Obama has uses for Turkey-Russia tensions
Turkey may have succeeded in scuttling the idea of an international coalition under the United Nations auspices to fight the Islamic State (IS). The talks in Moscow on Friday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the visiting French President Francois Hollande leave a gloomy impression.
Of course, Hollande conveyed his condolences over the death of the Russian pilot last Tuesday. It was a significant gesture and contrasted sharply with US President Barack Obama’s studied preference to express solidarity with Turkey. Hollande openly supported Russia’s determination to disrupt the nexus between Turkey and the IS in oil trade. He vowed to do what Russia is doing, namely, bomb relentlessly the IS’ convoys heading for the Turkish border carrying oil.
Again, the talks in Moscow signal that Russia intends to launch a sustained campaign internationally to expose Turkey’s covert links with the Islamic State. Putin disclosed that the region adjacent to the Turkish border in northern Syria (which Ankara profiles as the traditional homelands of Turkmen tribes) is actually a beehive of terrorists who have flocked to Syria from many countries, including Russia, and their Turkish mentors.
Beijing residents told to stay inside as smog levels soar
Air pollution in the Chinese capital has reached more than 15 times the safe level as smog engulfs large parts of the country
Beijing’s residents have been advised to stay indoors after air pollution in the Chinese capital reached hazardous levels.
The warning comes as the governments of more than 190 nations gather in Paris to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change.
China, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, is suffering from serious air pollution, largely attributed to smog from coal-fired power plants.
The onset of winter and the need for more heating of homes means the problem has intensified in the capital, which has an estimated population of 20 million.
At noon on Saturday, the US embassy in Beijing reported the level of the poisonous, tiny particles of PM2.5 at 391 micrograms per cubic metre.
Paris climate change talks: Activists placed under house arrest by French authorities using emergency laws
Thousands of climate campaigners have vowed to defy the blanket ban on demonstrations
At least 24 climate change activists have been put under house arrest by French police.
They are accused of defying a ban on organising protests during next week’s 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.
Three people have been placed under house arrest in Rens, two in Paris, two in Rouen and one in Lyons, according to a campaigns website collating information about police actions against activists.
They are only allowed to leave their houses three times a day to sign a post office register verifying their whereabouts.
Legal advisors to the activists told The Guardian warrants were issued under the country’s state of emergency laws, enacted after the terrorist attacks which murdered 130 people.
Climate change campaigner and author Naomi Klein accused French authorities of “a gross abuse of power that risks turning the summit into a farce”.
Godfather of terror: Saudi Arabia and ‘IS’
The ideology of the terror organization the “Islamic State” is inspired by Wahhabism, the official religion of Saudi Arabia. But there are other links.
Hatred against those of a different faith. A bizarre world view that sees Islam threatened in many kinds of ways. Mistrust against everyone who doesn’t think and believe like oneself: these are central ideological elements of the terror organization “Islamic State” (IS). It didn’t invent this world view, at least not alone. When ‘IS’ agitates against Shiites, Yazidis, Christians and Jews, it shows close parallels to the world view of Wahhabism, the radical-conservative interpretation of Sunni Islam, which is the state religion of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In actual fact there are unmistakable parallels between IS and Wahhabism. This is seen clearly if one looks at the text books used by schoolchildren in the Saudi kingdom, up until a few years ago, and where they got their religious world view.
“Every other religion apart from Islam is false”, they read in the introductory text book. Also in exercises which have to be solved by the schoolchildren. The following sentence has to be completed: “When those who live on the outside of the religion of Islam die, they go to…” According to the text book, the right word is “hell “. Another exercise reads: “Name examples of false religions, like Judaism, Christianity, Paganism.”
Eyewitness: ‘No IS group in Aleppo, so who is Russia bombing?
Rami Jara
Ever since Russia began its bombing campaign in Syria in September, it has claimed to be targeting the Islamic State (IS) organisation. However, using geolocation techniques, many analysts quickly realised that Russian jets overwhelmingly target rebel-held territory, and only rarely IS group positions. Shocked by the lack of reaction from the international community, a Syrian exile decided to return to his war-torn country to film the bombings.
When the conflict in Syria broke out in 2011, Rami Jarah, a young man from Damascus, became one of them most prominent citizen journalists keeping foreign media abreast of the developments, thanks to his perfect English. At the time, he went by the pseudonym “Alexander Page”. He fled the country at the end of 2011, first moving to Egypt, then Turkey. But he never stopped reporting on Syria: he founded a citizen media project, ANA Press, with a group of Syrian friends, and has taken regular trips back into his country to report on the situation.
He recently arrived in the rebel-held city of Aleppo in Syria, where he now plans to stay indefinitely. He has filmedseveral videos showing the aftermath of air raids, in which medics scramble to save victims from the rubble. He also filmed a video in which he asks various Aleppo residents whether the IS group is present in their city. They all answer an unequivocal “no”.
In Kenya, a changing role for a Catholic Church that avoids politics
Since the last papal visit in 1995, the Catholic Church has evolved into an institution that largely keeps silent about politics. But some say it’s critical voice is still needed.
NAIROBI, KENYA — As Pope Francis brings his message to Kenya this week, he is visiting a Roman Catholic Church whose role in society has shifted dramatically since the last papal visit.
Each of the three times Pope John Paul II came to Kenya – 1980, 1985, and 1995 – the country was in the iron grip of President Daniel Arap Moi, who clamped down on free expression and criminalized opposition groups.
Under his 24-year rule, the Catholic Church, known as a steadfast provider of social services, became one of the only avenues for dissent. In May 1992, it even called for Mr. Moi’s resignation at a time when speaking out against the president invited arrest and torture.
“When the pope came that time, the church was very strongly political, it was walking hand in hand with opposition leaders,” says Father Stephen Okello, a philosophy professor at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and the coordinator for the papal visit.
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