NLCS NATION FACES Riley HR in 9th Nominee Barrett won’t Actor Jessie Buckley leads Braves past commit to recusing makes a stop in ‘Fargo’ Dodgers in opener from election disputes on her way to the top Back page Page 9 Page 16 Lawmakers seek to extend family separation pay for sailors » Page 6 stripes.com Volume 79, No. 128 ©SS 2020 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2020 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas What the US election will mean for the Middle East BY ISHAAN THAROOR The Washington Post For ordinary people living in the Middle East’s many crisis spots — from war zones in Syria, Yemen and Libya to dysfunction- al, enfeebled states in Lebanon and Iraq — it won’t matter much whether President Donald Trump or his Democratic challenger, for- mer vice president Joe Biden, is in the White House next year. Both the Trump administration and that which Biden ANALYSIS served saw the region’s tangled conflicts and yearned for an escape. Neither managed to do it. Instead, U.S. air campaigns intensified, and U.S. troops remain deployed across numerous countries. For all its stated desire to disentangle itself from the Middle East, Washing- ton has a hard time letting go. But Biden and Trump represent two markedly different futures for some of the region’s political elites, especially the leadership in Israel and a clutch of oil-rich Arab monarchies. They cheered Trump on as he went about up- BY JOHN VANDIVER turning his predecessor Barack Obama’s major accomplishment Stars and Stripes in the region — ceasing Ameri- U.S. fighter jets have taken over a NATO air policing can participation in the Iran mission in the North Atlantic, operating from a base in nuclear deal by reimposing sanc- HIGH ABOVE Iceland that is of growing importance to the alliance as tions and invoking a “maximum it counters an aggressive and expansionist Russia. pressure” campaign on the re- THE F-15 C/D Eagles from 493rd Expeditionary Fighter gime in Tehran. And he pursued Squadron out of RAF Lakenheath in England assumed a new approach to the Israeli- control Monday of the mission at Naval Air Station Ke- Palestinian peace process that flavik , from where they will patrol Icelandic air space. entirely favored the interests of “Aircrews stand prepared to monitor and manage Ice- the Israeli right. Though those ef- HIGH NORTH landic airspace for the next few weeks as they operate forts were met with outrage from and familiarize themselves with the unique geographi- Palestinians, they faced mostly cal location,” the 48th Fight Wing said in a statement. muted protest from Arab leaders F-15s out of Lakenheath patrol skies over Iceland The deployment is part of a NATO mission that began elsewhere. in 2008 with periodic rotations to Iceland. On both those fronts, a Demo- in effort to counter Russian expansion in region SEE ICELAND ON PAGE 5 cratic victory in November could signal a dramatic reversal. A Biden administration would seek An F-15C Eagle assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing flies over Naval Air Station Keflavik, Iceland, on March 16. The wing from to patch up the damage caused by RAF Lakenheath in England is now responsible for patrolling the skies over the NATO ally. Trump on the nuclear deal and cool down tensions with Iran. MATTHEW PLEW/U.S. Air Force SEE ELECTION ON PAGE 5 PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM •STARS AND STRIPES• Wednesday, October 14, 2020 BUSINESS/WEATHER EXCHANGE RATES Facebook bans Holocaust denial, distortion posts Military rates Switzerland (Franc) ............................... 0.9128 Euro costs (Oct. 14) ..............................$1.15 Thailand (Baht) ......................................... 31.23 Dollar buys (Oct. 14) .........................€0.8267 Turkey (New Lira) ................................... 7.9193 British pound (Oct. 14) ........................ $1.28 Associated Press (Military exchange rates are those away. posting one video per day urging Japanese yen (Oct. 14) ......................103.00 available to customers at military banking South Korean won (Oct. 14) ..........1,178.00 facilities in the country of issuance The decision comes amid a him to remove Holocaust-denying Commercial rates Facebook is banning posts that for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the push by Holocaust survivors groups, pages and posts as hate Bahrain (Dinar) ....................................... 0.3770 Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For deny or distort the Holocaust and British pound ........................................ $1.2978 around the world who lent their speech. nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., Canada (Dollar) ....................................... 1.3129 will start directing people to au- purchasing British pounds in Germany), voices to a campaign targeting The testimonials coincided China (Yuan) ............................................ 6.7447 check with your local military banking thoritative sources if they search Denmark (Krone) ................................... 6.3325 Zuckerberg beginning this sum- with an advertising boycott by facility. Commercial rates are interbank Egypt (Pound)....................................... 15.6903 for information about the Nazi rates provided for reference when buying mer, urging him to take action to companies pushing Facebook into Euro ............................................ $1.1754/0.8508 genocide. remove Holocaust denial posts taking a stronger stand against Hong Kong (Dollar) ................................ 7.7530 currency. All figures are foreign currencies to one dollar, except for the British pound, Facebook CEO Mark Zucker- from the social media site. various forms of hate speech and Hungary (Forint) .................................... 306.89 Israel (Shekel) ........................................ 3.3873 which is represented in dollars-to-pound, berg announced the new policy Coordinated by the Confer- extremism around the world. Japan (Yen)............................................... 105.60 and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.) Monday, the latest attempt by the ence on Jewish Material Claims Zuckerberg said in a blog post Kuwait (Dinar) ........................................ 0.3060 INTEREST RATES company to take action against Norway (Krone) ..................................... 9.2043 Against Germany, the #NoDeny- Monday that he believes the new Philippines (Peso) .................................... 48.71 Prime rate ................................................3.25 conspiracy theories and mis- ingIt campaign used Facebook policy strikes the “right balance” Poland (Zloty) .............................................. 3.82 Discount rate ..........................................0.25 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) .............................. 3.7509 Federal funds market rate ...................0.09 information ahead of the U.S. itself to make the survivors’ en- in drawing the lines between what Singapore (Dollar)................................. 1.3598 3-month bill ............................................. 0.10 presidential election three weeks treaties to Zuckerberg heard, is and isn’t acceptable speech. South Korea (Won) ............................ 1,148.56 30-year bond ...........................................1.58 WEATHER OUTLOOK WEDNESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST WEDNESDAY IN EUROPE THURSDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 55/50 Kabul 75/46 Seoul 65/47 Baghdad 95/60 Kandahar 76/38 Osan Tokyo Mildenhall/ Drawsko 61/49 61/58 Lakenheath Pomorskie Busan 55/46 49/46 71/57 Iwakuni 69/62 Kuwait Bahrain Zagan Sasebo City 89/86 Brussels 48/45 Guam 93/69 50/42 Ramstein 69/63 84/81 Lajes, 52/37 Riyadh Doha Azores Stuttgart Pápa 88/61 91/73 70/67 45/36 51/43 Aviano/ Vicenza 56/40 Naples 65/57 Okinawa Morón 80/77 74/53 Sigonella Rota 71/53 The weather is provided by the Djibouti Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 92/78 66/57 73/68 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. T O D A Y IN STRIPES American Roundup ..... 15 Classified .................. 13 Comics ...................... 18 Crossword ................. 18 Faces ........................ 16 Opinion ..................... 17 Sports .................. 19-24 Wednesday, October 14, 2020 •STARS AND STRIPES• F3HIJKLM PAGE 3 MILITARY Japan protects fishing boat from Chinese vessels BY MATTHEW M. BURKE boats in waters around the Senkakus that firm stand.” The U.S. has long declined to take a posi- AND AYA ICHIHASHI Japan claims as its territory, the coast Kato vowed to “protect our people’s lives, tion on the islands’ sovereignty; however, Stars and Stripes guard said. assets and land.” Presidents Barack Obama and Donald “We have been warning the ships to In Beijing the same day, Chinese foreign Trump have both declared that the Sen- CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Japan leave the area” since Monday, the Coast ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao at his kakus fall under the U.S.-Japan security Coast Guard was summoned again Mon- Guard spokesman said. weekly press conference called the islands alliance. day after a pair of Chinese naval vessels Japan administers the islands, whose China’s “inherent territory.” Though small and uninhabited, the islets approached a Japanese fishing boat near surface area amounts to about 2½ square “Patrolling and carrying out law en- are surrounded by fishing grounds and po- disputed islets in the East China Sea, ac- miles, but they are also claimed by China forcement activities in the relevant waters tential oil and gas deposits. Challenges by cording to the coast guard. and Taiwan, which refer to them as Diaoyu are also China’s inherent right,” he said, China to Japanese claims there are becom- The incident happened