Valdai Club

If sectarianism and social conservatism are the hallmarks of IS, Europe needs to avoid succumbing to similar attitudes itself.  

In recent months there has been much talk of “game-changers” in Syria’s long-running war.   Since August it has been the massive exodus of Syrian civilians to Europe, and the hundreds of family catastrophes as refugees drown in rickety boats or suffocate in locked trucks. Suddenly the war came home to the European public who clamoured for a decent response from their governments and demanded action to end the killing in Syria which made so many families want to escape.

Jeremy Corbyn’s victory marks a major turning-point in British politics which has not only shaken up the Labour party’s traditional elite but also produced confusion in Conservative party ranks as David Cameron and his Cabinet work out how best to react.

Iranians are already moving on to the next set of questions. What will be the consequences of the nuclear deal? Will it be a one-off agreement confined to Iran’s nuclear programme or will it lead to talks between the United States and Iran on a wider set of regional issues, as Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Barack Obama have both hinted?

The 2015 election result increases the chances that Britain may repeat its rejection of the continental model in 2017 and leave the European Union in the referendum which Cameron has promised to hold.

It was true that several tens of thousands of Muscovites were at the White House to show solidarity with Yeltsin and defend it. But this was a tiny proportion of the capital’s population. If everyone else was going about their normal business without protest, could the coup have succeeded?