2017
June
20
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

June 20, 2017
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Is the United States going to war with Russia? It’s a fair concern in light of recent events. But a better question might be this: Is the US sliding into a war with Iran?

What prompts the talk of war is an escalation of conflict above Syria. After a US jet shot down a Syrian fighter plane, on Monday Russia sternly warned that it would shoot down any aircraft flying over western Syria.

But on Tuesday, a more telling event occurred. The US shot down an Iranian-made drone. It was the fifth such incident in the past six months. The US says it’s protecting rebels (and American advisers) who are battling Islamic State (ISIS) near the Syrian-Iraqi border. That appears to be true and we wrote about that two weeks ago.

Iran is fighting ISIS, too. But there’s a bigger picture – and pattern – emerging. As ISIS retreats, the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel see Iran’s influence expanding. They fear an emerging “Shiite crescent” of control from Iran to Lebanon.

The Pentagon says it isn’t picking a fight with Russia or Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. But given Iran’s rising military reach, any path to progress in the region will likely go through Tehran.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

John Stillwell/PA/AP
A Christian women gives a Muslim man flowers as they gather close to Finsbury Park Mosque on Monday, June 19, after a van was driven into pedestrians near the north London mosque, leaving one man dead and eight injured.

Special Report

Juan Ignacio Llana/Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Sarai Noriega, a former engineer, has gone back to school in Bilbao, Spain, to learn robotics. A single mother of two, she says she feels that a blue-collar job will allow her to make good money yet better control her hours.
SOURCE:

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

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Ken Baughman and Lisa Andrews/Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Zhejiang Daily/AP
A Chinese researcher works on an ultracold atom device at the CAS-Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory in Shanghai, China, July 30, 2015. Such experiments promise future computers capable of breaking modern encryption in minutes, a danger cryptographic experts urge preparing for today.
Ramon Espinosa/AP
A man walks past a television showing US President Trump signing the new Cuba policy, in a living room festooned with images of Cuban leaders at a house in Havana June 16.

The Monitor's View

Reuters
A Franciscan monk stands near United Nations peacekeeping soldiers and an armored personnel carrier near the village of Ndim, Central African Republic, April 26.

A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

A message of love

Feisal Omar/Reuters
Zebras graze in the grass of the Nairobi National Park near the Kenyan capital June 20, 2017.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us today. We've got a bonus for you from Tuesday's Monitor Breakfast in Washington: How the new Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin plans to improve treatment for vets. Mr. Shulkin served in the Obama administration and was also President Trump's choice. 

And come back tomorrow: We're working on a story about the US military: Is civilian control slipping? 

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2017
June
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Tuesday
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