Week in Review: Iran and Russia in Syria, EU Superstate, Fed Rate Hike, and More

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Week in Review: Iran and Russia in Syria, EU Superstate, Fed Rate Hike, and More

All you need to know about everything in the news this week

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Top Stories:

Iran and Russia helping in Syria

  • The 810th Marine Brigade—the unit dispatched by the Kremlin to spearhead Russia’s slow-rolling invasion of Ukraine—is now deployed in Syria to aid President Bashar Assad’s regime.
  • The elite unit joins other active combat Russian and Iranian troops in Syria—one week after Russian President Vladimir Putin said military intervention would be “premature.”
  • “[T]he deployment is part of a wider Russian-Iranian coordinated effort to prevent what remains of the Assad regime from collapsing,” the Jerusalem Post paraphrased a senior Iranian security source.
  • EU superstate by the back door

  • The Telegraph wrote, “The euro’s founding father has warned that Europe’s latest plan for an emu-wide Finance Ministry is a dangerous attempt to smuggle through political union, and breaches the basic tenets of modern democracy.”
  • “Critics warn that the EU is once again putting the cart before the horse. They point to the same fundamental errors that have led to perma-crisis in monetary union and spawned populist revolts across much of the EU.”
  • China befriends Russia over common foe—the United States

  • On May 9, Russia marked the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Western leaders snubbed the ceremony, and Chinese President Xi Jinping was the most prominent and honored guest.
  • On September 3, China commemorated the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War ii with a grand parade at Tiananmen Square. Most Western leaders did not attend the festivities. Russian President Vladimir Putin was the chief guest of honor.
  • Prof. Artyom Lukin wrote: “[T]he new edition of Sino-Russian alignment is unlikely to rupture anytime soon. Even though Russia and China have their share of disagreements and competing interests, they have no doubts about their main adversary—the United States. As long as Washington is seen by Moscow and Beijing as trying to contain them geopolitically and subvert their domestic political regimes, the entente between Russia and China will only grow stronger, a prospect that is of increasing concern to many strategic thinkers in the United States.”
  • Analysts predict panic and turmoil should the Fed hike rates

  • The World Bank’s chief economist warned this week that the Federal Reserve would cause global panic and turmoil if it begins to raise interest rates in the next few weeks.
  • The Federal Reserve’s interest rate has been stuck at zero for the past seven years. The Federal Reserve has telegraphed that it needs to start to normalize rates or it will not have any ammunition to help fight any future crisis.
  • Other news:

    Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the U.S. must be prepared for a “large, Armageddon-scale” cyberattack that could “debilitate the entire U.S. infrastructure.” He said “Cyberthreats to U.S. national and economic security are increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication and the severity of impact.”

    The Daily Beast reported that more than 50 intelligence analysts at the U.S. military’s Central Command have formally complained that their reports on the Islamic State were being inappropriately altered by senior officials.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the EU’s resolution on Thursday to label Israeli settlement products echoes Europe’s Nazi era.

    Pope Francis is preparing for his most political trip yet.

    The Center for Immigration Studies reported that 72 percent of legal immigrants and 87 percent of illegal immigrants are on welfare.

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