Paris attacks suspect slipped from one world to another
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Beardless, with short-cropped hair and a mild manner, Salah Abdeslam slipped from one world to another as easily as he slipped for four months through an international dragnet.
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The airliner, carrying at least 61 people, crashed on a repeated landing attempt in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
The George W. Bush administration indirectly cooperated with a powerful Iranian spymaster in 2006 to unseat then-Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the former U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, said in an interview.
Cuban-American businessmen, once implacably opposed to the trade embargo, ended up campaigning to lift it, helping pave the way for the historic move.
After weeks of taking hits from prosecutors, protesters and the political opposition, supporters of President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, fought back by mounting pro-government rallies in cities around Brazil.
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has become a symbol of economic ills and a growing corruption scandal.
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Russian air disasters of past decade by Associated Press
A look at notable disasters over the past decade involving Russian planes or foreign planes:
A huge golden dome has been hoisted atop a new Russian Orthodox cathedral in the heart of Paris, in a ceremony to inaugurate a controversial project championed by Vladimir Putin.
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Supreme Court Judge in Brazil Blocks Post for Ex-Presidentby Mauricio Savarese, Peter Prengaman / AP
(RIO DE JANEIRO) — A Supreme Court judge suspended former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s nomination to a Cabinet post amid corruption investigations, a decision likely to stoke tensions in a country already rocked by dueling pro- and anti-government demonstrations.
In his ruling late Friday, Justice Gilmar Mendes called Silva’s appointment as current President Dilma Rousseff’s chief of staff a clear attempt to help the once wildly popular ex-leader get around his legal woes.
Two weeks ago, Silva was brought in for questioning in a sprawling investigation into an alleged kickback scheme in the state oil company Petrobras. If he becomes a Cabinet minister, Silva can only be prosecuted with the approval of the Supreme Court and his appointment sparked an outcry from critics who said Rousseff was seeking to shield her mentor from prosecution.
“The goal of the falsity is clear: prevent the carrying out of a preventative arrest order” against Silva being considered by a lower court, Mendes wrote in his ruling.
Both Rousseff and Silva deny the accusations, and on Friday tens of thousands demonstrators rallied behind them and Brazil’s center-left government. Anti-government protests last weekend brought an estimated 3 million people onto the streets in nationwide.
Mendes’ decision leaves Silva, and Latin America’s largest nation, in limbo. The government will surely appeal the decision, which will eventually have to be decided by the full Court. However, with Holy Week next week, it could be some time before the full court meets.
The political turmoil comes as Brazil prepares to host the Summer Olympics in August and Latin America’s most populous nation faces crises on several fronts. The country is at the center of an outbreak of the Zika virus, which health experts believe can cause abnormally small heads in newborns. And its economy, long an engine for neighboring countries, has sharply contracted by nearly 4 percent. Inflation has spiked the last year and announcements of job layoffs have become common.
The decision by Mendes was the latest volley in what has become a legal game of ping pong.
Silva was sworn in as chief aide to Rousseff on Thursday, a post that would let the charismatic politician help the president battle an impeachment effort and one that also makes it harder to investigate any possible links to a corruption scandal.
Opponents quickly won injunctions from two regional federal judges to block his appointment, but both were quickly overturned by an appeals court. Later in the afternoon a federal judge in the city of Assis, Sao Paulo state ordered a third injunction.
Supporters of Silva, who was one of the world’s most famous leaders as president from 2003 to 2010, backed him at rallies on Friday. Many wore red T-shirts and caps and frequently chanted, “Lula, the minister of hope.” The respected Datafolha polling agency estimated 95,000 people took part in the rally, while police estimates put turnout at 80,000.
When Silva appeared on top of a large sound truck to address the crowd he was greeted with loud cheers and shouts of “Lula, Lula.”
“Next week, if there is no impediment, I will start to proudly serve President Dilma and the Brazilian people,” he said.
“I am going back to help President Dilma do what must be done — re-establish peace and hope. There is no room for hate in this country.” He wound up his 20 minute speech staring at the crowd and shouting: “there will be no coup.”
Rousseff’s supporters say the 70-year-old Silva, known for his ability to build consensus, could save her job and help bring the economy back from the abyss. With her approval ratings in the single digits, Rousseff is fighting attempts to oust her over allegations of fiscal mismanagement. The move toward impeachment advanced this week as the lower house established a special commission on the matter.
In a public letter Friday, Silva questioned the legality of the surprise release of tapped phone calls between him and a host of prominent public figures, including Rousseff herself.
Judge Sergio Moro, overseeing the Petrobras case, released the recordings late Wednesday, hours after the announcement of Silva’s appointment, saying that the taps appeared to suggest attempts to influence judicial officials in Silva’s favor.
Rousseff called the recordings illegal and said their release made “clear the attempt to overstep the limits of the democratic state.”
In his Friday decision, Mendes also ruled that the investigation into Silva would stay in the hands of Moro. Supporters of Silva and his Workers Party accuse Moro of being on a politically motivated witch hunt, and have tried to get him removed from the case.
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Prengaman reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press writer Stan Lehman contributed to this report from Sao Paulo.
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5 Killed in Istanbul Suicide Bomb Attackby Dominique Soguel and Susan Fraser / AP
(ISTANBUL) — A suicide attacker detonated a bomb on Istanbul’s main pedestrian shopping street on Saturday, killing five people, the city’s governor said. Twenty other people were injured in the attack. The attacker was among the dead.
Governor Vasip Sahin said the explosion occurred outside a local government office on Istiklal Street, which is also home to cafes, restaurants and foreign consulate buildings. Sahin said one of wounded victims died in hospital. The private Dogan news agency said at least three of the injured are Israeli nationals.
Police sealed off the area and a forensic team was at the scene.
Turkey was already on edge following two recent suicide car bomb attacks in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group, which is an off-shoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The most recent attack, on March 13, targeted a line of bus stops on Ankara’s busiest street and killed 37 including two bombers.
“It was one loud explosion,” said Muhammed Fatur, a Syrian who works at a butcher shop near the scene of Saturday’s explosion. “Police came to the scene and sealed off the area.”
Turkey had heightened security in Ankara and Istanbul in the run-up to a Kurdish spring festival of Newroz on March 21, which Kurds in Turkey traditionally use to assert their ethnic identity and demand greater rights.
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Fraser reported from Ankara
Dubai Airliner Crashes in Russia Killing All 62 on Boardby Vladimir Isachenkov/AP
MOSCOW—A Dubai airliner with 62 people on board nosedived and exploded in a giant fireball early Saturday while trying to land in strong winds in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all aboard, officials said.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said the Boeing 737-800 operated by FlyDubai was carrying 55 passengers, most of them Russians, and seven crew members of various nationalities. FlyDubai confirmed that there were no survivors and said four children were among those killed.
The powerful explosion pulverized the plane but investigators quickly recovered both flight recorders. The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately known, but officials and experts pointed at a sudden gust of wind as a possible reason.
“Our primary concern is for the families of the passengers and crew who were on board. Everyone at FlyDubai is in deep shock and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those involved,” said CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith.
He said that pilots, who were from Cyprus and Spain, hadn’t issued any distress signal before the crash. They had 5,965 and 5,769 hours of flying time respectively, making them “quite experienced,” al-Ghaith added. The cabin crew included two Russians and citizens of Seychelles, Colombia and Kyrgyzstan.
Al-Ghaith said the plane was produced in 2011 and underwent a detailed maintenance inspection known as a C check in January.
Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region some 950 kilometers (600 miles) south of Moscow, was quoted by Russian news agencies as telling local journalists that the plane crashed about 250 meters (800 feet) short of the runway.
“By all appearances, the cause of the air crash was the strongly gusting wind, approaching a hurricane level,” he said.
According to the weather data reported by Russian state television, winds at ground level weren’t dangerously strong at the moment of the crash, but at an altitude of 500 meters (1,640 feet) and higher they reached a near-hurricane speed of around 30 meters per second (67 miles per hour).
Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, told The Associated Press that the plane missed its approach then entered a holding pattern.
According to Flightradar24, the plane circled for about two hours before making another landing attempt. It said a Russian Aeroflot plane scheduled to land around the same time made three landing attempts but then diverted to another airport.
According to its data, the Dubai plane began climbing again after a go-around when it suddenly started to fall with vertical speed of up to 6,400 meters per minute (21,000 feet/min).
The closed-circuit TV footage showed the plane going down in a steep angle and exploding.
Al-Ghaith said the plane attempted to land in line with established procedures.
“As far as we know the airport was open and we were good to operate,” he said, adding that they couldn’t have landed without air traffic controllers’ permission.
Al-Ghaith said the pilots hadn’t issued any distress call and hadn’t attempted to divert to an alternate airport.
“It was an uncontrollable fall,” said Sergei Kruglikov, a veteran Russian pilot, said on Russian state television. He said that a sudden change in wind speed and direction could have caused the wings to abruptly lose their lifting power.
Several planes had landed in Rostov-on-Don shortly before the Dubai airliner was scheduled to touch down, but other flights later were diverted.
Pilot Vitaly Sokolovsky told Rossiya 24 television that a sudden gust of wind could be particularly dangerous at low altitude while the pilot was throttling up the engines to make another run.
Viktor Gorbachev, director of the Russian airports association, said the airport in Rostov-on-Don has modern equipment to deal with adverse weather.
President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the victims’ families and top Russian Cabinet officials flew to the crash site to oversee the investigation.
Emirati authorities including the president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, sent condolences to Putin, and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also serves as the Emirates’ vice president and prime minister, expressed his regrets on his official Twitter feed.
In a statement expressing “shock and grief,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades confirmed that the pilot was a Cypriot national, Aristos Socratous from Limassol.
Officials said the plane and bodies of the victims were torn into small pieces by the powerful blast, making identification difficult Investigators said they were working on the plane’s cockpit conversation recorder and another one recording parameters of the flight.
It was FlyDubai’s first crash since the budget carrier began operating in 2009. It was launched in 2008 by the government of Dubai, the Gulf commercial hub that is part of the seven-state United Arab Emirates federation. The carrier has been flying to Rostov-on-Don since 2013.
FlyDubai’s fleet consists of relatively young 737-800 aircraft, like the one that crashed. The airline says it operates more than 1,400 flights a week.
The airline has expanded rapidly in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Dubai is a popular destination for Russian vacationers, and many Russian expatriates live and work in Dubai, a city where foreigners outnumber locals more than 4-to-1.
FlyDubai has a good safety record. In January 2015, one of its planes was struck on the fuselage by what appeared to small-arms fire shortly before it landed in Baghdad. That flight landed safely with no major injuries reported.
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Islamic State 'heroes' are expected to die behind their rifles, but Salah Abdeslam surrendered with little resistance.
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Four children were among the 62 people killed when the Dubai airliner nose-dived and burst into flames while trying to land.
Who is Salah Abdeslam? - video explainer by Guardian Staff
Belgian authorities arrest Salah Abdeslam in Brussels on Friday after an international manhunt and a series of raids. Police said Abdeslam was wounded in the leg and that a second person was arrested during the operation. But what was Abdeslam’s role in the 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people?
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The crash of a FlyDubai Boeing 737 is captured on CCTV in the early hours of Saturday morning. A total of 62 passengers and staff were killed in the accident, which occurred as FZ981 from Dubai attempted to land on the Rostov-on-Don airstrip in the south of Russia. The local authorities reported no survivors and the Emirates-based airline’s CEO also announced that all on-board had been killed. The governor of Rostov-on-Don says bad weather lead to the disaster
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Brazil's former president has been sworn in as President Dilma Rousseff's chief of staff, as wiretaps are released scandalising the country
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CCTV footage appears to show what is believed to be the Russian Boeing 737-800 crashing while landing in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don
Flight data from the Boeing passenger jet that crashed on landing in Russia, shows the plane making a number landing attempts before it crashed, killing at least 62 people on board
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Huffington Post |
Weekend Roundup: Putin's Drawdown Is as Much About World Order as About Syria
Huffington Post Russian President Vladimir Putin's surprise announcement this week of a withdrawal of some forces from Syria has put an end to the narrative that Russia was bound to be trapped in a Mideast quagmire. Whether in Ukraine or in Syria, it has become clear ... Syrian Troops Push Toward Palmyra, With Russian SupportNew York Times The Latest: UN envoy says Syria talks to continue MondayAlbany Democrat Herald Russian air strikes in Syria this week after all: US militaryGlobalPost Salt Lake Tribune -Reuters -Chicago Tribune -Business Standard all 419 news articles » |
Supreme Court Justice in Brazil Blocks Post for Ex-President
New York Times RIO DE JANEIRO — A Supreme Court judge suspended former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's nomination to a Cabinet post amid corruption investigations, a decision likely to stoke tensions in a country already rocked by dueling pro- and ... and more » |
Putin visits Crimea to mark 2 years since annexation
The Manila Times MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea on Friday as Russia marked two years since annexing the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in a move that dramatically damaged its ties with the West. The Kremlin strongman stopped over on the island of ... and more » |
Plane Crashes in Southern Russia; 62 Deadby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
An airliner flying from Dubai has crashed while trying to land in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all 62 people on board. Officials say the Boeing 737 aircraft was flydubai flight FZ981. Fifty-five passengers and seven crew members were aboard the flight. Russia's Investigative Committee says its theories are that human error, bad weather, or technical failure contributed to the crash. Russia's RIA Novosti news agency is reporting that emergency workers have...
CNN |
Airliner crashes in Russia; 55 aboard reported dead
CNN (CNN) A Boeing 738 passenger jet crashed as it was landing at the Rostov-on-Don airport in southern Russia, the country's Southern Regional Emergency Center said Saturday. All people on board have died, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing ... Passenger Plane Crashes While Landing in RussiaNBCNews.com Reports: Plane carrying more than 50 passengers crashes in RussiaUSA TODAY Plane carrying dozens bursts into flames as it crashes near Russian airportMashable WTVM- New York Daily News -UPI.com-International Business Times all 76 news articles » |
A passenger jet has crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don killing all 62 people on board, officials say.
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WASHINGTON -- On March 18, RFE/RL's Moscow bureau administrator was approached at her home by two unknown men identifying themselves as journalists with Russia's NTV channel and seeking personal information. The men, one of whom had a video camera and sought to film the premises, questioned her repeatedly about her income and properties they said she owned in and around Moscow. One of the men said he had received such information from former employees of the Russian Service. The administrator refused to answer the questions. Nenad Pejic, RFE/RL editor in chief, called the incident "a disgusting example of intimidation," and said that "authorities in Russia appear to be preparing a case against us because of our journalism." NTV is a Kremlin-controlled channel known for conducting defamation campaigns against independent journalists, opposition journalists, and civil-society activists in Russia. The incident comes one week after an edition of the popular television program News Of The Week With Dmitry Kiselyov, the Kremlin's lead propagandist, portrayed RFE/RL journalists as spies conspiring against Russia. During the show, Kiselyovannounced that a documentary about U.S. international broadcasting would be forthcoming. RFE/RL's Russian Service, known locally as Radio Svoboda, operates out of a Moscow bureau and RFE/RL's headquarters in Prague. In 2015, Radio Svoboda was the second most-cited radio station in Russian social media, according to the Medialogia agency, right behind Ekho Moskvy. Last year, 430 million people visited RFE/RL websites, where they viewed nearly 1 billion pages of original RFE/RL content. Within that audience, RFE/RL's Russian-language sites provided 266 million pages of content to almost 170 million visitors. RFE/RL Russian-language Facebook pages registered almost 23 million engaged users last year. About RFE/RL and its Russian Service RFE/RL is a private, independent international news organization whose programs -- radio, Internet, television, and mobile -- reach influential audiences in 23 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the republics of Central Asia and the Caucasus. It is funded by the U.S. Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Radio Svoboda is a multiplatform alternative to state-run media, providing audiences in and around the Russian Federation with timely and balanced news, analysis, and opinion.
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Russia has withdrawn most of its strike aircraft from Syria and has not carried out air strikes in the north of the country this week, the U.S. military said on March 18.
Dubai Airliner Crashes In Southern Russia, 62 Deadby support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL)
A passenger airliner from Dubai has crashed and burned while trying to land at the airport in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing more than 60 people.
A group of independent regional media companies in Russia has issued an appeal to the Press Council of Russia asking it to condemn a recent attack story broadcast on the national NTV television channel accusing them of being "indebted" to the U.S. State Department.
Emergency workers searched through the remains of a passenger plane that crashed while trying to land in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don early on March 19. All 62 people on board the plane were killed in the crash. Grieving relatives were gathered at the airport near the crash site. (Reuters)
Some inside the administration and among national security experts have questioned whether the focus should be more on the Taliban than the Islamic State.
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HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba honored Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro with its highest state honor on Friday in an act of defiance two days before U.S. President Barack Obama is due for a historic visit to Havana.
(Reuters) - A cruise ship off the Florida coast on Friday rescued 18 Cuban migrants who said nine fellow travelers died during their 22-day-long journey, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
(Reuters) - A Boeing 738 passenger jet crashed as it was landing at the Rostov-on-Don airport in southern Russia, CNN reported on Saturday, citing Russia's Southern Regional Emergency Center.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it hoped the visit of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to Moscow on March 23-24 would contribute to normalization of bilateral relations.
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's Emergencies Ministry says a passenger airliner from Dubai has crashed while trying to land at the airport in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A drone came within 200 feet of hitting a Lufthansa jet near Los Angeles International Airport on Friday - the latest run-in between aircraft and the increasingly popular unmanned flyers....
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Merrick Garland, National Security Lawyer by Benjamin Wittes
Judge Merrick Garland has some experience with what he is about to go through: being stonewalled by senators who profess to have nothing against him. Back in 1995, when he was nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Senator Charles Grassley—now the Judiciary Committee’s Chairman—blocked his nomination for more than a year, all the while claiming he had no problem with Garland himself.
It was this episode that first got me interested in—and appalled by—the judicial nomination process, a subject about which I have since written extensively. I wrote a great many editorials on judicial confirmations for the Washington Post and even wrote a short book on the subject in 2006,Confirmation Wars: Preserving Independent Courts in Angry Times.
I will not pretend to be unbiased on the subject of Merrick Garland. He is quite simply one of the very finest judges in the United States. I have urged his nomination at various times in the past—and indeed did so the afternoon that Justice Scalia died:
He is also a personal friend whom I’ve known for two decades.
In the coming days, you’re going to hear a lot of efforts to make Garland sound controversial. Don’t believe a word of it. No judge on any appellate court has greater regard from his colleagues appointed by the other party. You don’t need to believe me on this point. Consider this exchangebetween now Chief Justice John Roberts and Chuck Grassley—yes, the same Chuck Grassley who previously held Garland’s nomination hostage—in Robert’s confirmation hearing. In the exchange, Grassley questions Roberts about a False Claims Act case in which Garland had dissented from a majority Roberts joined. Roberts replied, “Any time Judge Garland disagrees, you know you’re in a difficult area.” Roberts then continued, “The view that you've articulated was certainly presented in a compelling way by Judge Garland,” and noted that “the function of his dissent, to make us focus on what we were deciding and to make sure that we felt we were doing the right thing, I think was well-served.” This is how judges spell R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
For present purposes, I want to highlight a feature of Garland’s career that will probably receive little attention in the mainstream press but is of abiding interest to readers of this site: he has extensive national security experience.
Last week, Lawfare hosted an interesting exchange between Lt. Col. Shane Reeves and Lt. Col. Winston Williams on one hand and Adam Klein on the other about whether the next Supreme Court justice should have expertise in national security law. Reeves and Williams wrote, “The Administration should nominate someone with a strong foundation in national security law to the current vacancy.” Klein responded, “it is more important that the nominee be a great jurist than a great national-security lawyer.”
Garland threads this needle elegantly: he is both a great jurist and has extensive and diverse national security experience. His experience in the national security space dates at least—and it may go back further—to the mid-1990s, when he ran the Justice Department’s Oklahoma City bombing investigation. This was by far the biggest terrorism investigation in U.S. history up to that point. At the time, Garland was the principal associate deputy attorney general, a position with a long, unwieldy title that masks its importance within the Justice Department. Garland was, in fact, the top aide to then deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick. And this was a time of ferment in the relationship between law enforcement and the intelligence agencies, largely because of terrorism. Gorelick was attempting a certain degree of integration between spies and cops, the Justice Department faced major espionage cases, and it sought and received expanded surveillance authorities under FISA.
Nor is Garland’s national security experience limited to the 1990s. The post-9/11 world has given all D.C. Circuit judges a certain expertise in national security law. The court has been central to the development of the law of detention. It has heard major jurisdictional questions about Guantanamo. And it has heard major challenges in military commissions cases.
There are actually very few people who have a more diverse combination of judicial and executive branch experience in the national security space than does Garland.
This is not his leading qualification for the job of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. But it is a feature of his resume, one that makes him qualitatively different both from other nominees available to President Obama and nominees Obama has advanced in the past. (To be sure, Justice Elena Kagan handled national security matters as Solicitor General.)
A couple of weeks ago, appellate lawyer Miguel Estrada and I wrote a piece in the Washington Postarguing that:
“The only rule that governs the confirmation process is the law of the jungle: There are no rules.”....“Today, there is no principle and no norm in the judicial nominations process that either side would not violate itself and simultaneously demand the other side observe as a matter of decency and inter-branch comity.”
I stand by this. That said, I think it would be profoundly stupid and self-destructive for Republicans to prevent Merrick Garland from getting a vote. As Miguel and I wrote, these fights are ultimately about power and nothing more elevated than that. So Republicans planning to block this nomination should ask themselves a simple power question: Will it play well or badly for us to block one of America’s finest jurists in order to hold the seat open for Donald Trump to fill?
My hint for Republicans: Back down now or this is going to end extremely badly for you.
The president has done very well today, both politically and in service to the country.
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Syria and the Kurdish Question Revisited by Ammar Abdulhamid
While Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sudden decision to withdraw troops from Syria caught many by surprise, it was not the only dramatic development in Syria this week. Syria’s Kurds had a surprise of their own, or to be more specific, it was the Syrian branch of the PKK—known as the Kurdish Democratic Union Party or the PYD—the entity in control of the different Kurdish-majority cantons in northern Syria. It is with the military arm of this entity, namely the Kurdish Defense Units, or YPGs, that the United States is currently cooperating in their ongoing showdown with the Islamic State enclaves in territories in northern Syria.
Under the PYD’s surprise move, the party intends to follow a federal system for governing the three Kurdish-majority cantons under its control, which they have now declared as autonomous entities. But neither the regime nor the mainstream Syrian opposition are on board with such an arrangement, which is already causing problems in the ongoing peace talks in Geneva in which the PYD is not represented.
But what is the PYD up to at this stage? Where does it stand in the ongoing conflict between the regime and mainstream rebel group? And what do other Kurdish parties have to say?
The answer is complicated, as the Kurds have not been united in their stands on any of the relevant issues: starting with the anti-regime revolution and including the issue of federal arrangements.
Indeed, the Kurds of Syria belong to a myriad of political parties and political organizations, but the PYD has always been the most organized and has had the greatest public support on the ground, especially among the youth. The PYD’s relations with the Assad regime have always been complicated. After all, their parent entity, the PKK, would not have existed had it not been for the Assad regime support throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s. That said, its founder, Abdallah Ocalan, would not be languishing in Turkish prisons today had Hafiz Al-Assad not chosen to deport him from the country to ease growing tensions with the Turks in the summer of 1998, and in the process staving off a possible military confrontation that he had no way of surviving. Moreover, despite its support for the PKK, the Assad regime never recognized Kurdish rights, and adopted instead a series of oppressive tactics vis-à-vis Syria’s Kurdish population, including denying linguistic rights, and depriving many of their citizenships.
Still, when the Revolution took place, the two sides were on friendly terms, resulting in the PYD’s decision to remain above the revolutionary fray remaining neutral and encouraging neutrality among other Kurds. Eventually, in early 2013, the PYD and YPGs took direct control of majority-Kurdish cantons in the country and prevented Kurds from siding with the revolutionaries. The dismissive attitude of the mainstream opposition groups towards the Kurds and their main demands—especially the idea of adopting a federal system for the country or of at least granting Kurds autonomy—created more sympathy among Kurds for the PYD’s political position.
The rise of the Islamic State in the northern parts of the country, however, and the long-suspected manipulation of some of its cells by Turkish intelligence, eventually led to several attacks by IS against Kurdish towns and villages, and to direct clashes with YPGs and some of their Christian and Arab allies. This played a major role in the recent decision made by the PYD leadership to cooperate with the Russians and the Assad regime when it came to wresting control of certain areas in north Aleppo held by rebels. At the same time, the PYD emerged as the leading force cooperating with the Americans in their fight against IS in the Hassakeh and Raqqah provinces.
There is a growing popular support of the PYD, despite continued criticism by other Kurdish parties of the PYD’s authoritarian tactics and the PYD’s decision to deny them fair representation in its system of governance, even as it allows participation by the Assyrians, the Chaldeans and other Christian communities as well as some Arab tribes living in the region under its control. The support is due to the PYD’s ability to protect the region from IS and to drive it away from certain towns. The Kurds—despite the fact that there are still Kurdish divisions fighting with rebels and Kurdish parties affiliated with mainstream opposition groups—are increasingly coming to terms with the idea that Syria as a country is irrevocably broken, and that they need to find a solution that best works for them.
This may not be a popular attitude among Sunni Arabs, as represented by mainstream opposition groups, both political and military. The regime will continue to oppose it in its discourse, while it might ultimately benefit from a federal arrangement, because there are those within the regime, especially Bashar Al-Assad himself, operating under the delusion that they can somehow regain control over the entire country. Still, the development does reflect the reality on the ground.
Considering the Kurds alienation from both the regime and the opposition, and considering that the major threat posed to them at this stage comes from IS and other Islamist groups who continue to disdain the Kurds on account of their pronounced secular tendencies, it is unsurprising that the Kurds are becoming less interested in the fate of Syria as a whole and far more interested in their own fate.
If the PYD is more focused on fighting IS at this stage while avoiding conflict with the few regime units still existing on its territories, this reflects existing realities rather than any serious pro-regime attitude; IS has long declared war against the Kurds in Syria and Iraq, rebel groups have not sided with PYD, and regime troops in Kurdish-majority areas continue to keep a low profile there and have in practice accepted the de facto hegemony of PYD. Moreover, no interruption has been reported in the regime’s financial support of these territories.
However problematic, especially in coinciding with the peace talks in Geneva, there is nothing surprising or irrational about the PYD declaration. Following IS declaration of the Caliphate, this move marks the second concrete step towards the dissolution of Syria.
The most problematic aspect of this turn of events, however, is that the PYD declaration seems to include areas that have not traditionally fallen under Kurdish control, at least not in modern times. For example, it includes the town of Shaddadi in the Hasskeh province, recently wrested from IS with U.S. support and the town of Tel Rifaat in Aleppo Province seized from U.S.-backed rebels under Russian air cover.
Indeed, the PYD seems intent on taking control of all territories it might “liberate” at this stage. While the decision could be justified on the need for providing for effective governance structures in these places to prevent their lapse in chaos, some PYD sympathizers are already invoking history to justify the move by claiming that these places were historically Kurdish, denoting the underlying ideological vision.
These are dangerous precedents indeed and tend to put the U.S. in a difficult position as it could be seen as party to an ethnic cleansing campaign targeting Arabs. Despite the rush by the State Department to assert that it would not recognize the PYD move, so long as the U.S. continues to rely on PYD troops in the fight against IS, and so long as its leaders continue to adhere to this new policy, it will be hard for the administration to distance itself from the trend.
As things stand now, the Obama administration, due to its policies in Syria and the region, will be seen as having sided with the Shia against Sunnis and with Kurds against Arabs, and as having instigated the very breakup of Syria. Indeed, it was none other than John Kerry himself who let the cat out of the bag when he raised the possibility of partition and federal arrangement as part of some hypothesized Plan B for Syria. With Russia now pulling out of Syria, the U.S. may find itself blamed for any partition of the country, soft or hard, and even if such partition took the form of a federation. In time—and as Putin himself has hinted—Russian forces can be redeployed to Syria in a matter of hours to take advantage of the fait accompli that Putin himself had created, with the help of pro-Iranian Shiite militias, but for which the United States will be principally blamed.
Oh the tangled web we weave.
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Today's Headlines and Commentary by Alex R. McQuade
Salah Abdeslam, the most wanted fugitive behind the Islamic State’s terrorist attacks in Paris last November, was arrested today after a shootout with police in Brussels. Media reports indicate that Abdeslam was wounded during the shootout with Belgian security forces in Brussels’ Molenbeek area. Earlier this week, Abdeslam’s fingerprints were found in a Brussels apartment raided by Belgian police forces, aiding Belgium and France’s efforts to zero in on the fugitive. Watch the live feed from the operation in Brussels here.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called his country’s military operations in Syria a success. The New York Times writes that Russia’s declaration of success is premised on its upper hand on the battlefield returned to the Syrian government and the fact that President Bashar al Assad is ready to make compromises necessary for a peaceful solution. During President Putin’s remarks—his first extensive comments on the conflict since he ordered Russian forces to withdraw from Syria earlier this week—he indicated that Russian troops would remain engaged in what he called “the fight against terrorism” and that Russia could return to the region if needed. In fact, Russian troops allegedly can re-deploy to Syria within hours. The Wall Street Journal quotes President Putin saying, “If it is needed, Russia is capable of boosting its numbers of its presence in Syria literally in a few hours, depending on the situation, and use the full power of our capabilities.” Furthermore, theJournal tells us that Russia plans to continue providing military aid and intelligence to the Syrian government.
As talks aimed at ending the five year civil war in Syria continue in Geneva, the Economist analyzes the chances that the peace talks will succeed. The Economist tells us that the “overarching question is whether Syria can be put back together under some federal structure that allows the regime or its successor to hold on to an Alawite enclave that runs along to coast from Latakia down to Damascus; gives the Kurds the territory they call Rojava; and leaves the rest of the country to Syria’s Sunnis.” Read the rest from the Economist here.
The New York Times shares that Hassan Aboud, a feared Islamic State commander who led the jihadist group’s ranks in a series of battles in Syria, died on Wednesday. Aboud succumbed to wounds sustained during a battle near Aleppo two weeks ago, according to a former aid and one of Aboud’s townspeople. The Times writes that “Mr. Aboud was admired by jihadists but despised by many Syrian rebels and activists, who accused him of betrayal and of organizing an assassination campaign against rebel leaders with whom he had collaborated before publicly defecting to the Islamic State in 2014.”
The American Islamic State fighter who surrendered to Kurdish forces earlier this week has announced that he made “a bad decision” by joining the terrorist group. The Washington Post tells usthat Mohamad Khweis, a 26 year old from Virginia, said that “his life under the Islamic State in Mosul was a ‘very strict’ regimen of prayer, eating, and eight hours of daily instruction in religion and sharia law, and he soon came to realize, ‘I didn’t really support their ideology.’” Khweis made his remarks during a “heavily edited” interview with Kurdistan 24. Check it out here.
Today, European Union leaders struck an agreement with Turkey regarding the illegal migration flows to Europe. Reuters reports that E.U. leaders approved the “controversial deal” with Turkey to halt the refugees illegally entering Europe in return for financial and political rewards. Reuters adds that “the accord aims to close the main route over which a million migrants and refugees poured across the Aegean Sea to Greece before marching north to Germany and Sweden in the last year.” However, doubts remain on whether this deal is workable and even legal. Additionally, the BBC shares that “under the scheme, migrants arriving in Greece after midnight Sunday will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum claim is rejected.”
A bomb planted by Kurdish militants killed a police officer in southeast Turkey today and another explosive device was defused outside of a government building. Reuters indicates that Turkey has been on high alert ever since a suicide bombing killed 37 people in Ankara over the weekend. According to Turkish security officials, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is believed to be behind the bomb attack. The defused explosive device was found inside of a vehicle in the town of Hani. State authorities believe that the 330 pounds of explosives were set to detonate during events to mark an anniversary of a World War I battlefield victory. Reuters shares that the heightened alerts have caused Germany to shut down its diplomatic missions and schools in Turkey while the United States and European embassies warned citizens to be vigilant.
Over in France, French lawmakers and first responders have re-enacted the November 13 terrorist attacks that rocked the streets of Paris leaving 130 people dead. The Associated Press reports that the re-enactment and investigation is aimed to prevent future tragedies and shed light on what happened when the terrorists began their siege.
Saudi Arabia announced that its military coalition will scale back operations against rebels in Yemen. However, a Saudi military spokesman indicated that the coalition would continue to provide air support to Yemeni forces. The news comes as two representatives of Yemen’s Houthi rebels attended a secret peace talk in Saudi Arabia which resulted in “a reduction of tensions on the border and an exchange of prisoners,” as Al Jazeera reports.
Reuters shares that Iran will likely evade any new sanctions by the United Nations. However, the U.N. Security Council may issue a reprimand for Iran’s recent ballistic missile tests that some Western countries believe were missiles that could carry a nuclear warhead. Diplomats from Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia, and the United States have agreed that Iran’s recent ballistic missiles tests do not violate any provisions in last summer’s nuclear accord. Yet, as Reuters tells us, a Security Council resolution “calls upon” Iran to stop activity including missile launches for up to eight years.
The United States has noticed an increase in Chinese activity around an island near the Philippines, possibly indicating China’s intentions to reclaim more territory in the South China Sea. Reuters reports that China seized the island nearly four years ago from the Philippines. Additionally, Admiral John Richardson, head of U.S. naval operations, expressed his concern that “an international court ruling expected in the coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could be a trigger for Beijing to declare an exclusion zone in the busy trade route.” Richardson told Reuters that the United States is weighing responses to such a move.
The Wall Street Journal sheds light on increasing concerns over China’s plan to recycle nuclear fuel.U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, in Beijing for talks, said yesterday that “China’s plans to build a nuclear-recycling facility present challenges to global efforts to control the spread of potentially dangerous materials.” China plans to process spent nuclear fuel into plutonium that potentially could be used in weapons and only heightens the risk of nuclear proliferation. The Journal has more.
Speaking of increased concerns, North Korea fired another ballistic missile today. Reuters reportsthat the missile “appeared to be a medium-range missile fired from a road-mobile launcher.” If true, it would be North Korea’s first test of a missile capable of reaching Japan since 2014. The Wall Street Journal shares that “the missile was launched from an area northwest of Pyongyang at 5:55am local time and flew about 500 miles before crashing off the Korean Peninsula’s eastern coast.” Additionally, North Korea might have launched another missile as well. The New York Times tells us that shortly after the initial launch, another projectile appeared on radar and was believed to have been fired from the same site. The projectile is thought to have been another missile, but analysts said that they still need more time to be sure. The moves by the Hermit Kingdom come after the United States imposed a new list of heavy sanctions against the country and after Kim Jong Un threatened that North Korea could level New York City with a nuclear warhead.
Cameroon soldiers killed 20 Boko Haram militants on Wednesday during a raid in northern Nigeria. According to a spokesman from Cameroon’s Defense Ministry, 12 hostages were freed and munitions and armored vehicles were seized during the operation.
In the latest developments in the feud between Apple and the FBI, the New York Times tells us that, if the FBI wins its court fight to force Apple to help unlock an iPhone, some Apple engineers might “balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have already created.” The Times has more on the possible resistance.
Over on the Hill, the Senate Intelligence Committee leaders will soon release a draft of the long awaited bill which would provide law enforcement access to encrypted data. The Hill writes that the bill “is expected to force companies to comply with court orders seeking locked communications” and is “intended to prevent terrorist and criminals from using encryption to hide their communications from law enforcement.”
The National Security is not interested in you. Yesterday, the NSA’s internal civil liberties watchdog insisted that the secret agency has no interest in spying on Americans. Rebecca Richards, a NSA privacy and civil liberties officer, stated that “our employees are trained to not look for U.S. persons. We’re not interested in those U.S. persons. We’re trying to look away from those.” The Hill has more.
The Hill also reports that the Department of Homeland Security has begun sharing cyber threat data with federal agencies and private companies in accordance with a cybersecurity bill passed last year. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson called the new measure the “if you see something, say something” of cybersecurity during his remarks yesterday at the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.
A former German intelligence employee admitted that he started spying for the United States and Russia “because he felt under appreciated and not sufficiently challenged in his job.” The Guardiantells us that triple agent Markus Reichel was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday for “passing more than 200 secret documents to the CIA, as well as trying to hand over three documents to Russian intelligence.” Reichel allegedly felt as though no one trusted him with anything during his time at the German intelligence agency. He did not feel that way while working with the CIA though and said that “I would be lying if I said that I didn’t like that.”
The FBI announced that Faisal Mohammad, 18, likely self radicalized and drew inspiration from terrorist propaganda before stabbing four students at the University of California last year. NBC Newsreports that investigators found pro-ISIS propaganda on his laptop and evidence that the teenager visited extremist websites in the weeks leading up to his attack. Allegedly, Mohammad appeared to have been upset by “a study group snub” before he carried out the attack.
Mufid Elfgeeh, a New York state resident, was sentenced to 22 ½ years in prison for trying to recruit fighters to join the Islamic State. Reuters tells us that the sentence is the longest prison term handed to an American citizen convicted of supporting the Islamic State.
Air Force Lieutenant General John Hesterman has been fired from his top job at the Pentagon after an investigation revealed an “unprofessional relationship” with a female Lieutenant Colonel. Hesterman was removed from his post as the Air Force Assistant Vice-Chief of Staff and shortly submitted his retirement papers. ABC News has more.
In other news, President Obama plans to nominate the first female combatant commander. The president will nominate Air Force General Lori Robinson for commander of U.S. North Command. General Robinson is currently the head of Pacific Air Forces. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter described Robinson as having “very good managerial experience” and that he has “seen her when she basically did the budget for the Joint Chiefs in years past.”
Over on Capitol Hill, some U.S. Senators are introducing a bill to improve Washington’s efforts to counter propaganda and disinformation spread by China and Russia. The Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016 comes “amid growing calls in Congress and in many European capitals to do more to fight foreign disinformation campaigns,” as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.
Parting Shot: Still wondering what should become of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay once it is closed? Two professors have put forth a plan to transform the prison into a ocean research lab and “peace park.” Bet you weren’t thinking of that. Read more on GTMO’s potential green futurehere and here.
ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare
Julian Ku asked whether we could get past the freedom of navigation operation debate.
Jack Goldsmith flagged the danger to Scalia’s legacy with the Republican’s Garland strategy.
Asher Susser highlighted the view from Israel on the civil war in Syria.
Stewart Baker released the latest edition of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast featuring an interview with Robin Weisman and Peter Van Valkenburgh.
Timothy Edgar argued that the Apple vs. FBI debate shows that lawyers and the tech world speak different languages on privacy.
Paul Rosenzweig commented on international cyber norms and featured a new book entitledInternational Cyber Norms: Legal, Policy, and Industry Perspectives.
Paul also told us that if we are planning to travel to Europe this summer, our trip may be harder than we thought.
Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us onTwitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.
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