| The battle against the Islamic State is heating up | Dozens of Jordanian fighter jets bombed Islamic State training centers and weapons storage sites Thursday, intensifying attacks after the militants burned a captured Jordanian pilot to death and released the video tape on the Internet.
+ As part of the new campaign, Jordan is also attacking targets in Iraq, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told the Associated Press. The AP notes that up until now, Jordan had only struck targets in Syria, but not Iraq, as part of a U.S.-led military coalition.
+ U.S. involvement may intensify soon as well: Speaker John Boehner told Reuters on Thursday that he expects President Barack Obama to seek congressional authorization soon for using military force against the Islamic State group.
+ This could mean boots on the ground: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that lawmakers "had been talking to the White House about an authorization that would last three years" and that "there had not yet been decisions about the geographic scope of an authorization or what limits would be placed on combat troops."
+ After waging two expensive decades-long wars in the Middle East, the prospect of boots on the ground is, well, exhausting. But it may be warranted: A new report from the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child details the terrible atrocities experienced by Iraqi children at the hands of the Islamic State group, including "accounts of mass executions of boys, beheadings and crucifixions." | | | The most dangerous thing about the anti-vaccination movement isn't disease — it's politicians | Vaccinations are becoming the hottest new political controversy of the week.
While Vox's Andrew Prokop notes that many politicians and commentators have resisted the urge to exploit the moment for political gain and instead frame the debate around public health, both Republicans and Democrats have weighed in on the issue of vaccinations in the U.S. since measles, which was exterminated by health officials in 2000, reared its head in December.
"This public, political jousting over vaccines is potentially more damaging than anti-vaxxers themselves," writes Mic's Tom McKay. "Support for vaccines has been bipartisan for years, but every highly visible politician that weighs in on the vaccine 'debate' risks politicizing what's objectively a public health issue — a risk that could not only make the work of epidemiologists and doctors more difficult, but risk inflaming and entrenching the anti-vaccination crowd more than any two-bit celebrity talking head or sensationalist headline ever could." | | | Western leaders are pushing for peace in Ukraine's ongoing civil war | Carrying a peace plan that reportedly incorporates proposals from Russia, the Associated Press reports that leaders of Germany and France met Thursday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in a hastily arranged mission to bring an end to the accelerated fighting in the east of the country.
+ The trip by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, who will follow by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Moscow, came as concerns rose about whether the U.S. would grant lethal aid to Ukraine and as NATO formed a quick-reaction force of 5,000 soldiers in response to Russia's increased military muscle-flexing.
+ "Despite the burst of activity, the prospects of achieving a new peace plan have been clouded by deep suspicion of Moscow’s aims in Ukraine," write Michael Gordon and David Herszenhorn in the New York Times. "At the same time, the arrest in Kiev on Wednesday of a senior officer on charges of spying for Russia has raised concerns that the Ukrainian military has been infiltrated, complicating any plans for sending arms to Kiev." | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment