Superpowers in unlikely alliance against Islamic State

Whatever Islamic State made of Vladimir Putin’s order to the Russian navy to treat French forces “as allies” in the waters off Syria, it will have sent a shiver through at least a couple of Paris’s allies. Russia’s president gave the command on Tuesday, as he and his French counterpart pledged separately to crush a terror group that claims to have launched Friday’s attacks in Paris and downed a Russian airliner over Egypt two weeks earlier.

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