Headlines November 4, 2015

Headlines

• AKP Wins Revote

• US Troops to Enter Syria

• 'Migrants not welcome'

Details

AKP Wins Revote

After Turkey's June general election ended in a split parliament and no majority, a second vote was held on 1st November, and in a surprise result the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) managed to win 49.4% of the popular vote, sufficient for a majority in the Turkish assembly and without a coalition. The preliminary count in the 550-seat parliament is AKP with 316, the Republican People's Party (CHP) with 134, the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) with 59, and the Nationalist Movement (MHP), the overtly anti-Kurdish party, with just 41. Erdogan and his AKP have played a central role in US plans in the region and beyond. Whether it's Syria, Palestine or Iraq. Recep Tayyip Erdogan will now be able to continue in his role of implementing and consolidating US plans.

US Troops to Enter Syrian Conflict

As Russia's invasion of Syria stalls in Syria, a sig¬nif¬i¬cant devel¬op¬ment took place in Wash¬ing¬ton. US Sec¬re¬tary of Defence con¬firmed in a Sen¬ate hear¬ing on Octo¬ber 27th that the US will begin "direct action on the ground" against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria. "We won't hold back from sup¬port¬ing capa¬ble part¬ners in oppor¬tunis¬tic attacks against ISIL, or con¬duct¬ing such mis¬sions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground. This is com¬bat and things are com¬pli¬cated," said Sen¬a¬tor Ash¬ton. After con¬stantly reit¬er¬at¬ing the US would not put ground troops in Syria, the US Sec¬re¬tary of Defence in par-al¬lel with Russia's stalling in the face of the rebels in Syria now plans to put ground troops in Syria. This initial announcement will see Special Operation forces enter Syria, and will see them direct reginal forces in Syria. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes went further on 3 November during a speech at the Defense One Summit in which he insisted that the US troops will be going out on raids, during which they'll engage in combat. This major escalation is confirmation that that the US strategy has been failing.

'Migrants not welcome'

With refugees still steaming into Europe, like many countries Sweden set up refugee centers to cater for the new arrivals, who travelled from afar and managed to avoid to devastating wars taking place. But Sweden has now seen 9 refugee centers burnt to the ground. The arson attacks appear to be a statement against the huge number of refugees the country has allowed entrance. The multiple arsons have all been at facilities which house or are slated to house immigrants. Sweden's migration authorities have now moved to hide the locations of buildings earmarked for housing refugees, after the attacks. The populist Sweden Democrat party has been harshly criticised last week for publishing a map listing the addresses of all asylum centres in and around the city of Lund. "I find it hard to see that this is anything other than an incitement to commit hate crimes," Veronica Palm, a Social Democrat MP, told Expressen Newspaper.