Although it is hard to believe, Russian airstrikes in Syria have brought about even greater destruction than the country has endured before. Resports from the ground suggest that the Russian airstrikes are massive and less targeted than the anti-ISIS coalition forces. Humanitarian agencies have suspended their efforts because of the intensity of the strikes and the inability to move around the country to bring assistance to where it is needed.
Idlib city, Syria December 20, 2015
Seymour Hersh, one of the world’s premier investigative reporters, has published an incredible essay in the London Review of Books, that argues that the US Defense establishment has been quietly nudging the Obama Administration in the direction of support for Syrian President Assad and Russian support for Assad. In the process, those analysts have argued that Turkey and Saudi Arabia are actually working hard to support Daesh (the Islamic State) and that the US should move away from its erstwhile allies. The essay has provoked a storm of controversy by Max Fisher, Steven Rosenfeld, and others. My own reading of the tea leaves suggests that Hersh is essentially correct in his assessment.
The Somali militant group Al-Shabab has been conducting a campaign of violence against Christians in Kenya. A typical tactic in the terror campaign is to stop a bus and then separate the Muslims on the bus from the Christians and then execute the Christians. On Monday, the tactic backfired when the Muslims on the bus refused to leave the bus and told the terrorists to kill them as well as the Christians. It was an incredible act of bravery and solidarity that is testimony to the resilience of a country that has seen its share of violent acts.
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