Week in Review: Russia’s War in Syria, Violence in Jerusalem, the Pope’s U.S. Visit and More

Andrew Burton/SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP/AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Week in Review: Russia’s War in Syria, Violence in Jerusalem, the Pope’s U.S. Visit and More

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

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Top Stories:

Russian intervention in Syria

  • Russia’s “troubling escalation” in Syria is agitating nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He condemned the Russians’ use of “some of their most modern weapons” near nato’s borders.
  • Similarly concerned, United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter described a trend of unpredictable military action by Russia.
  • American-led coalition planes fighting Islamic State jihadists had to reroute at least once to avoid close encounters with Russian aircraft.
  • Only 10 percent of Russian airstrikes so far have targeted the Islamic State.
  • China joins Russia in Syria

  • debkafile notes that Beijing’s “J-15 warplanes will take off from the Chinese Liaoning-CV-16 aircraft carrier, which reached Syrian shores on September 26.”
  • ValueWalk believes China is bolstering Russia in part because China foresees a crisis in which it would need Russia to return the favor. This development, the news source writes, could be a prelude to World War iii.
  • “[T]here are indications of the emergence of the world’s new superpower axis between China, Russia and Pakistan,” wrote ValueWalk in August.
  • Third intifada in Israel?

  • “Stabbing attacks are multiplying, PA security forces are shrinking away in the West Bank, the idf is getting more deeply involved, and more Palestinians are joining the clashes,” quips the Times of Israel.
  • Weapons include basic household items such as kitchen knives, screwdrivers and even vegetable peelers.
  • These attacks are a type of suicide attacks because the assailants know they are likely to die in the attempt, writes the Times.
  • Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in Jerusalem in Prophecy: “Looking at the ongoing violence in Jerusalem today—the absolute inability of the involved parties to solve things by peaceful means—we can easily see how one half of Jerusalem shall be taken captive in the very near future. The present violence is an embryo that is about to grow into much greater violence. That is the critical event prophesied in Zechariah 14:2. We will see this prophecy in Zechariah 14:1-2 fulfilled very soon. And while it will involve some sickening atrocities and bloodshed, it is directly connected to the greatest news this world has ever heard!”
  • Merkel’s waning support over immigration

  • “When [German Chancellor Angela Merkel] welcomed the unprecedented flow of refugees this summer, [leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, Horst Seehofer,] immediately condemned this as ‘a mistake’ suggesting she could lose control of the inflow,” notes the Financial Times.
  • Now, Merkel’s popularity is waning in opinion polls, and Seehofer’s acclaim is waxing.
  • “Merkel has leaned a long way out of the window and [Seehofer] is trying to pull her back to safety,” observed one pundit.
  • U.S. media’s fascination with Pope Francis

  • “In the week immediately after Pope Francis’s visit to the United States, 28 percent of American adults report a more positive view of the church, with just 6 percent saying they had more negative views,” writes Time.com, citing a recent Pew Research Center survey.
  • Why was the U.S. media (and public) so captivated by Pope Francis’s recent visit to the United States?
  • Other news:

  • Japan’s controversial prime minister, Shinzo Abe, adopted a new slogan for his economic and population policy: “Society in which all 100 million people can be active.” Historians drew similarities between the slogan and Imperial Japan’s wartime rhetoric, which called on all “100 million” civilians to prepare to die for the nation.
  • The number of sanctuary cities in the U.S. has grown to more than 340, according to a report released on Thursday by the Center of Immigration Studies.
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