Globe Trot: ISIS scrambles ahead of Iran nuclear deal

SYRIA: Qaryatain is midway between Palmyra and Damascus, a strategic town where about 230 persons were abducted by ISIS last week. They remain in captivity and grave danger, along with more than 150 Christians kidnapped from Assyrian villages in the north earlier this year. Concern now is also focused on the Christian town of Sadad, a half hour’s drive from Qaryatayn, where much of the region’s Christian population have fled.

There is breaking word today that ISIS has released 22 Assyrian hostages in northern Syria.

ISIS: Virtually unchecked since it overtook central Iraq one year ago, ISIS is not surprisingly building its capacity to carry out mass casualty attacks. Clearing out the Christian areas of Syria is perhaps a strategic part of that effort—all taking place ahead of implementation of the U.S.-brokered Iran nuclear deal. When sanctions are lifted under that deal, Iran is likely to have more resources to throw behind Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and ISIS wants to make all the gains it can. Now.

IRAQ: Protests in Baghdad continue, but today President Haider al-Abadi has announced reforms that could soothe street tensions. The reforms look serious and far-reaching. But they come with the endorsement of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and are likely to harden his influence over Iraqi politics.

FINLAND, AGAIN: The article I posted on Finland and Russia on Monday drew this response from a Globe Trot reader:

As a second-generation Finnish-American, I find myself agreeing with several of the feedback writers to that piece. In other words, it seems that Masha Gessen is perpetrating a fallacy common among today’s elitist, liberal-leaning “journalists.” She’s reading far too much into the broader perspective from select interviews with people she’s unilaterally identified as being particularly important.

I still have relatives in Finland, with whom I’m in regular and frequent contact. The greatest fear about Russia is indeed Putin and his myopic colonialism, but the Winter War is hardly forgotten. Finns also have a stoic resolve to try and make the best of a dicey situation: namely, their delicate geographic position between Russia and the rest of the Nordic world. They literally straddle a very crucial line, and while their posturing is hardly perfect, how many other countries with as much at stake could do better?