MM Stock

Mail Magazine to RSS

Turkey Bombs U.S.-Allied Forces in Syria

f:id:tatsuh:20180122230825p:plain

Council on Foreign Relations Newsletter If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view. January 22, 2018 Daily News Brief   TOP OF THE AGENDA Turkey Bombs U.S.-Allied Forces in Syria U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the United States was warned by Turkey ahead of a bombing campaign against Kurdish forces allied with the United States (VOA) in northern Syria that began on Saturday. Mattis said that Ankara, a NATO ally, has "legitimate" security concerns along its border and that no U.S. personnel were immediately in danger from the offensive, which targeted the northern city of Afrin. Russia pulled its forces from the city (FT) ahead of the attack. The United States has backed a mainly Kurdish militia (Al Jazeera), known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG, against the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Turkey has accused the forces of supporting Turkish separatists (WaPo) from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which it considers a terrorist group. ANALYSIS "The [Turkish] military today is not up to par with what it used to be, so they're afraid of expanding, even though Erdogan keeps talking about expanding the area of operation in Syria and going after the YPG," Henri J. Barkey said at a CFR event. "To solve the problem of cross-border threats of terrorism, Turkey would actually need the cooperation of either the Syrian state or the UN Security Council. Obviously, neither is working," Jasper Finke said in an interview with Syria Deeply.  "Turkey's position on Syria has changed radically over time. By 2011 Turkey was one of the first countries to have pulled the plug on Assad and engage in an aggressive policy of regime change in Syria," Sinan Ulgen said in an interview with the Carnegie Middle East Center. UNITED STATES Government Shutdown Enters Third Day Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were put on furlough as of Monday (NYT) ahead of a 12:00 p.m. vote by the Senate on a short-term spending bill. Democrats have vowed to block legislation funding the government until lawmakers reach an agreement to shield undocumented immigrants (WSJ) brought to United States as children from deportation. This CFR Backgrounder looks at the U.S. immigration debate. Hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrated in hundreds of cities (Hill) across the United States on Saturday, the anniversary of last year's Women's March (VOA). CFR's Rachel Vogelstein lays out the landmarks in the global movement for women's rights. PACIFIC RIM Oil Slick in East China Sea Grows China's state oceanic agency said that the oil spill around an Iranian tanker that sunk after a collision in the East China Sea earlier this month has tripled in size to 128 square miles (DW) in recent days. All thirty-two sailors who were on the tanker are presumed dead. VIETNAM: A Vietnamese court gave a thirteen-year prison sentence (Reuters) to a former politburo official and a life sentence to a high-ranking energy official in a corruption case involving the state oil and gas company PetroVietnam. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA Kabul Blames Haqqani Network for Hotel Attack A government spokesman has blamed the Pakistan-based Haqqani network (FT) for an attack on a Kabul hotel late Saturday. At least thirty people, including nationals of Ukraine and Kazakhstan, are believed to have died in the attack (RFE/RL). UZBEKISTAN: Tashkent will host a peace conference on Afghanistan (WSJ) next month with representatives from the United States, Russia, and China, among others, as the country seeks to lessen its international isolation following the death of longtime leader Islam Karimov. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Pence Visits Egypt, Jordan Amid Tensions Over Jerusalem Jordan's King Abdullah II, following a Sunday meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in Amman, reaffirmed his support for East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Pence said the pair "agreed to disagree" over the city's status (NYT). Pence visited Egypt on Saturday (AP), making him the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the country in nearly a decade. SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Six Killed in Clashes With DRC Forces At least six people were killed and dozens injured when security forces fired on anti-government protesters (DW) in the capital of Kinshasa on Sunday. The demonstration, organized by the Catholic Church (Africa News), called on President Joseph Kabila to step down. In Foreign Affairs, Stuart A. Reid discusses Kabila's history in the Democratic Republic of Congo. LIBERIA: Former soccer star George Weah was inaugurated as president on Monday (Citizen) in a stadium near the capital of Monrovia.  EUROPE German Center-Left Party Backs Coalition Talks Martin Schulz's center-left Social Democratic Party has voted in favor of coalition talks (Guardian) with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union in a move that could break four months of political deadlock (FT). FRANCE: Prison guards began a nationwide strike on Monday as unions promised a "total blockade" of penitentiaries (BBC), protesting recent attacks on guards by inmates and low wages. AMERICAS Mexico's Homicide Total Hits New Record Mexico recorded more than twenty-nine thousand murders in 2017 (Guardian), topping a 2011 record of 27,213 homicides. The country's homicide rate still remains below that of other Latin American nations such as Brazil and El Salvador. GLOBAL Wealth Inequality Gap Widened in 2017, Says Oxfam Forty-two people own the same wealth (Guardian) as the world's 3.7 billion poorest people, according to a new report from the charity Oxfam. The organization said that 82 percent of new wealth generated last year went to the world's wealthiest 1 percent while the poorest half saw no increase.          Council on Foreign Relations — 58 East 68th Street — New York, NY 10065 CFR does not share email addresses with third parties. Forward This Email | Subscribe to CFR Newsletters | Unsubscribe - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

From: dailybrief@e.cfr.org

Date: January 22, 2018 at 11:04PM