Foreign Digest: Nicaragua, China, Russia and Syria

Nicaragua: Nicaragua’s Marxist Sandinista regime as sentenced a Catholic Bishop to 26 years in prison for speaking out against the increasing tyranny and attacks on the Church and private civic organizations in the Central American State. The Bishop was among political prisoners who were released and given a choice of exile to the United States or prison. The Bishop chose to remain with his flock. Communist China: The U.S. imposed sanctions on Chinese companies associated with the spy balloon shot down earlier this month over American territorial waters. Also the U.S. repeated to Communist China that it would defend the Philippines, after an incident earlier this week in the disputed South China Sea. Russia: The U.S. warned Americans last week to leave the Russian Federation immediately because of arbitrary arrests. Also last week, the European Union declared Russia a fiscal haven for money laundering. Russia is led by an ex-Soviet intelligence officer backed by oligarchs. Syria: U.S. troops have conducted two raids this month in Syria against Islamic State leaders, killing one and capturing another. The Islamic State is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, the Islamist terrorists responsible for the deadliest terrorist attacks in history, the September 11 Terrorist Attacks on New York, Virginia and over Pennsylvania, among many other attacks. These raids follow the one in Somalia against the Islamic State that I posted about in my last post.