Foreign Digest: Syria, Russia and Ukraine

Syria: A Syrian who worked for the regime of Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity by a German court for torturing political prisoners. In addition to such crimes, Assad also uses chemical weapons and indiscriminate bombing against civilian neighborhoods in the Syrian Civil War that has lasted a decade, killed over half a million people and caused millions to become refugees. The terrorist-sponsor is supported by Islamist Iran and Russian Federation tyrant Vladimir Putin. Assad knows that he, too, would face prosecution for crimes against humanity and war crimes were he to lose power. Russia and Ukraine: Russia not only continues to threaten and mass troops on the border with Ukraine, but has also engaged in cyber attacks against Ukraine. Russia recognized the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, a former Soviet Republic, in a treaty, but then invaded and seized the Crimean Peninsula. Russian dictator Putin, a former Soviet intelligence officer who laments the breakup of the Soviet Union, also backs Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.