Globe Trot: Is Russia spying on U.S.-Cuba talks?

CUBA: CNN and Cuban media are reporting the arrival of the U.S. delegation—the first American diplomats on Cuban soil in 30 years—for two days of talks aimed at normalizing relations. They touched ground hours after a Russian spy ship showed up, unannounced. CNN’s Peter Oppman reports the listening ship is docked where cruise ships normally pull up, about 100 yards from the site of scheduled U.S.-Cuba talks.

This is a big day not only for Cubans but all Latin America, as evidenced by this front page from Colombia.

TURKEY: An anonymous source and Turkish politicians say they believe the government is posturing for upcoming elections when it promised Jan. 2 to allow construction of a new church in Istanbul, the first since 1923.

YEMEN: It’s no surprise the president said nothing about al-Qaeda last night in his State of the Union address. His “smart” approach to counterterrorism, most adeptly modeled in Yemen, isn’t working. Al-Qaeda-linked rebels this week have essentially staged a successful coup there, and today are holding captive the pro-American president.

NIGER’s Christian community “is shattered,” following the burning of as many as 70 churches in response to riots over the latest issue of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which featured a cartoon of Mohammed on its cover.

AMERICA has become “dangerously risk averse,” writes Garry Kasparov, and I’m inclined to believe a former chess Grandmaster:

That we must sacrifice something, even our lives, for the values that make our society worth protecting has been forgotten by many. The idea of individual liberty was the West’s sharpest sword in winning the Cold War, but it has been beaten into a plowshare and now we must arm ourselves once more.

To have Globe Trot delivered to your email inbox, email Mindy at mbelz@wng.org.