Obama Administration Weighs Partnership with Russia Against Islamic State

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Free Beacon:

The Obama administration is considering ways to form a closer partnership with Russia against the Islamic State terrorist group, including intelligence and counterterrorism cooperation, in the wake of the Paris attacks, U.S. officials said on Monday.

 

John Brennan, the director of the CIA, said that despite “significant policy differences” between Washington and Moscow on the best method for ending the Syrian conflict, he has continued to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government about how to combat the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL). U.S. officials have accused Russia of propping up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and targeting U.S.-backed rebels in Syria with airstrikes, rather than seeking to eliminate the terrorist group.

 

“I have had several conversations with one of my Russian counterparts over the past several weeks about ways to strengthen U.S.-Russian counterterrorism cooperation, specifically on the ISIL threat,” Brennan said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ global security forum.

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Obama’s Islamic State strategy under fire as France pushes U.S.-Russia coalition

 

With his handling of the war on terrorism under fire from all sides, a defensive President Obama on Monday warned against overreacting to the Islamic State attacks on Paris, but appeared to be the odd man out as the French president called on the U.S. and Russia to form a more powerful coalition to wage war against Islamic extremists and his own CIA chief openly worried that more such strikes are “in the pipeline.”

 

The president flashed annoyance and impatience at repeated questioning of his strategy to defeat the Islamic State in the wake of the coordinated Paris attacks that killed at least 129 people and set off renewed fears that the terrorist group is planning to send more fighters to kill Westerners. He said the massacre was not a signal for him to change course.

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/16/obama-takes-heat-over-isis-strategy-as-francois-ho/