Week in Review: Paris Attacks, Syrian Refugee Lesson, the New Al Qaeda, China’s Air Force, and More

Spencer Platt/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images

Week in Review: Paris Attacks, Syrian Refugee Lesson, the New Al Qaeda, China’s Air Force, and More

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

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Top Stories:

Paris attacks

  • After the Paris attacks, many expected France to turn to nato and the United States for help. Instead François Hollande looked to the Europe Union.
  • This is the first time the EU’s collective defense clause has ever been used.
  • This is a major milestone in the union’s development because military unity is one of the final pillars that will transform the EU into a superstate.
  • Syrian refugee lesson for liberals

  • Americans are wary of the influx of Syrian refugees, and President Barack Obama is trying to allay their concerns: “The people who are fleeing Syria are the most harmed by terrorism; they are the most vulnerable as a consequence of civil war and strife.”
  • The Wall Street Journal suggested that “maybe [President Obama] should have thought about that before he decided to do so little in Syria and let Islamic State build a vast terror sanctuary.”
  • “Mr. Obama’s foreign policy of liberal nonintervention may lead to the deaths of far more innocents than creating a Syrian safe-zone and destroying Islamic State would have,” the Journal continued. “If Mr. Obama fought Islamic State with half the vigor with which he delivers moral lectures, he’d find that a much less fearful America would welcome far more refugees.”
  • Islamic State—the new al Qaeda

  • With the Paris attacks, the Islamic State fully implemented its newest strategy: exporting terror abroad.
  • “For the first time,” wrote Spiegel Online, “the Syrian jihadists have organized attacks abroad, making the terrorist organization look more like al Qaeda.”
  • Spiegel concluded: “There’s another disturbing novelty here as well: Paris marks the first time the terrorist militia has deployed suicide bombers in Europe.”
  • Why America should fear China’s air force

  • A new report published by rand Corporation says the U.S. currently needs 15 times as many aircraft to defend Taiwan as it did back in 1996.
  • The report comes at a time of dramatic changes in Taiwanese politics and a surge in China’s air capability.
  • Analysts believe these developments make the likelihood of a Chinese invasion much higher.
  • Other news:

  • Officials from the Israeli Justice Ministry and the Strategic Affairs Ministry have consulted a number of international law firms on how the nation could file a lawsuit against the European Union for its decision to label goods from Israeli settlements.
  • Some EU nations are considering forming smaller unions of free trade and travel, something Stratfor described as “a post-Schengen, if not post-EU, Europe.”
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin has been transformed from an outcast to a problem solver in the eyes of the world’s most powerful nations. It’s a clear sign of America’s retreat from the global stage.
  • Debt levels in corporate America have risen 50 percent over the past eight years. But debt-rating agencies aren’t about to mark down the creditworthiness of America’s biggest companies—they can’t afford to downgrade their own customers.
  • A student at Columbia University claimed she’s suffering severe emotional trauma from reading too many books by and about white people.
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