Most Recent Posts

Pope Francis is leading a mass prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square Saturday night, building on his calls to avoid violence in the escalating conflict over Syria. Tens of thousands of people have come to the Vatican on what the pontiff has declared a day of fasting and prayer in the name of peace.

Speaking to the crowd Saturday, Francis said that when people withdraw into selfishness, the world fills with violence, division, disagreement and war, according to updates from the Catholic News Service. The agency estimates that when the pope's address began, more than 70,000 people were in St. Peter's Square.

From Rome, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports for our Newscast unit:

"Last Sunday, Pope Francis spoke out in anguish for the victims of a chemical weapons attack in Syria. But he strongly opposes a Western military intervention saying, war begets war, violence begets violence.

"In a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the G-20 countries, the pope asked them to lay aside the futile pursuit of a military solution and to speedily enact initiatives promoting peace through negotiations.

"In addition to tonight's four–hour-long vigil, Francis has urged Christians, believers of other faiths as well as all people of goodwill to join him in fasting for peace in Syria."

America's most powerful European allies agree that Syria should be held responsible for what the U.S. calls a chemical weapons attack on Syrian citizens on Aug. 21. Despite Secretary of State John Kerry's request to support military strikes, members of the European Union believe diplomacy should be the priority.

NPR's Teri Schultz reports for our Newscast unit:

"Seeking to forge a common position on Syria, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says the 28 EU governments are unanimous that the Syrian regime is the likely perpetrator of the Aug. 21 chemical attack and that something must be done.

"'A clear and strong response is needed to make clear such crimes are unacceptable and there can be no impunity,' she says.

"Ashton gave no sign the bloc as a whole is shifting toward support for military action. So far, only France backs possible strikes on the Syrian regime and Ashton welcomed the French promise to delay any moves until U.N. inspectors conclude their report on the attack.

"Asked whether the EU is urging Washington to also wait on U.N. conclusions, Ashton said the ministers didn't ask Secretary Kerry to 'pledge anything.' "

President Obama has come home from the Group of 20 summit with essentially no more international support for a strike on Syria than when he left the U.S.

He spent the last three days in Sweden and Russia, lobbying U.S. allies on the sidelines and on the public stage, with little movement.

The conflict has presented perhaps the biggest challenge yet to Obama's multilateralist inclinations.

'A Hard Sell'

At a press conference Wednesday in Stockholm, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt showed why president Obama's coalition-building effort is an uphill climb. Reinfeldt stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the American president and said, essentially, they won't be shoulder-to-shoulder on Syria.

"Just to remind you, you're now in Sweden, a small country with a deep belief in the United Nations," he said.

But Russia and China are making sure the United Nations Security Council stays gridlocked. On Friday in St. Petersburg, Obama said fine.

"If we are serious about upholding a ban on chemical weapons use, then an international response is required, and that will not come through Security Council action," he said.

But wait, there's more: Everyone assumed that Britain was on board, until Parliament pulled the rug out from under British Prime Minster David Cameron.

Then on Friday afternoon, the White House released a joint statement from about a dozen countries that called for a "strong international response" to Syria's use of chemical weapons, but the statement did not endorse a military strike.

In St. Petersburg, Obama said he would keep pushing. "It's a hard sell, but it's something I believe in."

Multilateral Tendencies

This effort is personal for Obama. It means giving life to words he's been saying from the start of his political career.

"The words of the international community must mean something. Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable," he said in 2009, while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

Four years later, he said almost the exact same thing during this trip: "And so the question is: How credible is the international community when it says this is an international norm that has to be observed?"

Multilateralism has been the foundation of Obama's foreign policy, and not just on issues of war and peace.

As soon as he took office, Obama emphasized the larger Group of 20 major economies over the smaller G-8 forum. He has also tried to balance China's rise by bringing Asia and Latin America into one great big trans-Pacific partnership.

Barry Blechman of the nonpartisan Stimson Center says there are philosophical and economic reasons for this. The U.S. is coming out of a decade of war and an economic recession — acting alone costs money.

"The burdens rightfully should be shared. There's no reason to expect the American people to pay the price of imposing peace and order on the world," Blechman says.

When 'We Must'

This is not the first time Obama's multilateralist philosophy has been tested. During Libya's revolt two years ago, Obama summoned a broad alliance including the Arab League, the U.N. Security Council and more.

"We are acting as part of a coalition that includes close allies and partners who are prepared to meet their responsibility to protect the people of Libya and uphold the mandate of the international community," he said.

More recently, when Islamist fighters overran cities in Mali, French soldiers took the lead. The U.S. provided intelligence and transportation, but never combat support.

Now, in Syria, this strategy seems to have hit a wall. Yet Obama plows ahead, even as one ally after another takes a pass.

"Multilateralism is an important part of his foreign policy," says Dennis Jett, who teaches international affairs at Penn State, "but I always think of the quote from Madeleine Albright: 'Multilaterally whenever we can, unilaterally when we must.'"

And indeed, Obama has said that while he'd prefer an international team, if Congress approves a strike on Syria, he is prepared for America to go it alone.

It sounds like something out of a sit-com – in this case, the original British television version of The Office: jobseekers being compelled to dance for a chance at a sales position at a U.K. electronics retailer.

Applicant Alan Bacon, who hoped for a position at a Currys Megastore in Cardiff, was made to do "rubbish robotics in my suit in front of a group of strangers" to the French electronic duo Daft Punk's "Around the World".

Bacon was quoted by The Mirror as saying that "Another middle-aged guy looked upset as he danced to a rap song."

"Everyone thought it was a joke. But they were serious," Bacon said.

The applicant said he'd spent the week prior to the interview researching the company, "and looking forward to being able to express myself and talk about what I love doing."

Instead, it might have made more sense for him to hit the nightclubs and brush up on the latest moves.

"It was degrading, but I am desperate for work, so I just smiled and got on with it," Bacon said, adding that he told his father it was "like a scene out of The Office."

Currys Megastore on Thursday issued a statement apologizing for the hiring incident:

"We are extremely disappointed that one of the management team at the store in question did not follow our official recruitment processes."

"We are extremely sorry to those interviewees impacted; all are being asked to attend another interview where they will be given a proper opportunity to demonstrate how they can contribute to our business."