News

It is not easy being Jordan today—“Struggling for calm in a region of chaos… Sandwiched in between Iraq and Syria, Jordan’s destiny seems to be one of a constant struggle for survival” (CNN, June 18, 2014). King Abdullah’s “voice of moderation” in a region of strife-torn nations is also crying out for international assistance to manage 1.3 million Syrian refugees. His pleas resulted in half a billion dollars of support from the U.S.

“In he bounded, the right side of 40, all grins and references to selfies and ancient philosophers, brash and self-confident. Yes, it was Italian PM Matteo Renzi’s first appearance in the European Parliament. Speaking without notes, he told his audience that Europe is moving at half the speed of the rest of the world, that its single-minded focus on financial spreadsheets has eviscerated its soul and that its face was tired and resigned” (EU Observer, July 2, 2014). 

Since the end of WWII, Japan’s constitution has limited its military action to self-defense. However, “Japan’s cabinet has approved a landmark change in security policy, paving the way for its military to fight overseas… a reinterpretation of the law will now allow ‘collective self-defense’—using force to defend allies under attack” (BBC, July 1, 2014). The Japanese President assured “It will be strictly a defensive measure to defend our people.

The Islamic militant group ISIS that recently took over cities in northern Iraq has “declared an Islamic ‘caliphate’ [state] in an area straddling Iraq and Syria” (The Guardian, June 30, 2014). One jihadist commented in a high tech video made to promote ISIS, “This is not the first border we will break, we will break other borders” (ibid.). “Later the fighter pledges that jihadists will free Palestine. ‘We are not here to replace an Arab cahoot with a western cahoot.