Editor’s Note: Nic Robertson is CNN’s international diplomatic editor. The opinions in this article are his own. Nic Robertson: The dangerous divide in the Middle East urgently needs attention from America's top diplomat Will US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson snap out of his reticence and shine? In the Middle East, new lines are being drawn, for now not on maps, but indelibly across the territory, affecting the lives of millions. A world order – shaped a century ago when Sykes, Picot and Balfour etched linear division, dividing peoples and creating new nation states – is eroding in real time. It is a moment for this generation’s diplomats to lead through the change, a chance for US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to snap out of his reticence and shine. It’s not just the war in Syria but the face-off between Gulf allies and Qatar that is at the heart of this shift. The 13 demands Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain have given Qatar defy a quick diplomatic fix and could herald a major regional shake-up. But this discord didn’t come from nowhere. Its roots run through the Syrian conflict, out the other side to the Arab Spring and before. In the eyes of his Gulf allies, President George W. Bush failed them, invading Iraq and ousting Saddam Hussein, allowing Iran to extend its Shia theocracy beyond its borders into what had for generations been Sunni-led land. In their eyes again, President Obama failed them when he didn’t back their common allies – Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia – during the Arab Spring. Related article Qatar crisis is a mess the Middle East could do without Obama also compounded Saudi angst by cementing a nuclear deal with Iran a few years later and failing to more fully engage Assad’s and Iran’s forces in Syria. Saudi Arabia ramped up its defense spending, super-sized its security forces and surrounded itself with Sunni allies. Along that path a new ambitious heir to the throne has arisen. Fast forward to today and the clash with Qatar comes as Saudi Arabia and its Sunni allies seek to impose their vision on the region. In short: to demand allegiance in an atmosphere poisoned by the polarization that seeps out of Syria. In the past three months alone, missiles from Russia, Iran and America have slammed Syria. Like regional rival Turkey, each has combat troops in-country. The battle on the ground is finally slowing as Assad consolidates his grip, and separately ISIS’s caliphate is being scotched from the landscape. But what the regional crisis reveals – shrouded in the multi-layered surrogacy of this war – is an ugly, ethno-sectarian disease spreading its infection way beyond Syria’s borders. While we have all been distracted by the destruction and death inside Syria, it’s what’s happening outside that could become a serious cause for concern, too. As divisive as the Syrian conflict has become, what really threatens to rip through today’s Middle East alliances is the Gulf standoff with Qatar. It comes at a magnitude and pace that could, if it is not settled soon, look like a road that should have been taken in life’s rear-view mirror. But as this region teeters on the verge of fundamental change, President Trump is distracted by domestic political drama. Trump’s recent trip to Saudi still has many guessing here about what was said in his conversations with Arab leaders and whether he may have inadvertently played a role in triggering the sudden confrontation. Europe, too, is distracted, both by kvetching over Brexit, and by grappling with the implication that President Trump is not just absent from the world stage but also a stranger to their values. There is much curiosity about what Trump will say and do on his trip next week to the G20 summit in Hamburg, where he is to meet Vladimir Putin for the first time since taking office. Related video Qatar given list of demands to end boycott In short, many eyes have been off this ball, which may explain why there is still confusion over what Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain really hope to achieve through their 13 demands. Do they intend to separate Qatar from Iran, with which it shares a massive natural gas field, or re-orient it away from political Islam in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood? Or is it as Qatar’s Foreign Minister fears, to strip Qatar of its sovereignty? “We are left to conclude that the purpose of the ultimatum was not to address the issues listed, but to pressure Qatar to surrender its sovereignty. This is something we will not do,” he said. It may also be a clumsy cleft in the road for conservative Sunni Islam. Both the Qataris and the Saudis follow Wahhabism, Sunni Islam’s least liberal interpretation, and the challenge would be which nation would direct conservative Sunni values. Ever since King Salman, father of the newly-elevated Crown Prince Monhammed Bin Salman, came to the Saudi throne, he has been focused on expecting loyalty from allies, something President Trump may recognize. Last year the Kingdom cut several billion dollars in funding to Lebanon out of concern its erstwhile Sunni allies there could not stop the money ending up in the pockets of Hezbollah, Iran’s militarized Lebanese proxies. It was an object lesson in loyalty that neighbors like Jordan heeded. Perhaps a little belatedly, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson finally has his eye on the ball, undoubtedly recognizing that the stakes are very high. Tillerson is proving far more timid in his new role than expected, given that, as CEO at Exxon, he’d been known as a robust leader. Related video Tillerson voices frustration with White House A glimmer perhaps returned this week when asked if he was satisfied with the pace of staffing at the senior levels of the department, he responded, “No, I’d like it to go faster.” Tillerson was reported to have had a heated clash with White House officials on that same issue. But perhaps this was really a reflection of his workload and a realization of how far behind he is, and how much of a hole the Middle East might be in, without sustained diplomatic intervention. In the past few days alone, Tillerson has met with several of the Qatar standoff protagonists publicly, including the Qatari foreign minister and the Kuwaiti acting information minister, who like Tillerson has become a middleman trying to manage a way out of the chaos. Tillerson may also have met others on the QT. A Saudi source in senior Royal circles told me how jet lagged he was, having gone without sleep for 2 days. He didn’t say where he’d been, or who with, but I know his boss is enough of a player to be in this up to the hilt. Perhaps it’s a sign that Tillerson is finally finding his way diplomatically. If so, it would be little surprise, given that he is rubbing shoulders with just the sort of oil wealth he made a career wooing. Certainly the eloquent and sophisticated  Emirati diplomat Omar Saif Ghobash holds Tillerson in high esteem, noting, “Secretary of state Tillerson is the leading global diplomat, so we expect nothing less from him and appreciate very much the U.S. attempts to mediate and find a solution to the problem.” On that, perhaps the Qataris do agree, their foreign minister hinting as much: “We agree with Washington that the demands should be rational.” Related article Qatar must stop changing the subject -- and start changing its behavior Tillerson says little about his chances of success “We hope all the parties will continue to talk to one another in good faith,” he said following one of his recent meetings. The Saudis say their demands are non-negotiable, while the Qataris have already rejected many of them as unrealistic. Worse even, the Qataris seem to be courting the Saudis’ ire, not only ignoring the demand to close a new Turkish military base in Qatar but actually inviting in more Turkish troops as the deadline ticks down. At risk here is a further serious regional decline, and a poisoning of relationships that will spread. What has been unleashed here in recent years won’t be put back in the box. As fighting ends in Syria, the real regional power plays will begin in earnest as Russia, Turkey, Iran and Saudi vie to realize their ambitions. The US risks becoming a bit player, losing more leverage. Cauterizing the Qatar rift now might just make all of that more manageable, and might help the US down the road. This is no time for the United States to be eying ISIS’s demise in Raqqa and thinking of leaving the battlefield. No time for Trump to be anything other than laser-focused on the long term, understanding that disengagement damages the US’s future interests. Even if his boss is tied up with the fallout over his tweeting, Tillerson’s head needs to be here, big time. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook If he gets a result, he can chalk it up as a major diplomatic coup, if he doesn’t, he may, like his predecessor John Kerry, reflect on what might have been, had his boss been more willing to engage. As it was for Sykes, Picot and Balfour, this is a time for bold ambition, not to draw new lines, but to deftly manage the erasure of old ones.


Editor’s Note: Matthew Chance is CNN’s senior international correspondent. He has reported extensively on major stories for CNN’s global news networks from the Middle East, Afghanistan, Russia and Chechnya, Europe and the Far East. The opinions expressed in this article belong to the author. Not since the end of the Cold War has the rhetoric between Moscow and Washington been so acute. Even in American politics, the Putin Factor has become a major campaign issue The catastrophic breakdown of the Syrian truce, less than a week after it came into force, has pushed relations between Russia and the United States to a new low. Not since the end of the Cold War has the rhetoric between Moscow and Washington – who back opposing sides in the conflict – been so acute. Both blame the other for failing to rein in their Syrian proxies. Moscow was furious at an attack last weekend by warplanes of the US-led coalition on Syrian Army positions, which they say killed more than 60 personnel. US officials say the strike, near Deir Ezour in Eastern Syria, was a mistake; a case of friendly fire. The US says they thought they were ISIS. But the Russian foreign ministry rejected that outright, calling an emergency session of the UN Security Council and issuing an extraordinary statement, in which it accused the US of colluding with Islamic State rebels in Syria. Related video Kerry: Russia needs to stop Assad from bombing people But it was an appalling incident in Syria a few days later that delivered a near fatal blow to peace efforts, and sent US-Russian relations further into a tailspin. As it waited to deliver its cargo of blankets, food and other humanitarian aid to the suffering people of Aleppo, a UN convoy came under devastating attack. Eyewitnesses spoke of barrel bombs being dropped from the air and of jets circling in the night skies above. The US said all signs pointed to a Russian air attack, but Russia insists neither its air force nor that of its Syrian government ally carried out the attack, which has been condemned by human rights groups as a war crime in which at least 20 civilian aid workers were killed. “I think we need to refrain from emotional reactions and from making comments immediately,” Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov implored the UN in New York. “We need to investigate and be very professional,” he added. Related video Russia will deploy aircraft carrier to coast of Syria Moscow had already suggested alternative explanations for the attack, saying the aid convoy may have been set ablaze by rebels, or even that a US Predator drone could have been responsible for obliterating it. It all seemed too much of a stretch for the exasperated US secretary of State John Kerry, who had spent months brokering the Syria truce with Russia, and who now launched a blistering verbal assault on his Kremlin counterpart. “I listen to my colleague from Russia and I sort of felt a little bit like we’re sort of in a parallel universe,” he raged. “When you’ve signed up to a ceasefire and you don’t adhere to it. What kind of credibility do you have, with any of your people?” The diplomatic clashing of swords over Syria, of course, did not come out a vacuum. Russia and the US have been at loggerheads for years over a range of foreign policy issues: from the Gulf war in 1990 to the Arab spring uprisings that began in 2010. Add to these NATO expansion and US missile defence and you get a sense that even though the Cold War ended, the mutual rivalry and suspicion didn’t. The latest round of US-Russian tensions began in 2014, when a popular pro-Western uprising toppled the Ukrainian government. The Kremlin responded by effectively invading, then annexing, the strategic Crimean Peninsula where Russia leased a naval base for its Black Sea Fleet. It then fueled a rebellion in Eastern Ukraine, arming rebels and even sending in Russian Army units to fight, according to US officials. The US response was one of outrage, and economic sanctions on Russia were soon to follow, cementing the old, familiar bitterness between these two former foes. At the heart of Russia’s rocky relationship with the US stands Vladimir Putin, the man who has led the country as President, then Prime Minister, then President again, for the past 17 years. It’s his muscular foreign policy, forcing the world to recognize Russia as a major power once again, that has so angered the West and made him increasingly popular at home. Despite a tough economic climate, battered by low oil prices and sanctions, he still gets approval ratings of which the US President can only dream. Related video U.S. blames Russia for bombing aid convoy True, recent Russian parliamentary elections saw a relatively low turnout. But that is not necessarily a reflection of Putin’s popularity. He was not, after all, standing for election himself. Even in American politics, the Putin Factor has become a major campaign issue, amid startling allegations – denied in Moscow – that the Kremlin is trying to influence the outcome of the presidential vote. The influence of the Russian leader is hard to ignore. Indeed, it may be this same Putin Factor that decides what happens next in the bloodbath of Syria. Secretary of State Kerry, in his emotional plea at the UN this week for a renewal of the ceasefire, said this is a “moment of truth.” He may have been addressing the entire UN Security Council in that moment, but in reality, he was speaking to just one man.


Editor’s Note: Ramesh Srinivasan is an associate professor at UCLA, director at the UC Digital Cultures Lab and author of the new book “Whose Global Village? Rethinking How Technology Shapes Our World”  Follow him @rameshmedia. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. Ramesh Srinivasan: The Trump team deftly employs Facebook to pander to and maintain its base of support But Facebook must try to serve a more balanced media diet to all of its users, writes Srinivasan Why is Donald Trump consistently able to make false claims while maintaining his base of support? In many ways it’s because Facebook has transformed into a major source of journalism for the American public. Over 65% of Facebook users – 44% of all US adults – access news through the social media giant’s platform. That group greatly outnumbers readers who frequent mainstream news outlets like The New York Times or The Washington Post. And there is evidence that shows this platform was and continues to be exploited by conservative political advocacy groups and consultants to target users based on data-driven psychological profiles. As a result, many users are fed targeted content instead of being presented with a variety of alternative viewpoints. Trump’s team, in particular, has taken advantage of the ascendance of Facebook as the platform where Americans go first to get their news. By gathering a great deal of data on eligible American voters, targeting them with ads and taking advantage of Facebook’s algorithms, the Trump machine has been able to significantly influence how information is disseminated through social media. In other words, Facebook users receive sponsored posts, created by data gathered from both Facebook and data brokers that track and sell our personal information. Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics company that has Trump advisor Steve Bannon on its board, has proudly boasted of its ability to predict voter behavior by correlating Facebook data with other information it purchased from data brokers, given the relatively lax information privacy laws in the United States. In a statement to Motherboard, a Cambridge Analytica spokesperson denied influencing the electoral outcome. “Cambridge Analytica did not engage in efforts to discourage any Americans from casting their vote in the presidential election,” the company said. “Its efforts were solely directed towards increasing the number of voters in the election.” While these techniques have been honed by marketers in relation to product campaigns, their application to the domain of national politics marks an important and troubling shift. Related article Can Zuckerberg save journalism -- or democracy? For example, according to Bloomberg, in the Little Haiti district of Miami, the Trump campaign used Facebook targeted “dark posts” to sway African American voters. These posts – newsfeed-like ads – reminded voters of the Clinton Foundation’s failures in Haiti, as well as when Hillary Clinton in 1996 referred to some black youth as “superpredators.” The key with these targeted posts was not just the demographic profile of the Facebook user but the choice of which post would best influence them based on psychological profile. And in an interview with Motherboard, Alexander Nix, CEO of Cambridge Analytica, says they have a large amount of data to profile users. “We have profiled the personality of every adult in the United States of America – 220 million people,” Nix said. Our experience of news has therefore been altered. Social media networks and the invisible algorithms that shape them determine the content that is curated and presented to us. The selection of news stories, their framing and the opinions raised about them are then determined by our “friends” on Facebook, who often share our political persuasion. Far less transparent are the problems with algorithmic curation, where Facebook decides what posts we see and what are left invisible. As I argue in my just-released book, Whose Global Village?, when an algorithm reinforces certain political or cultural perspectives while leaving others hidden, it becomes difficult to respect or learn from one another. The challenges posed by Facebook’s rise as the primary source of news are magnified by the Trump administration’s aggressive first several weeks of political activity. Numerous executive actions around the US-Mexico border, immigration bans and the Keystone and Dakota pipeline bring to the forefront issues that were already divisive. Related video Trump: Press is "enemy of the American people" When the Trump team’s actions are refracted through Facebook, the euphoria or anger users may feel is further magnified. The public is left more divided than ever, inflamed by how these political issues are described and portrayed on their Facebook walls. When the mainstream media attempts to debunk examples, such as Trump’s claim of Obama wiretapping him (which he has since pulled back on) or his argument that he lost the popular vote due to voter fraud, it is quickly rejected by the administration as partisan, or even worse, in Trump’s own words, as an “’enemy of the American people.” In such a political environment, it becomes even more difficult to understand a position different from our own, or see a calm, rational way out of the hysteria it produces. It emboldens Trump to the point where he can say “the public doesn’t believe [the news media] anymore … and maybe I had something to with that.” We must do more to fight back. On January 25, Facebook announced that it would modify its trending topics algorithm to promote vetted news stories, as opposed to only promoting articles that are popular within a social network. While this is a step forward, the American public can further pressure Facebook to make some important changes, as well as cultivate strategies to overcome the current crisis. First, we can ask for social media companies to make transparent and comprehensible the filters and choices that go into the most important algorithms that shape interactivity. Here I do not mean publishing proprietary software code but instead giving users an explanation of how the content they view on Facebook is selected. Related article Why punishing the media will backfire on Trump More specifically, Facebook can explain that content is chosen because of location, number of common friends or similarity in posts. It can provide users with a glimpse into how its algorithm may select between different options in its decisions to make certain information visible on one’s newsfeed. Second, we must provide users with the opportunity to choose between different types of information, whether it is news shared by people outside of their social networks or whether users are given options for how filters may be applied to their Facebook feed. Such filters would allow users to determine what parts of the world they’d like to see information from and the range of political opinion they would want to view. Third, we can get back to a practice that long characterized the web: open-ended browsing. Social media companies can develop tools that allow news credibility to be visualized, enabling users to browse content within and outside of their immediate social network. Related video No! Don't share this stuff online! For example, Facebook could make posts available from users who are not in their friend network, or provide the user with tools to browse the networks of others, assuming permission is provided. It could even develop interfaces that allow users to look across posts from multiple perspectives, places and cultures around a given topic. At the same time, we must continue to think about the long game – how to develop political literacy in our educational and social systems. This would involve learning how to assess, evaluate and recognize the difference in credibility across information sources. It requires not viewing any piece of information, whether presented on Facebook or through a traditional news outlet, as infallible, but instead scrutinizing the ways in which that story was framed and the agendas it serves. While the largest news networks in our world are private corporations, they should be held accountable to the public. We have a right to demand fair and honest reporting. And in the current media landscape, we must pressure our news networks to tell stories that respect the perspectives of the diverse communities they report on. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook Now as Facebook, with nearly 1.8 billion global users, has arrived as the major gateway to our news, it too must be held accountable to the public – rather than just its shareholders. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has expressed concern over Trump’s executive orders, and justifiably so. Yet he must understand that his company is not only a private entity, but also a major public source of news and should therefore consider its role in Trump’s rise to power. We have no choice but to rein in our blind trust of the social media platforms that increasingly define the internet. To do so, we must not only pressure these companies to open up the black boxes by which they unite and divide us, but also recognize that Facebook, as it stands, divides us rather than unites us, politically and culturally.


Donald Trump isn't building relationships with party leaders in early voting states Strategy reflects Trump's unique approach to the presidential campaign Donald Trump does everything on a grand scale. On the campaign trail, the Republican presidential candidate gives longer speeches than his opponents. He spends money lavishly and likes to brag about it. And he attacks fellow Republicans more harshly, as he did over the weekend when he upended the GOP primary race by questioning John McCain’s war hero status. But Trump is surprisingly stingy in one notable way: his outreach to local party leaders in the early presidential states. Republican leaders in early-voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina are used to getting the full-court press from presidential candidates. But they say they’ve heard little from Trump. Without durable relationships in the early states, Trump could find himself especially vulnerable to shifts in the news cycle that move national opinion. One day, he may be popular for harshly denouncing illegal immigration. The next day, his image – both nationally and in the early states – can be overwhelmed by comments like his widely condemned attack on McCain. McCain: Don’t apologize to me When the businessman travels to Bluffton, South Carolina, on Tuesday for a “kickoff rally,” he will have had minimal contact with Matt Moore, the state’s Republican Party chairman. “I met Mr. Trump for 30 seconds on May 9. Gave him my card. He hasn’t called me thus far,” Moore told CNN. Moore said that he has been in constant contact with many of Trump’s competitors, exchanging numerous text messages, for example, with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. “Many of the candidates reach out frequently,” he said. “They seem to understand that the chairman of any state is a nexus to communicating with thousands of people across the state.” Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann said while he’s bumped into Trump several times in recent months, the real estate mogul is the only candidate in the crowded GOP field who has not initiated a phone call or asked for a meeting. “He does seem to be taking it to the people, seems to be doing it primarily through the media. That’s one strategy,” Kaufmann said. “But I can tell you that you don’t win the presidency that way, because you have to have the party organization and party apparatus and local party leaders to win the presidency.” Trump’s strategy of bypassing prominent local leaders even as he addresses enormous crowds in their states is just one example of his atypical campaign operation. Eschewing the traditional political process, including actively wooing party officials, is key to Trump’s efforts to brand himself the ultimate outsider with no obligations to the GOP establishment. In New Hampshire, state Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley said he had not heard from Trump once this year, but has been in touch with most of the other GOP candidates. Political veterans say Trump’s campaign also shows that the basics of presidential campaigning are in flux, particularly as candidates now have more ways than ever to reach voters directly. That time Al Franken joked about McCain’s war hero status “The old model of 30 years ago of getting the top 10 county chairs as the baseline of your organization – I think that’s one way to do it, but I don’t think that’s the only way to do it,” said Steve Duprey, a veteran New Hampshire Republican strategist and former McCain adviser. “When you’re running the kind of campaign like he is, it’s possible to skip that whole effort and go directly to the voters.” Trump advisers pushed back on the suggestion that he has neglected one-on-one outreach to local leaders. For instance, Trump’s Iowa state director Chuck Laudner said the businessman hasn’t reached out to Kaufmann because the party chair is “neutral.” “Why would I meet with a guy who’s going to be neutral?” Laudner said. Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, said the real estate billionaire has had numerous meetings with GOP officials that have simply not been made public. “He does one-on-one and two-on-one meetings all the time,” Lewandowski said. “We just don’t report on it, while everybody else does.” RELATED: GOP to Trump: You crossed the line According to Lewandowski, Trump has met privately with Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and has also had “multiple private meetings” with Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad. But asked about the governor’s contact with Trump, a Branstad spokesman said Trump and the governor met “very briefly” at the Iowa Freedom Summit in January, but that there has been no contact since then. While most of the Republican candidates have so far trained their ire on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, Trump has also shown little restraint in dishing out harsh insults to fellow GOP candidates like Rubio, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. His open hostility has made some party leaders uncomfortable, and Trump’s remarks about McCain over the weekend seemed to push some of his GOP colleagues over the edge. Defiant Trump refuses to apologize to McCain The real test for Trump will be whether this distinctive style wears well over time in the early states following an initial boost in popularity. In two national polls last week, Trump cinched first place among the GOP contenders, beating other top-tier candidates like Bush and Walker. But if some voters find his booming speeches refreshing, plenty of others are unsure of what exactly to make of Trump’s style. Vivian Wong, a well-connected Republican business leader in South Carolina, recalls attending a meet-and-greet lunch in May at a downtown Greenville hotel. Wong said Trump delivered a fiery speech that touched on two of his favorite topics – illegal immigrants entering the country from Mexico and China’s currency manipulation. The performance drew mixed reactions. “He delivered it in his own way,” said Wong, who has not yet aligned herself with a candidate this cycle. “It was not how an ordinary politician would deliver the message.”


Stop us if you’ve heard this before: we are now one step closer to repealing Obamacare. Or perhaps we should say, “one more step closer.” Friday, House Republicans followed the Senate’s lead and passed the budget resolution. So, Obamacare’s been repealed? No. Now Congress can begin the process of repealing. From the notorious traffic to legislation, nothing happens quickly in Washington, D.C. WHAT’S NEW TODAY ON… The House approved the budget resolution on a mostly party line vote, 227-198, taking the next formal step toward dismantling Obamacare. Members of the bipartisan “Problem Solvers Caucus” are urging Trump to prioritize “rebuilding America’s infrastructure and reforming our tax code” and arguing that the “logic of combining (the two issues) into one package is compelling.” Their letter explains to Trump that if he pursues these objectives, he’ll have “willing governing partners” in them. On Thursday, Trump transition officials spoke with the House Ways & Means Committee to push for Ivanka Trump’s child care reform proposal that includes tax credits and six weeks of maternity leave.  When asked about this at the CNN Town Hall, Ryan said the proposal is “definitely on the table.” According to new data released Friday, China’s exports fell 2% last year, its biggest decline since 2009. Given Trump’s hallmark critiques of US-China trade, Chinese officials and many economists do not expect the picture to improve for China anytime soon. On Thursday, Obama made three civil rights sites national monuments and expanded protected land in Oregon and California. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal wrote a deep dive about Obama’s late moves, noting they will be difficult, if not impossible, to roll back. Looking ahead…


Editor’s Note: Shepard Fairey is a street artist, graphic designer and activist. This is an edited excerpt from “Peace: Photographs by Jim Marshall,” published by Reel Art Press. The peace sign has long been an important image and symbol for me, not just because I am pro-harmony and anti-war, but because it is the graphic icon that taught me the power of an easily recognized and reproduced symbol. As a rebellious teen in the ’80s, I embraced the peace sign as an emblem of counterculture favored by skateboarders who listened to punk and reggae. Looking back, it is remarkable that the peace sign crossed over to punks who said “never trust a hippie!” Even the reject-everything punks were susceptible to the graphic strength and allure of the peace sign. I was one of those punks and not only did the peace sign pique my interest visually, but it also led me to investigate anti-war ideas and movements. Glenn Lowry: 'It is all too easy to become inured to the waves of people fleeing war and poverty' I eventually ended up putting a “STOP THE ARMS RACE NOT THE HUMAN RACE” bumper sticker on the family station wagon, most likely as a domino effect catalyzed by a curiosity about the peace sign. Eventually, I had a professor, a hippie I trusted, who taught me about the Vietnam War, the anti-nuclear proliferation movement, and the protest movement against the Vietnam War in the late ’60s and early ‘70s. My teacher was cool enough to mention the role symbols like the peace sign, the dove and flowers in the ends of guns played in the activist movement, and how especially the peace sign became pervasively woven into many areas of pop culture. In many ways, I think that the peace sign as an easily understood ubiquitous symbol of opposition to the Vietnam War played a major role in diminishing the public support for the war. When I began to create images protesting the war in Iraq, I immediately thought of the success of the peace sign during the Vietnam era, and I began incorporating the symbol into many pieces of my work. Not only do I think the peace sign is strong visually, but it also brings to mind an activist movement whose energy and tactics created a widespread shift in the culture. In the post 9/11 climate of fear and the rush to war with Iraq, I saw many parallels to the Vietnam era which inspired me to use the peace sign as a pacifist symbol, but also to remind people just how analogous the mistakes of Vietnam were to the mistakes in Iraq. Looking at Jim Marshall’s images, I’m struck by how acutely he picked up on the rise of the Peace Sign as a counterculture, and later a dominant-culture, symbol. Artists offer alternative views of Iranian culture in a new group exhibition Marshall has an image from 1963 (we can tell from the date on an ad poster) with a peace sign drawn on a subway wall. Many of  Marshall’s photos are of graffiti of the peace sign with “ban the bomb” written next to it. Marshall was obviously attuned to the peace sign as part of the anti-nuclear proliferation movement long before it reached a critical mass as a symbol of the anti-Vietnam War movement. These photos demonstrate Marshall’s keen eye for imagery signifying the counterculture and his awareness of the viral and do-it-yourself nature of the graffitied and handmade peace signs showing up on walls, guitar cases, and clothing. What I find most exciting and unusual about these peace photographs is that symbols and slogans of peace dominated by the peace sign are the subjects of these portraits. These portraits showcase an idea rather than pictures of famous musicians, scenesters or politicians, and the artful nature of the images indicate that Marshall saw the role of the peace sign as a crucial character or protagonist within the culture. I’m most moved by the mystery and anonymity of the images that only show the peace sign and maybe accompanying text as the visible residue of an act of defiance. Small rebellious acts like a piece of graffiti pushing back against injustice, encourage me to take action and remind me that regardless of how alone I may feel, there are kindred spirits out there. I think Jim Marshall saw the value in documenting the evidence that something’s happening out there! “Peace: Photographs by Jim Marshall,” published Reel Art Press, is out now. “Peace: Love, Rock and Revolution - Photographs by Jim Marshall” is on show at ACA Galleries in New York until Sept. 30, 2017, and at H.M. Electric Gallery in London until Sept. 24, 2017.


ISIS tunnels, trenches targeted in missiles attacks, militia umbrella group says Offensive aims to rout estimate 3,500 to 5,000 fighters in last ISIS stronghold The offensive to liberate Mosul from ISIS control has begun, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised statement early Monday. “Our dearest people in Nineveh province, the victory bell has rung, and the operations to liberate Mosul have begun,” he said. “I am announcing today the beginning of these heroic operations to liberate you from the brutality and terrorism of ISIS. God willing, we will meet soon on the ground of Mosul where we will all celebrate the liberation and your freedom.” Only forces with the Iraqi army and National Police will enter the city “and no others,” the Prime Minister said. Fighting with them are the Popular Mobilization Units, largely Shiite paramilitary forces that include Sunnis, Christians and other ethnic and religious groups. The units released a statement shortly after Monday’s offensive began saying they were targeting ISIS tunnels and trenches south of Mosul with highly destructive thermobaric missiles. In addition, Peshmerga Forces – Kurdish fighters – launched Monday morning a coordinated operation east of Mosul in Khazir. The Peshmerga General Command said the operation, launched in coordination with Iraqi Security Forces from Gwer and Gayyara, included as many as 4,000 fighters in an effort to clear occupied villages surrounding Mosul. Defeating ISIS in Mosul would represent a major victory for the Abadi government, as it struggles to boost its credibility, prove its military prowess and end the terrorist group’s territorial dominance in Iraq’s oil-rich north. Routing the group from a port city close to the border of Syria and Turkey could also help stem the flow of fighters and weapons between the states. The fight is expected to last weeks, if not months, and if the battles to wrest Falluja and Ramadi from ISIS’ grip are indicators, Mosul will be a messy melee. The assault’s buildup has been ongoing for some time. US-led coalition and Iraqi forces have hammered ISIS targets with airstrikes for more than a year. The Nineveh Liberation Operations Center, which was set up to coordinate the offensive, has brought in dozens of American and British advisers. A US artillery unit has provided cover for operations south of Mosul. On ISIS’ side of the fight, there have been reports of a growing network of tunnels leaving the city. The terrorist outfit has also allowed wounded fighters to leave Mosul and freed prisoners jailed for low-level offenses. The militants were also taking measures to combat the effectiveness of airstrikes. Skirmishes flared outside Mosul in the days leading up to the battle, and Sunday brought several signs that the fight for Mosul was near, including an airstrike on one of the city’s main bridges. Not only did Abadi declare, “God willing, the decisive battle will begin soon,” but leaflets proclaiming, “It’s victory time,” also rained over the city Sunday. Related video Mosul awaits assault on ISIS The 30,000-strong force tasked with recapturing the largest city under the terrorist group’s control comprises many groups, with the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga making up the bulk. Iraqi security forces are expected to lead the ground campaign with the backing of coalition airstrikes and advisers, US officials have said. Once Abadi announced the offensive had begun, Brett McGurk, the US State Department’s special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIS, acknowledged in a tweet the operation aimed to end “two years of darkness under (ISIS) terrorists.” “Godspeed to the heroic Iraqi forces, Kurdish #Peshmerga, and #Ninewa volunteers. We are proud to stand with you in this historic operation,’ he wrote in a second tweet. Godspeed to the heroic Iraqi forces, Kurdish #Peshmerga, and #Ninewa volunteers. We are proud to stand with you in this historic operation. The US recently announced the deployment of 600 additional troops to aid in the city’s capture. The deployment brings the number of US personnel to more than 5,200, the Pentagon says. “There are no major objectives after that,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said. “This is it. This is the last big holdout in Iraq for (ISIS).” Before becoming the top prize in the Iraqi portion of the militant group’s self-declared caliphate, Mosul was inhabited by more than 2 million people. About 1 million residents remain today – in the clutches of an organization known to use civilians as shields. The UN refugee agency says most of the remaining residents could flee once the fighting is underway, creating what a UN representative says could be “one of the largest man-made displacement crises of recent times.” Related article Iraq: Families flee ahead of battle for ISIS-held Hawija Camps are being set up to accommodate the refugees, who will need transport and basic necessities once the Iraqi security forces and Peshmerga screen them as they leave the city. Abadi told CNN in September that forces “are planning for a fight for many months.” Some Peshmerga commanders have predicted it will take at least three months to clear the city as ISIS leaves sleeper cells behind. Others expect a quicker victory, with ISIS leaders retreating to the desert west of Mosul. Bracing for the offensive, ISIS in recent days allowed wounded fighters in Mosul to move to Raqqa, Syria, the group’s de facto capital, a source inside Mosul said. Related video ISIS sets oil wells on fire ISIS also released some low-level prisoners, including those jailed for their beards, cigarettes or clothing, the source added. A tunnel network large enough to accommodate motorbikes stretches from the outskirts of the city to the nearby village of Hamdania, according to the source. US military officials estimate there are 3,500 to 5,000 ISIS fighters in Mosul. ISIS supporters put the number at 7,000. Plumes of black smoke rose from oil-filled trenches on fire outside northeastern Mosul, an attempt by ISIS to obscure its fighters’ positions during airstrikes, military sources said. In northern Iraq, the main road to Mosul is dotted with villages deserted in expectation of the fight. At checkpoints, ISIS fighters wore masks to disguise their identities in what is seen as a sign of decreasing confidence, as well as concerns about retaliation from Mosul residents. There is concern among diplomats and Kurdish officials about plans for stabilizing and governing Mosul once ISIS is evicted, and according to US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a holding force of about 15,000 Sunni elements was being trained and equipped to secure the city once it’s liberated. The push to Mosul is being felt more than 200 miles south, in Baghdad, where ISIS has launched suicide attacks. At least 34 people were killed in a Saturday suicide bombing at a Shiite gathering in the capital, police sources said. Mosul, a city almost 3,000 years old, would represent ISIS’ last stand in Iraq. Though ISIS seeks to create an Islamic caliphate, it has lost considerable territory in the past two years, being driven out of Tikrit, Ramadi and Falluja. Kurdish forces have dug in to the east, north and west of Mosul, and Iraqi forces have been moving slowly from the south. Iraqi security forces also recently recaptured the Qayyara oil refinery and seized the Qayyara airbase, Iraq’s third-largest. The airbase is expected to be a vital staging ground in the battle for Mosul. On Friday, Abadi visited oil-rich Kirkuk province, where he met with leaders ahead of the operation to liberate the ISIS-controlled city of Hawija, about 100 miles south of Mosul. It has been under ISIS control since 2014, and Iraqi security forces estimate about 1,200 ISIS fighters occupy the city and nearby villages. Abadi inspected military units and spoke to security officials. He said he was preparing for a military operation to take back more cities from ISIS. Having nearly cleared ISIS from Anbar and Salaheddin provinces, the retaking of Hawija would be a coup as it would lessen or eliminate the threat to Iraqi and Peshmerga forces who would have their backs to the city during the battle for Mosul. CNN’s Arwa Damon, Ben Wedeman, Hamdi Alkhshali, Daniel Nikbakht, Susanna Capelouto, Nick Paton Walsh, Ghazi Balkiz and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

Iraqi government offensive to liberate Mosul from ISIS


A new study says saturated fats don’t clog arteries. So go ahead and fry up that bacon guilt-free while you catch up on the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) A federal judge blocked President Trump’s attempt to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities. The ruling – a preliminary injunction against Trump’s executive order signed in January –  is just the latest bad news for the administration on the immigration front. The judge said the cities and other jurisdictions, which don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts, would be harmed if the President’s order goes into effect and that their constitutional challenge of the order would probably succeed. The White House called the ruling an “egregious overreach by a single, unelected district judge.” The Russia probe is heating back up. The House Oversight Committee looking into meddling in the US election says retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s ex-national security adviser, probably broke the law when he failed to disclose more than $45,000 in payments from Russia for a speech he gave on Russian state TV. Meantime, ex-acting Attorney General Sally Yates will testify next month before a Senate committee that’s looking into Russian interference in last year’s election. Yates is expected to talk about phone calls between Flynn and a Russian ambassador. Need a refresher on all the players? Here you go. Maybe we’ll have a government shutdown after all. The threat of a shutdown eased somewhat when President Trump backed down from demanding that border wall funding be included in the spending bill that Congress must pass by Friday to keep the government running. Now Democrats are saying they won’t vote for the bill unless money for Obamacare subsidies is included. Subsidies help make health care more affordable for low-income enrollees. The fight comes as House Republicans are trying to revive Obamacare negotiations. While the US faces off against Canada over timber tariffs, it lost a battle with Mexico over tuna. The World Trade Organization ruled that Mexico could hit the US with $163 million a year in sanctions. Mexico says that’s how much it has lost because the US penalizes Mexican tuna, which America says is fished using a method that kills dolphins. Mexico says it plays by the rules. The timing is sensitive, as President Trump says he wants to renegotiate NAFTA. We’ve entered a brave new world. Police arrested a man in his wife’s killing – based on evidence found in her Fitbit. He had told police that intruders attacked him and killed his wife, but the Fitbit showed she was moving around when, based on his story, she would have been dead. Technology is turning up more and more in criminal cases, like Amazon Echo recordings used in an Arkansas murder case and a pacemaker used in an Ohio arson case. People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. Buckle up Uber has unveiled plans to develop flying car prototypes by 2020. Science fiction said we’d have them by now, but we can wait a few years. Run the world Beyonce’s latest project isn’t a new album or a sizzling music video. It’s four college scholarships for young women. Mural madness There’s a new mural of Michelle Obama in Chicago, and some folks are PO’d about it, but not for the reasons you’d think. Last in line Congrats, United. Despite that whole dragging-a-passenger-off-the-plane thing, you’re still not America’s least-liked airline. A good deed She lost a $676 money order. He found it and gave it back. She gave him $40 as a reward, then listened to his story and realized she needed to do more. Pok-e-what? This dad knows nothing about Pokemon, so of course he’s the perfect person to explain the phenomenon to you. (Click to view)


Editor’s Note: CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem is a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School, a former assistant secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration and founder of Kayyem Solutions, a security consulting firm. She is the host of the “Security Mom” podcast and author of a forthcoming book, “Security Mom: An Unclassified Guide to Protecting Our Homeland and Your Home.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. Dozens were killed in Brussels on Tuesday in attacks on airport, subway station Juliette Kayyem: Too many soft targets in Europe and the United States to ensure complete security The attacks Tuesday morning on the airport and a subway station in Brussels were highly probable, and at the same time almost impossible to disrupt. That oxymoron is what makes this wave of terrorism the most dangerous in history, and so different from even the days of al Qaeda. As I wrote last week, the arrest on Friday of Paris terrorism suspect Salah Abdeslam was never going to be the end of the fight. Indeed, it could possibly be the beginning of a new wave from ISIS. Because Abdeslam was captured alive, European authorities were likely going to be able to get him to speak and perhaps reveal details about the network that had aided him in the Paris attacks last year and that let him remain in hiding for months after. And even absent any willingness to speak on his part, Belgian officials would have been more than willing to make it appear as if he were cooperating.  Indeed, as early as last weekend, Belgian officials were saying that Abdeslam was “collaborating,” a word that makes it sound like he was more than happy to turn over information. Those in his network, or those who support ISIS, were likely to feel the pressure and launch attacks if they had the opportunity. So why, many are asking, wasn’t Brussels ready for another attack? Basically, no country is ever completely ready. Security has three fundamental attributes in any open society: minimizing risk, maximizing defenses, and maintaining freedom. Officials minimize the risk by sharing intelligence, infiltrating terrorist groups and trying to disrupt them. They maximize defenses by deploying more police and counterterrorism officials, managing borders, and hardening targets as much as practicable. The challenge is always the third variable. Open societies that rely on the flow of people and goods, that are plugged into the global market and engaged with the world, can’t possibly harden every place where people gather. As a result, they are constantly balancing the need for counterterrorism efforts against the freedom of movement. Related article Key clue in Brussels attacks: The explosives This is true even for airports, which are essentially porous until you get to the security check. They are places where people congregate; there are stores and restaurants where people meet and relax. Departure areas such as the one at Zaventem airport in Brussels are meant to allow people to move quickly so that passengers on their way to flights can check their luggage and head to security, allowing for the next batch of people. In the United States alone, about 2 million people travel each day in and out of our airports. Our system of commerce and travel would come to a standstill if we essentially pushed out security to the highways outside an airport. The same holds for the metropolitan transit systems. Yes, they can be made safer with security checks of passengers, but a 20-minute train ride would then become an hour or more. And the public, despite the threat of attacks, would simply not tolerate this. The focus on airplane security that we have seen since 9/11 was of course aimed at ensuring that the airplane itself was not utilized as a weapon of mass destruction.  But an airport does not have the same luxury, not if countries want and need to maintain their commitment to movement. That is why the only option for Brussels right now is the exact opposite: a total shutdown of the airport.  It’s like an on/off switch, with little room in between. The reality is that there are just too many soft targets in Europe and the United States to ensure complete security. It is the way our system of freedom has been built. Sadly, as the attacks Tuesday showed, that is also why it is so vulnerable. Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.Read CNNOpinion’s Flipboard magazine.


Editor’s Note: Page Pate, a CNN legal analyst, is a criminal defense and constitutional lawyer based in Atlanta. He is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Georgia, a founding member of the Georgia Innocence Project, a former board member of the Federal Defender Program in Atlanta, and the former chairman of the criminal law section of the Atlanta Bar Association. Follow him on Twitter @pagepate. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his. Michael Flynn is expected to plead the Fifth and refuse to comply with a Senate subpoena Page Pate: Congress should grant Flynn immunity, so he can begin to answer questions regarding potential Russia-Trump campaign collusion Michael Flynn has a story to tell, but we may never get to hear it. According to his lawyer, Flynn plans to invoke his Fifth Amendment right and refuse to comply with a document subpoena from the Senate, unless and until he is granted immunity. So far, senators haven’t been willing to take Flynn up on his offer. But they should. Flynn could produce valuable information into alleged ties between the Russian government and the Donald Trump campaign. But Flynn doesn’t have to talk to Congress or anyone else about this case if he doesn’t want to. He has a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The Fifth Amendment also protects Flynn if he refuses to produce documents requested by a subpoena. Flynn only needs to show that “the act of producing” the documents may be incriminating, and that he has a realistic chance of being prosecuted. The threat of prosecution for Flynn is real. This week, House Democrats released a letter suggesting the former national security adviser made a false statement to investigators when renewing his security classification. If Flynn told investigators that his trip to Moscow was paid for by “US companies” when it was in fact sponsored by a Russian media outlet, then he lied. And if he lied to these investigators, he committed a federal felony offense. Even before this letter was released, we knew two things about Flynn’s actions that could point to a crime – he received a significant amount of money from foreign sources – the Russian media outlet RT and the Turkish government – without disclosing those payments, and he did not disclose his foreign contacts as he was required to do on his security clearance form. Add an alleged false statement charge to the mix, and you have a hat trick of felonies. Flynn may be stone-cold guilty, but that doesn’t mean he must be prosecuted. He could be a valuable source of information for both Congress and the special counsel. Flynn can presumably provide information about who else in the White House – if anyone – may have known about his foreign compensation and contacts and his later failure to disclose them. He may also know about any Russian involvement with the Trump campaign or transition team. Related article Trump can't waft away stench of Flynn scandal In other words, Flynn is exactly the kind of high-level insider that prosecutors love to flip. I’m sure what Flynn and his lawyer really want is complete immunity from prosecution. Only Robert Mueller, the recently appointed special counsel, can give him that. There are a variety of factors that Mueller will likely consider before deciding to give Flynn complete immunity, though, at this stage of the investigation, it’s far too early for Mueller to make that call. But it’s not too early for Congress to agree to Flynn’s request to grant him a more limited type of immunity that will allow Flynn to produce documents and testify before Congress without fear that his statements, or his production of documents, will be later used as evidence to prosecute him. And, frankly, this is the only way Congress can get what it wants from Flynn. Once he has immunity, then Congress can force him to comply with the subpoena under threat of a real contempt action – being sent to jail. Though Congress could hold Flynn in contempt now, they have no power to send him to jail for refusing to turn over the requested documents. Congress needs the cooperation of the Justice Department or the special counsel to hold Flynn in criminal contempt. And they also need a judge willing to enforce it. At this point, a judge would be reluctant to hold Flynn in contempt because he has a legitimate Fifth Amendment right to not produce the requested documents. But if Flynn gets immunity, he cannot hide behind the Fifth Amendment. With immunity, Congress can also require him to personally appear before them and answer questions about what he did, why he did it and who else may have known about it. Sign up for CNN Opinion’s new newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook If you think that Flynn shouldn’t be able to completely avoid prosecution just so Congress can get its hands on these answers, don’t worry. Unlike the complete immunity from prosecution that Mueller can grant, a grant of limited immunity from Congress in this situation isn’t a “get out of jail free” card. Although it may make things a little messier, Flynn can still be prosecuted by Mueller if there is enough evidence to show he committed a crime. Congress has an opportunity to get the documents it wants and to hear Flynn’s story about who knew what and when during the campaign. All Flynn wants in return is a little bit of immunity. That’s a small price to pay for what may be a blockbuster of a story.


Germany has seen protests over alleged kidnapping and rape of Russian-speaking teen in Berlin Prosecutors in Berlin say the alleged crime did not occur as reported by Russian media Russia's Foreign Minister has accused German officials of a politically-motivated cover up Russia’s foreign minister has poured oil on a firestorm surrounding the alleged kidnapping and rape of a Russian-speaking teenager by asylum seekers in Berlin, charging that there’s been a cover-up by German officials who say the crime never took place. Members of Germany’s Russian-speaking community and right-wing activists took to the streets of German cities in angry protests over the weekend, following Russian media reports, widely circulated on social media, that a 13-year-old girl had been abducted for 30 hours and gang-raped by Arab men in Berlin earlier this month. They carried signs reading “We want security” and “Our children are in danger.” The Berlin prosecutor’s office says the incident did not occur as the Russian reports and protesters claim. A representative for the prosecutor’s office said that the Russian-speaking girl had been reported as missing by her family when she disappeared on January 11. When she returned, following a 30-hour absence, she claimed to have been kidnapped and raped. But a subsequent medical exam found no evidence of rape or sexual intercourse, and the girl changed her story. The prosecutor’s office said investigators were still not clear where the girl was or what she was doing during her absence. But her answers to their questions led authorities to believe she may have had sex prior to her disappearance, which, due to her age, would be classified as child abuse or statutory rape, the representative said. Police and prosecutors were investigating two men as suspects in relation to this, the representative said, but no further details on their identity were available. Despite German authorities having poured cold water on the accounts circulating on social media, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov waded in to the debate on the case at a news conference in Moscow Tuesday, accusing German officials of covering up the incident. “I hope these issues do not get swept under the rug, repeating the situation when a Russian girl’s disappearance in Germany was hushed up for a long time for some reason,” he said. He said Russian officials were communicating with the girl’s lawyer, who was working with the girl’s family and the Russian Embassy in Germany. Related video Responding to New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne “It is clear that [she] did not exactly decide voluntarily to disappear for 30 hours. Truth and justice must prevail here,” said Lavrov. He said Russia wished Germany “success in dealing with the enormous problems caused by migrants.” “I truly hope that these migration problems will not lead to attempts to ‘gloss over’ reality for political motives – that would be just wrong,” he said. “Problems need to be laid out honestly and admitted to the voters, open and clear solutions need to be proposed.” German government officials hit back at a news conference on Wednesday, accusing the Russian foreign minister of politicizing the case. German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said he had full confidence in Berlin police and prosecutors’ handling of the case – but said he could not make the same claim about sections of the Russian media. He urged politicians, the media and the girl’s family to bear in mind “that this is about a 13-year-old girl, and it surely cannot be in her interest to somehow exploit this politically.” Sex crimes by migrants have become a hot-button issue in Germany this month as the country reels from a wave of mob sex assaults blamed on migrants on New Year’s Eve. Related video Refugees suspected in wave of sexual assaults More than 900 people reported being attacked by men of North African or Arab appearance during New Year’s Eve festivities in the city of Cologne, with 523 of them reporting having been sexually assaulted. Similar attacks were reported in other German cities. The attacks prompted a wave of criticism of authorities and the media, who were accused of being slow to acknowledge the crime wave had occurred due to a sense of political correctness. Cologne’s police chief lost his job over his handling of the episode, and a German broadcaster apologized publicly for their tardy coverage. Germany, Europe’s political and economic powerhouse, is one of the most desirable destinations for migrants who have entered the continent in unprecedented numbers over the past year. Under Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hospitable policies, the country has taken in the bulk of the more than 1 million migrants who entered Europe’s borders in 2015. CNN’s Atika Shubert, Olga Pavlova and Carol Jordan contributed to this report.


"We've had times throughout our history where anti-immigration sentiment is exploited by demagogues," Obama said Obama has increasingly criticized Trump in recent public remarks President Barack Obama said Wednesday he believes the United States will continue to be a “nation of immigrants” despite attempts to exploit “anti-immigration sentiment” – a thinly-veiled swipe at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Obama, who was speaking in Ottawa, Canada, at a North American leaders’ summit was asked if he discussed Trump’s “anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican rhetoric” during his meetings with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “We’ve had times throughout our history where anti-immigration sentiment is exploited by demagogues,” he said at a news conference. “The language is identical. But guess what? They kept coming, and they kept coming because America offered possibility for their children and grandchildren.” Obama added, “America is a nation of immigrants. That’s our strength. Unless you are a Native American, somebody, somewhere in your past showed up from someplace else, and they didn’t always have papers.” “And the genius of America has been to define ourselves not by what we look like or what our last name is or our faith but our adherence to a common creed,” he added. The President took a swipe at Trump’s populist message – though he didn’t mention the candidate by name – by questioning how the real estate mogul had ever worked to improve the lives of working Americans. “Somebody else, who has never shown any regard for workers, has never fought on behalf of social justice issues … they don’t suddenly become a populist because they say something controversial in order to win votes,” Obama said. “That’s not a measure of populism. That’s nativism, or xenophobia, or worse. Or it’s just cynicism.” “Let’s just be clear that somebody who labels us versus them, or engaged in rhetoric about how we’re going to look after ourselves, or take it to the other guy, that’s not the definition of populism,” Obama added. “Sorry.” Obama has increasingly criticized Trump in recent public remarks. “Isolating or disparaging Muslims, suggesting that they should be treated differently when it comes to entering this country, that is not just a betrayal of our values. That’s not just a betrayal of who we are – it would alienate the very communities at home and abroad who are our most important partners in the fight against extremism,” Obama said in May while delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University. And earlier this month, Obama lit into Trump over the billionaire’s calls for tough action in the fight against terrorism, particularly his ban on Muslims from entering the U.S. “That’s not the America we want,” he said. “It doesn’t reflect our democratic ideals. It will make us less safe.”


Veterans were given bonuses that shouldn't have been offered to them "Our military heroes should not shoulder the burden of military recruiters' faults," Rep. McCarthy says Ten years after the Pentagon enticed soldiers to reenlist by offering hefty bonuses, officials are demanding thousands of those veterans pay the money back. Christopher Van Meter is one of the affected veterans in California. He earned a Purple Heart after he was hurled from an armored vehicle in Iraq. By 2007, he had already served 15 years in the Army and was about to retire – until the military encouraged him to reenlist. “They entice you with another reenlistment bonus. Those bonuses were … around $15,000,” Van Meter told CNN’s “New Day” on Monday. “We were in the Iraq and Afghanistan war at the time. And they wanted to keep soldiers in the military.” But years later, officials realized Van Meter and thousands of other veterans were not actually eligible for the bonuses they were given. The Los Angeles Times reported that only soldiers with certain assignments – for example, intelligence, civil affairs and some noncommissioned officer posts – were supposed to get bonuses. But investigators uncovered rampant fraud and mismanagement by California Guard officials trying to meet enlistment targets. The California Guard’s incentive manager, retired Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, pleaded guilty in 2011 to filing false claims of $15.2 million, the Department of Justice said in a statement. “When she pleaded guilty, Jaffe admitted that from the fall of 2007 through October 2009, she routinely submitted false and fictitious claims on behalf of her fellow California National Guard members,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. “Jaffe admitted that she submitted claims to pay bonuses to members of the California National Guard whom she knew were not eligible to receive the bonuses and to pay off officer’s loans, even though she knew the officers were ineligible for loan repayment.” In 2012, the sergeant was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. Three officers also pleaded guilty to fraud and were put on probation after paying restitution, the Times reported. But, now, thousands of soldiers are paying the real price. Related video Obama: We are working to decrease veteran suicides Van Meter, the Purple Heart recipient, was floored when he got a letter saying he owed a combined $46,000 – including the $15,000 reenlistment bonus, a student loan and an officer bonus. “They tacked on a 1% processing fee into that,” he said. “It’s gut-wrenching because you have to figure out what you’re going to do and how you’re going to survive.” Van Meter said after he retired in 2013, he had three years to pay off the debt. “We were paying upward $1,300 a month back to that recoupment. We weren’t able to afford everything – food for the kids, a day care.” Eventually, he and his wife decided to refinance their mortgage to pay off the surprise debt. Van Meter’s family is far from alone. According to the Los Angeles Times, the California Guard has told 9,700 current and retired soldiers to repay some or all of their bonuses. But Col. Michael Piazzoni, commander of the Soldier Incentive Assistance Center, which performed the audit, said the number is actually lower. Of about 11,000 soldiers included in the audit, 1,100 were found to have received unauthorized payments that they have to pay back; 5,400 soldiers were found to have missing paperwork or lack of documentation of eligibility, and may have to pay back that money. About 4,000 soldiers were found to be eligible for payments they received. So far, auditors have confirmed 2,300 unauthorized bonus payments to about 2,000 soldiers, amounting to at least $22 million in unauthorized bonuses. This number includes 1,100 soldiers who received unauthorized payments and those from the 5,400 figure who could not show proof. If the remaining recipients do not produce proper documentation showing they were eligible, they could be liable to pay back those amounts to the Defense Department. The California National Guard said it can’t just ignore the debts – even if it wants to. “The bonus audit and recoupment process is a federal program governed and adjudicated by the National Guard Bureau and the Department of the Army. The California National Guard does not have the authority to unilaterally waive these debts,” it said in a statement. “However, the California National Guard welcomes any law passed by Congress to waive these debts. Until that time, our priority is to advocate for our soldiers during this difficult process.” The affected soldiers can petition to have the debt waived, Defense Department spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said. The military has the authority to waive individual repayments on one by one basis but it does not have the authority to issue blanket waivers, he said. The Pentagon urged service members to take advantage of the appeals process while it works with the Army, the National Guard Bureau, the California Army National Guard and “other relevant authorities to resolve these issues,” spokeswoman Laura Ochoa said. Van Meter told CNN said he has petitioned multiple times, but “to no avail.” California senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer urged the Defense Department to use its authority to waive repayment. “They (soldiers) accepted these incentive payments in good faith and at the height of the Iraq War, when the Department was having difficulty retaining service members,” they said in a statement. “Many of these individuals paid a heavy price for their service – including severe injuries sustained after reenlisting. Now they are facing interest charges, wage garnishment, tax liens, and other penalties.” Related video Veteran gets double arm transplant It’s unclear whether Congress will take any action on the issue when members return from election recess next month, the Military Times reported. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said he, too, is appalled. “Our military heroes should not shoulder the burden of military recruiters’ faults from over a decade ago,” he said. “They should not owe for what was promised during a difficult time in our country. Rather, we are the ones who owe a debt for the great sacrifices our heroes have made.” CNN’s Ryan Browne, Drew Griffin, Patricia DiCarlo and Alisyn Camerota contributed to this report.


Trans-Siberian railway spans eight time zones, covers more than 5,000 miles Lesser-known detours include Trans-Manchurian route through China's Rust Belt region A century ago, a turbulent Russia was only months away from the simmering discontent among the impoverished peasant population that erupted into the Bolshevik Revolution. The doomed final Tsar, Nicholas II, soon to be executed along with his entire family, had just completed perhaps his grandest legacy: a continuous railway line connecting Moscow to Vladivostok on the far eastern coast of Siberia. One hundred years on, the railway line, spanning eight time zones and covering more than 5,000 miles of track, continues to beguile as a vital artery linking together the largest nation on earth. But beyond the classic sites of Lake Baikal, the Kremlin and Vladivostok, there’s a wealth of lesser-known corners and detours on this epic journey. The Trans-Siberian is actually just an umbrella term for a variety of routes that commence in Moscow. As well as the “classic” Moscow to Vladivostok route there’s also the Trans-Mongolian line, which dips south after Lake Baikal, crossing through Mongolia into the Gobi Desert and through the Chinese border, eventually stopping in Beijing. Infinitely more obscure however are two branch lines that, although easy to book tickets for, are seldom used by non-Russians. The Trans-Manchurian route goes through the Chinese Rust Belt region from the Russian border at Manzhouli to Beijing, passing through Harbin, a fascinating city where, incredibly for auto-obsessed China, the main drag is pedestrianized. The wealth of 19th century churches and synagogues is a melange of Chinese and Russian influences bedded together in relative harmony. Mustang: A Himalayan kingdom forgotten by time This is the ultimate combination of obscurity and pointlessness in train form. Only completed in the early 1990s, the Baikal-Amur Line took three attempts and half a century to complete. Only a handful of trains now make a tortoise-paced journey on what was intended to be an alternative route from Lake Baikal to the Pacific coast. Running for 2,300 miles the journey heads through pristine taiga forest, marshes and almost-deserted villages consisting of little more than a dozen or so clapboard houses. Conventional sights are virtually nil for visitors but that’s not really the point. This is a chance to see genuinely unknown Siberia where, alighting in the BAM administration capital Tynda or the wide Soviet boulevards of Komsomolsk-na-Amure, “tourism” is still a relatively unknown concept. Sacred sea: Russia’s vast and remote Lake Baikal Closed to outsiders until nearly a decade after the fall of the USSR due to its nuclear reactors, Krasnoyarsk is missed by many Trans-Sib travelers who stay on the train until Lake Baikal. The center, however, is a beguiling combination of Soviet tidiness and Tsarist era timber wooden mansions all set amid a backdrop of jagged low hills. The gargantuan hulk of the SV Nikolai is docked in the naval waters of the Yenisei River on which a young Lenin traveled on when forced into Siberian exile by the Tsar. Tour guide Nadya Arlashina is just one local who thinks the city deserves a higher profile. “So few people know about the strange volcanic rock formations that we call ‘stolby,’” she remarks. “They look like giant fingers and are all over a huge park outside the city. The best way to see them is to go by a ski-lift, which runs all year round in the park.” 9 of Asia’s most underrated attractions The mercantile hustle of modern Russia isn’t yet so apparent when you get this far east in Siberia. Standing inert and looking patricianly in the center of Ulan Ude’s vast city square is an immense bust of Lenin – the biggest on earth at more than seven and a half meters in height. The capital of the Buryat region, the Buddhist temples and narrow side streets are a strong taster of what’s to come further south in Mongolia. The city’s grandiose Opera and Ballet Theater is a colossal circular pile decorated with swirling bas-reliefs and frescoes. Built in the Stalin era there are, unusually, still a few small symbols of Uncle Joe’s face lurking amid the masonry. As the taiga gives way to dragon toothed, treeless peaks in these parts, the panoramic view over the city from the heights of the modern Rinpoche Bagsha Datsan temple is given a melodic edge by the bell ringing and chanting from the Tibetan monks worshiping here. Look carefully and you may well find them charging their mobile phones underneath their oblong prayer books. Spotlight Russia: 7 golden travel tips The city where Russia’s first elected president, Boris Yeltsin, arrived on the political scene, serving as mayor in the late 1970s, Yekaterinburg has great infamy as the location for the execution of the last Tsar and his family in a basement in 1917. There’s now a handsome Orthodox church on the spot of the murders. But, according to local tour guide Marina Monsentseva, this city has long been unfairly ignored by Trans-Siberian travelers: “This is actually one of the wealthiest cities in Russia today. “It still looks quite Soviet but the city has a reputation for working hard and playing hard. “I love the new ‘Loft’ performance and art space, which is in the huge building that used to house the local newspaper. “The city has its own Banksy-type figure called Old Man Bukashkin. He died in 2005 but you can see the works he painted on garages and walls on a Bukashkin trail in the city.” Otherworldly travel destinations here on Earth If the idea of getting morning coffee from a samovar in a corridor or bartering for smoked fish on railway station platform’s doesn’t appeal, then there’s a solitary luxury train that follows the route from Moscow through Siberia and Mongolia and all the way to Beijing. The Tsar’s Gold is run by a German company and, through the summer months, takes about 180 visitors on the entire route on a 16-day trip. The plus side is that the carriages (in five different classes) are decorated in Tsarist style drapes and blankets, the food is in the form of four-course dinners in chandelier-lit restaurant cars and the train stops daily so travelers can spend hours in each destination on route. The minus point is that it doesn’t come cheap. Sharing a cabin in the lowest class on the train costs a shade more than $4,000 per person. For the double beds, en suite showers and in-cabin flat screen TVs of Bolshoi Platinum class, tickets go up to $15,000 per person. 11 of the world’s most luxurious train journeys 31 must-see places around the world Rob Crossan is a freelance journalist and radio presenter based in Stockwell, South London.


Two years after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff scrapped a state visit to the White House, she and President Barack Obama are trying to make amends Tuesday. Rousseff met with and speaking alongside Obama as part of an attempt to move past the spying revelations that led Rousseff to abruptly cancel a Brazilian trip in September 2013. Information leaked by security contractor Edward Snowden revealed that American authorities had been spying on her communications. Rousseff eventually asked for an apology, “We recognize that the U.S.-Brazil relationship went through a turbulent patch after the disclosures that took place related to U.S. intelligence activities a couple of years ago,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters Monday. “So this visit I think really does indicate the extent to which we’ve turned the page and are moving forward.” On Tuesday, both leaders presented a unified front on trade and climate issues. “As two of the world’s largest economies, we understand that lasting prosperity and confronting the injustices of poverty and inequality can only come when we invest in our people,” Obama said at the top of his remarks. READ: France summons U.S. ambassador after reports U.S. spied on presidents He added, however, that “We have not made it a practice to issue apologies related to our surveillance activities.” He continued, “What the President has done, though, is make changes based upon his very thorough review of our various programs.” Rhodes conceded that frays in the relationship have thwarted progress on issues that should not have been difficult to make inroads on. The bilateral leaders this week will discuss global trade and efforts to combat climate change, among other issues. While Rhodes did not say the White House would push Brazil to cut its emissions ahead of an upcoming Paris climate change conference in which specific commitments by countries to cut emissions are sought, he described the meeting as a “key milestone” before the negotiations. The pair will also look to broaden the trade relationship between the two Western Hemisphere powers, a topic the leaders were supposed to approach back in 2013.


Legendary Sufi mystic and poet Rumi is an icon of the Muslim world He is rapidly gaining popularity in the West Rumi's work is inspiring a new generation of artists, and could improve interfaith relations “Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere, they’re in each other all along.” “My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there.” The ecstatic poetry of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi could have been written for the social media age, rather than the 13th century, such is its pithy and quotable nature. The Sufi mystic known as Mevlana (Master) composed thousands of stirring verses exploring love and oneness that inspired a religion known as the Mevlevi Order. His masterwork the “Masnavi,” an epic collection of 27,000 verses published in six volumes, has been described as the “Quran in Persian tongue.” Over 700 years later, his words have not lost their power. Translations of his poems are best sellers across the world. A major Hollywood movie of his life is in the works, and social media pages that post his lines have millions of followers. The distinctive whirling dance form he invented is being practiced in new chapters across the world. Rumi is enjoying a spectacular resurgence. The capital of Rumi appreciation at this time of year is Konya, in southern Turkey, where the poet produced his major works and was buried in 1273. Hundreds of thousands of admirers flood into the town for the Mevlana Festival, a vibrant 10-day celebration of his life that features readings, concerts, and performances. The main attraction each year is a performance of the famous Whirling Dervishes on the closing night of December 17 commemorating the date of Rumi’s death – the so-called “wedding night” of his reunion with God. The Whirling Dervishes are Mevlevi; the Sufi Muslim sect created by Rumi’s son Sultan Walad to follow his teachings. Their rituals are modeled on the ecstatic states he entered while composing poetry. The trance-like ceremony is listed as intangible heritage by UNESCO. Under the colored lights of the Grand Mevlana Cultural Centre, dozens of  Dervishes dance through phases of transformation towards spiritual maturity, extending their arms to the sky in supplication to the almighty, their white-robed fanning out into spinning circles. The intensely physical – not to mention dizzying – display has been compared to military training. “The festival brings the global community together,” says Gevher Celebi, a direct descendent of Rumi and an organizer of the festival through the International Mevlana Foundation, which studies and preserves Mevlevi heritage. “The audiences are growing and the whole city becomes very busy.” For 600 years the Mevlevi enjoyed pre-eminence in Konya and the Ottoman Empire after Rumi’s death, and they left a strong cultural legacy. “Most of the fine arts of the Ottoman Empire were cultivated by Mevlevi Sufis (including) music and calligraphy,” says Dr Leonard Lewisohn, senior lecturer in Persian and Sufi literature at the University of Exter, and editor of the Mevlana Rumi Review. “Mevlevi were of the highest rank in the Ottoman state.” But President Kemal Ataturk banned the Mevlevi Order in 1923, as part of his vision for a secular Turkish state, and the ceremonies are now permitted only as cultural displays. “The religion went underground,” says Celebi. The Mevlevi also responded to the crackdown by branching out, establishing bases in Syria, and other far-flung locations from the UK to Colombia. “A Mevlevi sheikh traveled to London in 1963 and taught the ceremony to 60 people,” says Philip Jacobs, head of the London Whirling Dervish group. “The ceremonies have continued ever since.” “He gave it to us to look after, as long as we kept (the ritual) in its original form.” The head of the International Mevlana Foundation estimates there are now 101 ceremonial lodges – tekkes – around the world. While Turkey holds the largest official gathering of Rumi devotees, the Master wrote in Persian, and his influence may be greatest in Iran. “(Iranian) people know his poetry and incorporate him into their daily lives,” says Dr. Fatemeh Keshavarz, director of the Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland. “Politicians quote him, there are Rumi lines on radio programs … you can step into a taxi and the driver will be reciting Rumi lines to himself.” Rumi is a dominant influence in Iranian classical music. Renowned performers such as Shahram Nazeri have forged stellar careers based on his work, and his son Hafez has recently picked up the mantle. Less traditional interpretations are also flourishing among Persian artists, in disciplines from jazz to avant-garde cinema and abstract art. The Rumi juggernaut is also gathering pace in the West. Modern English translations have bought Rumi to a wider audience, notably through the work of American poet Coleman Barks, whose Rumi translations have sold over 1.5 million copies. The Sufi leader has even caught on in Hollywood, with celebrities such as Tilda Swinton and Coldplay helping to introduce the Master to popular culture, through public readings and citing his influence on their work. Rumi’s star is set to rise farther through the upcoming movie of his life, which will begin production next year with Oscar-winning screenwriter David Franzoni, who wrote Gladiator (2000) on board, although the movie has courted controversy through the rumored casting of a white actor – Leonardo DiCaprio. The poet’s simple but powerful style is key to explaining his near-universal appeal, according to Brad Gooch, author of the forthcoming biography “Rumi’s Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love.” “It goes back to his resonance, beauty, and infectious kind of intimacy,” he says. Gooch adds that Rumi’s bite-sized couplets are perfectly suited to the digital age. He tweets his own translations and has gained a dedicated following – although still some way short of the leading Facebook page which has over two million followers. Lewisohn believes that despite the spread of Rumi poetry and Mevlevi chapters in the West, the English-speaking world is still only “on the cusp of discovering Rumi” and his popularity will soar in the coming years. A recurrent message in Rumi’s poetry is of tolerance towards other faiths, such as in his line: “There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.” His funeral in Konya was famously attended by Jews and Christians as well as Sufi Muslims. Many followers and scholars of Rumi hope that his ultimate legacy might be to foster improved relations with Muslims in the West and promote interfaith understanding. “I think we are at a point where this material is very much needed,” says Keshavarz. “I see it as a wonderful window and Rumi’s own metaphor is very apt – ‘If you are lost in the desert, look at the stars to find your way.’” “As we seem to keep getting lost, I hope that we look at the stars to find our way, and he is one of the brightest stars we have.”


Trying to recall the most unusual place Miguel Gutierrez set up his stool and offered a haircut during his travels is easy for the man known as the Nomad Barber. “Kurdistan in northern Iraq, we were like 20 minutes from the Iran border and to get there, you have to go through 12 checkpoints,” he says. Though footfall was limited in the remote region, he still managed to give haircuts to some locals. That was just one stop on a 12-month journey he undertook in 2013 when he decided to travel until his money ran out. In just under a year, he traveled to 21 countries on five different continents to discover how a trade, which dates from 3500 B.C. varies across the world. He also set up his stool on the street, in a park or on the beach wherever he went offering haircuts to travelers and locals alike in an effort to interact with those around him, all the while documenting the trip on his own YouTube web series. Beginning his training in the trade as a 16-year-old after receiving disappointing school grades, Gutierrez worked hard and eventually moved to London from his native Liverpool. The secret lives of airplane passengers He worked everywhere from swanky salons in upscale Mayfair to funky places in bohemian Soho. After cementing his reputation, he planned to open his own shop but had the urge to travel before taking on the responsibility of his own business. The only thing holding him back was the fear of not wanting to disappear from the industry altogether and be forgotten by his peers. Inspiration struck when a friend took pictures of a barber cutting hair in cool places and wrote a blog piece about it. The idea snowballed and for Gutierrez, who has an interest in film and photography, all the pieces began to come together. Keen to take the project to another level, he launched a Kickstarter campaign to pay for a cameraman to accompany him. It was a largely spontaneous adventure. “Sometimes we’d use rickshaw drivers to help us translate the barbers or we’d use kids in the street who spoke English,” recalls Gutierrez. “But it was totally improvised every step of the way.” What happens when you’re born on an airplane Beginning his trip in Athens, he moved on to Turkey and traveled throughout Asia and the Middle East. He experienced everything from a basic shave to head and face massages in India and threading and ear hair singeing in Lithuania. He took in barbershop culture in places such as Singapore, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Dubai while also offering his own haircuts in unusual places. Among them a waterfall in Bulgaria. Since wrapping up his hairdressing odyssey, he’s continued to travel, bringing the total number of countries visited to 30. So having experienced countless shaves and haircuts on several continents, which country does his think has the best barber culture? “Probably India,” he says. “I find it like a really interesting place because they have the caste system over there and a lot of the barbers have kind of been born into it, through their fathers and grandfathers doing it.” Dubai’s most decadent restaurants “Also, generally Indian men are quite vain so they like to go to the barber shop a lot. A lot of them don’t shave at home, they just go to the shop because it’s really cheap. “There’s barber shops everywhere, of every style and color and they are very service focused [offering massages and additional perks] as well.” While Gutierrez explains that the foundation of barbering was pretty similar everywhere he went, he did learn a lot about the importance of other services offered. “In India and Turkey, the way they look after their guys and the way people leave the shop feeling relaxed, that’s one thing I took on board and I try and incorporate it into my shops,” he explains. “I always want people to feel they’ve had an experience.” The most unusual practice he experienced? “Probably the most interesting thing that we don’t offer in the UK barbershops is ear cleaning, or they call it ear digging, where they basically lie you back and scrape all the wax out of your ears.” “They say it helps with the respiratory and immune system. The main places we saw it was Thailand and Vietnam.” What struck Gutierrez the most however, was the similarities between barbers wherever he went. Vietnam: Insider Travel Guide “I learnt how different we are but how the same we are all over the world. “It doesn’t matter how you got into it, whether you were born into it, or your family got you into it or you chose to go into it, everyone kind of goes through the same experiences and deals with the same type of clients every day.” And which country had the best groomed males? While men in India and Turkey are very groomed and make trips to the barbershop every two or three days to touch up their look, he says Middle Eastern men, particularly in Dubai where it pays to look good for career purposes, took the coiffuring crown. Having temporarily packed away his suitcase and picked up the scissors again as he prepares to get his second barber shop in Berlin up and running – his first is based in London’s Shoreditch – it seems it won’t be long before Gutierrez is on the move again. “I’m going to be between here and London and then probably going to do a bit more traveling as well” he says. “I want to go back to Asia so will probably visit Japan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, The Philippines, and then back to the States, Brazil, Argentina… there’s so many places!” he laughs. Stay tuned. Are these the world’s sexiest accents? Does being bilingual make you sexy? Halima Ali is a London-based freelance journalist and editor. She tweets @Halima_Ali