Crowd cheer fire at hotel being converted into refugee shelter in Saxony.

The Guardian
22-2-2016
Suspected arson comes three days after protesters blocked bus carrying asylum seekers in east German state


A fire that destroyed a hotel being converted into a shelter for refugees in Saxony was cheered and celebrated by onlookers, German police have said.

The blaze at the building in Bautzen, eastern Saxony, began in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police are treating the incident as suspected arson. No one was injured.

Locals had cheered as the building caught fire, police said. “Some people reacted to the arson with derogatory comments and undisguised joy.”

China signals no South China Sea backdown as foreign minister goes to U.S.

Mon Feb 22, 2016 4:27am EST
BEIJING | BY BEN BLANCHARD

Reuters

China's South China Sea military deployments are no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, striking a combative tone ahead of a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the United States this week.

The United States last week accused China of raising tensions in the South China Sea by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island, a move China has neither confirmed nor denied.

China's Pivot To Latin America: Beijing's Growing Security Presence In America's Backyard

FEB 20, 2016 @ 08:40 PM 3,030 VIEWS

Paul Coyer , CONTRIBUTOR
I cover foreign policy with a focus on Eurasia.

FORBES

China’s extremely ambitious efforts under Xi Jinping to extend its reach around the globe and to put its economic clout to work aggressively pursuing its strategic goals have had considerable impact on Latin America. As I’ve written previously, the nature of Chinese economic engagement with Latin America, despite having some beneficial aspects, has also had long term negative economic and normative effects in the region and has strengthened anti-American regimes. China’s growing military presence in the region is having a similar effect, and, although it is still relatively limited, is serving to undermine, aided by Washington’s neglect, the United States’ strategic position in its own Hemisphere.

Turkey’s increasingly desperate predicament poses real dangers

The Washington Post
By Liz Sly February 20 at 7:09 PM
ISTANBUL — Turkey is confronting what amounts to a strategic nightmare as bombs explode in its cities, its enemies encroach on its borders and its allies seemingly snub its demands.

As recently as four years ago, Turkey appeared poised to become one of the biggest winners of the Arab Spring, an ascendant power hailed by the West as a model and embraced by a region seeking new patrons and new forms of governance.

All that has evaporated since the failure of the Arab revolts, shifts in the geopolitical landscape and the trajectory of the Syrian war.

What Russia's Failing Economy Means For Putin's Legacy And Military Ambitions

The WorldPost spoke with Sergey Aleksahenko, former deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank.
 02/20/2016 08:01 am ET | Updated 2 hours ago

THe Huffington Post

The World Post


Alexandra Ma
Editorial Fellow, The Huffington Post


Russia is in the middle of its worst economic crisis since 2008.

The country's economic output declined by 3.7 percent in 2015 and is projected to decrease by a further 1 percent in 2016, according to International Monetary Fund estimates published in January. Inflation soared to 15.4 percent in 2015, compared with 7.8 percent in 2014.

The decline is partly the result of the international sanctions imposed following Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014. Large trade and investment partners, including the European Union and the United States, cut off Russia's access to foreign loans and capital markets and froze assets belonging to high-level Russians.

NATO's support for Turkey is not unconditional

NATO warns Turkey it can't count on support in a conflict with Russia as tensions escalate
European diplomats warned that Ankara cannot invoke Article 5
Germany says that NATO cannot 'pay the price for a war started by Turks'
Turkey has called for international ground operation in Syria
Russia called Security Council meeting to halt Turkey's shelling of Kurds

By GIANLUCA MEZZOFIORE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:06 GMT, 20 February 2016 | UPDATED: 14:45 GMT, 20 February 2016

Daily Mail

These 5 Facts Explain Why Turkey Is in Deep Trouble

Ian Bremmer @ianbremmer  Feb. 19, 2016

TIME

As Turkey ramps up its involvement in the war in Syria, it risks being hit by serious international blowback
It’s been a bad week for Turkey. As the country intensifies its military campaign in Syria, a bomb ripped through Ankara in apparent retaliation on Feb. 17, killing 28 people and injuring 61 others. Sadly, it’s an all too familiar sight. These five facts explain the mounting threats Turkey faces from Syria’s war next door.

Greece threatens to veto Britain-EU deal if states close borders to refugees

Europe’s negotiations about the UK’s membership and about the refugee crisis become entangled at Brussels summit

The Guardian

Greece is threatening to veto a new deal for Britain in the European Union if other member states close their borders to refugees.

The future of Britain’s EU membership has become entangled with the refugee crisis at a summit in Brussels, where the bloc’s leaders had been meeting to discuss the two issues separately.

EU leaders are grappling with how to deal with the biggest influx of refugees since the second world war, after more than one million people arrived in Europe in 2015. The movement of people has called into question the EU’s border-free Schengen zone and has thrown EU asylum rules into chaos. On Friday, Austria introduced daily limits on the number of migrants entering the country, triggering fears of further border closures.

Turkey Blames Kurdish Militia for Ankara Attack, Challenging U.S.

By TIM ARANGO and CEYLAN YEGINSUFEB. 18, 2016
The New York Time
BAGHDAD — In blaming a Syrian Kurdish militia supported by the United States for a deadly car bombing in Ankara, Turkey added new urgency on Thursday to a question its president recently posed to the Obama administration: Are you on the side of a NATO ally — Turkey — or its enemies?

The militia, which adamantly denies any role in the bombing, is the administration’s most important ground force inside Syria in the fight against the militants of the Islamic State. But it is also fast becoming an enemy of Turkey, which views the militia as a national security threat because of its links to another Kurdish militant group that is battling for autonomy within Turkey.

EU Quarrels Over Refugees, With Greece, Austria in Crossfire

 James G Neuger

 John Follain

Bloomberg

European leaders quarreled again over the refugee influx, with fingers pointed at Greece for doing too little to seal its border and at Austria and Slovenia for doing too much.
Conflicting national responses to the expected 1 million new arrivals in 2016 on top of a similar number last year left Germany with the heaviest burden and Chancellor Angela Merkel facing untold political costs.
“We must first avoid a battle among plans A, B and C: It makes no sense at all because it creates divisions within the European Union,” EU President Donald Tusk told reporters after meetings ended in pre-dawn hours on Friday.

Kurds Warn Turkey of ‘Big War’ With Russia If Troops Enter Syria

 Henry Meyer
Stepan Kravchenko

Bloomberg

February 18, 2016 — 2:51 PM EET Updated on February 18, 2016 — 5:18 PM EET


Russia has promised to protect Kurdish fighters in Syria in case of a ground offensive by Turkey, a move that would lead to a “big war,” the Syrian group’s envoy to Moscow said in an interview on Wednesday.
“We take this threat very seriously because the ruling party in Turkey is a party of war,” Rodi Osman, head of the Syrian Kurds’ newly-opened representative office said in Kurdish via a Russian interpreter. “Russia will respond if there is an invasion. This isn’t only about the Kurds, they will defend the territorial sovereignty of Syria.”

Hundreds of armed rebels cross from Turkey into Syria, says monitor

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports 500 insurgents and Islamist fighters headed for town of Azaz where anti-Assad forces have lost ground

The Guardian

At least 500 rebels on Wednesday crossed the Turkish border, a monitor said, and headed for the Syrian town of Azaz in northern Aleppo province where opposition forces have suffered setbacks at the hands of Kurdish fighters.

“At least 500 rebels have crossed the Bab al-Salam border crossing on their way to the town of Azaz, from which they want to help the insurgents in the face of gains made by Kurdish forces in the north of the province,” the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel, told Agence France-Presse.

Ankara blast: Turkey vows retaliation for deadly bomb attack

18-2-2016

49 minutes ago

BBC

Turkey has vowed to retaliate against the perpetrators of a powerful blast in the capital Ankara that left at least 28 people dead and 61 injured.

"Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self-defence at any time, any place or any occasion," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Officials said a vehicle full of explosives was detonated as military buses were passing by on Wednesday.

China 'has deployed missiles in South China Sea' - Taiwan

3 hours ago

BBC

China has deployed surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island in the South China Sea, Taiwan says.

Satellite images taken on 14 February appear to show two batteries of eight missile launchers and a radar system on Woody or Yongxing Island in the Paracels.

The presence of missiles would significantly increase tensions in the acrimonious South China Sea dispute.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said reports were a Western media invention.

But Mr Wang defended "the limited and necessary self-defence facilities" on islands inhabited by Chinese personnel as "consistent with the right for self-preservation and self-protection.... under the international law".

Migrant crisis: Greece ready to house more on islands

9 hours ago

 From the section Europe

BBC

Greece is starting to register migrants at four new reception centres on islands near Turkey, in line with a demand from the EU.

Five were supposed to have been completed by the end of last year. The fifth - on Kos - is not yet ready.

Merkel unmoved by refugee crisis criticism

Deutsche Welle

Germany will stick to its multifaceted response to Europe's refugee crisis, including aid delivered via Turkey, Chancellor Angela Merkel has told parliament. She's also backed the idea of a no-fly zone in northern Syria.

Merkel, in an address to Germany's Bundestag on the eve of a two-day Brussels summit, said Europe should work to improve the lives of refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan as the way to meet "our goal" of reducing migrant flows into Europe.

She described as "intolerable" the situation for besieged civilians in and around northern Syria's war-torn hub of Aleppo, saying "nothing should be left undone" in trying to establish a no-fly zone to save "many human lives."

NATO and Europe’s Refugee Crisis

By THE EDITORIAL BOARDFEB. 16, 2016

The New York Times

The announcement last Thursday that NATO would send ships to patrol the Aegean in an effort to break up the smuggling rings ferrying desperate refugees and migrants from Turkey to Greece is, at this point, more a symbolic show of solidarity than anything else. Even so, it reflects a heightened sense of urgency about the refugee crisis and sends a strong signal that the Western alliance stands ready to help Europe cope with it.

Migration crisis: Plan for reinforced border north of Greece

15/02 23:52 CET   | updated 02:10 mn ago  

Euronews

Members of the so-called Visegrad group which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, are calling for a reinforced border north of Greece to help stop the flood of migrants into Europe.

Leaders from Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are proposing to create a second fence along FYROM’s and Bulgaria’s borders with Greece. (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia FYROM).

Britons held in Greece over large guns stash

14 February 2016

BBC

Three men have been arrested in north-eastern Greece on suspicion of trying to smuggle weapons and ammunition into Turkey, Greek police say.

Two are British citizens - the third a UK resident. At least one of them is reported to be of Iraqi Kurdish origin.

The men were in possession of 22 firearms and more than 200,000 rounds of ammunition, police say.

They are suspected of being part of a "criminal gang". They are due to be charged on Tuesday.

They have reportedly asked to speak in court in Kurdish.

The UK Foreign Office says it is "urgently looking into the reports".

Visegrad Group opposes Germany's refugee policy

Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - known as the Visegrad Group - are set to discuss border protection and the refugee crisis. They might help Macedonia close its Greek border to migrants.

Deutsche Welle

The four Eastern European countries known for their restrictive asylum policy are set to call for the closure of the so-called Balkan route to migrants traveling to Western Europe, German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported.

The Visegrad countries - Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - invited representatives of Bulgaria and Macedonia to their summit in Prague on Monday. Leaders of the Visegrad states are expected to agree on helping Macedonia to block the migrants' path at its border with Greece, according to diplomats quoted by Der Spiegel.

"As long as a coherent European strategy is lacking, it is legitimate for the countries along the Balkan route to protect their borders," Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak told the German magazine. "We will help them with that."