Putin, Hollande, urge coalition against Islamic State

Following talks with French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is ready to cooperate with the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) group.

Moscow recently intensified its strikes in Syria after IS claimed it brought down a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai.

“There was little difference in their strategies for fighting the Islamic State, but Hollande was upbeat and can-do, while Obama was discouraging and lawyerly…”

“By failing to countenance use of (U.S.) ground troops to fight ISIS, the president is (consigning) even more people to death when the next ISIS terrorist attack hits, perhaps in the United States”. Both Obama and Hollande insisted that a political transition in Syria must lead to Syrian President Assad’s departure. The European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which both have their headquarters in Brussels, said they would boost security and urged non-essential staff to work from home.

“France will not intervene militarily on the ground”, Hollande said.

“It is crucial in that period to avoid any risk, any incident, and prevent any escalation”, Hollande said.

“On the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, there are words we know so well: ‘Give me your exhausted, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.’ That’s the spirit that makes us American”, Obama said.

The U.S. military has backed up Turkey’s claim that Turkish pilots warned the Russian jet 10 times – but failed to get a response – before shooting it down.

Obama maintained that Turkey had a right to defend its airspace and charged that Russian air activity near the Turkey-Syria border has contributed to the crisis. They can’t beat us on the battlefield, so they try to terrorise us into being afraid, into changing our patterns of behaviour.

Mr Hollande said that the two sides would “scale up” strikes in Syria and Iraq and “strengthen intelligence-sharing regarding the targets”.

“He has been the problem – he can not be the solution”, Hollande said.

Acting on a French resolution, the UN Security Council last week authorized “all necessary measures” to fight ISIL.

Hollande has met with several world leaders this week, including British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday, President Obama in Washington on Tuesday and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday.

His speech is expected to pave the way for a parliamentary vote next week on whether, in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, to expand Britain’s military efforts against the Islamist militants. He also said that next to his bed in the White House is a picture of him kissing his wife Michelle in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. France – with the attacks on Paris, and Russian Federation with the bombing of an airliner over Egypt barely a week before that.

Telephone data placed key suspect Salah Abdeslam in the area the night of the attacks.

Investigators are analyzing the vest, which was found in the Paris suburb of Montrouge, near where Abdeslam’s cell phone was traced on the night of the attacks, Molins said.

Across the border in Belgium, Brussels entered a fourth day of lockdown over fears of an “imminent” terror strike as the manhunt continued for the Belgian-born Abdeslam. Five suspects are already in custody in Belgium on terrorism charges related to the attacks.

More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the country’s civil war and there is evidence the Assad regime has used chemical weapons.