By Shaun Walker in Moscow, The Guardian, Oct. 24, 2014
Vladimir Putin used a meeting with foreign journalists and Russia experts to rail against the United States and the current world order, blaming Washington for many current global problems, including unrest in Ukraine and Islamic terrorism.
[....] “Canada will never be intimidated,” and will redouble efforts to combat terrorism, Harper said in a televised address to the nation last night [....]
So shocking were the day’s events to the Canadian psyche that organizers canceled a National Hockey League game between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
By Abby Goodnough and Robert Pear, New York Times, Oct. 17/18, 2014
Some people enrolled in private coverage through the Affordable Care Act are hesitating to use their insurance because of the high out-of-pocket costs.
....“I cannot see the future here,” he said, without a touch of irony at the idea that an Israeli Jew was looking for a better life in Germany. “The middle class in Israel is going down. We feel it in our flesh.”....
Democratic candidates — even those in states like Virginia that the president carried in 2008 and 2012 — do not want President Obama to campaign for them.
Insiders and administration officials tell Foreign Policy that efforts to free Americans held by the Islamic State are uncoordinated, inconsistent, and crippled by bureaucratic infighting.
Credit where credit is due: drones are pretty good at journalism. The video above was shot by an unmanned drone carrying a video camera, and presents a unique perspective on the scale of the protests taking place in Hong Kong....
By Loveday Morris, Washington Post, Sept. 28, 2014
[....] a new weapon has been unleashed in this country devastated by Islamist militant violence — comedy. A new 30-part satirical series, “State of Myths,” which started airing on Iraqi state television Saturday, aims to expose the true nature of the Islamic State extremist organization — through slapstick and puns [....]
[....] While all eyes are on Syria and Iraq, another intervention is taking place in Yemen. The coalition involved here is more of an understanding than a military pact, but it is proving to be just as effective. That Iran should be backing a small Shi'a tribe in the north of Yemen called the Houthis comes as little surprise. The lightning takeover by the Houthis of the capital Sana'a has been applauded by Iranian politicians. [....]
By Stephanie Ennis, BBC Monitoring, 25 Sept., 2014
Russia is the target of a global plot orchestrated by the United States and involving fighters from the self-styled Islamic State (IS) and nationalist Ukrainian troops - that is the latest conspiracy theory broadcast on Russian state TV. "America is everywhere, the West is everywhere, Nato is everywhere. Everything is organised against Russia," the veteran Russian nationalist MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky railed during a talk show on Channel One, Russia's most popular TV station.
By Karen Zraick, New York Times, Sept. 25/26, 2014
When fighter jets from the United Arab Emirates took part in airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria on Monday night, the mission was led by a woman, the country’s ambassador to the United States said Thursday morning.
By Michael R.Gordon, New York Times, Sept. 14, 2014
The offer from several Arab countries was disclosed by American officials traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry, who is trying to mobilize international support against the militants.
By Peter Pomerantsev, The Atlantic.com, Sept.9, 2014
[....] “If previous authoritarian regimes were three parts violence and one part propaganda,” argues Igor Yakovenko, a professor of journalism at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, “this one is virtually all propaganda and relatively little violence. Putin only needs to make a few arrests—and then amplify the message through his total control of television.” [....]
A French journalist held hostage for months by extremists in Syria has identified one of his captors as a Frenchman suspected of later killing four at the Brussels Jewish Museum, saying the militant had took sadistic delight in mistreating prisoners.
Nicolas Henin said he often heard Mehdi Nemmouche, who he said was among his captors from July 2013 to December 2013, torturing Syrians who were being held in the same former hospital basement.
