Venezuela, once a candidate for 1st World status, has deteriorated to many citizens eating from dustbins to survive. A study found 15% of Venezuelans feed themselves exclusively with ‘food waste discarded by commercial establishments’. 75% of all Venezuelans do not eat a diet of breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. 54 % go to bed hungry, and 52% buy food through the black market. 48% took time off work to search for food. Many believe the severe food shortage is caused by Venezuela’s socialist economy. William Murray, chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, noted that when prices are allowed to rise in accordance with market forces, as in a free enterprise system, demand is reduced to a manageable level. But in Venezuela’s centrally- planned economy, the government does not allow producers to raise prices on their goods to keep up with increases in the cost of production. Therefore, producers cannot afford to produce as much as is needed, and shortages result.

A year after Russia stepped into the Syrian quagmire on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow has challenged the US and NATO in virtually every arena possible. The Russians: - probably bombed a UN humanitarian aid convoy bringing relief, derailing joint US / Russian peace talks; - continue to strike civilian targets with chemical weapons; - sent nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad, Russia’s European enclave; - suspended an agreement with the US to dispose of weapons-grade plutonium because of what they viewed as ‘unfriendly’ acts by the US; - sent missile defence batteries to Syria, and threatened to shoot down US planes flying in Syria without warning; - participated in military drills with China in the South China Sea (where China has illegally annexed and militarised artificial islands); - probably hacked the Democratic National Committee and other US government agencies and leaked information to the public to de-legitimise the USA's upcoming election and destabilise the country at large.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura appealed to Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, to leave Aleppo saying, ‘1,000 of you are deciding the destiny of the 275,000 civilians.’ Jabhat al-Nusra’s role in Aleppo is omitted from most mainstream press accounts. John Kerry said, ‘Russia and the Syrian regime owe the world an explanation as to why they keep hitting hospitals, medical facilities, children and women’. He called for war crimes investigations. The understandable impulse to assist Syrians suffering as a result of war is heartfelt and laudable – but for policymakers, there is also the need to weigh the consequences of military action, reflecting on what was learned from interventions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. Even the establishment of humanitarian or safe zones would entail a ‘major combat mission.’ See also article 4 in the British Isles section.

This month children in Syria are to meet in mass prayer, to end the ‘spiral of death’ that is killing hundreds of people in rebel-held districts of Aleppo. Christian and Muslim boys and girls in Aleppo will join together to pray for an end to the deadly bombing raids, Archbishop Boutros Marayati, head of the Armenian Catholic church in Aleppo, told Agenzia Fides, ‘Many cannot leave Aleppo. New blood will be shed if the powers behind the two warring parties do not decide to really put an end to this dirty war.’ The schoolchildren will sign and fingerprint an appeal begging world rulers to put an end to the massacres. ‘But above all, they will pray. They will pray for all of their peers. And we trust in the fact that children's prayer is more powerful than ours’, said Archbishop Marayati. See also article 1 (on the 4-14 window) in the World section.