NATO's chief says the Alliance faces 'conflict, instability, and insecurity'
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance. They met on 5 October for consultations on the potential implications of the dangerous military actions of the Russian Federation in and around Syria. On 8 October NATO defence ministers gave further considerations to the implications for NATO's own security of the ‘troubling escalation of Russian military activities’ in Syria. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, said NATO is ready to deploy forces, if needed, to defend alliance member Turkey. ‘NATO is able and ready to defend all allies, including Turkey, against any threat,’ the secretary-general said on Thursday. He said NATO had already increased its capacity, ability and preparedness to deploy forces, including to the south, including in Turkey, if needed.
Syria: Russia fires cruise missiles at terrorists in Syria
Warships in the Caspian Sea launched cruise missiles in the first use of the Russian navy since the start of a military build-up in support of al-Assad. Sergei Shoigu, Russia's Defence Minister, said on Thursday that the navy hit 11 targets in Syria with missiles fired from ships in the Caspian Sea. Four ships in Russia's Caspian fleet fired a total of 26 cruise missiles at the targets. They flew 1,500km over Iran and Iraq and struck Raqqa and Aleppo provinces in Syria's north and Idlib province in the northwest. IS has strongholds in Raqqa and Aleppo, while al-Nusra Front has a strong presence in Idlib. Ashton Carter, the Pentagon chief, said the Russian strategy is a ‘fundamental mistake’ and coalition forces operating in the region will not co-operate with Russia. Putin stressed the need for co-operation with the US-led coalition fighting IS, saying that without co-operation from the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia the intervention was unlikely to work.
Israel: Upsurge of attacks against Jews
On Monday, two Palestinian youths were killed during clashes in the West Bank. One of them was thirteen and had been shot by mistake. Two days earlier, a Palestinian stabbed two Israelis to death in Jerusalem. Another stabbed and wounded an Israeli teenager. Police killed both attackers. On Tuesday a Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli man in the back in Jerusalem’s Old City, he then drew a gun and shot her. On Wednesday an Israeli woman driving to Jerusalem was attacked by a mob of rock-throwing Palestinians. The attack occurred on a route used by thousands of Jewish and Palestinian motorists daily. The mob beat her and tried to drag her out of her car but she escaped and was taken to hospital. These incidents follow a surge in violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank as Palestinians wage a war of terror, targeting Israel Defence Force soldiers and Israeli civilians. See also http://unitedwithisrael.org/
Former President of Ireland dismisses Archbishop's views on homosexuality
Mary McAleese has refuted claims by Archbishop Charles Chaput that the Catholic Church never said homosexuals were disordered. The Archbishop accused Mrs McAleese, who has a doctorate in canon law, that she had ‘a very narrow point of view that’s trying to control something she shouldn’t try to control, that is the faith of the Catholic Church. They say that the tendency to same-sex attraction is a disorder of our sexual appetite,’ Archbishop Chaput continued. ‘A lot of people have disorders. Wearing glasses, not being able to hear well are all disorders that a person may have but it doesn’t destroy their dignity. It just means they have an issue to deal with. So I think that language is being used by politicians in order to stir up one side against the other and that’s inappropriate for politicians to do.’
