zor, no leste da Síria.

"O ataque aéreo foi interrompido imediatamente quando funcionários da coalizão foram informados pelas autoridades russas que era possível que pessoal e veículos postos no alvo fossem parte do Exército sírio", informou o Pentágono em comunicado."

http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2016/09/conselho-de-seguranca-da-onu-se-reune-para-discutir-situacao-na-siria.html

UN Identifies Parts of Syrian Military Held Responsible for Chlorine Bomb Attacks

An international inquiry has identified two Syrian Air Force helicopter squadrons and two other military units it holds responsible for chlorine gas attacks on civilians, a Western diplomat told Reuters.

The finding by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the global chemical weapons watchdog, is based on Western and regional intelligence, the diplomat said.

"It was the 22nd Division, the 63rd Brigade and the 255 and 253 squadrons of the Syrian government," the envoy said.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.742436

One million refugees have fled South Sudan: UN

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, has now joined "Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia as countries which have produced more than a million refugees", Leo Dobbs, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said on Friday.
"This is a very sad milestone," he added.
"Most of those fleeing South Sudan are women and children. They include survivors of violent attacks, sexual assault, children that have been separated from their parents or travelled alone, the disabled, the elderly and people in need of urgent medical care," he said.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but civil war erupted two years later when Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup.
A peace deal reached a year ago under international pressure has been violated repeatedly by fighting, and Machar fled the country in recent weeks.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/million-refugees-fled-south-sudan-160916145301080.html

Amid fears of Trump, Europe tries to make its security less dependent on the U.S.

European leaders gathered Friday to discuss the torrent of challenges facing their continent after Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, offering broad new defense efforts amid growing concerns that they are too dependent on the United States for security.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/amid-fears-oftrump-europe-triesto-make-itssecurity-less-dependent-on-the-us/2016/09/15/f0094f38-79d1-11e6-8064-c1ddc8a724bb_story.html

Should we let 9/11 victims sue Saudi Arabia? Not so fast.

In short, to the extent the revised bill isn’t merely symbolic, it’s mischievous. Mr. Obama has repeatedly called it a precedent other countries could easily turn against the United States. It is not a far-fetched concern, given this country’s global use of intelligence agents, Special Operations forces and drones, all of which could be construed as state-sponsored “terrorism” when convenient. Even if a future administration did succeed in blocking a lawsuit, the mere filing of it could irritate the target country or countries. Members of Congress have repeatedly claimed enough votes to override Mr. Obama’s veto threat, and they may be right. Mr. Obama should carry it out anyway. If long-standing principles of law and policy are to be discarded so lightly, at least let it be done without his approval.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/should-we-let-911-victims-sue-saudi-arabia-not-so-fast/2016/09/15/f0067338-791f-11e6-bd86-b7bbd53d2b5d_story.html?utm_term=.d0f2fc0d8975

CrisisWatch August 2016

The month saw Yemen’s peace talks collapse with violence there intensifying, and the Syrian conflict escalate following Ankara’s launch of a cross-border ground offensive against Islamic State (IS) and Kurdish forces, days after a major terror attack in Turkey’s south east. Troop deployments in Western Sahara threatened to bring about clashes, and violence flared in the Central African Republic. In Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, security forces brutally suppressed anti-government protests, while in Gabon, the president’s disputed re-election triggered violent clashes. In Asia, a suicide bombing killed over 70 people in Pakistan, while suspected militants in Thailand’s southern insurgency launched attacks on targets outside the traditional conflict zone. In positive news, peace talks between the Philippines government and communist rebel groups resumed after a four-year hiatus. On 24 August, Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) declared that they had reached a final peace accord, paving the way for an end to 52 years of armed conflict.

https://www.crisisgroup.org/crisiswatch

IS buried thousands in 72 mass graves

The Yazidi faith, one of the region’s oldest, has elements of Christianity and Islam but is distinct. Yazidis worship the Peacock Angel, fallen and forgiven by God under their tradition, and their shrines feature carved images of the birds and references to the sun. Muslim extremists condemned them as “devil worshippers” and over the centuries have subjected them to multiple massacres — 72, by the Yazidis’ count.

In its own propaganda, the Islamic State group made clear its intention to wipe out the Yazidi community. In an issue of its online English-language magazine Dabiq, it scolded Muslims for allowing the Yazidis to continue existing, calling their ancient religion a form of paganism. It quoted Quranic verses to justify killing the Yazidis unless they become Muslim.

Thwarted in their halfhearted attempt at conversions, the fighters separated about 35 teenage girls and young women from the rest, crammed them into a few cars and drove away. The militants herded the older women and young children into the farmhouse and locked the door.

The Yazidi faith, one of the region’s oldest, has elements of Christianity and Islam but is distinct. Yazidis worship the Peacock Angel, fallen and forgiven by God under their tradition, and their shrines feature carved images of the birds and references to the sun. Muslim extremists condemned them as “devil worshippers” and over the centuries have subjected them to multiple massacres — 72, by the Yazidis’ count. In its own propaganda, the Islamic State group made clear its intention to wipe out the Yazidi community. In an issue of its online English-language magazine Dabiq, it scolded Muslims for allowing the Yazidis to continue existing, calling their ancient religion a form of paganism. It quoted Quranic verses to justify killing the Yazidis unless they become Muslim. Thwarted in their halfhearted attempt at conversions, the fighters separated about 35 teenage girls and young women from the rest, crammed them into a few cars and drove away. The militants herded the older women and young children into the farmhouse and locked the door.

Turkish air strikes kill at least 35 civilians in Syria

There was no immediate comment from the YPG militia, but forces aligned with the Kurdish group had said on Saturday that no Kurdish militia had been in areas being targeted by Turkish troops. 

KARKAMIS - Turkey's army and its allies thrust deeper into Syria on Sunday, seizing territory controlled by Kurdish-aligned forces on the fifth day of a cross-border campaign that a monitoring group said had killed at least 35 villagers.

Turkish warplanes roared into northern Syria at daybreak and its artillery pounded what security sources said were sites held by Kurdish YPG militia, after the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported fierce overnight fighting around two villages.

Turkey's military said 25 Kurdish militants were killed in its air strikes. There was no immediate comment from the YPG, but forces aligned with the Kurdish militia have said it withdrew from the area targeted by Turkey before the offensive.

Turkey, which is also battling Kurdish insurgents on its own soil, sent tanks and troops into Syria on Wednesday to support its Syrian rebel allies. The Turkish-backed forces first seized the Syrian border town of Jarablus from Islamic State militants before pushing south into areas held by Kurdish-aligned militias. They have also moved west towards Islamic State areas.

Turkish officials have openly stated that their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not expand the territory they already control along Turkey's border, as it is about driving Islamic State from its strongholds.

However, Turkey's offensive has so far focused mostly on targeting forces allied to the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition that includes YPG, an Observatory source said.

The SDF has support from the United States, which sees the group as an effective Syrian ally against Islamic State. So Turkey's action against SDF-allied forces puts it odds with a fellow NATO member, adding a further twist to Syria's complex war that began in 2011 with an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and has drawn in regional states and world powers.

 The Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group with a network of sources in Syria, said Turkish-allied forces had seized two villages south of Jarablus, Jub al-Kousa and al-Amarna, that were held by militias loyal to the SDF.

The fighting killed 20 civilians in Jub al-Kousa and 15 in al-Amarna, while scores more were wounded, the group said.

HEADING SOUTH

The Observatory said rebels backed by Turkish tanks fought until dawn against rival militias allied to the SDF around al-Amarna. SDF-allied militia damaged three Turkish tanks, it said.

Turkish security sources said warplanes and artillery had hit Kurdish YPG militia sites south of frontier town of Jarablus and towards Manbij, a city captured by Kurdish-aligned SDF this month in a U.S.-backed operation.

Colonel Ahmed Osman, head of the Turkish-backed Sultan Murad rebel group, told Reuters the force was "certainly heading in the direction of Manbij" and hoped to take it days. He also said Turkish-backed rebels were pushing west against Islamic State.

The Ankara government wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of an unbroken swathe of Syrian territory on Turkey's frontier, which it fears could embolden the Kurdish militant group PKK that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

A Reuters witness in Karkamis, a Turkish border town, heard jets and artillery bomb Syrian targets. A Turkish official told Reuters even heavier air strikes could follow in coming hours.

Turkey said one of its soldiers was killed on Saturday when a rocket hit a tank that it said came from a YPG-controlled area. It was the first Turkish death reported in the campaign.

Turkey has suffered shock waves from the conflict raging in its southern neighbor, including frequent bomb attacks by Islamic State. The government suspects the jihadist group was behind a blast at a wedding this month that killed 54 people.

President Tayyip Erdogan was expected to visit the site of that wedding attack in Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, later on Sunday to pay his respects to families of the victims.