KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Ten Southeast Asian heads of state and nine world leaders, including President Barack Obama, are meeting in Malaysia to discuss trade and economic issues. The president additionally pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to align himself with the U.S.-led coalition, noting in that the Islamic State has-been accused of bringing down a Russian passenger jet last month, killing 224 people. “He needs to go after the people who killed Russian citizens”, he said of Putin.
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As Obama spoke in the Malaysian capital, other Western leaders were stepping up their rhetoric against IS, while the European diplomatic hub of Brussels remained under the highest threat level for the second day in a row. His trip additionally took him to the Philippines & Turkey, where he met with Putin on the sidelines of a world summit.
When it comes to defeating ISIS, Obama said, “we’re going to get it done”. He says Russian Federation has not officially committed to a transition that would move Assad out of power, but has agreed to a political transition process. Still, Obama said their faces could have been those of kids from Syria, Iraq and other war-torn regions whose pursuit of a life free from violence led them far from their native homes. More than four years ago, Obama demanded that Assad leave power.
“Even as we destroy ISIL on the battlefield – and we will destroy them – we will take back land that they are now in”, the president said.
Here & Now’s Indira Lakshmanan talks to Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Envoy to theGlobal Coalition to Counter ISIL, about the challenges of fighting ISIS and how the attacks in Paris and Beirut and the downing of the Russian plane over Egypt are affecting the US and coalition strategy.
Titled “Paris Before Rome”, the video shows an Islamic State fighter threatening to “pound” French monuments and vowing to strike at the White House.
A quarter of respondents in Malaysia also said they “don’t know” how they viewed ISIS, despite Putrajaya declaring the group to be a terrorist organisation. The Times reported that the Pentagon has added more investigators who have seized documents related to intelligence reports. So is the pressure on Turkey and the West’s Arab allies to stop shirking their responsibility in this fight.
“We do not succumb to fear”, said Obama. It’s unclear whether any of the terrorists in the Paris attacks exploited the refugee system to enter Europe, though Obama has insisted that’s not a legitimate security threat in the United States.
As for the Syrian refugees now streaming out of the Middle East, he said the best thing we could do is create a safe haven in Syria with an invasion, not necessarily allowing them into the U.S.
“When I hear people offering up half-baked ideas as if they are solutions or trying to downplay the challenges involved in this situation, what I’d like to see people ask is specifically, precisely, what exactly would you do and how would you fund it, and how would you sustain it?” The measure passed with a veto-proof 289 votes, including 47 Democrats who opposed the president. “We are going to keep on rolling back ISIL in Iraq and in Syria, and take out more of their leaders and commanders so that they do not threaten us”, Obama said, using another acronym for the Islamic State.
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It was a gesture aimed at winning over skeptical Americans who are growing increasingly anxious over the Obama administration’s plans to welcome thousands of Syrian refugees into the United States over the next two years.
