Day 1,209: Eric Holder calls on European governments to keep Westerners out of Syria

Today is Day 1,209 of the Syrian conflict.

US Attorney General Eric Holder has jumped on the theme of the month: In an address to Norwegian diplomats in Oslo, Holder called on European governments to consider further laws, covert operations, and intelligence sharing to keep their citizens out of the fight in Syria. 

Perhaps a bit oddly, he held up US policies and the FBI as a good model: As previously mentioned on this blog the US track record on this issue isn't that great.

In any event, the day's news provided a good backdrop for the speech. Nahin Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, two 22-year-old men from Birmingham, United Kingdom, both admitted to "preparing to carry out terrorist attacks," the BBC reported today. The writeup includes a photo of part of the letter left by Sarwar as he left for Syria, which, it must be said, does not look like the sort of letter one would expect from a 22-year-old university student. But that's neither here nor there.

For a different take on what would lead the resident of a relatively stable, prosperous country to head to Syria, head over to the CBC, which yesterday posted the story of the of a Canadian woman who married an ISIL fighter.

The conflict continues.