Globe Trot: Foreign policy expert on the candidates

ELECTION 2016: Philos Project hosted today an enlightening conversation with Paul Miller of The University of Texas at Austin. Miller, who served on the National Security Council in the George W. Bush administration, compared and contrasted the foreign policy stances of Hillary Clinton (“liberal internationalist”), Donald Trump (“nationalist”), and Evan McMullin (“conservative internationalist”).

On international religious liberty, Miller said he was “skeptical” Clinton would emphasize the issue, but pointed out that Clinton and McMullin have called ISIS attacks on Christian communities in Iraq “genocide,” while Trump has not.

In a summation statement, Miller noted more people in the world now live under democracy than at any time in history:

“We are living at the high point of liberalism in all of human history, and we are the beneficiaries of a world characterized by ordered liberty. But I am afraid we the American people have taken this for granted. … If we [retreat from] our role in upholding the liberal order we will see, as we see now in Syria, anarchy and the rise of great powers whose purposes will be inconsistent with the lives we want to lead and the lives we want for other people.”

IRAQ: This is what Iraqi forces continue to confront as they go building to building in Mosul: suicide bombers. And this is what they face entering liberated neighborhoods: tears, no words.

Among the reported findings, still awaiting confirmation, is the discovery of 100 beheaded bodies, civilians killed by ISIS, in the town of Hamam al-Alil, liberated on Saturday.

SYRIA: U.S.-backed militias over the weekend commenced operations to liberate Raqqa, the capital for ISIS in northern Syria.

Photo here of American forces on the ground in Syria taking part in the offensive.

NIGERIA: Another Chibok schoolgirl has been found—with a baby.

GAZA: The Christian population in Gaza has been cut in half since Hamas took over in 2007, dwindling to about 1,200 mostly Orthodox believers.

BRITAIN: Last week Member of Parliament Charles Walker put the question to Prime Minister Theresa May (see video clip below) after four-time Olympic medalist Louis Smith was handed a two-month ban for mocking Islam in a video.