M.N.: Acute Exacerbation of Obama's Schizophrenia and his "bottom-up approach" - "Self-deception is not a good idea in politics or international affairs. We’re lying to ourselves, and the world knows it... You cannot defeat an enemy that you do not admit exists..." | » F.B.I. Chief Not Invited to Meeting on Countering Violent Extremism 20/02/15 11:31 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks

M.N.: Acute Exacerbation of Obama's Schizophrenia: 

If the NYTimes, the citadel of American liberalism, published this (not so) veiled criticism of Obama's incomprehensible, quasi-psychotic "policies", then the things are really bad. If the FBI chief, who is one of the hearts and centers of this issue, was not invited to this meeting (while his Russian counterpart and others were there) then it is another part and example of this schizophrenia.

"The three-day White House conference on violent extremism that Mr. Obama wrapped up on Thursday provided a case study in the fundamental tension that has bedeviled the American struggle with terrorism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. While Mr. Obama has concluded that radicalism is fueled by political and economic grievance, he has found himself tethered to some of the very international actors most responsible for such grievances, dependent on them for intelligence and cooperation to prevent future attacks.
...

Elisa Massimino, president of the advocacy group Human Rights First, attended Thursday’s meeting and was struck by the juxtaposition of rhetoric and reality: “We’re sitting in that room with representatives of governments that are part of the problem,” she said. “If the president believes what he’s saying, then the actions that these governments are taking are undermining our supposedly shared agenda.”

“That has to stop,” she added, “or we can have summits every month,” but “we’re not going to win.”

...
Republican critics said the conference missed the point, dismissing it as a feel-good exercise when the president should be stepping up his military campaign against the Islamic State.

“As vicious as the Islamic State has been toward Jews and Christians — killing them, cutting off their heads, burning them alive — they are just as vicious to most Muslims in Iraq and Syria who are struggling under their yoke right now,” Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, said on CNN. “The reason they are doing it is because they have more arms and weapons and more soldiers, and no one is standing up to them. That’s what this president needs to do.”"

Obama Calls for Expansion of Human Rights to Combat Extremism

"The meeting has been criticized as ineffectual and irrelevant, and not focused on immediate and tangible solutions to stop terrorists. And some Republicans said that President Obama’s speech to the assembled leaders on Wednesday did not lay out a strategy for defeating groups like the Islamic State.
...

The omission of Mr. Comey adds further uncertainty over who in the government is in charge of the anti-extremist effort. Just a few months ago, the F.B.I. put out a lengthy bulletin on its website about how it was leading “a new approach to countering violent extremism.” Many of the strategies listed by the F.B.I. appear similar to ones mentioned at the meeting.

An Obama administration official defended the decision not to invite Mr. Comey, saying that “while the F.B.I. works tirelessly to keep the country safe, this conference was not centered on federal law enforcement.”

...
The official said that the administration’s efforts to counter violent extremists “are premised on the notion that local officials and communities can be an effective bulwark against violent extremism, and most of the participants — spanning community leaders, local, law enforcement, private sector innovators, and others — reflected this bottom-up approach.” A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment."

M.N.: If the "local officials and communities" were able to be "an effective bulwark against violent extremism", then this problem would not arise in a first place. 

"The administration did not specifically invite Mr. Bortnikov, the official said. Instead, it had sent a general invitation to the Russian government, which chose Mr. Bortnikov, along with others, to come to Washington.

The administration did not try to prevent Mr. Bortnikov, who rarely visits the United States, from attending, said the official, who did not want to be identified discussing internal White House deliberations. Mr. Bortnikov is on the European Union sanctions list in response to the crisis in Ukraine, but he is not subject to American sanctions."

M.N.: I think that Mr. Bortnikov's visit is a good sign and he has to be afforded all the proper hospitality and welcome, all the other issues and disagreements notwithstanding. It is the sign that the Russians take this problem very seriously (regardless of this problem's origin, causes and many confusing unclear aspects) and offer their hand. The criticism of this visit ("U.S. invites a Russian fox into the chicken coop" ) is somewhat out of place. I also think that it would be very good if Mr. Comey and Mr. Bortnikov could meet and discuss all the relevant issues. Again, regardless of all the others, very pressing problems, this contact might become a certain turning point in improving the relations and concentrating on the common threats and dangers. The progress on other issues might follow. 

"We are interested not only in exchange of information but also in joint work," Bortnikov said. He also stressed that cooperation between intelligence services in this sphere, "largely contributes to achieving concrete results."

"Stopping terrorist attacks has been the F.B.I.’s highest priority since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The bureau oversees joint terrorism task forces in every major American city that bring together federal, state and local authorities to investigate terrorism."

F.B.I. Chief Not Invited to Meeting on Countering Violent Extremism

"But Mr. Obama’s verbal tactics have become a target for a growing chorus of critics who believe the evasive language is a sign that he is failing to look squarely at the threat from militant Islam. The vague phrasing, they say, projects uncertainty and weakness at a time when extremists claiming to fight for Islam threaten America and its interests around the world.

“Part of this is a semantic battle, but it’s a semantic battle that goes to deeper issues,” said Peter Wehner, a veteran of the past three Republican administrations and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “Self-deception is not a good idea in politics or international affairs. We’re lying to ourselves, and the world knows it.”

While the most vehement criticism has come from Mr. Obama’s political opponents on the right, a few liberals and former security officials have begun to echo the criticism.

“You cannot defeat an enemy that you do not admit exists,” Michael T. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general and director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014, told a House hearing last week. “I really, really strongly believe that the American public needs and wants moral, intellectual and really strategic clarity and courage on this threat.”"

Faulted for Avoiding ‘Islamic’ Labels to Describe Terrorism, White House Cites a Strategic Logic

Obama Calls for Expansion of Human Rights to Combat Extremism

Friday February 20th, 2015 at 12:45 PM

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WASHINGTON — As he sought to rally the world behind a renewed attack on terrorism, President Obama argued on Thursday that force of arms was not enough and called on all nations to “put an end to the cycle of hate” by expanding human rights, religious tolerance and peaceful dialogue.

But the challenge of his approach was staring him right in the face. His audience of invited guests, putative allies in a fresh international counterterrorism campaign, included representatives from some of the world’s least democratic and most repressive countries.

The three-day White House conference on violent extremism that Mr. Obama wrapped up on Thursday provided a case study in the fundamental tension that has bedeviled the American struggle with terrorism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. While Mr. Obama has concluded that radicalism is fueled by political and economic grievance, he has found himself tethered to some of the very international actors most responsible for such grievances, dependent on them for intelligence and cooperation to prevent future attacks.

“There is a very profound conceptual disagreement about whether the best way to counter violent extremism is through human rights and civil society or through an iron fist,” said Marc Lynch, director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University. The Obama administration wants “to project the human rights side, but you look at the people they’re working with and fighting alongside, and there’s a lot more to it than that.”

Elisa Massimino, president of the advocacy group Human Rights First, attended Thursday’s meeting and was struck by the juxtaposition of rhetoric and reality: “We’re sitting in that room with representatives of governments that are part of the problem,” she said. “If the president believes what he’s saying, then the actions that these governments are taking are undermining our supposedly shared agenda.”

“That has to stop,” she added, “or we can have summits every month,” but “we’re not going to win.”

A case in point was Egypt, whose foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, was among those given featured speaking roles on Thursday. Although Egypt’s military has reasserted its primacy and is cracking down on dissent, it has also been one of America’s staunchest collaborators in hunting down terrorists in a dangerous region. Just this week, in retaliation for the killings of Egyptian Christians, Egypt launched an airstrike against Islamic State forces in Libya, briefly, at least, taking on an offshoot of the group that the United States has been bombing in Iraq and Syria.

Critics say the terrorism fight has simply enabled autocratic regimes to go after their political foes without worrying about American disapproval. Egypt’s leaders, for instance, have moved to stifle the Muslim Brotherhood, the opposition group they deem too radical. “It is futile to distinguish between bad terrorists, which must be defeated, and good terrorists, which can be accommodated,” Mr. Shoukry said.

Marwan Muasher, the former foreign minister of Jordan who is now a vice president at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he worried that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, was becoming a rallying point for the disaffected.

“People who are not happy with the establishment sometimes find in ISIS a counterforce for reasons that might be associated with ideology or might not,” he told a meeting separate from the White House event. “There is a huge credibility gap” between Arab governments and their people, he added. “Nothing governments are saying is taken or believed by the public in general, and so that needs to change.”

The White House acknowledged the disconnect between advocating human rights and teaming up with human rights violators. But aides said it was one Mr. Obama had learned to live with, given the importance of maintaining an international coalition to fight the Islamic State and other terror threats.

“It’s a perennial challenge of the U.S. government that some of our partners are much more aggressive than others in how they define their domestic terrorist challenge,” said Benjamin J. Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Mr. Obama. That dynamic is “most obvious in Egypt, where essentially there’s been a very broad brush in terms of who represents a terrorist threat.”

He said the Obama administration would continue to press allies to balance the fight against terrorists with tolerance of political opponents. Susan E. Rice, the president’s national security adviser, raised concerns about human rights during a separate meeting with Mr. Shoukry, the Egyptian minister, at which they talked about the attack on Christians, the White House said.

Egypt was not the only country represented at the conference with a spotty record on human rights or democracy. Other nations who sent ministers and officials included Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates. The prosecutor general of Kazakhstan, ruled by the former Communist who was in charge when it broke away from the Soviet Union, gave a short speech. Nearby was Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, director of the Federal Security Service, the successor to the K.G.B., which has been a partner with the United States on fighting terrorism even as it cracks down on critics of the Kremlin at home.

In promoting democracy and freedom as part of the solution to terrorism, Mr. Obama returned to a theme he has advanced episodically in the past. Burned by the failures of the Arab Spring revolutions, he seemed resigned lately to working with the authoritarian governments in the Middle East. But his speech on Thursday harked back to ideas that his predecessor, President George W. Bush, made the centerpiece of his second inaugural address in 2005.

“When people spew hatred toward others because of their faith or because they’re immigrants, it feeds into terrorist narratives,” Mr. Obama said. “It feeds a cycle of fear and resentment and a sense of injustice upon which extremists prey. And we can’t allow cycles of suspicion to tear the fabrics of our countries.”

Yet, as he embraced a message similar to his predecessor’s, Mr. Obama offered less emphasis on force than Mr. Bush was known for. Mr. Obama deplored recent terrorist acts but did not present terrorism as an existential threat as Mr. Bush did, nor did he use some of the phrases Mr. Bush used for Islamic radicalism.

Republican critics said the conference missed the point, dismissing it as a feel-good exercise when the president should be stepping up his military campaign against the Islamic State.

“As vicious as the Islamic State has been toward Jews and Christians — killing them, cutting off their heads, burning them alive — they are just as vicious to most Muslims in Iraq and Syria who are struggling under their yoke right now,” Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, said on CNN. “The reason they are doing it is because they have more arms and weapons and more soldiers, and no one is standing up to them. That’s what this president needs to do.”

Read the whole story

· · · ·

F.B.I. Chief Not Invited to Meeting on Countering Violent Extremism

Friday February 20th, 2015 at 12:31 PM

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WASHINGTON — The White House did not invite the most senior American official charged with preventing terrorist attacks — the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey — to the three-day conference this week on countering violent extremism in the United States and abroad because the administration did not want the event too focused on law enforcement issues, according to senior American officials.

But Mr. Comey’s Russian counterpart — Aleksandr V. Bortnikov, the director of the Russian Federal Security Service, the post-Soviet K.G.B. — was at the meeting, even though international human rights groups have repeatedly accused the Russian security service of unjustly detaining and spying on Russians and others.

The service also declined to provide American counterterrorism and intelligence officials with information before the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings that would probably have led to more scrutiny of one of the suspects.

Several other foreign law enforcement officials attended the conference, which was held in Washington. The meeting has been criticized as ineffectual and irrelevant, and not focused on immediate and tangible solutions to stop terrorists. And some Republicans said that President Obama’s speech to the assembled leaders on Wednesday did not lay out a strategy for defeating groups like the Islamic State.

The omission of Mr. Comey adds further uncertainty over who in the government is in charge of the anti-extremist effort. Just a few months ago, the F.B.I. put out a lengthy bulletin on its website about how it was leading “a new approach to countering violent extremism.” Many of the strategies listed by the F.B.I. appear similar to ones mentioned at the meeting.

An Obama administration official defended the decision not to invite Mr. Comey, saying that “while the F.B.I. works tirelessly to keep the country safe, this conference was not centered on federal law enforcement.”

The official said that the administration’s efforts to counter violent extremists “are premised on the notion that local officials and communities can be an effective bulwark against violent extremism, and most of the participants — spanning community leaders, local, law enforcement, private sector innovators, and others — reflected this bottom-up approach.” A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment.

Mr. Comey’s boss, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., attended the conference, and several F.B.I. officials participated in its panels, the official said.

The administration did not specifically invite Mr. Bortnikov, the official said. Instead, it had sent a general invitation to the Russian government, which chose Mr. Bortnikov, along with others, to come to Washington.

The administration did not try to prevent Mr. Bortnikov, who rarely visits the United States, from attending, said the official, who did not want to be identified discussing internal White House deliberations. Mr. Bortnikov is on the European Union sanctions list in response to the crisis in Ukraine, but he is not subject to American sanctions.

The programs intended to prevent Americans from becoming extremists are led by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security.

The Obama administration said in a news release on Wednesday that the effort to counter violent extremism “encompasses the preventive aspects of counterterrorism as well as interventions to undermine the attraction of extremist movements and ideologies that seek to promote violence.”

Stopping terrorist attacks has been the F.B.I.’s highest priority since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The bureau oversees joint terrorism task forces in every major American city that bring together federal, state and local authorities to investigate terrorism.

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Bortnikov says his visit to US is political signal

Friday February 20th, 2015 at 12:27 PM

Vestnik Kavkaza

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20 February 2015 - 1:56pm

Russia's Federal Security Service Director, Alexander Bortnikov, said that his working visit to the United States is not only a professional but also a political signal.

"Political problems can’t be solved without the capabilities my colleagues and I have," TASS cited him as saying. 

According to him, the professional cooperation of the special services should continue even now, when Russian-American relations are at a new low. He said his American counterparts have a similar mindset.

"We are interested not only in exchange of information but also in joint work," Bortnikov said. He also stressed that cooperation between intelligence services in this sphere, "largely contributes to achieving concrete results."

US-Russia Exchange of Intelligence to Fight ISIL Possible– Security Service / Sputnik International

Friday February 20th, 2015 at 12:26 PM

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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States and Russia may start exchanging intelligence in order to defeat the Islamic State, Director of Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov told journalists.

"Quite possible," Bortnikov said when asked if the exchange of intelligence between Moscow and Washington in the fight against Islamic State is possible.

The Washington, DC Summit on Countering Violent Extremism participants agreed not to politicize cooperation in anti-terrorism field and stay in contact, Bortnikov said.

Bortnikov participation at the summit was disclosed at the last minute when Russia decided to expand the number of its delegates.

Relations between the United States and Russia, including counterterrorism cooperation, have deteriorated after Crimea reunited with Russia in March 2014, and an armed conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine.

The United States and its allies have imposed multiple sanctions against Russia’s banking, energy and military sectors, as well as several high-profile individuals over Moscow’s alleged involvement in Ukraine’s internal affairs. Russian authorities have repeatedly denied any involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

US President Barack Obama organized the three-day summit, aiming to discuss domestic and international efforts to prevent violent extremism and terrorism. The summit covers key issues related to extremism, including radicalization, recruiting and motivation to commit violent acts.

Some 20,000 People Fight Alongside ISIL in Iraq

Up to 20,000 citizens from some 100 countries are fighting in Iraq on the side of the Islamic State extremist group, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Alexander Bortnikov said.

“At the moment, some 100 countries are involved in the Iraqi conflict. The number of [foreign] participants that are fighting alongside Islamic State has grown from 13,000 to 20,000 – that is our estimate,” Bortnikov told journalists.

The FSB director took part in the Summit on Countering Violent Extremism in Washington.

Up to 1,700 Russian citizens could be fighting in Iraq, Director of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov added.

"At the moment, there are some 1,700 Russian citizens in Iraq, and this number almost doubled over the past year," Bortnikov told journalists.

Bortnikov also said that it was important to prevent people from leaving countries to fight in Iraq for the Islamic State extremist group and to prevent possible terror attacks by those who return to their home countries.

Iraq, as well as Syria, is currently suffering from the advancement of Islamic State that has already captured large areas in both countries.

Islamic State militants have been fighting in Syria since 2012. In summer 2014, the extremists launched a military operation in Iraq.

The international community is making attempts to hamper the Islamic State advance by conducting airstrikes against the militants' positions both in Syria and Iraq. The coalition of more than 60 countries carrying out the strikes is led by the United States.

UN Should Supervise International Antiterrorism Initiatives

International counterterrorism initiatives should be implemented under United Nations (UN) supervision, Alexander Bortnikov said.

“All [antiterrorism] initiatives have to be implemented under the auspices of the UN,” Bortnikov said on Thursday, commenting on the White House’s Countering Violent Extremism summit.

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FSB director calls for further cooperation with the US in face of common threats — RT Russian politics

Friday February 20th, 2015 at 12:22 PM

RT - Daily News

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Published time: February 20, 2015 09:35

Head of the Federal Security Service Aleksandr Bortnikov. (RIA Novosti/Sergey Guneev)

The professional cooperation between special services must continue despite the strained relations between nations, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service said during his visit to the United States.

Aleksandr Bortnikov told reporters in Washington DC that it was impossible to solve political contradictions without using all the special services’ capabilities. “This is a very important aspect that acts as a foundation of everything that can have further positive impact on the situation.”

The FSB director emphasized he hopes the current period of complicated relations between Russia and the United States will eventually end.

“Our primary task is prevention. There is full understanding of our position on the part of our partners with whom we have met and communicated. And there is also the will to continue and deepen the fruitful cooperation,” the Russian official told reporters.

Bortnikov praised US special services for their knowledge of the real situation in hot spots around the world and for their ability to affect this situation. He added that Russia was interested not only in information exchange, but also in joint operations. The FSB chief explained that recent examples of such useful and effective cooperation included the joint work at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, during which special services prevented several terrorist attacks against Russian citizens in foreign countries.

The top security official said that Russia was also interested in cooperation with the United States in the common fight against the Islamic State (IS, previously known as ISIS and ISIL). He added that the existing exchange of intelligence data was already helping to achieve a positive result in this direction.

He noted that counter-terrorist forces around the world are equally concerned by the fact that many extremists get training and combat experience in the IS ranks, and can later infiltrate Western countries and Russia. “We must plan our work to prevent their trips and also do everything to prevent terrorist attacks after these citizens return to their home countries,” Bortnikov said.

“At the current moment about 100 nations are involved in the conflict taking place in Iraq. The number of foreign mercenaries fighting for ISIL has risen from 13,000 to 20,000 according to our rough estimations,” the FSB director said. The number of Russian citizens fighting in Iraq is about 1700, twice as many as a year ago, he added.

Bortnikov also told the press that the current anti-Russian sanctions campaign didn’t have a big impact on the work of special services. “As we have met, we have repeatedly discussed the issues that could affect our cooperation and we always came to the conclusion that our interaction should not be politicized in any way.”

At the same time, the FSB director pointed out that “the constant press of sanctions” was harming mutual security.

The international conference on extremism in Washington DC lasted three days and united officials from 65 countries and 10 international organizations. The participants agreed to continue their work at the UN General Assembly session in September.

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Rebel Attacks Continue Despite Cease-fire

Friday February 20th, 2015 at 12:10 PM

Voice Of America

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A Ukrainian military spokesman says pro-Russian separatists fired on Ukrainian positions repeatedly in the overnight hours, despite a cease-fire that came into effect five days ago.

Anatoliy Stelmakh said Friday the rebels have been concentrating their attacks in the vicinity of Donetsk, shelling the village of Kurakhove to the west. He also said the village of Berdyansk, near the port city of Mariupol, was hit by artillery and mortar fire during the night.

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Pro-Russian separatists question a man in the eastern Ukrainian city of Uglegorsk, six kilometers southwest of Debaltseve, Feb. 19, 2015. The leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia pledged to try to save the tattered cease-fire.

There were separate reports of fighting near Mariupol on Thursday, with the rebels shelling the village of Shyrokyne.

Mariupol, the main seaport in eastern Ukraine, was the scene of intense fighting last year before Ukrainian forces took control of the city.

On Thursday, the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany pledged renewed support for the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine. The four leaders, who negotiated the truce, condemned the fighting and urged both sides to observe the cease-fire, which has seen a series of violations.

The pro-Russian separatists are fresh off a victory over Ukrainian forces at the railway hub of Debaltseve. 

The separatists, including many Cossack fighters, celebrated on Thursday the retreat of Ukrainian forces from Debaltseve, as Ukrainian military officials reported the deaths of at least 134 retreating soldiers.  

Officials said more than 90 others were captured with dozens of others unaccounted for.

Asked to describe post-withdrawal conditions in Debaltseve, another Ukrainian military spokesman compared the devastated town to the lifeless surface of the moon. 

Andriy Lysenko, speaking to Ukraine's Channel 5 television, said Debaltseve had, in his words, "ceased to exist as significant to the region," after shelling devastated the once-thriving town of 27,000. Associated Press reporters in the town reported all neighborhoods were under the control of rebel fighters.

White House officials in Washington said Wednesday it is "crystal clear" that Russia and the separatists in eastern Ukraine are not living up to the cease-fire agreement, and warned this puts them "at risk of greater costs."

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Obama, facilitator-in-chief - Yahoo News

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 2:41 PM

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There was a time in American politics when the word “summit” called to mind Roosevelt at Yalta, Kennedy in Vienna, Reagan at Reykjavik. The fate of empires rose and fell on such summits. The legacies of statesmen were made and broken.

These days, the presidential summit is more like an extended photo op with some speeches and a dinner thrown in. This week’s “Summit on Countering Violent Extremism” (a response to the run of terrorist attacks from Paris to Copenhagen) closely follows similar White House summits on community colleges, early education, cybersecurity, football head injuries, “working families,” college opportunity, national service, youth (as in young people, not the fountain) and so on.

All of which is harmless enough, except that it tells you something about where the Obama presidency has ended up, and about the nature of governing in a city where governing seems to be the last thing on anybody’s mind.

There’s nothing new or unusual about the idea of using the power of the White House to convene a conversation on some contentious or overlooked issue; it’s been going on for at least a century. Bill Clinton held summits to curb gun violence and to coax broadcast executives into establishing decency standards. (You can see how well those worked out.) George W. Bush’s White House hosted discussions on malaria and global literacy, among others.

But in the last year or so, Barack Obama’s team has deployed the presidential summit as a central response to just about every topic of national significance that doesn’t involve Bruce Jenner’s gender switch. (Though no one’s ruling that out.) At this late stage of Obama’s presidency, the idea seems to be that talking about a policy — or at least being seen talking about it — is a kind of policy in itself.

When Obama held his “Healthy Kids and Safe Sports Concussion Summit” last May, White House aides compared him to Theodore Roosevelt, who had summoned football coaches to the White House 100 years earlier to discuss the game’s safety. Well, OK, except that TR spent most of his time, you know, smashing corporate monopolies and redefining American power for a century to come. For him, the summit business was really more of a distraction, like hunting hippos.

It’s not hard to see why summits would appeal to any modern, besieged White House. The media is splintered into a thousand niche audiences now, so no president can easily command the kind of attention for his issues that most of his predecessors could. The so-called bully pulpit is more like a subway singer’s microphone these days, competing for attention amid the noise and bustle.

At the same time, in the era of celebrity politics, when we put our faith in people over parties or ideas, Americans expect their president to have an answer for every intractable problem, no matter how complex or long-term. We expect him to grapple personally with every new challenge that arises in our communities, whether it’s police brutality or helmet design.

So you can imagine the meeting where communications aides are banging their heads against the wall trying to figure out some strategy to get the entire White House press corps reporting on college tuition, or how to persuade the public that they really are doing something about videotaped beheadings or global hackers, until somebody blurts out: “Let’s just do a summit!” It’s like naming a White House “czar” for economic growth or bird flu — a reflex meant to convey the appearance of action where action itself is muddled and elusive.

In a more specific way, however, summit mania reflects the choices Obama has been forced to make in this last, frustrating term in office.

It was a little over a year ago, in his 2014 State of the Union address, that Obama effectively declared the legislating phase of his presidency over. Aides insisted he still had a “phone and a pen” and would thereafter rely on them, meaning that he would call lots of people and sign executive actions, instead. They didn’t say anything about a stapler, although you’d have to think that remains in the president’s formidable arsenal, too.

Obama has made good on his vow to use executive action wherever possible (most notably on immigration, where a federal judge ruled against him this week), but now that avenue is more or less exhausted, too. So these empty summits are, in a sense, all that’s left. The fewer ways Obama can find to actually enact policy, the more he finds himself relegated to the role of intellectual facilitator, a Phil Donahue for the listicle age.

This isn’t all his doing, of course, or even mostly so; it’s what Republicans expressly set out to do. Going back at least to the failed budget negotiations of 2011, they wanted him to give up on the legislative process entirely. They wanted to delegitimize him, to force him into behaving like the tyrant their fundraising appeals needed him to be.

But if Obama’s adversaries are tempted to rejoice at his diminished role, they shouldn’t. Because the summit presidency really isn’t good for anyone. What both parties have done is to create a new standard for dysfunction, in which it’s now perfectly acceptable for a Congress to refuse to negotiate with a president, while a president disengages entirely from the ugliness of lawmaking and assumes the role of public advocate instead.

And once established, such standards have a way of becoming embedded. Do we really think, should roles be reversed in 2016 or 2018, that a Democratic Congress won’t try to sideline a Republican president the same way? Or that the next president, no matter which party he or she comes from, won’t be more inclined to give up on Congress and pursue a presidency based on divisive fiats and pointless summits?

The community groups and foreign ministers who came to Washington this week may well be grateful for the chance to discuss “violent extremism.” But you can bet it’s not lost on them that the spectacle in which they’re participating is a sorry substitute for a functioning government in the world’s most important capital.

Washington badly needs an old-style summit — that’s for sure. But the extremists who really ought to attend aren’t even speaking.

• Politics & Government
• Government
• White House
• Barack Obama

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Obama says world should address ‘grievances’ that terrorists exploit

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 2:40 PM

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Obama still refuses to call ISIS ‘Islamic’

WASHINGTON –  President Obama defended his administration’s approach to the terror threat at a White House summit Wednesday, standing by claims that groups like the Islamic State do not represent Islam -- as well as assertions that job creation could help combat extremism.

Obama, addressing the Washington audience on the second day of the summit, said the international community needs to address “grievances” that terrorists exploit, including economic and political issues.

He stressed that poverty alone doesn’t cause terrorism, but “resentments fester” and extremism grows when millions of people are impoverished.

“We do have to address the grievances that terrorists exploit including economic grievances,” he said.

He also said no single religion was responsible for violence and terrorism, adding he wants to lift up the voice of tolerance in the United States and beyond.

Obama’s address came as Republican lawmakers and others criticized the administration for declining to describe the threat as Islamic terrorism.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf has also come under fire for suggesting several times this past week that more jobs could help address the terrorism crisis.

On Tuesday, Rob O'Neill, former Navy SEAL Team 6 member who claims to have fired the shot that killed Usama bin Laden, told Fox News: "They get paid to cut off heads -- to crucify children, to sell slaves and to cut off heads and I don't think that a change in career path is what's going to stop them."

Obama also called on Muslim leaders to “do more to discredit the notion that our nations are determined to suppress Islam, that there is an inherent clash in civilizations.”

Obama acknowledged that some Muslim-Americans have concerns about working with the government, particularly law enforcement, and that their reluctance “is rooted in the objection to certain practices where Muslim-Americans feel they’ve been unfairly targeted.”

He said it was important it make sure that abuses stop and are not repeated and that “we do not stigmatize entire communities.” He also said it was vital that “no one is profiled or put under a cloud of suspicion simply because of their faith.”

Although Obama called for a renewed focus on preventing terrorists from recruiting and inspiring others, some thought his message seemed to miss the mark.

“He was meandering, unfocused and weak,” said Richard Grenell, former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration and a Fox News contributor. “He was talking about isolating terrorists. He doesn’t understand the threat that we face… People are being burned in cages and he’s talking about more investments?” 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in an interview with Fox News, called Obama an "apologist for radical Islamic terrorists." And he mocked the president for recently comparing modern-day atrocities to those committed during the Crusades. 

"I don't think it's too much to ask the president to stay in the current millennia," Cruz said, describing the rhetoric as "bizarre politically correct double-speak." 

Recent Fox News polling showed most voters think Obama should be tougher on Islamic extremists. It showed 68 percent think Obama should be tougher; only 26 percent said he's being tough enough. 

The poll of 1,044 registered voters was taken Feb. 8-10. It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. 

Leaders from 60 different countries traveled to Washington for the summit this week.

Community leaders from Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles were also in attendance and discussed how their cities could help empower communities to protect themselves against extremist ideologies.

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· · · ·

Giuliani: Obama doesn't love America

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 2:38 PM

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Washington (CNN)Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday night he doesn't believe President Barack Obama "loves America," according to a report

"I do not believe -- and I know this is a horrible thing to say -- but I do not believe that the president loves America," said Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and one-time presidential contender,according to Politico. "He doesn't love you. And he doesn't love me. He wasn't brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country."

Giuliani made the remarks Wednesday during a private dinner event at the upscale 21 Club in Manhattan that featured Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is closely considering a presidential bid.

Giuliani added that he would support a presidential candidate who will express the notion that the U.S. is "the most exceptional country in the world."

"And if it's you Scott, I'll endorse you," he added, sitting a few seats away from Walker. "And if it's somebody else, I'll support somebody else."

Giuliani clarified Thursday on Fox News that he was "not questioning [Obama's] patriotism."

"He's a patriot, I'm sure," Giuliani said. "What I'm saying is, in his rhetoric, I very rarely hear him say the things that I used to hear Ronald Reagan say, the things that I used to hear Bill Clinton say about how much he loves America."

Giuliani added that he hears Obama "criticize America much more often than other American presidents" and that he sounds "like he's more of a critic than he is a supporter."

"You can be a patriotic American and be a critic, but then you're not expressing that kind of love that we're used to from a president," Giuliani said.

Walker's office and Giuliani's office did not immediately return CNN's request for comment.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz pounced on the remarks Thursday and called on Republicans to "say enough" -- with a special shout out for the GOP's top presidential contenders.

"One of the GOP frontrunners was sitting feet away and didn't say a word. If the Republican Party really wants to be taken seriously, really wants to avoid its problems of the past, now is the time for its leaders to stop this kind of nonsense. Enough," Wasserman Schultz said. "Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, now it is your turn. Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, stand up and say enough."

The DNC chair added that while she "rarely agreed" with President George W. Bush, she "never questioned his love of country."

"I don't often agree with my Republican colleagues on the Hill, but I know they love America. Is this what it has really come to? Really?" Wasserman Schultz said.

Walker, meanwhile, honed in on the flaws of Mitt Romney's unsuccessful 2012 presidential campaign on Wednesday night as he addressed the audience of GOP elites, business leaders and academics.

"The big thing I thought Mitt Romney's campaign missed more than anything was we already knew the narrative that the economy was failing, and that there was a compelling case to get rid of the president," Walker said according to the New York Daily News. "What we never heard — or at least didn't hear very clearly — was why Mitt Romney would be a better alternative."

Dan Merica contributed to this report.

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· ·

U.S. invites a Russian fox into the chicken coop

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 2:36 PM

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By David J. Kramer February 19 at 10:30 AM

The Russian KGB, known today as the FSB, has come to Washington.The organization’s director, Alexander Bortnikov, is leading the Russian delegation to President Obama’s “Countering Violent Extremism” summit this week. The optics of this — having the head of the successor agency to the Soviet KGB in Washington as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine and conducts a nasty crackdown on human rights at home — are terrible.

Bortnikov is not on the U.S. sanctions list that denies dozens of Russians entry to the United States either because of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine or because of the 2012 human rights legislation known as the Magnitsky Act. His name does appear, however, on the Ukraine-related sanctions lists adopted by the European Union and Canada.

Bortnikov should long ago have been included on the Magnitsky sanctions list dealing with human rights abuses as well as the Ukraine-related list. The FSB leads Russian President Vladimir Putin’s campaign to eliminate his political opposition, stifle civil society and independent media and perpetuate the myth that the West, and the United States in particular, are a threat to Russia. It is actively involved in the propaganda effort in which the Kremlin spreads lies and misinformation to its audiences via RT (formerly Russia Today) and the Sputnik news agency. Its special forces are heavily involved in Ukraine.

Bortnikov is believed to be one of Putin’s closest and most hawkish advisers on Ukraine and other matters. The Obama administration’s decision not to place him on the U.S. sanctions list allowed Putin to select him to represent Russia at this week’s summit.

U.S. officials arguably did not have the ability to tell Putin to designate someone else to lead the delegation to the summit. But they could have rescinded Moscow’s invitation to participate when it became clear that, instead of taking the summit seriously, Putin would use it to stick a finger in the administration’s eye. Moreover, Russia’s gross human rights abuses in the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus over the past two decades, in which the FSB has played a major role, most notably in two wars with Chechnya, have contributed to the extremism problem the world faces today. Having Bortnikov attend the summit is like inviting the fox into the chicken coop.

Making U.S.-Russian relations even worse, Putin claimed this week that the United States is supplying Ukraine with lethal weapons. “According to our information, these weapons are already being delivered,” Putin said during a news conference in Budapest on Tuesday, when asked whether a shipment of lethal hardware from Washington to Kiev would worsen the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Putin’s claim is completely untrue (it’s not the first time the Russian leader has lied about the crisis — recall his denial of Russian involvement in Crimea a year ago). Unfortunately, Obama has not given the go-ahead on providing defensive military assistance to Ukraine, and there is no covert operation underway either, according to government sources. This has been Obama’s biggest mistake on the Russia-Ukraine war — his failure to help Ukraine defend itself against Putin’s aggression. And yet Putin is either being fed bad information — from, among others, Bortnikov’s FSB — or fabricating the claim as a challenge to Obama. No matter the explanation, Putin has shown once again that he is not someone we can work with.

“The West’s top priority should be to reestablish civil relations with Russia — and ease tensions to minimize the risk of spiraling confrontation,” Jack Matlock, former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, said recently. Matlock and those who share his views are more than welcome to meet with Bortnikov — it just shouldn’t be in Washington or anywhere else in the United States. Bortnikov represents the corrupt, thuggish, authoritarian regime we face in Moscow these days, and we need to open our eyes to the threat it poses to its own people, its neighbors and the rest of the democratic community of nations.

We can no longer contract out the handling of the Russia-Ukraine crisis to the Europeans. Obama needs to demonstrate U.S. leadership, and he can start by ordering Bortnikov out of the country immediately and agreeing to help Ukraine defend itself. We should also lead the charge to exclude Russia from the global payment-processing system known as SWIFT; such a step would seriously affect Russia’s banking and financial sector. We should have taken these steps long ago. This is no time for Obama’s preferred “strategic patience.”

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· · ·

The Obama Years - NYTimes.com

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 1:42 PM

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As the political parlor game increasingly turns to obsessions about the jockeying to become the next president, my thinking increasingly turns to how history will measure the current one.

While a truly comprehensive appraisal and historical contextualization of a presidency is the scope and scale of books more than columns, there are things that, from my perch and according to the peculiarities of my personal interests, stand out.

Some of these are things for which the president can — in part or in whole — take personal responsibility, but others simply happened on this watch. And yet, I believe that they will all be somewhat associated with him and his stewardship.

In an interview broadcast earlier this month, the president told CNN, “I’m proud of saving the economy.” That may well be the most resounding mark of his presidency, even as people debate the quality of the recovery and his administration’s role in it.

It is nearly impossible to overstate how close we came to economic collapse in 2008 and how frightened we all were.

Now, that has turned around. The private sector has seen job growth for 59 straight months. The unemployment rate was down to 5.6 percent in December, the lowest since 2008, and as Reuters pointed out last month, new claims for unemployment benefits reached “the lowest level in nearly 15 years.”

But this recovery tends to feel more favorable for the wealthy than the working class. As the National Employment Law Project pointed out in an April policy paper, there is an imbalance between the kinds of jobs lost in the recession and the kinds experiencing the greatest growth in the recovery: High-wage industries accounted for 41 percent of the job losses but only 30 percent of the recent employment growth, while lower-wage industries accounted for 22 percent of the job losses but 44 percent of recent growth.

But if you are one of the Americans well off enough to own stocks, life looks much better. In 2009, the Dow Jones industrial average had fallen below 7,000; now it’s above 18,000. And yet, as CNBC pointed out in September, the percent of Americans who hold stock either directly or indirectly is at an 18-year low while “stock ownership for the wealthy is at a new high,” based on 2012 data. As CNBC reported:

“In 2010, the latest period available, the top 10 percent of Americans by net worth held 81 percent of all directly held or indirectly held stocks, according to Edward N. Wolff, an economics professor at New York University who specializes in inequality and Federal Reserve data.”

The Obama years will also be remembered for the reshaping of our politics. There was the rise of the Tea Party and the demise of moderate voices. There were the unfathomable and indefensible rulings by the Supreme Court to bless dark money in the Citizens United case and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder. There is an ongoing voter effort to shrink and restrict the voting pool as minorities are beginning to feel their power at the polls.

The Obama years will be remembered as a cultural — and legal — tipping point for equality for all people who do not identify as strictly heterosexual, arguably the civil rights movement of our times. The president signed the bill repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The Defense of Marriage Act was struck down by the Supreme Court.

And in 2012, Obama became the first sitting president to support same-sex marriage (a book by David Axelrod even claims that the president was in favor of same-sex marriage, long before he publicly proclaimed it, and indeed when he was publicly saying that he wasn’t). When Obama took office, same-sex marriage was rare; now it’s legal in 37 states. And a case now before the Supreme Court could determine whether it will be legal nationally.

The New Republic even dubbed Obama the “Gay-Rights President,” and it is hard to argue with that.

The Obama years will also be remembered for his signature legislation — the Affordable Care Act. This week, the president said that 11.4 million people had signed up for insurance or renewed coverage under the plan. Needless to say, the program is reducing the number of people who are uninsured but it also appears to be lowering medical costs.

Yet the future of the act is unclear. There is a case (King v. Burwell) before the Supreme Court — a laughable case about a language quibble that may be the most significant linguistic imprecision of a generation — that could spell doom for the law by withholding subsidies from millions of low-income Americans to purchase health insurance.

There’s the Supreme Court again. One could argue that the Supreme Court — the judicial Divine Nine — has shaped the Obama presidency as much as Obama has. That’s not to say that he hasn’t done an amazing job of shaping the judiciary in this country himself. In addition to appointing two new members to the Supreme Court — both women, a first for any president — he has completely transformed the lower courts.

As Jeffrey Toobin pointed out in The New Yorker in October:

“When Obama took office, Republican appointees controlled ten of the thirteen circuit courts of appeals; Democratic appointees now constitute a majority in nine circuits. Because federal judges have life tenure, nearly all of Obama’s judges will continue serving well after he leaves office.”

Furthermore, Toobin laid out the diversity of the Obama transformation, writing:

“Sheldon Goldman, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a scholar of judicial appointments, said, ‘The majority of Obama’s appointments are women and nonwhite males.’ Forty-two per cent of his judgeships have gone to women. Twenty-two per cent of George W. Bush’s judges and twenty-nine per cent of Bill Clinton’s were women. Thirty-six per cent of President Obama’s judges have been minorities, compared with eighteen per cent for Bush and twenty-four per cent for Clinton.”

This is huge.

And there isn’t space in this column to address the many other things the Obama years will be remembered for: our engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring and the rise of the Islamic State in the Middle East, Russian aggression, moves on climate policy and the rise of American energy, the re-fighting of issues over women’s reproductive rights and immigration policy, to name a few.

Whether you agree that Obama was a transformational figure or how he ranks among other presidents — a new survey of American Political Science Association members puts him 18th — there is no doubt that the time of his presidency will be remembered as transformational.

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· · · ·

Pakistanis Try to Nudge Taliban Along the Path to Peace Talks With Kabul by By AZAM AHMED and JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 1:18 PM

NYT > World

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Officials said efforts to engage the group still face major hurdles, including securing the blessing of the Taliban’s reclusive spiritual leader.

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US Preparing To Sue Ferguson Police Over Charges Of Racial Bias: Report - Huffington Post

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 1:18 PM

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AL.com

US Preparing To Sue Ferguson Police Over Charges Of Racial Bias: Report Huffington Post WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to sue the Ferguson, Missouri, police department over allegations of racially discriminatory practices unless the police force agrees to make changes, CNN reported on ...

Justice Department 'Seriously Examining' Ferguson Race CaseWinston-Salem Chronicle
Ferguson Police May Face Racial Discrimination Lawsuit From Justice DepartmentImmortal News
Justice to Be Served at Last?The Hilltop Online
AL.com-CNN
all 121 news articles »

Regulating the Drone Economy - NYTimes.com

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 1:16 PM

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Interest in drones has been growing faster than government rules about how they can be used. That’s what makes the Obama administration’s proposed rules for unmanned aircraft by businesses and federal agencies so important. The measures include many good ideas but do not do enough to protect the privacy of Americans.

Drones have played ever more important military roles, particularly in tracking suspected terroristsabroad in places like Pakistan. But these flying robots also have commercial uses, like monitoring energy pipelines, photographing real estate and managing large farms.

With few exceptions, however, the Federal Aviation Administration has prohibited the commercial use of drones. On Sunday, the agency proposed allowing commercial use as long as operators pass a written test every two years. The proposal would also restrict when and how the devices can be used. On the same day, President Obama imposed some restrictions on how federal agencies like the F.B.I. and Customs and Border Protection collect information from drones and what they do with it.

The F.A.A.’s proposal would require that drone operators always be able to see the aircraft without the aid of binoculars, cameras or other devices. The aircraft can be no heavier than 55 pounds, cannot be flown higher than 500 feet or faster than 100 miles per hour. The devices can be used only during daylight hours and cannot be flown over people not involved in their use. That means a movie director could fly a drone over a film set but not over a pedestrian on the street.

Some businesses like Amazon, which says it plans to deliver packages by drones, complain that the rules are too restrictive because operators will have to stay close to their machines. But the rules are a sensible starting point for a new technology. Most drones cannot yet sense and avoid obstacles, making them a hazard to people and property. In recent months, drones, mostly operated by hobbyists, have had near misses with airplanes and one crashed on the South Lawn of the White House. As drone technology advances, officials can change the rules.

Regardless of what the final rule says, the F.A.A. could find it difficult to enforce the regulation. It will have to rely on complaints from the public and local law enforcement. Also, the agency, which is in the middle of a major upgrade to the nation’s air traffic system to reduce congestion, may not have enough resources to monitor the thousands of drones that could take to the sky once this rule is finalized in the coming months. The agency has about 7,200 employees in its aviation safety division, a number that has not increased much in recent years.

Mr. Obama’s action on drone use by government agencies is much more problematic. For example, the president’s memorandum says the government should not retain personally identifiable information collected by drones for more than 180 days. But agencies can keep the data for longer if it is “determined to be necessary to an authorized mission of the retaining agency” — a standard that grants officials far too much latitude. Moreover, the administration says agencies have to provide only a “general summary” of how they use drones, and only once a year. Law enforcement agencies like the F.B.I. and local police departments are already using drones and manned aircraft for surveillance, often without obtaining warrants, but they have said little publicly about what they are doing with the information collected.

The use of drones is likely to grow, and the devices could become as common as utility and delivery trucks. At the dawn of this technology, it’s appropriate to set sound safety and privacy rules.

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· ·

Faulted for Avoiding ‘Islamic’ Labels to Describe Terrorism, White House Cites a Strategic Logic

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 1:05 PM

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WASHINGTON — President Obama chooses his words with particular care when he addresses the volatile connections between religion and terrorism. He and his aides have avoided labeling acts of brutal violence by Al Qaeda, the so-called Islamic State and their allies as “Muslim” terrorism or describing their ideology as “Islamic” or “jihadist.”

With remarkable consistency — including at a high-profile White House meeting this week, “Countering Violent Extremism” — they have favored bland, generic terms over anything that explicitly connects attacks or plots to Islam.

Obama aides say there is a strategic logic to his vocabulary: Labeling noxious beliefs and mass murder as “Islamic” would play right into the hands of terrorists who claim that the United States is at war with Islam itself. The last thing the president should do, they say, is imply that the United States lumps the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims with vicious terrorist groups.

But Mr. Obama’s verbal tactics have become a target for a growing chorus of critics who believe the evasive language is a sign that he is failing to look squarely at the threat from militant Islam. The vague phrasing, they say, projects uncertainty and weakness at a time when extremists claiming to fight for Islam threaten America and its interests around the world.

“Part of this is a semantic battle, but it’s a semantic battle that goes to deeper issues,” said Peter Wehner, a veteran of the past three Republican administrations and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “Self-deception is not a good idea in politics or international affairs. We’re lying to ourselves, and the world knows it.”

While the most vehement criticism has come from Mr. Obama’s political opponents on the right, a few liberals and former security officials have begun to echo the criticism.

“You cannot defeat an enemy that you do not admit exists,” Michael T. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general and director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014, told a House hearing last week. “I really, really strongly believe that the American public needs and wants moral, intellectual and really strategic clarity and courage on this threat.”

Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic studies at American University and author of a book on Islam in America, said he supported the Obama administration’s care in avoiding a counterproductive smear of all Muslims. But he said the president sometimes seemed to bring an academic approach to a visceral, highly politicized discussion.

“Obama’s reaching a point where he may have to ditch this almost scholastic position,” Mr. Ahmed said. “He sounds like a distinguished professor in the ivory tower, and he may have to come down into the hurly-burly of politics.”

A visual guide to the crisis in Iraq and Syria.

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Addressing the extremism conference on Wednesday, Mr. Obama acknowledged the complaints and took pains to try to explain his approach.

“Leading up to this summit, there’s been a fair amount of debate in the press and among pundits about the words we use to describe and frame this challenge, so I want to be very clear about how I see it,” the president said. “Al Qaeda and ISIL and groups like it are desperate for legitimacy. They try to portray themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors in defense of Islam.”

But Mr. Obama said that “we must never accept the premise that they put forward, because it is a lie.” The operatives of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, “are not religious leaders — they’re terrorists,” he said.

The president’s comments suggest that the criticism has disturbed him. “You know your talking points are no longer working when you have to talk about your talking points,” said Peter D. Feaver, a political scientist at Duke who was deeply involved in shaping President George W. Bush’s language while he worked at the White House from 2005 to 2007.

Choosing what to say about the enemy during the long campaign against Al Qaeda, and now the Islamic State, was a challenge for Mr. Bush as well as for Mr. Obama, Mr. Feaver said. The nation’s terrorist enemies define themselves as fighters for Islam, lace their propaganda with quotes from the Quran and claim to speak for all Muslims. But an overwhelming majority of Muslims worldwide reject the Qaeda ideology and condemn terrorist attacks.

Mr. Bush, too, struggled at times to find the right terms for the fight against Al Qaeda. He used and then quickly dropped the word “crusade” for the American campaign against terrorism, concerned that he was playing into the terrorists’ view of a centuries-long clash of civilizations.

He favored the formula “war on terror,” but was battered by critics inside and outside the government who said that it was impossible to wage war against a tactic, Mr. Feaver recalled. For months before a major speech by the president in 2005, different agencies fought over what, exactly, Mr. Bush should call the enemy.

In the end, he effectively threw up his hands. “Some call this evil Islamic radicalism,” he said in the speech. “Others, militant jihadism. Still, others Islamo-fascism. Whatever it’s called, this ideology is very different from the religion of Islam.” But he went on to regularly use the term “Islamic radicalism,” which Mr. Obama has shunned.

Many advocates for Muslims appreciate Mr. Obama’s care in keeping their religion separate from the terrorist groups whose claims they reject. “We support the Obama administration and the administration before them for not falling into the Al Qaeda-ISIS trap of saying this is a religious war,” said Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, a national group.

But even Ms. Khera complained that the name of the White House conference on the topic was too vague. While the label was “violent extremism,” the vast majority of speakers spoke only about Islamic extremism, ignoring all other kinds, she said. “If the summit were called ‘Countering ISIS,’ that would be fine,” she said. “But it’s not.”

Daniel Benjamin, who served as the State Department’s top counterterrorism official from 2009 to 2012, said he believed that the dispute was a “pseudocontroversy” driven largely by domestic politics, even if it has produced some clumsy moments in the White House press room. What the debate has missed, he said, is that any American president has to think about how his words are received overseas.

“Our allies against ISIS in the region are out there every day saying, ‘This is not Islam,’ ” said Mr. Benjamin, now at Dartmouth. “We don’t want to undermine them. Any good it would do to trumpet ‘Islamic radicalism’ would be overwhelmed by the damage it would do to those relationships.”

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· · · · · · ·

Faulted for Avoiding ‘Islamic’ Labels, White House Cites a Strategic Logic by By SCOTT SHANE

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 1:02 PM

NYT > World

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With remarkable consistency, President Obama and his aides have favored bland, generic terms over anything that explicitly connects attacks or plots to Islam.

Faulted for Avoiding 'Islamic' Labels, White House Cites a Strategic Logic - New York Times

Thursday February 19th, 2015 at 1:01 PM

Top Stories - Google News

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New York Times

Faulted for Avoiding 'Islamic' Labels, White House Cites a Strategic Logic New York Times WASHINGTON — President Obama chooses his words with particular care when he addresses the volatile connections between religion and terrorism. He and his aides have avoided labeling acts of brutal violence by Al Qaeda, the so-called Islamic State ... Obama announces initiatives to curb recruitment of terrorist groupsWashington Post Obama calls on Muslims to distance themselves from brutal ideologiesChristian Science Monitor Obama: IS is comprised of terrorists "desperate for legitimacy"Fox News Latino SFGate -Columbus Dispatch -ABC News all 1,199 news articles »

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» 2,327,6762,327,6762015-02-19Russia marches on uninhibited in eastern Ukraine - Washington Post
19/02/15 12:12 from Mike Nova - Google+
2,327,676 2,327,676 2015-02-19 Russia marches on uninhibited in eastern Ukraine - Washington Post Russia marches on uninhibited in eastern Ukraine - Washington Post Thursday February 19 th , 2015  at  12:20 PM Russia - Google News 1 Shar...

» Faulted for Avoiding ‘Islamic’ Labels to Describe Terrorism, White House Cites a Strategic Logic
19/02/15 12:05 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Continue reading the main story Take the quiz Submit Now sight-seeing dining out spa treatments interesting seminars free-time to myself an airport the gym live music concerts the wine bar my desk trusty trav...

» Faulted for Avoiding ‘Islamic’ Labels, White House Cites a Strategic Logic
19/02/15 12:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. With remarkable consistency, President Obama and his aides have favored bland, generic terms over anything that explicitly connects attacks or plots to Islam.

» Faulted for Avoiding 'Islamic' Labels, White House Cites a Strategic Logic - New York Times
19/02/15 12:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. New York Times Faulted for Avoiding 'Islamic' Labels, White House Cites a Strategic Logic New York Times WASHINGTON — President Obama chooses his words with particular care when ...

» Sniper case witnesses detail Routh's angry outbursts - Dallas Morning News
19/02/15 12:00 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Dallas Morning News Sniper case witnesses detail Routh's angry outbursts Dallas Morning News Jennifer Weed, testifying Wednesday in the trial of Eddie Ray Routh, told of acceptin...

» World Leaders Demand Access for Monitors to Eastern Ukraine
19/02/15 12:00 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by VOAvideo. World Leaders Demand Access for Monitors to Eastern Ukraine European Union and NATO leaders are calling on Russia to stop supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine and to adhere to a m...

» US preparing to sue Ferguson police over charges of racial bias - Times LIVE
19/02/15 11:59 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Times LIVE US preparing to sue Ferguson police over charges of racial bias Times LIVE Demonstrators protest to demand justice for the death of Eric Garner, at Grand Central Termi...

» UN Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting on Libya
19/02/15 11:59 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Jordan circulated a draft United Nations Security Council resolution late Wednesday that would lift an arms embargo against the Libyan government, work toward halting the flow of weapons ...

» Obama tells Muslims: don't let Isis hijack your religion and identity
19/02/15 11:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Islamic State does not speak for you and ‘we are not at war with Islam’, declares US president at counter-extremism summit Muslims in the US and around the world have a respon...

» In their cynicism about Putin, western diplomats are making the Ukrainian crisis worse
19/02/15 11:57 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. The Russian president has every reason to want the ceasefire to hold, but if the west continues to misread his motives there’s little chance of it happening Ever since the roa...

» Alaska Leads US States in Well-Being for First Time - Gallup.com
19/02/15 11:57 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Gallup.com Alaska Leads US States in Well-Being for First Time Gallup.com WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Alaska residents had the highest well-being in the nation in 2014, reaching the top ...

» Defense to present 3rd day of testimony in 'Sniper' trial - Montana Standard
19/02/15 11:56 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Montana Standard Defense to present 3rd day of testimony in 'Sniper' trial Montana Standard Eddie Ray Routh, left, enters the courtroom with defense attorney J. Warren St. John f...

» Dancer's Death Reveals World of 'Pumping Parties,' Surgery - ABC News
19/02/15 11:56 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from world - Google News. Dancer's Death Reveals World of 'Pumping Parties,' Surgery ABC News An exotic dancer's death at an airport hotel has led Philadelphia police to investigate the strange underworld of &q...

» Russia A 'Real And Present Danger' To NATO States
19/02/15 11:37 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. Russia is "testing NATO" and could target Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia next, Michael Fallon warns.

» New American HIV vaccine showing striking results
19/02/15 11:36 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The European Union Times - World News, Breaking News. AIDS Virus under electron microscope A radical new type of vaccine has shown positive results during tests on HIV-positive patients, bolstering hopes o...

» Oil price falls amid worries about global oversupply
19/02/15 11:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Brent crude price falls $2 per barrel following big rise in US oil inventories and rising output from Saudi Arabia Oil prices have tumbled in the runup to the release of data ...

» Islamic State Leader Used To Work As Secretary
19/02/15 11:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. De-classified documents reveal details of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's former life as a husband and office worker.

» WorldViews: Why the Islamic State has its eyes on Libya
19/02/15 11:34 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. For almost all of its existence, the Islamic State has focused on a spectacular yet singular goal: The creation of a new Isla...

» Number of suicides in UK increases, with male rate highest since 2001
19/02/15 11:34 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. ONS figures show 6,233 people over 15 killed themselves in 2013, 252 more than in 2012, and that the male suicide rate is three times greater than the female rate The number o...

» Start here: Latest developments in the fight against ISIS
19/02/15 11:33 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from CNN.com - World. ISIS ups the ante on its savagery. Iraq asks U.N. to look into organ-harvesting allegations. And U.S. President Barack Obama wants to deny the group legitimacy.

» Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands by Richard Sakwa review – an ... - The Guardian
19/02/15 11:33 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. The Guardian Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands by Richard Sakwa review – an ... The Guardian When Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine's prime minister, told a German TV station recen...

» Oil Prices Fall as US Crude Stockpiles Grow - Wall Street Journal
19/02/15 11:32 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Wall Street Journal Oil Prices Fall as US Crude Stockpiles Grow Wall Street Journal LONDON—Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday extending their losses on expectations that U.S. cr...

» Lenovo accused of compromising user security by installing adware on new PCs
19/02/15 11:32 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Leading PC manufacturer shipped computers containing Superfish software that could leave users permanently open to attack when using public Wi-Fi network Lenovo, the largest P...

» Rare Amur tiger playing with her cubs caught on camera
19/02/15 11:31 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by ODN. Rare Amur tiger playing with her cubs caught on camera Footage of a rare Amur tiger playing with her cubs has been captured in China, showing the endangered big cat making a comeback in the...

» Russian Army returns to Latin America
19/02/15 11:31 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The European Union Times - World News, Breaking News. Vladimir Putin said that he would not allow the West to achieve military superiority over Russia. Russia will continue strengthening the nuclear potent...

» WorldViews: Germany’s army is so under-equipped that it used broomsticks instead of machine guns
19/02/15 11:30 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. The German army has faced a shortage of equipment for years, but the situation has recently become so precarious that some so...

» New York judge proposes bill to overhaul grand jury system
19/02/15 11:29 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Judge Jonathan Lippman says events of past year led to a ‘crisis of confidence’ and seeks reforms to system in instances of police violence New York’s senior judge has propose...

» NATO Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Bomber
19/02/15 11:28 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. Video has emerged showing NATO fighter jets 'buzzing' a Russian Tu-95 bomber.

» Reports: Germany Rejects Greek Loan Proposal
19/02/15 11:28 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. Germany has rejected Greece's proposal for a loan extension, calling it "no substantial solution", reports say.

» Greece Climbs Down and Asks For Euro Bailout
19/02/15 11:27 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from TIME. On Monday, Greece was given an ultimatum on extending its bailout and told to take it or leave it. On Thursday, it took it, or rather, it at least said it would like to take it. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, ...

» Saudi cleric says Earth doesn’t revolve around Sun
19/02/15 11:27 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The European Union Times - World News, Breaking News. A Saudi cleric has appeared in a video rejecting that Earth revolves around the sun, claiming instead that it is “stationary.” His statements have inci...

» U.K. Defense Secretary Says Russia is a ‘Danger’ to Baltic States
19/02/15 11:26 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from TIME. The U.K. Defense Secretary said there is a “real and present danger” of Russia trying to destabilize the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Michael Fallon told reporters Wedn...

» Tsarnaev Lawyers To Argue To Move Trial Out Of Mass. Before Federal Appeals ... - WBUR
19/02/15 11:26 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. WBUR Tsarnaev Lawyers To Argue To Move Trial Out Of Mass. Before Federal Appeals ... WBUR In this courtroom sketch, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, third from ...

» Leaders Push Forward With Ukraine Truce
19/02/15 11:25 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. The leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia agreed in a telephone call to make a new push to impose a tattered cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, a day after Kiev gave up a strategi...

» Next Round Of Georgian-Russian Talks Scheduled
19/02/15 11:24 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The next round of talks between Russia and Georgia on the normalization of bilateral ties will be held on February 26.

» Rudy Giuliani Said Obama Doesn't Love America - TIME
19/02/15 11:24 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. TIME Rudy Giuliani Said Obama Doesn't Love America TIME Speaking at a private dinner for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in Manhattan, the former mayor of New York said, “I do not be...

» Lukashenka Says Belarus Ready For Dialogue With NATO
19/02/15 11:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka says his country is ready for a "constructive dialogue" with NATO.

» Germany Says ‘Nein’ to Greece Bailout Request
19/02/15 11:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from TIME. Greece caved in to pressure from the rest of the Eurozone Thursday and asked for an extension of its bailout program. But euphoria in financial markets lasted less than two hours before the German fi...

» Russia marches on uninhibited in eastern Ukraine - Washington Post
19/02/15 11:20 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. BBC News The Guardian Russia marches on uninhibited in eastern Ukraine Washington Post VLADIMIR PUTIN'S latest victory in Ukraine is turning into a rout. Having already induced Wester...

» Study: Saliva Test Could Help Diagnose Children with Autism
19/02/15 11:18 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A spit test may someday be used to help diagnose children with autism. Children with the complex neuro-developmental disorder often have trouble communicating, and a saliva test - which d...

» America Threatens to Wage War on Russia: “US public is being Prepped to Hate ... - Center for Research on Globalization
19/02/15 11:17 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Center for Research on Globalization America Threatens to Wage War on Russia : “US public is being Prepped to Hate ... Center for Research on Globalization Gallup headlined on Februar...

» Спецназ Египта уничтожил в Ливии 150 боевиков ИГ - СМИ - Корреспондент.net
19/02/15 11:17 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Корреспондент.net Спецназ Египта уничтожил в Ливии 150 боевиков ИГ - СМИ Корреспондент.net Отряд специального назначения египетской армии провел операцию по уничтожению террористов...

» С 19 февраля ДНР начнет восстановление Дебальцева - 33LIVE.RU
19/02/15 11:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Вести.Ru С 19 февраля ДНР начнет восстановление Дебальцева 33LIVE.RU Если пpочитать инстpукцию по пpименению клизмы, то можно уписаться. А сли ее пpименить -- укакаться ... еще ане...

» The National Front’s Post-Charlie Hebdo Moment
19/02/15 11:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. France’s ultranationalist fringe party isn’t so fringe anymore.

» Чуркин не исключает, что Россия будет участвовать в коалиции против ИГ в Ливии - Вести.Ru
19/02/15 11:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Вести.Ru Чуркин не исключает, что Россия будет участвовать в коалиции против ИГ в Ливии Вести.Ru Постоянный представитель России при ООН Виталий Чуркин не исключает, что Россия смо...

» Госдеп пригрозил России новыми санкциями за нарушение перемирия - Подробности
19/02/15 11:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Госдеп пригрозил России новыми санкциями за нарушение перемирия Подробности Государственный секретарь США Джон Керри призвал министра иностранных дел России Сергея Лаврова останови...

» Сенат Казахстана попросил Назарбаева о досрочных президентских выборах - РИА Новости
19/02/15 11:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. РИА Новости Сенат Казахстана попросил Назарбаева о досрочных президентских выборах РИА Новости Председатель сената Касым-Жомарт Токаев сказал, что проведение внеочередных выборов п...

» Britain Says Photos Show Russia's Most Advanced Missiles in Eastern Ukraine
19/02/15 11:14 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. Britain released photographs on Wednesday of what it described as Russia's most advanced anti-aircraft artillery system, being operated in eastern Ukraine.

» Russia a threat to Baltic states after Ukraine conflict, warns Michael Fallon - The Guardian
19/02/15 11:14 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. The Guardian Russia a threat to Baltic states after Ukraine conflict, warns Michael Fallon The Guardian “Those Russian -backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, they are using Russian rocket...

» Голый москвич штурмовал посольство США - Дни.Ру
19/02/15 11:00 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Дни.Ру Голый москвич штурмовал посольство США Дни.Ру 10:48 / 19.02.2015 мужчина, Посольство, СШАНа территорию посольства США в Москве попытался проникнуть мужчина без одежды и доку...

» British Defense Secretary Warns Putin Could Target Baltics Next
19/02/15 10:57 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. Russian President Vladimir Putin poses a "real and present danger" to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and NATO is getting ready to repel any possible aggression, British Defense...

» Тони Блэр стал советником правительства Сербии, - СМИ - Утро
19/02/15 10:57 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Тони Блэр стал советником правительства Сербии, - СМИ Утро Все это несмотря на свою политическую роль среди сторонников бомбардировок Белграда в 1999 году, утверждает британская га...

» RAF jets intercept Russian bomber aircraft off Cornwall
19/02/15 10:56 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russian news, all the latest and breaking Russia news. Ministry of Defence says Typhoon fighters scrambled to escort planes spotted in international airspace off Cornwall

» Mayor Of Capital Of Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region Charged With Abuse Of Office
19/02/15 10:56 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The mayor of Birobidzhan, the capital of Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region, has been detained on corruption charges.

» ДНР готова к обмену пленных из Дебальцево по формуле «всех на всех» - Газета.Ru
19/02/15 10:56 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. ЛІГА.net ДНР готова к обмену пленных из Дебальцево по формуле «всех на всех» Газета.Ru Представитель самопровозглашенной Донецкой народной республики Денис Пушилин заявил, что ДНР ...

» «Добровольческие» батальоны и «Правый сектор» создали на Украине «параллельный генштаб» - ИА REGNUM
19/02/15 10:56 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Комсомольская Правда в Украине «Добровольческие» батальоны и «Правый сектор» создали на Украине «параллельный генштаб» ИА REGNUM Представители 13 «добровольческих батальонов» и вое...

» Putin ‘a World-Class Hooligan without a World-Class Policeman,’ Zaydman Says
19/02/15 10:55 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Window on Eurasia -- New Series. Paul Goble Staunton, February 19 – Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine and the West’s failure to stand up to him shows what can happen when there is “a world-class hooligan...

» Ukraine Live Day 367: With Debaltsevo Lost, Russian-Backed Forces Press Attack Near Mariupol
19/02/15 10:55 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The InterpreterThe Interpreter. Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here . An archive of our liveblogs can be found here . For an overview and analysis of this developing s...

» Russia 'danger' to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - Fallon - BBC News
19/02/15 10:55 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. BBC News Russia 'danger' to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - Fallon BBC News There is a "real and present danger" of Russia trying to destabilise the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania...

» Justice for Kyiv Clash Victims Elusive 1 Year Later
19/02/15 10:54 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Ukraine is marking one year since anti-government protests in the capital, Kyiv, ended in clashes that left more than 100 dead and sent then-president Viktor Yanukovych fleeing to Russia....

» Britain Scrambles Jets to Intercept Russian Bombers
19/02/15 10:54 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. The Ministry of Defense said the two Russian airplanes were “escorted” in international airspace “until they were out of the U.K. area of interest.”

» A Checklist of Ten Russian Developments Worth Watching
19/02/15 10:54 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Window on Eurasia -- New Series. Paul Goble               Staunton, February 19 – The situation in and around Russia is now changing with such di...

» British Defense Secretary: Putin A 'Real Danger' To Baltics
19/02/15 10:53 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon says Russia poses a "real and present danger" to the Baltic states and NATO is preparing for possible attacks against them.

» Russia accuses Ukraine of aiming to destroy Minsk accords - BBC News
19/02/15 10:53 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. BBC News Russia accuses Ukraine of aiming to destroy Minsk accords BBC News Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin has denounced Ukraine's call for the deployment of UN peacekeepers in...

» New attempt to enforce Ukraine ceasefire
19/02/15 10:53 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia | The Guardian. Putin, Poroshenko, Merkel and Hollande agree by telephone that measures agreed last week should be implemented ‘strictly and in their entirety’ The leaders of France, Germany, Ukrain...

» The short telegram about Putin’s Russia
19/02/15 10:53 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Europe News. At times it has seemed patience is a substitute for strategy

» Poroshenko’s Call for Peacekeepers a Test for Putin, Portnikov Says
19/02/15 10:53 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Window on Eurasia -- New Series. Paul Goble               Staunton, February 19 – By pulling Ukrainian troops out of Debaltsevo, thus preserving ...

» Pro-Russian rebels 'continued to fire at retreating Ukrainian forces'
19/02/15 10:52 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from - Europe RSS Feed. Pro-Russian rebels repeatedly launched missiles and grenades at Ukrainian soldiers as they retreated from the key strategic town of Debaltseve, according to reports from the frontline.

» Leaders Speak by Telephone to Try to Impose Ukraine Cease-Fire
19/02/15 10:52 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. Fighting has continued between government and separatist forces in the east of the country despite a truce brokered by Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.

» 'Many Died, Many Were Wounded' In Debaltseve
19/02/15 10:52 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 'Many Died, Many Were Wounded' In Debaltseve Ukrainian military forces have retreated from the town of Debaltseve, which has been under siege by pro-Russian sepa...

» Ukrainian Soldiers’ Retreat From Eastern Town Raises Doubt for Truce
19/02/15 10:31 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian soldiers were forced to fight their way out of the embattled town of Debaltseve in the early hours of Wednesday, casting further doubt on the credibility of a days-old cea...

» Op-Ed Contributor: A Closer Look at the Ukraine Cease-Fire Agreement
19/02/15 10:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. Even if the fragile truce in eastern Ukraine fails, it has allowed us to grasp Vladimir Putin's new strategy.

» Watch: Russian planes escorted by RAF Typhoons
19/02/15 10:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russian news, all the latest and breaking Russia news. Video footage emerges apparently taken onboard Russian planes as they are escorted by RAF Typhoons

» Turkey To Go Ahead with Chinese Missile Defense System
19/02/15 10:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Turkey will go ahead with plans to order a $3.4-billion missile defense system from China, Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said, despite U.S. and NATO concerns over security and compatibili...

» Another Step toward Empire: Moscow ‘Abolishes’ Borders with Abkhazia and South Osetia
19/02/15 10:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Window on Eurasia -- New Series. Paul Goble               Staunton, February 19 – In reporting on new bilateral treaties between Russia and Abkha...

» UK Defense Secretary Says Russia is a 'Danger' to Baltic States - TIME
19/02/15 10:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. The National Interest Online UK Defense Secretary Says Russia is a 'Danger' to Baltic States TIME The U.K. Defense Secretary said there is a “real and present danger” of Russia trying...

» "Вышли с боем. Многие, наверное, погибли"
19/02/15 10:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by Радио Свобода. "Вышли с боем. Многие, наверное...

» President Obama to Conclude Anti-extremism Summit
19/02/15 10:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. U.S. President Barack Obama concludes a three-day conference on countering violent radicalism Thursday with a speech before representatives of more than 60 nations at the U.S. State Depar...

» The American Vets Fighting Against IS (And They're Not Mercenaries)
19/02/15 10:14 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. "I'm here to kill Daesh," says U.S. Marine Corps veteran Louis Park, using the Arabic term for the Islamic State group.

» Russia, Separatists Dismiss Ukraine Call For Peacekeepers
19/02/15 10:14 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Russia has dismissed Ukraine's calls for UN-mandated peacekeepers to enforce a shaky cease-fire deal in the country's east.

» ‘There is Nothing Specifically Russian’ in Putin’s ‘Russian World,’ Zarubin Says
19/02/15 10:13 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Window on Eurasia -- New Series. Paul Goble               Staunton, February 19 – “There is nothing [specifically] Russian in ‘the Russian world,...

» U.S., Europe threaten new sanctions against Moscow
19/02/15 10:12 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from EU-RussiaCentre. Here is reported that both the EU and the US are considering new steps against Moscow, with Rosneft being the central target. The EU delivered an official declaration of sanctions against ...

» Amid Ukraine Talks, a Russian Spy Chief Goes to Washington
19/02/15 10:11 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . The world is watching as the cease-fire in Ukraine  progresses on shaky ground and France and Germany lead a spate of negotiations. However, Moscow's eyes are on Washington, where one of Russia's most po...

» Russia’s Security Chief Travels to Washington - Washington Wire
19/02/15 10:09 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Washington Wire. By Felicia Schwartz CONNECT Federal Security Service Chief Alexander Bortnikov, left, speaks to Kremlin official Sergei Ivanov in 2012. Associated Press He’s been hit with sanct...

» FSB director heads Russia's delegation at U.S. summit on extremism
19/02/15 10:07 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . MOSCOW Wed Feb 18, 2015 12:30pm EST MOSCOW (Reuters) - The director of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, will head the country's delegation at a summit on countering violent extremism hosted by U....

» Head of Russia's FSB Attends U.S. Summit on Violent Extremism | News
19/02/15 10:07 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Denis Abramov / Vedomosti Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Russian Federal Security Service. The director of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, will head the country's delega...

» Vladimir Putin's top spy, Alexander Bortnikov, in D.C. for summit on extremism
19/02/15 10:06 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Sunny , 15 ° / High: 22 ° / Low: 4 ° Dow: 18047.0 / NASDAQ: 4906.364 / S&P 500: 2099.68

» Head of Russian security service attending White House summit
19/02/15 10:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Thursday, February 19 2015 In this July 3, 2013, file photo, Russian Federal Security Service Chief Aleksandr Bortnikov attends a meeting in the Kremlin. (Mikhail Klimentyev/AP) The head of Russia’s dom...

» 2,327,6702,327,670
19/02/15 08:01 from Mike Nova - Google+
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» 2,327,6722,327,672
19/02/15 03:52 from Mike Nova - Google+
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» 2,322,2692,322,269» Ukrainian Forces Retreat From Debaltseve 18/02/15 23:02 from Mike Nova's Shared
18/02/15 23:43 from Mike Nova - Google+
2,322,269 2,322,269 » Ukrainian Forces Retreat From Debaltseve 18/02/15 23:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks | U.S. Accuses Russia Of Exploiting Cease-Fire In Eastern Ukraine by noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL) Ex-porn star Sasha Grey gets ...

» Russia sanctions 'do not have a deterrent effect' - CNBC
18/02/15 23:04 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. CNBC Russia sanctions 'do not have a deterrent effect' CNBC A few days after Europe's leaders announced a ceasefire in Ukraine, the European Union issued a new list of sanctions this ...

» Silvio Berlusconi paid women vast sums for their silence over 'bunga bunga' parties, say investigators
18/02/15 23:04 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from - Europe RSS Feed. Silvio Berlusconi has spent hundreds of thousands of euros on 21 young women, to ensure their silence over events at his “bunga bunga” parties, Italian prosecutors allege, as they prepar...

» Ukraine crisis: US waits to see if Minsk accord holds before sending Kiev heavy weapons
18/02/15 23:03 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from - Europe RSS Feed. The US has suspended the decision on whether to send heavy weapons to Ukraine while waiting to see whether an agreement signed last week in Minsk would lead to an end to the violence, th...

» US Diplomat: North Korean Regime Lacks Legitimacy
18/02/15 23:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A senior U.S. diplomat says the North Korean regime lacks legitimacy because of the hardship it causes to its citizens. At a conference on North Korea this week, Robert King, the U.S. Spe...

» Ukrainian Forces Retreat From Debaltseve
18/02/15 23:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > Europe. Amid heavy fighting, Ukrainian soldiers were ordered to retreat from the strategic town of Debaltseve, where they had been surrounded by Russian-backed rebels.

» Russia Economy Moves Further Toward Recession - Wall Street Journal
18/02/15 23:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Wall Street Journal Russia Economy Moves Further Toward Recession Wall Street Journal MOSCOW—Economic data published Wednesday showed Russia's economy moving further toward recession ...

» Ukraine crisis: Hollow posturing as Kiev's troops make bitter retreat from besieged Debaltseve
18/02/15 23:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from - Europe RSS Feed. Some of the soldiers were agitated, others euphoric. Shouts of “Glory to Ukraine” went up, and victory salutes were brandished. Yet their posturing seemed hollow, given the operation the...

» Дебальцево полностью под контролем ополчения - BFM.Ru
18/02/15 23:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Комсомольская Правда в Украине Дебальцево полностью под контролем ополчения BFM.Ru В южной части города разрозненные группы военных пытаются оказывать сопротивление. Ополченцы ищут...

» U.S. University Reverses Ban On Iranian Science Students
18/02/15 23:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst says it will accept Iranian students into its science and engineering programs.

» Denial of Reality
18/02/15 23:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Home - Institute of Modern Russia. Since last summer, the price of many goods in Russia has risen considerably, in some cases several-fold. However, according to opinion polls, many Russians refuse to acce...

» Порошенко хочет пригласить на Украину миротворцев ООН - РБК
18/02/15 23:00 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Forbes Ukraine Порошенко хочет пригласить на Украину миротворцев ООН РБК Президент Украины Петр Порошенко заявил, что предложит СНБО Украины пригласить в страну миротворческую мисс...

» Lengthy Legal Battle Looms Over Obama Immigration Order
18/02/15 23:00 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. President Barack Obama’s executive order shielding millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation was supposed to go into effect this week, but it is on hold after a U.S. federal ju...

» It was a mistake to gamble a ceasefire for Ukraine on Vladimir Putin's word of honour
18/02/15 22:00 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russian news, all the latest and breaking Russia news. Telegraph view: The weakening of the Minsk Two peace deal shows that the West must be prepared for any crisis

» Putin will target the Baltic next, Defence Secretary warns
18/02/15 22:00 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russian news, all the latest and breaking Russia news. Defence Secretary warns Nato resolve could be tested as Ukraine ceasefire unravels

» Ukrainian soldiers tell of harrowing escape from pro-Russian rebels’ noose
18/02/15 21:59 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Europe News: News and Headlines from Europe - The Washington Post. ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — When the order to retreat came over the radio Wednesday, most of the Ukrainian troops under siege in Debaltseve aband...

» Obama Tries to Split Religion From Terrorism at Summit - Bloomberg
18/02/15 21:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Obama Tries to Split Religion From Terrorism at Summit Bloomberg In this March 30, 2014, file photo, Islamic State group militants hold up their flag as they patrol in a commande...

» ISIS morality police arrest a woman wearing full burkha because her eyes were too exposed
18/02/15 21:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from News | Mail Online. The Al-Merced NGO said the woman was arrested in Albuhamal, in the east of Syria, along with two men who tried to protect her, for apparently breaking the strict dress code set out by I...

» Ukraine forces retreat from besieged rail junction in Debaltseve - Los Angeles Times
18/02/15 21:57 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Los Angeles Times Ukraine forces retreat from besieged pulls its troops from battered rail junction in Debaltseve Los Angeles Times Ukraine withdrew its troops from the strategic...

» Debaltseve battle ends in Ukraine retreat
18/02/15 21:55 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News. Troop withdrawal is humiliation for the government, diplomats say

» Cannabis 'munchies' explained by new research
18/02/15 21:54 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Scientists have shown the urge to eat after smoking is caused by cannabinoids hijacking brain cells that normally suppress appetite Besides making a bongo drum sound inexplica...

» Pussy Riot Protests Police Abuse In Video Tribute To Eric Garner
18/02/15 21:54 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The Russian punk art collective Pussy Riot has released its first English-language video, a tribute to an African-American who died after being placed in a chokehold by a...

» Hungary PM Orban criticizes Tusk, EU allies seeking to isolate Russia
18/02/15 21:38 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stepped up his criticism on Wednesday of his European allies for their policy of seeking to isolate Moscow over its intervent...

» Ukrainian troops pull out of Debaltseve under siege from Russian separatists
18/02/15 21:38 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from News | Mail Online. Surrounded Ukrainian forces are beginning to pull out of the besieged eastern city of Debaltseve after several days of fierce battles with pro-Russia separatists.

» From a Private School in Cairo to ISIS Killing Fields in Syria (With Video)
18/02/15 21:37 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. The West is not alone in struggling to understand why young men like Islam Yaken, raised in homes that would never condone violence, are joining the Islamic State.

» Jeb Bush attacks Obama's foreign policy and insists: 'I am my own man'
18/02/15 21:37 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Prospective 2016 candidate criticises Obama for entering into talks with Iran and says ‘everywhere you look, the world is slipping out of control’ Warning that “everywhere you...

» Poland to Pay €230,000 to Two CIA Detainees
18/02/15 21:33 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Poland will pay damages to two former detainees at a secret detention center operated some years ago on Polish soil by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

» Obama Chooses Joseph Clancy to Head the Secret Service - New York Times
18/02/15 21:33 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. New York Times Obama Chooses Joseph Clancy to Head the Secret Service New York Times WASHINGTON — President Obama has decided to appoint Joseph P. Clancy, who has guided the Secr...

» Poland agrees to pay reparations to Guantánamo detainees
18/02/15 21:32 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Court found Poland violated international law by allowing CIA to host a secret facility where Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were tortured Poland will comply with a ...

» Ferguson attracts large pool of applicants to police jobs
18/02/15 21:31 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 8:37 p.m. EST. FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- The city of Ferguson is attracting a large pool of applicants to police jobs, including minority candidates seeking the position left vacant by the ...

» Kyrgyz Medical Academy Scandal Widens After Staff Jostle RFE/RL Journalists
18/02/15 21:31 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. A corruption scandal involving a Kyrgyz medical academy has widened after staff jostled with an RFE/RL camera crew.

» ISIS threatens to send 500,000 migrants to Europe as a 'psychological weapon'
18/02/15 21:31 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from News | Mail Online. Muammar Gaddafi's chilling ominous surfaces as Islamic State take control of large parts of his former country and threaten to flood Europe with half a million migrants and hide among t...

» Yes, Obama, The Killers Were Muslim - The American Conservative
18/02/15 21:30 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Yes, Obama, The Killers Were Muslim The American Conservative President Obama has been playing some delicate word games regarding recent atrocities committed by Muslims in the na...

» Greek government candidate wins lawmakers' support to become president
18/02/15 21:30 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras secured enough parliamentary votes on Wednesday for his nominee to become the country's next president.

» Obama to Outline Programs to Counter Lure of Extremist Groups Like ISIS
18/02/15 21:29 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. In a speech, President Obama is discussing how to stop will discuss how to prevent groups like the Islamic State from recruiting disaffected young people.

» U.S. accuses Israel of inaccurate leaks on Iran nuclear talks
18/02/15 21:29 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday that Israeli officials had mischaracterized U.S. negotiations on Iran's nuclear program and criticized what it called "a contin...

» Telegraph took down story on HSBC accounts 'black hole', says Peter Oborne
18/02/15 21:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Former chief political commentator says in resignation letter he learned learnt Harry Wilson’s article was swiftly removed ‘even though there were no legal problems’ One of th...

» Defeated Ukrainians take the 'road of life' on their retreat from Debaltseve - Telegraph.co.uk
18/02/15 20:36 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Telegraph.co.uk Defeated Ukrainians take the 'road of life' on their retreat from Debaltseve Telegraph.co.uk They came on trucks, on foot, and perched on the top of battered armo...

» Body bags bear witness to Ukrainian deaths near Debaltseve
18/02/15 20:36 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by AFP news agency. Body bags bear witness to Ukrainian deaths near Debaltseve Ukrainian troops pulled out of the flashpoint eastern town of Debaltseve on Wednesday after it was stormed by pro-Russ...

» Iran’s Supreme Leader Says He Doubts Nuclear Talks Will End Sanctions
18/02/15 20:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he did not think punitive measures imposed on Iran would be lifted as part of his country’s talks with world powers.

» French Cemetery Vandalism Suspects Acted With ‘Anti-Semitic Motive,’ Prosecutor Says
18/02/15 20:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. The prosecutor said that five teenagers accused of overturning as many as 250 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery confessed and made pro-Nazi remarks.

» Video Shows Front-Line Gun Battle In Ukraine
18/02/15 20:27 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. Exclusive footage obtained by Sky News shows rebels armed with assault rifles and RPGs in a gunfight with Ukrainian forces.

» Huge hoard of gold coins from 11th Century unearthed off Israeli coast
18/02/15 20:27 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by ODN. Huge hoard of gold coins from 11th Century unearthed off Israeli coast In the biggest stash ever found in the area, gleaming 1000-year-old gold coins have been found on the sea bed in Israe...

» Ukraine conflict: Russia rebuffs new Canadian sanctions as 'awkward' - CBC.ca
18/02/15 20:26 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. CBC.ca Ukraine conflict: Russia rebuffs new Canadian sanctions as 'awkward' CBC.ca Russia has rebuffed Canada's new sanctions against Moscow, calling them an "awkward attempt"...

» Islamic State lays claim to North African outpost - swissinfo.ch
18/02/15 20:25 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. swissinfo.ch Islamic State lays claim to North African outpost swissinfo.ch ALGIERS/CAIRO (Reuters) - The images match the worst of Islamic State's atrocities: black-clad fighters and ...

» A Year Later, Kyiv Uprising Victims Still Wait for Justice
18/02/15 20:24 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Nineteen-year-old Roman Guryk was a bit of a rebel, but he cared deeply about his two younger sisters, his friends and a European future for Ukraine. A year ago, he gathered with thousand...

» Obama taps 'insider' to run embattled secret service
18/02/15 20:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Joseph Clancy, a 27-year veteran of service who took over as acting head in October, has weathered criticism despite calls for outsider to provide fresh start Barack Obama nam...

» Ex-porn star Sasha Grey gets dragged into a propaganda war between Ukraine and Russia
18/02/15 20:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from GlobalPost - Home. read more

» Libya requests ending arms embargo to fight ISIS - Jerusalem Post Israel News
18/02/15 20:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Libya requests ending arms embargo to fight ISIS Jerusalem Post Israel News UNITED NATIONS - Libya called on the United Nations Security Council on Wedne...

» U.S. Accuses Russia Of Exploiting Cease-Fire In Eastern Ukraine
18/02/15 20:23 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Washington has accused Moscow of cynically exploiting an internationally backed cease-fire deal for eastern Ukraine by supporting a fierce assault by pro-Russian separati...

» Ukraine president: 6 killed, 100 hurt in pullout from embattled town - CBS News
18/02/15 20:22 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. CBS News Ukraine president: 6 killed, 100 hurt in pullout from embattled town CBS News ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine -- Ukraine's president says six servicemen were killed during the withdr...

» Libya asks UN Security Council to lift arms embargo so it can fight Islamic State ... - Fox News
18/02/15 20:22 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Reuters India Libya asks UN Security Council to lift arms embargo so it can fight Islamic State ... Fox News UNITED NATIONS – Libya's foreign minister is asking the U.N. Security Counc...

» Iranian Judge Is Said to Block Effort to Hire Lawyer for Washington Post Reporter
18/02/15 20:22 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. The family of Jason Rezaian, The Post’s Tehran correspondent who has been jailed since July, has been frustrated in efforts to hire a lawyer to represent him.

» Is ISIS Authentically Islamic? Ask Better Questions. - The New Republic
18/02/15 20:22 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Is ISIS Authentically Islamic? Ask Better Questions. The New Republic Judging by the gurgling over the genuineness of ISIS' Muslim identity currently issuing from media, you'd th...

» U.S. delegation heads to Geneva for another round of Iran talks
18/02/15 20:21 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. negotiator Wendy Sherman will lead a U.S. delegation to Geneva on Thursday for talks with Iranian officials over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, the Stat...

» US Withholding Details of Iran Nuke Talks From Israel - ABC News
18/02/15 20:21 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Haaretz Jerusalem Post Israel News US Withholding Details of Iran Nuke Talks From Israel ABC News The Obama administration said Wednesday it is withholding from Israel some sensitive d...

» European Jews Rebuff Netanyahu's Call for Exodus
18/02/15 20:20 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s calls for European Jews to move to Israel after recent terrorist killings are prompting a backlash, reopening a long-standing debate about t...

» APNewsBreak: Outgoing Gov. John Kitzhaber commutes sentence - News & Observer
18/02/15 20:17 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. APNewsBreak: Outgoing Gov. John Kitzhaber commutes sentence News & Observer SALEM, Ore. — As one of his final acts in office, Oregon's outgoing governor, John Kitzhaber, commuted...

» Man with bodies buried in his yard gets life in prison
18/02/15 20:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 6:46 p.m. EST. WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) -- A jury on Wednesday spared the life of a man convicted of strangling a pharmacist and his girlfriend in 2002 and burying their bodies in his yar...

» Why Syria’s Rebels Fear Assad’s Ceasefire Promise
18/02/15 19:53 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from TIME. Much of the Syrian city of Aleppo is little more than rubble, damaged by the intense fighting between rebel and government forces over the last four years. The city’s homes, factories and infra...

» Obama: No religion responsible for terrorism - USA TODAY
18/02/15 19:53 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. USA TODAY NBCNews.com Obama: No religion responsible for terrorism USA TODAY President Obama said military force alone will not defeat terrorism, and the nation must work with local co...

» Three Friends, One Jihadi | The New York Times
18/02/15 19:52 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by The New York Times. Three Friends, One Jihadi | The New York Times As his dreams crashed into Egypt's social and political turmoil, Islam Yaken left his friends, family and a life of guilty plea...

» Scenes from Ukrainian City Taken By Rebels Show Ceasefire in Shreds
18/02/15 19:52 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from TIME. Ukrainian troops pulled out of the besieged town of Debaltseve on Wednesday as pro-Russian rebels advanced despite a ceasefire agreed upon last week. The strategic town was the site of intense bombar...

» Islamic State militants find a foothold in chaotic Libya - Chron.com
18/02/15 19:51 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Chron.com Islamic State militants find a foothold in chaotic Libya Chron.com CAIRO (AP) — Libya, virtually a failed state in recent years, has succeeded in one way: It's providing a pe...

» Libya, Egypt ask U.N. to lift arms embargo to fight Islamic State
18/02/15 19:51 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Libya and Egypt asked the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to lift an arms embargo on Libya, impose a naval blockade on areas not under governmen...

» LONG Obama Says U.S. At War With Terrorism, Not With Islam
18/02/15 19:50 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. U.S. President Barack Obama has said the United States is not "at war" with Islam, but with people who distort the religion.

» U.S. identifies 1,200 potential fighters for Syria training
18/02/15 19:50 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has so far identified about 1,200 Syrian opposition fighters for potential participation in a U.S. military-led program to help train and equip...

» Gay Catholics Get VIP Treatment at Pope Francis Audience
18/02/15 19:49 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from TIME. The Vatican did something it has never done before by giving a group of U.S. gay and lesbian Catholics VIP seats at Pope Francis’ weekly general audience Wednesday. But in a sign that the welco...

» US Disquiet Over How Europe Tackles Extremism
18/02/15 19:49 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News - Breaking international news and headlines | Sky News. There is concern that European and particularly British methods have been counterproductive, writes Sky's Dominic Waghorn.

» FSB Head To Attend Obama Antiextremism Summit
18/02/15 19:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The U.S. State Department has confirmed that Aleksandr Bortnikov, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), will be part of a Russian delegation at the Obam...

» Israel unveils its largest find of medieval gold coins
18/02/15 19:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 5:36 p.m. EST. CAESAREA, Israel (AP) -- Israel on Wednesday unveiled the largest collection of medieval gold coins ever found in the country, accidentally discovered by amateur divers a...

» Pro-Russian rebels use multiple rocket launchers near Debaltseve
18/02/15 19:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by AFP news agency. Pro-Russian rebels use multiple rocket launchers near Debaltseve Pro-Russian rebels near the flashpoint town of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine were seen firing grad multiple rock...

» Obama: We're Not at War With Islam
18/02/15 19:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from WSJ.com: World News. President Barack Obama said the global community must take steps to counter the recruiting efforts of violent extremist groups that commit acts of terrorism in the name of religion.

» 2015-02-18#Diplomacy
18/02/15 15:23 from Mike Nova - Google+
2015-02-18 #Diplomacy   #Russia Opinion: Diplomacy has reached its limits | Europe | DW.DE | 18.02.2015 | » Ukraine truce in peril as government troops abandon rail hub 18/02/15 13:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks Perhaps the Minsk a...

» Why Peace in Ukraine Depends on America | Georgy Bovt
18/02/15 14:34 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from WorldPost Blog on The Huffington Post. MOSCOW -- When pragmatic negotiators in Minsk left two days free before the start of the cease-fire in Ukraine, both sides exploited that opportunity to continue the ...

» Putin calls West's bluff over Ukraine peace deal - World | The Star Online
18/02/15 14:32 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Published: Thursday February 19, 2015 MYT 2:15:02 AM Updated: Thursday February 19, 2015 MYT 2:15:03 AM Putin calls West's bluff over Ukraine peace deal by timothy heritage MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin h...

» Opinion: Diplomacy has reached its limits | Europe | DW.DE | 18.02.2015
18/02/15 14:13 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . Ukraine Opinion: Diplomacy has reached its limits Perhaps the Minsk accord hasn't failed yet. But the situation in Debaltseve shows that peace in eastern Ukraine just can't be reached with diplomacy alone, DW...

» Ukraine truce in peril as government troops abandon rail hub
18/02/15 13:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Ukraine truce in peril as government troops abandon rail hub - Chicago Tribune. KIEV, Ukraine — The cease-fire in Ukraine was on the brink of collapse Wednesday as the battle for a transport hub came...

» Ukrainian soldiers beg for help online via Vkontakte as rebels surround them in Debaltseve
18/02/15 13:55 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from IBTimes.co.uk : Top News. Ukrainian soldiers begged for help online as Russian rebels surrounded them in the embattled town of Debaltseve. The ultra-nationalist militia named 'Right Sector' posted their pl...

» Ukraine Ceasefire In Dispute As Government Forces Pull Out Of Besieged Town
18/02/15 13:54 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The Huffington Post | Full News Feed. ARTEMIVSK/BULAVYNE, Ukraine, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Government forces were pulling out of an encircled town in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday after a fierce assault by Russi...

» U.S. hasn't exhausted toolkit on Russia sanctions -energy envoy
18/02/15 13:53 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Wires | Mail Online. By Reuters Published: 12:16 EST, 18 February 2015 | Updated: 12:16 EST, 18 February 2015 By Nidhi Verma and Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The United States could intens...

» Kiev unmoved on weapons withdrawal as troops pull out of Debaltseve
18/02/15 13:50 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The Globe and Mail - World. Ukraine's army will only consider withdrawing heavy weaponry from a designated eastern buffer zone “when the shelling stops,” the country’s deputy defence mini...

» Debaltseve falls to Ukraine rebels; troops retreat
18/02/15 13:46 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story . A Ukrainian government troop waves to a armored vehicle driving on the road towards Debaltseve near the town of Artemivsk, Ukraine on Friday. (Photo: Petr David Josek/AP) ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine — After week...

» Pro-Russian Rebels Take Control of E....
18/02/15 13:30 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from us arms ukraine - Google News. Pro-Russian Rebels Take Control of E. Ukraine Town Voice of America  - ‎2 minutes ago‎ The United States , which says it is still considering supplying Kyiv ...

» Daghestan's Derbent Debacle
18/02/15 12:36 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. The ongoing preparations to celebrate in September 2015 the 2,000th anniversary of the Caspian town of Derbent constitute a classic example of the late Russian Prime Mini...

» Battle lines drawn for a civil war in Yemen - Reuters
18/02/15 12:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Reuters Battle lines drawn for a civil war in Yemen Reuters SANAA/DUBAI (Reuters) - Hundreds of Sunni tribesmen in the central Yemeni desert parade in pickup trucks toting heavy machin...

» UK admits unlawfully monitoring legally privileged communications
18/02/15 12:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Intelligence agencies have been monitoring conversations between lawyers and their clients for past five years, government admits The regime under which UK intelligence agenci...

» Islamic State lays claim to North African outpost
18/02/15 12:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. ALGIERS/CAIRO (Reuters) - The images match the worst of Islamic State's atrocities: black-clad fighters and an English-speaking jihadist taunt the West before slaughtering their victim...

» Guantánamo torturer led brutal Chicago regime of shackling and confession
18/02/15 12:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Exclusive: Longtime detective’s tactics exported from Chicago to Guantánamo Minority Americans allege catalogue of abuse and coercion similar to detainee Officials examining c...

» Gay Catholics get Vatican welcome, but no papal shout-out
18/02/15 12:34 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 11:06 a.m. EST. VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican did something it has never done before by giving a group of U.S. gay and lesbian Catholics VIP seats at Pope Francis' weekly general aud...

» WorldViews: Judge’s immigration ruling doesn’t sit well south of the border
18/02/15 12:33 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. MEXICO CITY — Mexico found the decision regrettable. It was something Guatemala "profoundly laments." Honduras hoped that "sa...

» 2,322,2732,322,2732015-02-18#Порошенко
18/02/15 11:12 from Mike Nova - Google+
2,322,273 2,322,273 2015-02-18 #Порошенко #Украина #Путин US condemns rebel ceasefire violations in Ukraine | If US Doesn’t Arm Ukraine, Putin Will Move Against Baltic Countries by Paul Goble | Порошенко попросил Вашингтон о военной помо...

» If US Doesn’t Arm Ukraine, Putin Will Move Against Baltic Countries
18/02/15 09:09 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The InterpreterThe Interpreter. Staunton, February 16 — If President Obama follows German Chancellor Merkel and doesn’t arm Ukraine, the US president will not only “be playing the role Putin has assigned t...

» Порошенко попросил Вашингтон о военной помощи - НТВ.ru
18/02/15 09:08 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. НТВ.ru Порошенко попросил Вашингтон о военной помощи НТВ.ru Украинский президент вечером вторника созвонился с Джо Байденом. Он напомнил вице-президенту об обещаниях США оказать во...

» Ukraine pro-Russia forces seize strategic Debaltseve railway hub despite truce - The Guardian
18/02/15 09:07 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Ukraine pro- Russia forces seize strategic Debaltseve railway hub despite truce The Guardian Pro- Russia forces seized parts of the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve in intense stre...

» Ukraine crisis: US warns Russia as UN backs ceasefire deal - BBC News
18/02/15 09:07 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. BBC News Ukraine crisis: US warns Russia as UN backs ceasefire deal BBC News The US has accused Russia of violating the Minsk agreement on Ukraine, as the UN Security Council voted un...

» US condemns rebel ceasefire violations in Ukraine
18/02/15 09:07 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russian news, all the latest and breaking Russia news. Joe Biden warns Moscow it will face "costs" if Russian forces and separatists fail to respect the Minsk agreement and continue to attack Debaltseve

» В ДНР возбудили дело против Порошенко за «развязывание войны» в Донбассе - РБК
18/02/15 09:06 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Gazeta.ua В ДНР возбудили дело против Порошенко за «развязывание войны» в Донбассе РБК Прокуратура ДНР возбудила уголовное дело по факту развязывания войны в Донбассе. Подозреваемы...

» Порошенко подписал указ о призыве и демобилизации в 2015 году на срочную службу - Ура-Информ
18/02/15 09:06 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Ура-Информ Порошенко подписал указ о призыве и демобилизации в 2015 году на срочную службу Ура-Информ Президент Украины Петр Порошенко во вторник подписал указ "О сроках прове...

» Putin Tells Kiev to Let Its Troops Surrender as Cease-Fire Unravels
18/02/15 09:06 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. President Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Kiev to let its soldiers surrender to pro-Russian rebels, who spurned a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine and fought their way ...

» Ukraine: US accuses Russia of breaching ceasefire after fighting at key town - The Guardian
18/02/15 09:05 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. The Guardian Ukraine: US accuses Russia of breaching ceasefire after fighting at rebels capture key town The Guardian The US has accused Russia of violating the ceasefire in Ukraine, ...

» Ukraine crisis: Putin tells government troops to surrender to rebels in Debaltseve
18/02/15 09:05 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from - Europe RSS Feed. Vladimir Putin has told Ukraine it should let its soldiers lay down their weapons and flee battles against rebels “to save their own lives”.

» Армянский "майдан" созрел? - Росбалт.RU
18/02/15 09:04 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Новости Армении 7or.am Армянский "майдан" созрел? Росбалт.RU Президент Армении Серж Саргсян "наехал" едва ли не на самого богатого человека республики Гагика Царукяна, являющегося ...

» Командир батальона «Донбасс»: отвод войск осуществляется планово - Коммерсантъ
18/02/15 09:04 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. УНИАН Командир батальона «Донбасс»: отвод войск осуществляется планово Коммерсантъ Семен Семенченко, являющийся командиром батальона «Донбасс», сообщил на своей странице в Facebook...

» Pro-Kiev Troops Start Withdrawal From Besieged Ukrainian Town Debaltseve
18/02/15 09:04 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. Some pro-government forces began on Wednesday to pull out of the east Ukrainian town of Debaltseve, which is under siege from Russian-backed separatists, commanders of pro-gov...

» Глава ЛНР подтвердил данные о более чем 50 тыс. погибших в Донбассе - Коммерсантъ
18/02/15 09:04 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Версии.сом Глава ЛНР подтвердил данные о более чем 50 тыс. погибших в Донбассе Коммерсантъ Глава самопровозглашенной Луганской народной республики (ЛНР) Игорь Плотницкий считает сп...

» Orban Wins Russian Gas Pledge as Courtship of Putin Pays Off - Bloomberg
18/02/15 09:03 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia - Google News. Bloomberg Orban Wins Russian Gas Pledge as Courtship of Putin Pays Off Bloomberg (Bloomberg) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban struck a gas agreement with President Vladimir Pu...

» Могерини заявила о нарушении ополченцами прекращения огня в Дебальцево - РИА Новости
18/02/15 09:03 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. РИА Новости Могерини заявила о нарушении ополченцами прекращения огня в Дебальцево РИА Новости Глава дипломатии ЕС Федерика Могерини считает, что действия поддерживаемых Россией се...

» Isis plans to use immigrant boats from Libya to cause terror in Europe and close shipping routes
18/02/15 09:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from - Europe RSS Feed. Propaganda released by Isis has detailed plans to use Libya as a base to cause “pandemonium” in Europe by hijacking immigrant boats crossing the Mediterranean.

» Лукашенко готов быть посредником в Дебальцево - Правда.Ру
18/02/15 09:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. Правда.Ру Лукашенко готов быть посредником в Дебальцево Правда.Ру Президент Белоруссии Александр Лукашенко выступил с предложениями гарантий по выводу из Дебальцево украинских воен...

» Ukraine troops withdraw from Debaltseve as fighting rages
18/02/15 09:02 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Russia | The Guardian. Retreat from contested railway hub connecting Donetsk and Luhansk marks strategic victory for rebels Ukrainian troops are retreating from the hotspot of Debaltseve after intense figh...

» Ополченцы ДНР заявили о начале отвода войск на отдельных участках фронта - РБК
18/02/15 09:01 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from В мире – Новости Google. РБК Ополченцы ДНР заявили о начале отвода войск на отдельных участках фронта РБК Ополченцы начали в одностороннем порядке отводить тяжелое вооружение на спокойных участках востока ...

» Russia, South Ossetia Sign Border Agreement
18/02/15 09:00 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Russia and Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia have signed a "border agreement" opposed by Tbilisi.

» Crimea's Former Deputy Prime Minister Suspected of Theft
18/02/15 08:59 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. A former deputy prime minister of Crimea's Russia-backed government is suspected of theft.

» Putin Says Russian Intelligence Shows U.S. Is Already Arming Ukraine
18/02/15 08:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from The Moscow Times Top Stories. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the U.S. is supplying Kiev with lethal weapons, telling reporters that the conflict in Ukraine will not be resolved through milita...

» Six Lessons from the Debaltsevo Debacle
18/02/15 08:58 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Window on Eurasia -- New Series. Paul Goble               Staunton, February 18 – The Debaltsevo cauldron is coming to an end, Nikolay Mitrokhin ...

» Iranians Take To Social Media To Challenge Media Ban On Ex-President Khatami
18/02/15 08:57 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Some Iranians are protesting against a state media ban on former President Mohammad Khatami by posting his pictures on social media under the hashtag "We will be Khatami'...

» Poroshenko Says Ukrainian Troops Withdrawing From Debaltseve
18/02/15 08:44 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said government forces were completing a "planned and organized" withdrawal from the eastern town of Debaltseve, which has been a...

» Swiss Prosecutors Raid HSBC Subsidiary
18/02/15 08:43 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Geneva prosecutors have raided the Swiss office of the British banking giant HSBC and announced a criminal investigation into accusations it was laundering money. The raid was taking plac...

» Record-setting amounts of snow hit US east coast
18/02/15 08:43 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by AFP news agency. Record-setting amounts of snow hit US east coast As yet another snow storm hits the US East Coast, Boston is using parking lots to store mountains of the white stuff cleared fro...

» IS May Be Selling Human Organs, Iraqi Diplomat Says
18/02/15 08:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. Iraq’s U.N. ambassador warned Tuesday that Islamic State militants might be trafficking human organs to help fund their campaign of terror. In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council, Amb...

» Greece handed ultimatum as eurozone bailout talks fail
18/02/15 08:35 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by AFP news agency. Greece handed ultimatum as eurozone bailout talks fail Eurozone ministers have handed Greece an ultimatum to request an extension to its bailout programme after crunch talks col...

» Rebels Claim Control of Crucial Ukraine Town as Truce Imperiled - Bloomberg
18/02/15 08:34 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Rebels Claim Control of Crucial Ukraine Town as Truce Imperiled Bloomberg (Bloomberg) -- Rebels in eastern Ukraine said they took over the strategic crossroad town Debaltseve and...

» Donetsk residents without water, electricity as fight goes on
18/02/15 08:34 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Uploads by AFP news agency. Donetsk residents without water, electricity as fight goes on In a district of north Donetsk caught in the crossfire between pro-government and separatist forces, residents live...

» Yes, I?ll Say It: Marie Harf Had a Point
18/02/15 08:20 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Google News. Yes, I?ll Say It: Marie Harf Had a Point Daily Beast  - ‎26 minutes ago‎ The State Department spox phrased it badly (“root causes”), but there's something to consi...

» 'Islamic State's ambitions in Libya are a direct threat to Europe' - Telegraph.co.uk
18/02/15 08:18 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Telegraph.co.uk 'Islamic State's ambitions in Libya are a direct threat to Europe' Telegraph.co.uk On Sunday, when Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant supporters began circulati...

» US to Allow Export of Armed Military Drones - ABC News
18/02/15 08:18 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Fox Business US to Allow Export of Armed Military Drones ABC News The Obama administration is amending its regulations for weapons sales to allow the export of armed military dro...

» Argentine Official Lashes Out at U.S. Over Prosecutor Dispute
18/02/15 08:18 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. Other countries should not interfere in the case of the mysterious death of Alberto Nisman, Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman said.

» Putin finds warm welcome in Hungary, despite European chill
18/02/15 08:17 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed a deal to keep supplying gas to Hungary on Tuesday on a visit to Budapest that cemented Hungary's close ties with the Kreml...

» Harf Truths and Whole Lies - Wall Street Journal
18/02/15 08:17 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Wall Street Journal Harf Truths and Whole Lies Wall Street Journal Poor Marie Harf. The State Department's deputy spokesman is being mercilessly mocked for an interview she gave ...

» World Briefing: Spanish Judge Drops Charges Against 9 Priests in Sexual Abuse Case
18/02/15 08:17 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from NYT > World. A Granada judge said only one of the 12 people indicted in the case would be tried because the statute of limitations had expired against the others.

» 'There's An Awful Lot' Of Somalis Driving Cabs, Says Joe Biden - Daily Caller
18/02/15 08:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. CNN International CBS News 'There's An Awful Lot' Of Somalis Driving Cabs, Says Joe Biden Daily Caller U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrives for a meeting with Ukraine U.S. Vice ...

» Icy Storm Paralyzes Eastern US; More Cold to Come - Christian Daily
18/02/15 08:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Top Stories - Google News. Icy Storm Paralyzes Eastern US; More Cold to Come Christian Daily A deadly winter storm paralyzed much of the eastern United States on Tuesday, snarling transit and shutting down...

» WorldViews: Where Saddam Hussein’s statue once stood in Baghdad, there’s now a portrait of Iran’s supreme leader
18/02/15 08:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World: World News, International News, Foreign Reporting - The Washington Post. Perhaps nothing illuminates more starkly the transformation underway in Iraq than the billboard depicting the late Iranian le...

» Argentina asks US to press Iran on 1994 bombing during nuclear talks
18/02/15 08:16 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Network Front | The Guardian. Attack on Jewish center is backdrop for ongoing political saga in which state prosecutor has mysteriously died and sitting president may face charges Argentina wants the Unite...

» Biden: Including immigrants key to stopping extremism in US
18/02/15 08:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 6:35 a.m. EST. WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States must ensure that immigrants are fully included in the fabric of American society to prevent violent ideologies from taking root at ho...

» US sets deadline over crisis-era charges
18/02/15 08:15 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World News. DoJ given 90 days to decide if cases can be brought against individuals

» Warplane strikes at western Libyan town Zintan: official
18/02/15 08:14 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A war plane carried out air strikes on a western Libyan town allied with the internationally recognized government on Tuesday, in what officials charged was an atta...

» Future ISIS leader seen in newly released photo - CBS News
18/02/15 08:14 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. CBS News Future ISIS leader seen in newly released photo CBS News CBS News has obtained a photo of the man who would become the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) whi...

» Awash in opium, Afghan 'wild west' slips from Kabul's grasp
18/02/15 08:13 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Reuters: World News. FARAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - In fields less than a 10-minute drive from the intelligence headquarters of Afghanistan's remote western province of Farah, farmers are planting their fi...

» Argentine Official Lashes Out at US Over Prosecutor Dispute - New York Times
18/02/15 08:13 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from World - Google News. Channel News Asia Argentine Official Lashes Out at US Over Prosecutor Dispute New York Times INTENDENTE ALVEAR, Argentina — Fallout from the mysterious death of a federal prosecutor ra...

» Report: Immigration Program Stirs Security, Economic Concerns
18/02/15 08:05 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from Voice of America. A U.S. immigration investment program is coming under new scrutiny after an investigative report questioned the desirability of some who have used it to come to America.   The report by t...

» Navy frigate intercepts Russian warship in the Channel: HMS Argyll escorts heavily-armed vessel as tensions heighten between UK and Russia
18/02/15 08:04 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from News | Mail Online. epa04623834 A photo made available by the British Ministry of Defence 17 February 2015 of the Royal Navy's HMS Argyll (background left) shadowing the Russian warship Yaroslav Mudryy as ...

» Chicago-area imam charged with sex abuse at Islamic school
18/02/15 08:04 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 6:35 a.m. EST. CHICAGO (AP) -- The longtime head of a suburban Chicago Islamic school has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman who worked there, and a civil suit filed Tuesday ...

» Just Biden being Biden? VP's odd moves give pause
18/02/15 08:03 from Mike Nova's Shared Newslinks
mikenova shared this story from AP Top Headlines At 6:35 a.m. EST. WASHINGTON (AP) -- Here's the thing about impromptu moments in politics: Often they work, sometimes they fall flat, but occasionally they turn out downright awkward. Vice...