Berkley Center

AROUND THE WORLD
Saudi Arabia Take Precautions Against Ebola as Pilgrims Stream into Mecca for Hajj
by Mokhtar Shehata and Benjamin Wiacek
Huffington Post and Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/02/ebola-mecca-hajj_n_5920024.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
Saudi Arabia sought to assure the public that the kingdom was Ebola-free as an estimated 2 million Muslims streamed into a sprawling tent city near Mecca on Thursday for the start of the annual Islamic hajj pilgrimage.
 
Christians Show Support for Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protests
by Carol Kuruvilla
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/01/joshua-wong-christian-hong-kong_n_5909784.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
People of faith were among the thousands staking out spaces at the front lines of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests on Wednesday. Catholic, Methodist and Anglican parishes opened their church doors to offer demonstrators a place to eat, sleep, and pray, Vatican Radio reports. Other Christians organized prayer.

A Papal Decision Leaves Some Feeling Less Than Charitable
by Elisabetta Povoledo
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/world/a-papal-decision-leaves-some-feeling-less-than-charitable.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
Dozens of souvenir shops and calligraphy studios that had for decades produced the apostolic benedictions for the church were told that, as of Jan. 1, the Vatican would be making all the parchments itself. 

Netanyahu Sees Arab Alliance Aiding Mideast Peace
by Mark Landler
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/world/middleeast/obama-netanyahu-israel-white-house.html?ref=todayspaper
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Wednesday raised the tantalizing prospect that a new Arab alliance could resuscitate Israel’s moribund peace talks with the Palestinians, but President Obama responded with a familiar complaint — that Jewish settlements are the real problem. 

The Dalai Lama Talks About China and the Future of Tibet
by Jorg Eigendorf
Ozy
http://www.ozy.com/c-notes/the-dalai-lama-on-china-the-future-of-tibet/34231.article
An interview with the Dalai Lama: “China can no longer isolate itself, it must follow the global trend toward a democratic society. I can already feel that change among Chinese students. “sessions at protest sites. 

‘The Only Option Is Independence’
by Isaac Stone Fish
Foreign Policy
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/01/Rebiya_Kadeer_Uighur_Hong_Kong_independence
The worst-case scenario for Beijing is that protests demanding more autonomy for Hong Kong spread to other parts of China. According to Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled leader of the movement for Uighur rights, the ideals of the Hong Kong movement are already influencing the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang

ISIS
What ISIS Could Teach the West
by Nicholas Kristof
New York Times op ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/opinion/nicholas-kristof-what-isis-could-teach-the-west.html?ref=todayspaper
These extremists use arms to fight their battles in the short term, but, to hold ground in the long run, they also combat Western education and women’s empowerment. They know that illiteracy, ignorance and oppression of women create the petri dish in which extremism can flourish. 

Turkey’s Syria Spill Over Problem
by Michael Koplow
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142135/michael-j-koplow/turkeys-syria-spillover-problem
An economy burdened by refugees, renewed unrest among Turkish Kurds, resurgent nationalism, and policy run by unaccountable intelligence services makes for an unstable brew. ISIS has presented the United States and the entire Middle East with a new set of problems, but its immediate legacy may be an end to what has been a remarkable period of Turkish domestic stability. 

Mecca on Alert as Hajj Begins and ISIS Concerns Grow
by Jaweed Kaleem
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/30/isis-hajj-mecca_n_5908398.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
As the beginning of the annual Muslim pilgrimage approaches, the Saudi government is teaming with an American-led coalition to bomb targets in nearby Iraq and Syria that are under control of the Islamic State, the extremist group also known as ISIS or ISIL. Saudi authorities, meanwhile, have dispatched 60,000 security officers around hajj sites. 

They’re Coming
by Jytte Klausen
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142129/jytte-klausen/theyre-coming
Yet fighters returning from Syria have already attempted to carry out violent attacks in the West, and, in one instance, they succeeded. In October 2013, the London Metropolitan Police stopped a car traveling near the Tower of London carrying two men who were reportedly on their way to execute an attack.  

Homeward Bound?
by Daniel Byman and Jeremy Shapiro
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142025/daniel-byman-and-jeremy-shapiro/homeward-bound?cid=nlc-foreign_affairs_today-100114-homeward_bound_5-100114&sp_mid=47097932&sp_rid=andlaWNrZ2VuYW50QHJlYWxjbGVhcndvcmxkLmNvbQS2
But the threat presented by foreign fighters has been exaggerated, just as it was during several other conflicts in recent years. Over the last decade, the Iraq war in particular prompted similar warnings about a possible backlash that ultimately failed to materialize. In fact, the vast majority of Western Muslims who set out to fight in the Middle East today will not come back as terrorists.