Syria: The terrorists' new clothes
Also: Taiwan, China, the Pacific, Haiti, and Guyana.
The five things you need to know today:
SYRIA. On refugees and Russia, the West sees what it wants.
TAIWAN. CHINA. As cross-strait drills resume, a proposal for cooperation.
THE PACIFIC. Canberra wonders if money can buy loyalty.
HAITI. A massacre and unpaid wages leave a crisis festering.
GUYANA. The world’s newest petrostate faces fresh risks from the east.
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SYRIA. The terrorists' new clothes
On refugees and Russia, the West sees what it wants.
Bashar al-Assad’s prime minister handed power to an interim government led by Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Monday. The State Department said it would engage with HTS. Germany said it would pause humanitarian applications from Syria.
INTELLIGENCE. HTS was once part of Al-Qaeda, and its leader is ex-Islamic State. Its public rehabilitation has been as rapid as its conquest of Syrian territory. Its latest victory came via the handover of Manbij, a once Kurdish city, as part of a US-Turkey agreement (Washington backs the Kurds, ostensibly to fight the bits of IS that didn’t join HTS, in turn supported by Ankara). Yet scattered reports suggest HTS hasn’t changed, with Christians at particular risk.
FOR BUSINESS. As Washington seeks to recast HTS as an anti-Assad (hence anti-Moscow) freedom fighting force (HTS also has alleged backing from Kyiv), Europe is moving to declare Syria safe for returns. Following Turkey’s reopening of the border, Austria has joined Germany in looking to repatriate Syrian refugees. Both governments have faced an anti-migrant backlash. The change in Damascus is now being put in service of their domestic imperatives.
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TAIWAN. CHINA. Separate ways
As cross-strait drills resume, a proposal for cooperation.
Taiwan's former legislative speaker, Wang Jin-pyng, proposed “separate governance without division” in the launch of a new think tank, media said Monday. Taipei said it had detected 47 Chinese aircraft and 12 warships over the last day.
INTELLIGENCE. Wang, from the Beijing-friendly opposition Kuomintang, does not speak for Taiwan’s pro-autonomy government, but