Putin and Obama Clash Over Syria as Russia Calls for ‘Anti-Hitler’ Type Alliance Against ISIS

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Vladimir Putin snubbed Barack Obama and revived Russia’s historic role in the Middle East on Monday by calling for a new “broad coalition” to fight Isil based on co-operation with the Assad regime, report Richard Spencer, Harriet Alexander in New York and Roland Oliphant in Moscow.

In his long-awaited speech at the United Nations, the Russian president fiercely attacked American policy in Syria and around the world and criticized the West for “exporting social experiments” in the form of democratic revolutions, which he blamed for the Middle East crisis.

He said he had called for a new Syrian peace conference to be attended by a “contact group” of outside powers including Russia and the United States, as well as regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Iran.

Despite the fact that Russia is not among the countries led by the US currently conducting operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), Mr Putin followed up reports that it was co-ordinating intelligence sharing between Iran, Iraq and Syria by putting Moscow at the center of the world’s “war on terror”.

He went so far as to compare his plans to the alliance that fought Hitler in the Second World War. “We must address the problems that we are all facing and create a broad anti-terror coalition,” he said. (Read more from “Putin and Obama Clash Over Syria as Russia Calls for ‘Anti-Hitler’ Type Alliance Against ISIS” HERE)

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Putin to Test Obama at UN

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President Obama won’t be able to escape the long shadow of Vladimir Putin when he heads to the United Nations General Assembly this week.

Russia is in the middle of two of the biggest crises on the planet — in Syria and Ukraine — and those vexing challenges will be front and center when Obama meets with Putin Monday on the sidelines of the annual diplomatic gathering in New York.

“When we look at conflict, the president will certainly be focused on the situation in Syria and Iraq, and he’ll be focused on the situation in Ukraine,” White House deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters this week.

“Our focus is going to be on the fact that there has to be a cost for a nation like Russia that is violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

“At the same time, in Syria, even as we have an aggressive military effort underway against ISIL, the only lasting resolution to that challenge is for there to be a political settlement, as well,” he added, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). (Read more from “Putin to Test Obama at UN” HERE)

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This Country Is Preparing to Launch Their First Airstrikes Against ISIS in Syria

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Six French jet fighters targeted and destroyed an Islamic State training camp in eastern Syria, President Francois Hollande said Sunday, making good on a promise to go after the group that the president has said is planning attacks against several countries, including France . . .

“The camp was totally destroyed,” Hollande said Sunday after arriving at the United Nations, before the start of a major development summit and the U.N. General Assembly bringing together world leaders . . .

France has carried out 215 airstrikes against ISIS extremists in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition since last year, the Defense Ministry said earlier this month. But it previously held back on engaging in Syria, citing concern over playing into Assad’s hand and the need for such action to be covered by international law. (Read more from “This Country Is Preparing to Launch Their First Airstrikes Against ISIS in Syria” HERE)

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Obama Backs Away From Sanctions on China for Cyber Attacks

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The United States has backed down from plans to impose economic sanctions on China for cyber attacks after both countries agreed to curb economic spying, President Obama indicated Friday.

“I raised once again our very serious concerns about growing cyber-threats to American companies and American citizens,” Obama said. “I indicated that it has to stop.”

Obama said that he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed in principle that “governments don’t engage in cyber espionage for commercial gain against companies.”

“What I’ve said to President Xi and what I say to the American people is, the question now is, are words followed by action?” Obama said. “And we will be watching carefully to make an assessment as to whether progress has been made in this area” . . .

In response to the hacking of records on 22 million federal workers stolen from Office of Personnel Management networks, the president said he is ready to impose limited sanctions, and will closely monitor whether China backs off large-scale cyber attacks. (Read more from “Obama Backs Away From Sanctions on China for Cyber Attacks” HERE)

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Nearly 1,000 People Killed in Saudi Arabia Hajj Stampede

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image.adapt.960.high.hajj_stampede_01aSaudi Arabian authorities said Thursday that at least 717 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured in a stampede near the Muslim holy city of Mecca, where an estimated 2 million people are undertaking the traditional hajj pilgrimage.

At least 863 pilgrims were injured in the crush, said the Saudi civil defense directorate, which provided the death toll. The tragedy struck as Muslims around the world marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Reuters, citing Saudi state television, reported that the stampede took place in Mina, a tent city located approximately three miles east of Mecca itself. The area is on the main road from the center of Mecca to the Hill of Arafat, revered by Muslims as the place where Muhammad gave his farewell sermon to Muslims who had accompanied him to Mecca near the end of his life.

It was the second major disaster during this year’s hajj season, raising questions about the adequacy of measures put in place by Saudi authorities to ensure the safety of the roughly 2 million Muslims taking part in the pilgrimage. A crane collapse in Mecca nearly two weeks earlier left 111 people dead.

Photos released by the Saudi civil defense directorate on its official Twitter account showed rescue workers in orange and yellow vests helping the wounded onto stretchers and loading them onto ambulances near some of the white tents. (Read more from “Nearly 1,000 People Killed in Saudi Arabia Hajj Stampede” HERE)

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U.S. Says Chinese Sub That Can Hit U.S. On Patrol Soon

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JL-2_startA Chinese nuclear submarine designed to carry missiles that can hit the U.S. is likely to deploy before year’s end, the Pentagon said, adding to Obama administration concerns over China’s muscle-flexing in Asia.

China’s navy is expected this year to conduct the first patrol of its Jin-class nuclear-powered submarine armed with JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency said in a statement. It declined to give its level of confidence on when the new boat will be deployed, or the status of the missile.

“The capability to maintain continuous deterrent patrols is a big milestone for a nuclear power,” Larry Wortzel, a member of the congressionally created U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said in an e-mail. “I think the Chinese would announce this capability as a show of strength and for prestige.”

The submarines are part of an effort to modernize China’s military under President Xi Jinping, who will be in Washington Thursday and Friday for a state visit with U.S. President Barack Obama. U.S.-China defense cooperation and competition will be among the topics discussed by the two leaders. The Pentagon and DIA had previously predicted the patrols would start in 2014 . . .

“Don’t discount the likelihood of threat inflation by the Pentagon because of the shift toward the Asia-Pacific in the revised maritime strategy,” said Collin Koh Swee Lean, an associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. (Read more from “U.S. Says Chinese Sub That Can Hit U.S. On Patrol Soon” HERE)

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German Woman, 91, Charged in 260,000 Auschwitz Deaths

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RTR4XLJX-1German prosecutors have charged a 91-year-old woman with playing a role in the deaths of 260,000 Jews at the infamous Auschwitz death camp.

The unidentified woman, who authorities say served as member of the Nazi SS is accused of serving as a radio operator for the camp commandant from April to July 1944, The Times of Israel reports. During that time, huge numbers of Hungarian Jews were murdered in gas chambers.

Prosecutors argue that she can be charged as an accessory because she aided in the operation of the death camp. Heinz Doellel, a spokesman for the prosecutor, said there are no indications the woman is unfit for trial, though a court likely won’t decide on whether to proceed with the case until next year.

The case is the latest in a series of attempts by Germany to bring surviving Holocaust perpetrators to justice. Only 50 of the 6,500 former SS members who served at Auschwitz have been convicted in Germany, as the courts long claimed only senior Nazi leadership could be held responsible for Holocaust crimes, The Telegraph reports.

Earlier this year, a 94-year-old man known as the “bookkeeper of Auschwitz” was incarcerated under similar circumstances. Prosecutors argued Oskar Groenig’s presence when Jews entered the camp created a threatening impression, the BBC says. (Read more from “German Woman, 91, Charged in 260,000 Auschwitz Deaths” HERE)

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Top Former General: Syria Is A Geopolitical Chernobyl

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140226-putin-russia-military-750a_4eeedb96f23edfb4cd42615d86323da2One of America’s top former generals compared the situation in Syria Tuesday to a historic nuclear disaster, implicitly criticizing the U.S. for allowing it to worsen, and accused Russia’s President of trying to re-establish an empire.

Retired Gen. David Petraeus, testifying before the Senate Armed Service Committee, also recommended that the U.S. establish safe zones for Sunnis inside Syria and potentially put American boots on the grounds in Iraq to stop the spread of ISIS.

The former commanding general of U.S. forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan equated the situation in Syria today with one of the most deadly nuclear accidents in history.

Syria “is a geopolitical Chernobyl — spewing instability and extremism over the region and the rest of the world,” Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, referencing the 1986 nuclear meltdown in the former Soviet Union. “Like a nuclear disaster, the fallout from the meltdown of Syria threatens to be with us for decades, and the longer it is permitted to continue, the more severe the damage will be.”

Part of the solution to stabilizing the situation inside Syria would entail helping to protect large swaths of the Sunni population from bombing by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in order to bring in more willing partners to fight ISIS. (Read more from “Top Former General Accuses Putin of Attempting to Re-Establish Russian Empire” HERE)

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Four out of Five Migrants Are NOT From Syria

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2C56B05300000578-3240010-Hungary_has_announced_plans_to_build_a_giant_fence_along_the_Cro-a-54_1442583681510Only one in every five migrants claiming asylum in Europe is from Syria.

The EU logged 213,000 arrivals in April, May and June but only 44,000 of them were fleeing the Syrian civil war.

Campaigners and left-wing MPs have suggested the vast majority of migrants are from the war-torn state, accusing the Government of doing too little to help them.

‘This exposes the lie peddled in some quarters that vast numbers of those reaching Europe are from Syria,’ said David Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth. ‘Most people who are escaping the war will go to camps in Lebanon or Jordan.

‘Many of those who have opted to risk their lives to come to Europe have done so for economic reasons.’ (Read more from “Four out of Five Migrants Are NOT From Syria” HERE)

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Russia Starting Syria Drone Surveillance Missions

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‘Russia launches spy drone over Israel’Russia has started flying drone aircraft on surveillance missions in Syria, U.S. officials said on Monday, in what appeared to be Moscow’s first military air operations there since staging a rapid buildup at a Syrian air base.

The beginning of Russian drone flights underscored the risks of U.S.-led coalition planes and Russian aircraft operating within Syria’s limited airspace, without agreeing on coordination or objectives in Syria’s civil war.

The former Cold War foes have a common adversary in Islamic State militants in Syria. But Washington opposes Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, seeing him as a driving force in the four-and-a-half year-long civil war.

The Pentagon declined comment at a news briefing when asked about the Reuters report on Russian drones, saying it could not discuss intelligence matters. But it said the U.S. Department of Defense was “keenly aware” of what was happening on the ground in Syria . . .

One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the number of fixed-wing, piloted Russian aircraft stationed at the air base near Latakia, an Assad stronghold, had also grown dramatically in recent days. (Read more from “Russia Starting Syria Drone Surveillance Missions” HERE)

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