US air strikes push Isis back from strategic Iraqi dam

Warplanes wipe out Islamist forces trying to attack Haditha dam in western province of Anbar

The Guardian

US warplanes have carried out five strikes on Islamist insurgents menacing Iraq’s Haditha dam, witnesses and officials said, widening what President Barack Obama called a campaign to curb and ultimately defeat the militants.

Obama has branded Islamic State (Isis) forces an acute threat to the west as well as the Middle East and said that key Nato allies stood ready to back Washington in action against the group, which has seized expanses of northern Iraq and eastern Syria and declared a border-blurring religious caliphate.

Official: Russian forces back rebels with tanks in eastern Ukraine

By Victoria Butenko, Laura Smith-Spark and Diana Magnay, CNN

August 28, 2014 -- Updated 1010 GMT (1810 HKT)

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Pro-Moscow rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, backed by Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, battled government forces on two fronts Thursday, a Ukrainian military official said.

The fighting was taking place southeast of Donetsk, and along the nation's southern coast in the town of Novoazovsk, about 12 miles (20 km) from the Russian border, according to Mykhailo Lysenko, the deputy commander of the Ukrainian Donbas battalion.

"This is a full-scale invasion," Lysenko said, referring to the fighting in the south.

In a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Ukraine's Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, called for an immediate U.N. Security Council meeting.

Pentagon warns that Isis has global aspirations as US continues Iraq strikes

US effort to build international coalition against Isis advanced, as UK and six other nations agreed to arm the Kurdish peshmerga

The Guardian

Spencer Ackerman in New York

The Pentagon warned on Tuesday that Islamic State (Isis) militants have global aspirations, ratcheting up already dire US rhetoric against the jihadist army that has overrun much of Iraq and Syria.

U.S. Mobilizes Allies to Widen Assault on ISIS

By HELENE COOPER and MARK LANDLERAUG. 26, 2014

The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The United States has begun to mobilize a broad coalition of allies behind potential American military action in Syria and is moving toward expanded airstrikes in northern Iraq, administration officials said on Tuesday.

President Obama, the officials said, was broadening his campaign against the Sunni militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and nearing a decision to authorize airstrikes and airdrops of food and water around the northern Iraqi town of Amerli, home to members of Iraq’s Turkmen minority. The town of 12,000 has been under siege for more than two months by the militants.

“Rooting out a cancer like ISIL won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick,” Mr. Obama said in a speech on Tuesday to the American Legion in Charlotte, N.C., using an alternative name for ISIS. He said that the United States was building a coalition to “take the fight to these barbaric terrorists,” and that the militants would be “no match” for a united international community.

Ukraine crisis: 'Column from Russia' crosses border

25 August 2014 Last updated at 17:28 GMT Share this pagePrint

BBC

The Ukrainian military says it has clashed with rebel armoured vehicles that crossed from Russia and headed to the south-eastern port of Mariupol.

One commander said rebels might be trying to open up a new southern front. Russia did not comment on the issue.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko voiced his "extreme concern" about the alleged crossing, his office said.

More than 2,000 people have died in fighting between Ukrainian forces and the separatists in recent months.

Obama Approves Air Surveillance of ISIS in Syria

By MARK LANDLER and HELENE COOPERAUG. 25, 2014

The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama has authorized surveillance flights over Syria, a precursor to potential airstrikes there, but a mounting concern for the White House is how to target the Sunni extremists without helping President Bashar al-Assad.

Defense officials said Monday evening that the Pentagon was sending in manned and unmanned reconnaissance flights over Syria, using a combination of aircraft, including drones and possibly U2 spy planes. Mr. Obama approved the flights over the weekend, a senior administration official said.

The flights are a significant step toward direct American military action in Syria, an intervention that could alter the battlefield in the nation’s three-year civil war.

An American-Led Coalition Can Defeat ISIS

U.S. air power and special forces are essential, but so is a political and economic strategy. It's also time to give Qatar an ultimatum.

By JACK KEANE And DANIELLE PLETKA

Aug. 24, 2014 6:27 p.m. ET

The Wall Street Journal

Two months ago we laid out a plan on these pages to bring Iraq back from the abyss of terrorist domination, turn the tide in the Syria conflict, and crush the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The need for such a plan is now more urgent as ISIS has since advanced dramatically, the Iraqi army and Kurdish militia initially performed poorly, and the terror group has threatened to kill more Americans as it did James Foley last week.

Κονομάει χοντρά η Χαμάς απ’ τη φτώχεια και την απομόνωση…

Του Doron Peskin

ΠΗΓΗ: «ynetnews.com», 15.7.2014

17/07/2014 11:09

Με συμφωνίες ακινήτων πολλών εκατομμυρίων δολαρίων, πολυτελείς βίλλες και την μαύρη αγορά καυσίμων από την Αίγυπτο, οι κυβερνώντες της Γάζας έχουν συγκεντρώσει δισεκατομμύρια δολάρια ενώ ο υπόλοιπος πληθυσμός αγωνίζεται με την φτώχεια που φτάνει το 38% του πληθυσμού και την ανεργία που φτάνει το 40%.

Ενώ οι μάχες αναμένεται να επιδεινώσουν τα δεινά των κατοίκων της Γάζας, το οικονομικό μέλλον της Λωρίδας δεν ήταν ποτέ ευοίωνο. Η ανεργία στη Γάζα βρισκόταν περίπου στο 40% πριν την τελευταία σύγκρουση, με ανάλογο ποσοστό να βρίσκεται κάτω από το όριο της φτώχειας.

A mounting toll

Jul 14th 2014, 9:54 by N.S. | DONETSK

The Economist

VLADIMIR PISKUNOV once had roses in his garden, red and white ones lining the patio. He once had tomatoes, ripening alongside the cherry trees. He once had a roof over his house. He once had a wife. All of that was wiped out late in the afternoon of July 12th, when three Grad rockets hit 15 Lyubovich Street on the western edge of Donetsk. One landed directly on his house, blasting a crater through its center and killing his wife Tatiana, who was clambering to the basement for safety.

China: Wealth and Democracy

Will Western levels of income mean that China adopts Western models of democracy?

By Christopher Ernest Barber

June 10, 2014

http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/china-wealth-and-democracy/

In a recent article, I discussed a report tabled by the IMF on China’s economic future. In it, IMF economists Malhar Nabar and Papa N’Diaye argued that if Chinese authorities are able to complete the necessary economic reforms, then China will become a high-income economy by 2030. In nominal terms, high-income economies have a Gross National Income (GNI) of more than $12,616 per capita. This effectively demarcates those nations that are rich and those that are not. Of course, while China will enter the rich nations club, with its current GNI of $5,720, the dragon economy will have a long way to go in order to match the sheer wealth of the United States (which has a GNI of $52,340). Nevertheless, given its relative size, China is set to overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy by 2030.

Russia warns Ukraine of ‘irreversible consequences’ after cross-border shelling

By Karoun Demirjian and Michael Birnbaum July 13 at 7:46 PM

The Washington Post

MOSCOW— Russia on Sunday accused Ukraine of lobbing a shell over the border and killing a Russian civilian and warned of “irreversible consequences,” in a sharp escalation of rhetoric that raised fears of a Russian invasion in Ukraine’s east.

The accusation, which Ukrainian officials denied, set off furious denunciations in Russia, with one senior legislator calling for pinpoint airstrikes on Ukrainian soil of the sort he said Israel was making in the Gaza Strip.

Ukrainian security officials, meanwhile, said that about 100 military vehicles driven by “mercenaries” had attempted to cross the border from Russia early Sunday, and that Ukraine’s military had destroyed some of the vehicles.

Deadlock Blocks Iraqi Leadership Vote as ISIS Makes Gains Toward Baghdad

By ALISSA J. RUBIN and SUADAD AL-SALHYJULY 13, 2014

The New York Times

BAGHDAD — As Iraq’s deadlocked Parliament was again unable to reach a deal to name a new speaker on Sunday, Sunni militants carried out a raid near Baghdad, a symbolically significant attack signaling their intent to move closer, even if only by a few miles, toward the Iraqi capital.

Although the pretext for the delay was a severe sandstorm that prevented northern Iraq’s Kurdish lawmakers from flying to Baghdad, the real reason appeared to be that last-minute deals between the largest Shiite bloc and the Sunnis were falling apart.

Chechen in Syria a rising star in extremist group

(The Washington Post)

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS July 2 at 12:33 PM

BEIRUT — A young, red-bearded ethnic Chechen has rapidly become one of the most prominent commanders in the breakaway al-Qaida group that has overrun swaths of Iraq and Syria, illustrating the international nature of the movement.

Omar al-Shishani, one of hundreds of Chechens who have been among the toughest jihadi fighters in Syria, has emerged as the face of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, appearing frequently in its online videos — in contrast to the group’s Iraqi leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who remains deep in hiding and has hardly ever been photographed.

Kurdish region is exploring whether to be part of Iraq or whether to be independent

The Washington Post

BY KAREN DEYOUNG AND STEVEN MUFSON July 2 at 8:46 PM

Iraq’s Kurdistan region is pursuing two separate paths to the future, one as part of Iraq and one as an independent state, said senior Kurdish officials who met with Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Wednesday in Washington.

But even if a suitable government is formed in Baghdad — for Kurds, one that does not include Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki — “we are not ready to go back to pre-June 9,” when Islamist militants began their advance across the northwest part of the country, said Fuad Hussein, chief of staff to Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Russia Demands New Cease-Fire in Ukraine as Foreign Ministers Seek Path to Peace

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORNJULY 2, 2014

The New York Times

MOSCOW — In a stern warning that cited civilian casualties in war-torn eastern Ukraine, Russia on Wednesday demanded that the Ukrainian government reinstate a cease-fire and halt its military operation aimed at suppressing the pro-Russian separatist insurrection that has destabilized the region for more than three months.

“Again we resolutely demand that the Ukrainian authorities — provided they are still able to evaluate sensibly the consequences of the criminal policy they conduct — to stop shelling peaceful cities and villages in their own country, to return to a real cease-fire in order to save human lives,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Why the run on banks?

Bulgaria

Jul 1st 2014, 17:32 by G.K. | SOFIA

IN A country struggling with rampant corruption, a weak judiciary and unstable government, the Bulgarian banking system has consistently won praise for its stable institutions, high liquidity and low risk. In the past few weeks that system has come under attack in the worst run on banks in 17 years.

The central bank said runs on First Investment Bank (FIB) and Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), the country’s third and fourth largest lenders, in the past two weeks were part of a “deliberate and systematic attempt to destabilise Bulgaria's banking system”. According to the authorities, criminals tried to disrupt the system by sending e-mails and text messages urging people to withdraw their funds from several large banks.

Euro-Zone Inflation Rate Stays at Lowest Level in Over Four Years

Figures Underline the Scale of the Challenge Facing the ECB

The Wall Street Journal

By PAUL HANNON And TODD BUELL CONNECT

Updated June 30, 2014 6:38 a.m. ET

The euro zone's annual rate of inflation was unchanged in June, stuck at its lowest level in more than four years, while bank lending to households and businesses declined in May.

The ECB took steps on June 5 designed to stave off the threat of dangerously low inflation in Europe, including cutting a key interest rate below zero for the first time to get banks to lend more to credit-starved customers.

Greek Bonds Beat Lottery as Funds Surge on Smashed Glass

By Maria Petrakis  Jun 26, 2014 2:01 AM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

The woman who died in a burning Athens bank still smiles at Giorgos Mastorakos on his way to the delicatessen he owns around the corner.

The wreaths and tributes no longer cascade onto the road to mark the spot where she and her two colleagues were killed in violence in May 2010 after the country’s unsustainable debts and ensuing financial decline resulted in the first depression since World War II. At the makeshift memorial that fewer people visit on the anniversary of the deaths, the photo of the woman’s face is framed by an anarchist sign and withering bouquets.

Mastorakos, 64, and his employees helped those who escaped the burning building. “And that’s when the questions began: Did so-and-so get out? Have you seen that person?” he said.

Oil and the Iraqi Civil War: How Security Dynamics May Affect Oil Production

Brookings

Kenneth M. Pollack | June 23, 2014 11:00am

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2014/06/23-oil-iraqi-civil-war-pollack

It should be obvious that a key consideration for the United States arising from the revived civil war in Iraq is its potential to affect Iraqi oil production. Iraq is now the second largest producer in OPEC. And although Americans are ecstatic about fracking, energy experts have been warning that future oil prices are more dependent on increasing Iraqi production than North American shale. In October 2012, the International Energy Agency stated that, “The increase in Iraq’s oil production in the Central Scenario of more than 5 [million barrels per day] over the period to 2035 makes Iraq by far the largest contributor to global supply growth. Over the current decade, Iraq accounts for around 45% of the anticipated growth in global output.”

Is Greece losing its reform drive?

By Hugo Dixon JUNE 23, 2014

Reuters

By Hugo Dixon

Hugo Dixon is Editor-at-Large, Reuters News. The opinions expressed are his own.

Is Greece losing its reform drive? Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has stuck to a harsh fitness programme for two years. But just as it is bearing fruit, he has sidelined some reformers in a reshuffle. There is only one viable path to redemption for Athens: stick to the straight and narrow.

The Greek economy is not out of the woods yet, although the measures taken to balance public finances and restore the country’s competitiveness are having their effect.