World

Obama Focuses on Iraq as Fight Against ISIS Intensifies

The U.S. signaled a new phase in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) on Nov. 7, as President Obama announced he was doubling to 3,000 the number of U.S. advisers in Iraq.

The most conspicuous fighting remains in Syria, where Kurdish forces are holding their ground in Kobani, the border town to which ISIS has laid siege for two months. But Iraq is where the extremist Sunni militia made its name, rolling up victories and territory in a lightning offensive last June. And Iraq is where the Obama Administration wants to roll it back. Until now, U.S. advisers have operated from Erbil, in Iraq’s Kurdish northeast, and Baghdad, the capital that seemed close to “collapsing” in June, a senior Administration official acknowledges.

Now, however, Central Command aims to train Iraqi troops on the front lines–including in the western province of Anbar, and in Diyala, to the northeast of Baghdad.

The goal is to link U.S. airpower with the roughly half of Iraqi army units that the U.S. military considers “actually quite good,” the official says, “or at least we could work with.” No offensive is expected before spring, and air strikes average just five a day. But the White House is encouraged nonetheless. “Every time an Iraqi force has worked in concert and coordination with us, with our air cover, they’ve not only defeated [ISIS] but they’ve routed [ISIS],” says the official. Iraqi soldiers continued their run of military successes on Nov. 11, recapturing most of the town of Baiji, home to the country’s largest oil refinery.

Luck plays a role too. Iraqi officials claimed a U.S. air strike on a convoy near Mosul on Nov. 7 wounded ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in June named himself leader of the world’s Muslims. But U.S. officials would not confirm the hit, and it’s not clear how the group would be affected if the self-styled caliph were injured or dead. Battlefield reversals have so far done little to dim the group’s drawing power, with foreign fighters continuing to arrive by the day and Egypt’s most dangerous jihadist group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, pledging fealty to ISIS on Nov. 10.

The situation across the border in Syria is even more muddled. U.S.-trained rebels with the Free Syrian Army were routed in early November by rival militant groups linked to al-Qaeda. Some “moderate” fighters defected to the Islamist militants they supposedly were trained to oppose. It’s one more reason the U.S. is concentrating on Iraq, says a Western diplomat there: “At least there’s a path there. Whereas in Syria, where do you start?”

GERMANY

‘The world is on the brink of a new Cold War.’

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, former leader of the Soviet Union, speaking on Nov. 8 at a ceremony commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany. Gorbachev, 83, said the West had given in to “triumphalism” after the end of the Cold War and suggested that sanctions placed on Russian officials by the U.S. and E.U. in the wake of Crimea’s annexation should be lifted.

POLL

THIRD-WORLD PROBLEMS

The Pew Research Center asked people in 34 emerging and developing economies to identify the largest problems facing their country. Here are the top responses:

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83%

Crime

76%

Corruption

59%

Health care

56%

Poor schools

54%

Water pollution

Border Patrol

UKRAINE

A Ukrainian volunteer fighter stands guard on Nov. 11 in the village of Peski, eastern Ukraine. NATO officials accused Russia on Nov. 12 of sending troops and tanks across the Ukrainian border, fueling fears of escalating hostilities in the disputed region. Russia’s Defense Ministry denied that its troops were in Ukraine and has long rejected claims that it gives military aid to pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east.

EXPLAINER

The Surprise U.S.-China Climate Deal

U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping unexpectedly unveiled an agreement on Nov. 12 for both their countries to substantially cut carbon emissions. The ambitious deal was the result of nine months of negotiations.

Historic deal

Under the plan, announced during Obama’s visit to Beijing, the U.S. will emit at least 26% less carbon dioxide in 2025 than it did in 2005. China agreed to boost its use of renewable energy and said for the first time that it would begin reducing total emissions, starting in 2030.

Uphill battle

Obama’s proposals will likely face strong opposition from the Republican-led Congress; China would need to add up to 1,000 gigawatts of nuclear and renewable energy to meet its goal, nearly equal to the total U.S. electricity-generation capacity today.

Symbolic precedent

By showing that the world’s largest economies are committed to reducing emissions, the U.S.-China deal could galvanize support for a global pact to tackle climate change at a U.N. conference in Paris in 2015.

BRAZIL

11,197

Number of people killed by Brazilian police from 2009 to 2013, according to a São Paulo–based NGO; by comparison, 11,090 people were killed by U.S. law-enforcement officers over the past 30 years

Trending In

SPORTS

Morocco’s national soccer team was booted from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations on Nov. 11 after the country backed out of hosting the tournament over concerns about the Ebola virus. Organizers said a new host would be named within days.

CNN

MEDIA

Russia launched a new state media organization on Nov. 10, dispatching hundreds of journalists across five continents amid a growing information war with the West. The same day, CNN announced it was suspending broadcasts in Russia because of restrictive new ownership rules.

POLICING

Police in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, began handing out “positive tickets” to young people doing good deeds on Nov. 6. Children caught picking up trash or using a crosswalk are liable to be served with a coupon for a free hamburger.