THE decision by President Barack Obama to order the American military back into action in West Asia following the military advances of the Islamic State (IS) forces and the beheading of three western nationals in the region, could lead to another full scale war in the region. In the third week of September, the US House of Representatives and the Senate voted to give the American president its approval for the plan to train and arm the so-called “moderate” rebel forces in Syria, without even a semblance of a debate.

A report on the visit of the CPI(M) cadre delegation led by Janardan Pati, member of the Central Committee of the Party, was published in People’s Democracy dated September 29-October 5, 2014. This article is specially on some of the historical places linked to Comrade Mao Zedong that the delegation visited in China.

THE gruesome beheading of three westerners by the Islamic State (IS), previously known as ISIL and ISIS, has once again led to a large scale American military intervention in Iraq. Alarmingly, the US has used the alleged threat posed by the IS to its homeland security to extend the military intervention to Syria. The chorus of right wing voices in the United States has demanded a full scale military intervention in the region. In the videotapes released by the IS on the beheadings, it is a masked man speaking with a pronounced British accent, who carries out the decapitations.

THE Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s tour of South Asia in the third week of September ended with his three day visit to India. Before reaching Indian shores, the Chinese president had visited the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Both sides have described the visit of the Chinese president as successful. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, speaking after the return of President Xi to Beijing, said that “cooperation” between the two countries was the main theme that dominated the summit meeting with the Indian prime minister.

IN what was more or less a replay of the presidential elections held four years ago, Abdullah Abdullah, has once again charged that the election process this time was also deeply flawed and that he was robbed of certain victory. As the voting trends became clear in early July and his main rival building up an unassailable lead, Abdullah dramatically announced that he would refuse to recognise the results of the elections.