Germany To Send Back Thousands Of Afghan, Balkans Migrants | Jailed, Whipped Saudi Blogger Wins 2015 Sakharov Prize | Edward Snowden: EU parliament votes to 'drop any criminal charges' against whistle-blower
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Germany To Send Back Thousands Of Afghan, Balkans Migrants by support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL)
Germany has toughened its response to an accelerating influx of migrants, pledging to send rejected asylum seekers back to the Balkans and Afghanistan.
Jailed, Whipped Saudi Blogger Wins 2015 Sakharov Prizeby support@pangea-cms.com (RFE/RL)
A Saudi blogger who has been jailed and lashed for his online writing has been named as the winner of the European Parliament's 2015 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Report finds government agents 'directly involved' in many U.S. terror plots
 РБК |
Путин создал аналог пионерской организации
РБК В России появится новая молодежная структура, которая может напоминать пионерскую организацию времен СССР. Целью движения станет воспитание школьников на основе ценностей, «присущих российскому обществу». Фото: Вячеслав Юрасов/ТАСС. Президент России Владимир ... Российское движение школьников создано в день рождения комсомолаИнтерфакс Путин создал Российское движение школьниковBBC Russian Владимир Путин создал аналог пионерской организации — «Российское движение школьников»Коммерсантъ NEWSru.com- ИА REGNUM Все похожие статьи: 162 » |
ISIS Begins Its War against Moscow -- Fighting Along 60 Percent of Afghan-Tajik Borderby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 29 – Having declared jihad against Russia, ISIS has now begun its war against Moscow in earnest, stepping up its recruiting efforts in the Russian Federation and other post-Soviet states and actively supporting a military campaign which, the president of Tajikistan says, has led to fighting along 60 percent of his country’s border with Afghanistan.
Because Dushanbe does not have an effective army – the only real combat forces there are Russian – those attacks are attacks on Russia itself; and consequently, it is no surprise that Vladimir Putin is worried and seeking to mobilize CIS security forces against ISIS and what he describes as its threats to those states both from within and from without.
In a commentary on this today, Russian political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin argues that not only will Putin have to fight this threat but that his own policies in Syria mean that he will have to do so far sooner than he may have expected (nv.ua/opinion/oreshkin/dzhihad-igil-protiv-rossii-chto-grozit-putinu-76734.html).
“Putin accelerated the inevitable clash of the remnants of Russian civilization with the Islamist International and this undoubtedly will backfire on Russia,” Oreshkin argues. “the Islamic State is a major threat for Russia,” especially as it moves against the country through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The Russian military is being “dragged into a hot phase” of this conflict already “on the territory of the former USSR. Battles on the borders are already going on” in Tajikistan. And they can be expected in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as well, something especially serious in the former case because of the age of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov.
Consequently, Oreshkin says, “the main threat of the Islamic State comes precisely from this region and not from Syria.” Moreover, one cannot exclude that “terrorist actions will begin.” All of this threatens Putin personally. And the claims of his propagandists that things would have been even worse had he not intervened in Syria will sound hollow to most Russians.
Putin’s “military operation in Syria is a major strategic mistake,” albeit not exactly the one many are talking about given how it is intensifying tensions with the West. He may not have recognized that he was coming out in support of the Shiite minority by intervening as he has, and thus he may not have recalled that most Muslims in Russia and Central Asia are Sunnis.
“Among these,” Oreshkin continues, “certainly will be found extremists who consider Putin an enemy.” Russian officials are already talking about some 5,000 former Soviet citizens fighting for ISIS in Syria; and the numbers of those who sympathize with their actions but who have remained at home are certainly far larger.
That leaves Putin between a rock and a hard place. He must either win in Syria, something Oreshkin suggests is impossible, or he must force Asad to agree to negotiations so that he can present himself as a peacemaker even though he has gone to war. (The Russian analyst does not say so but Putin has had much success in the West with such sleights of hand.)
But that may not matter as much as the Kremlin leader hopes. “If earlier Putin conducted small victorious wars – in Chechnya, Georgia, and Ukraine, which were accompanied by increases in his rating, now he will be forced to engage in defensive battles.” And if those go wrong, it will open the way to Putin’s “political end.”
“It is one thing,” Oreshkin says, “to defeat Chechen terrorists or a small Georgian army; it is quite another to fight with the enormous Islamist International.” And he is going to have to fight, much sooner and much closer to home than he imagined when he launched his ill-fated Syrian campaign.
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Kremlin Views Any Differences with Moscow in the Regions as Separatism by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 29 – Just as the Kremlin views any opposition to Russia abroad as a manifestation of “Russophobia,” so too it now views any expression of differences with Moscow in Russia’s regions as an expression of separatism and appears likely to bring ever more charges against those in the regions who are unhappy with the central government, experts say.
Moscow clearly hopes to intimidate regional leaders and activists into silence, but charging those who express a difference of opinion with separatism may have exactly the opposite effect, leading those possibly subject to such charges to reflect on what it means to be part of a Russia run in this way and thus to think more seriously about separatism.
To date, it has brought such charges against only two people – Rafis Kashapov of the Tatar Social Center who said Crimean should be returned to Ukraine and now Vladimir Zavarkin, a Karelian deputy, who said that if Moscow doesn’t listen to the regions, perhaps they should have referenda on whether to separate from Russia.
But Aleksandr Verkhovsky, the director of the SOVA Center, predicts the number of such cases will rise dramatically in the coming months. After all, he points out, the law on this point is a new one and prosecutors have not had time to employ such charges against opposition figures (vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2015/10/26/614406-nedovolstvo-separatizmu).
Kashapov already has been found guilty – see “’Support Ukraine and You’ll Go to Jail,’ Kremlin Tells Russians,” Window on Eurasia, September 16, 2015 at
windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2015/09/support-ukraine-and-youll-go-to-jail.html– but the Zavarkin case is still open, the subject of the Vedomosti article in which Verkhovsky is quoted.
The Moscow newspaper’s Anastasiya Kornya shows just how absurd and overreaching it is. She notes that Zavarkin did not specifically call for a referendum on secession but said that one might be necessary “if the Russian Federation does not hear us,” a distinction that prosecutors have ignored.
The deputy’s lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, points out that Zavarkin’s comment was not a specific proposal but a figure of speech and that prosecutors have taken in out of context. He says that the defense will “insists on psychological and linguistic analysis” in advance of any trial.
That was supposed to begin on Monday of this week, Kornya reports, but the case had to be continued because none of the prosecution witnesses showed up. The judges wanted to allow their previous statements to be admitted as evidence, but Dinze objected and now the case has been continued.
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UN Expert Says N. Korea Forcing Citizens to Work Abroad for Cash by webdesk@voanews.com (Margaret Besheer)
The U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea said Wednesday that government is sending tens of thousands of its citizens abroad to work under harsh conditions and is making more than $1 billion a year from their confiscated salaries. In his latest report to the U.N. General Assembly to be formally presented on Thursday, Special Rapporteur Marzuki Darusman says as many as 50,000 workers are laboring under conditions that “amount to forced labor”. The vast majority are working in China and Russia, but others are in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “I think it reflects the really tight financial and economic situation in the North,” Darusman told reporters. North Korea has been under targeted international sanctions since 2006 for its launch of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons tests. The special rapporteur said North Koreans are mainly employed in the construction, mining, logging and textile sectors and it is believed the government is earning between $1.2 billion and $2.3 billion a year from this system. In his report, Darusman says laborers often work up to 20 hours each day in unhealthy and unsafe environments with inadequate food rations and rarely a day off. They are threatened with repatriation if they do not perform well or violate rules. Workers are under constant surveillance by North Korean security personnel. He called on the government to end this abuse and urged foreign companies to be vigilant so they do not become complicit in the forced labor practices. Darusman also highlights other human rights violations in his report. He says North Korean women, men and children continue to be victims of “long-standing and on-going systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations by the government,” including torture, arbitrary detainment, summary execution and discrimination. Last year, the Commission of Inquiry (COI), a U.N. panel tasked with probing North Korean human rights, released a lengthy report alleging gross abuses. These included summary executions, rape, torture, forced abortions and enslavement. The chief targets were religious minorities and political dissidents allegedly detained in prison camps with up to 120,000 inmates. Darusman and the COI have both urged the U.N. Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court to face accountability. That is unlikely to happen, however, as China – Pyongyang’s ally – holds a veto on the council and could block any referral. Special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council to report on specific human rights issues.
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Freedom House: World Internet Freedom Keeps Erodingby webdesk@voanews.com (Alberto Pimienta)
Internet censorship around the globe continues to intensify. According to a report by the independent monitoring group Freedom House, for the fifth consecutive year, more nations are censoring information online and demanding that companies and individuals remove content or face retribution. The annually released Freedom of the Net Report assessed 65 countries and identified China as the worst offender. University scholar Ilham Tohti, who became a leading voice in the Uighur opposition to Beijing’s policies, was sentenced in September 2014 to life in prison for questioning online the government’s decisions. This is one of the toughest sentences in the country in recent years. Gady Epstein, former Beijing bureau chief for The Economist magazine, said China has become more aggressive with censorship in the last couple of years under President Xi Jinping. “They’ve blocked Google; they’ve blocked Gmail and other Google services. They arrested more online activists, people who comment independently on a range of issues, including corruption,” said Epstein. Freedom House said China is only one nation in which this type of crackdown has been increasing. In Russia and Iran, people who post content deemed offensive by the government can quickly and easily land in prison. “Those countries tend to block materials of political and social relevance. They tend to arrest users for writing about human rights and opposition,” said Sanja Kelly, director of the report. Mideast freedoms Syria is the second-worst performer in the study. Bloggers, journalists and activists face execution by armed groups in the country, according to Freedom House. In Iran, rated the third-worst nation, Tehran’s conservative powerbrokers, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, keep extremely tight control over the Internet, despite better bandwidth and the increase of 3G cellular connections. Social media’s role Social media, like Facebook and Twitter, increasingly play a big role in the way people get access to information in countries with restricted Web freedom. These social media services, however, are banned from nations like China and Iran. That means citizens there have to find alternative ways to use them and have contact with family and friends abroad who post content they would not otherwise be able to reach. “It is actually because of their desire to connect to these popular media platforms that they’re seeking circumvention tools, and they’re seeking the use of VPNs [virtual private networks] so they can then bypass censorship," Kelly said. "And then, as a result of that, they are able to read a whole vast world of information out there.” The combination of social media services and content that authorities dislike, though, can be life-shattering. That is the case for Atena Farghadani, 28, an Iranian cartoonist. She was sentenced to 12 years in jail for posting one of her caricatures on Facebook, which portrayed Iranian lawmakers as animals. Threats to companies Freedom House said that during the research for the report, which focuses on events from June 2014 through May 2015, it stumbled upon a new development: Governments increasingly attack the source now. Kelly said authorities warn individuals that they must remove offensive content or face torture or imprisonment. The watchdog group emphasized that this new approach also extends to technology companies. “The governments are actually going to the company and saying, ‘This type of information exists on your servers. Take it down. If you don’t take it down, we’re going to either block your services or we’re going to take away your license so you will not be able to operate in our country any longer,’ ” said Kelly. Censorship exported Experts say Beijing’s efforts not only have proven successful inside the country’s borders for the last two decades, but also abroad. Analysts assert that as China exports its model around the world, especially in Central Asia, Chinese companies also are sharing their expertise in Internet censorship. Journalist Epstein said he witnessed this firsthand in Kazakhstan. “In there, what they’ve done is brought Chinese hardware and know-how — you know, Huawei, CTE, these folks who make their routers and have built their Internet infrastructure,” he said. “But they weren’t just copying China. They’re also looking to Russia, where they are basically importing Russian censorship. So it is a blend, especially in the former Soviet republics.”
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US, China to Discuss South China Sea Tensionsby webdesk@voanews.com (William Ide)
China’s Defense Ministry said it will voice its “solemn position” to the United States when top navy officials from both countries hold an hour-long video teleconference Thursday to discuss tensions in the South China Sea and naval ties. Admiral John Richardson, the U.S. chief of naval operations, and his Chinese counterpart Admiral Wu Shengli will participate in the talks. The two countries have previously held two other video teleconferences. According to the U.S.-based news website Defense News, a U.S. official said the call on Thursday was not scheduled but the two navies agreed to hold the teleconference “in light of current events.” Earlier this week, Washington took its biggest step to date to challenge China's claims in the South China Sea, sailing a U.S. navy warship within a 12 nautical mile zone of man made islands in the hotly disputed waters. WATCH: video clip of US ship in S. China Sea Beijing, which claims most of the South China Sea as its own, responded angrily calling the trip a “deliberate provocation” and filing a formal protest to the U.S. Ambassador in Beijing. Chinese defense officials have warned that further forays into territory that it claims as its own may “trigger eventualities.” Speaking at a regular press briefing on Thursday, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun commented on the teleconference call and said that China would raise its “solemn position regarding the U.S. vessels entry without permission.” Yang also urged Washington to not continue to go down what he called the wrong path. “If they do, we will take all necessary measures in accordance with the need," he said. Online reaction Online commentaries in the wake of the trip have been heated, with some urging the Chinese military to ram U.S. vessels if they return and others calling for a military response over the dispute. Some have argued that China’s leaders need to be more like Russian President Vladimir Putin in protecting their country’s interests. But despite the heated reaction online, from officials and in state media, the two countries appear to be continuing efforts to engage and keep the doors of communication open. In addition to the teleconference on Thursday, there are reports that U.S. Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris and U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift are planning to visit Beijing in the coming weeks. The Communist Party-backed newspaper Global Times ran a front-page story Thursday that said Admiral Harris is slated to visit Beijing on Monday, November 2. However, a defense ministry official said Thursday that the two sides are still working on a final date for the visit. It is not just the U.S. Navy that is increasing its engagement with China. A French frigate is currently on a four-day visit to China’s main South China Sea base in the southern province in Guangdong. And next week, two Australian warships will hold exercises with the Chinese navy in the South China Sea. Australian media have reported that the exercise will include live-fire drills. And Australian military officials have said there is no sign that China plans to delay or change the schedule for the drills. Germany's stance On a visit to Beijing Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged China to resolve South China Sea disputes in international courts. Merkel also said that it was important that sea trade routes remain open. China is unlikely to accept such a view as it has long rejected efforts for international intervention in the disputes. Instead, Beijing favors holding bilateral discussions with other claimants. More than $5 trillion in trade passes through the South China Sea each year where Vietnam, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also have rival claims. Some material for this report came from Reuters
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US Officer Fired for Tossing Teen, Questions Remainby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
A South Carolina sheriff says he acted swiftly but carefully in firing a school resource officer caught on video flipping a disruptive student out of her desk and tossing her across the floor. In the wake of the firing, though, questions remain about whether the officer should have been in the classroom in the first place, and where the former deputy goes from here. The Spring Valley High School student refused to leave the classroom Monday despite being told by a teacher and an administrator to do so, according to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. That's when Senior Deputy Ben Fields was brought in to remove her. She again refused, and Fields told her she was under arrest. Video shows the deputy flipping the teen backward and then throwing her across the room. At that point, Lott said Wednesday, Fields did not use proper procedure. "Police officers make mistakes too. They're human and they need to be held accountable, and that's what we've done with Deputy Ben Fields," Lott said. Outrage spread quickly after videos of the white officer arresting the black teenager appeared on the Internet. One question is if Fields should have been involved in the situation at all, or whether it was a situation that should have been handled by school officials. "We know important work is ahead of us as we thoughtfully and carefully review the decision-making process that may lead to a school resource officer taking the lead in handling a student disruption," Richland 2 Superintendent Debbie Hamm said in a statement. It's up to school teachers and administrators to deal with disciplinary issues, and a memorandum of agreement delineates the circumstances under which it's OK for officers to get involved. The school district and sheriff's department have yet to provide that document after repeated requests. Lott said Wednesday that both the teacher and vice principal in the classroom at the time told deputies they supported Fields' actions. An attorney for Fields, Scott Hayes, said in a statement that the deputy's actions were justified and lawful. Fields' was fired and banned from Richland 2 District properties. Federal and state investigations into his actions have just begun, so it will be unknown for some time if he will face charges. The sheriff also had stern words for the student who he said started the confrontation by refusing to hand over her cellphone after her math teacher saw her texting in class — a violation of school policy. Both she and another student who verbally challenged the officer's actions during the arrest still face misdemeanor charges of disturbing schools, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or 90 days in jail, Lott said, although in most cases, judges impose alternative sentences that keep students out of jail. "The student was not allowing the teacher to teach and not allowing the students to learn. She was very disrespectful and she started this whole incident," Lott said. Lott declined to release Fields' personnel file, but said none of the complaints filed against him came from the school district. He did say that he and other deputies were trained not to throw or push subjects away unless they are in danger. An expelled student has claimed Fields targeted blacks and falsely accused him of being a gang member in 2013, court records show. That case goes to trial in January. The girl in the videos remains unidentified, but she has obtained a prominent attorney — Todd Rutherford, who also serves as House minority leader in South Carolina's legislature — who contradicted the sheriff's claim Tuesday that the girl "may have had a rug burn" but was otherwise uninjured. In an interview with The Associated Press, Rutherford said his client has a hard cast on her arm and complains of neck and back injuries as well as psychological trauma. Rutherford said he doesn't know if race played a factor. "I'm positive what he did to her should not be done to any human being," he said. "It should not be done to any animal. If he was on video and a dog bit him, and he threw a dog across the room, he'd still go to jail."
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Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Wins Human Rights Prizeby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The European Parliament has awarded its annual Sakharov Prize for human rights to Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian blogger sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Muslim clerics. President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz announced the selection Thursday, saying Badawi's sentence is "a kind of torture" and "one of the most cruel sentences possible" in Saudi Arabia. He said he had spoken with the King of Saudi Arabia to ask him to pardon Badawi and to release him so he can travel to Strasbourg in December to accept his prize. Badawi was arrested in 2012 after founding a website that served as an online platform for political and religious debate. He was charged with insulting Islam and his 10-year prison sentence was upheld by the Saudi Supreme Court in June 2015. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $266,000. Badawi is reported to be in poor health. He received the first 50 of his 1,000 lashes in a public display in January 2015. Subsequent lashes were set to be delivered in sets of 50 over 20 sessions, but were suspended due to his poor health and to international outcry. In February, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for Badawi's release, calling his public whipping a "cruel and shocking act." Badawi's wife and children have fled to Canada because of death threats. The Sakharov Prize is named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and is awarded by the European Parliament to people and organizations who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. The two other finalists for this year's prize were the Venezuelan opposition movement Mesa de la Unidad Democratica and the assassinated Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in Moscow in February 2015.
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Ukraine Rejects Talks With Russia Over Flight Banby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia said on Thursday it had proposed to Ukraine's aviation authorities further talks on resuming flights between the two countries, but Kyiv swiftly turned down the offer. Direct air services between the one-time allies ceased on Sunday, a new low in commercial relations between the two neighbors. They’ve been in a bitter standoff since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 following a pro-Europe street uprising in Kyiv. As of Sunday, Kyiv banned incoming flights by Russian airlines, including flagship carrier Aeroflot, to punish them for flying to Crimea. Moscow criticized the move as "another act of madness" and responded by closing Russian airspace to Ukrainian airlines. Rosaviatsia said in a statement on Thursday that it had proposed "continuing the dialogue with the aim of quickly resuming air links between Russian and Ukraine." The termination of flights, it said, was pushing up costs for passengers. A spokesman for Ukraine's infrastructure ministry confirmed receipt of a letter from Rosaviatsia, but said negotiations could only start "if Russia pays existing fines and stops flying to restricted areas, principally Crimea." The fines were imposed on Russia for violating airspace over Crimea. Approximately 657,000 passengers flew between Russia and Ukraine in the first half of 2015. The loss of ticket sales will affect the bottom lines of both countries' airlines, some of which have already posted losses for parts of this year. Earlier this week, people familiar with the matter said flights were unlikely to resume soon.
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Opposition party RPR-Parnas needs to come up with better ideas than shortening its name if it is to have any success in future elections, writes columnist Reid Nelson.
LIVE UPDATES: Russian jets have struck targets in the southern Daraa province for the second time this week, with reports of coordination with the Lebanese military and Hezbollah ahead of a Syrian regime offensive in the area.
The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here.
As the EU hardens its heart to refugees, a few thousand more make it into Austria before barrier is erected
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Greek authorities rescue 242 people but further casualties feared after ‘day of death’
The blogger has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in the gulf state
Mohamed Januzi disappeared from outside the 'Lageso' refugee centre in the German capital
Staff who object and stand up for editorial independence are sacked on the spot
Snowden tweeted the vote was a 'chance to move forward'
 The Guardian |
Russia risks a repeat of doomed Afghan war in Syria, says EU foreign policy chief
The Guardian Russia risks being trapped in another quagmire like Afghanistan unless it helps orchestrate a political transition in Syria, the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has warned. Referencing the Soviet-Afghan war, Mogherini spoke on Wednesday on ... Russia Bombs Hospitals. Lefties Shrug.Daily Beast UPDATE 1-US's Blinken: Russia cannot win in Syria, must push for transitionReuters U.S.'s Blinken: Russia cannot win in Syria, must push for transitionThomson Reuters Foundation all 18 news articles » |
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 Fox News |
Exclusive: Russia flying Iranian weapons shipments into Syria, sources say
Fox News Fox News is told the increased Russian transport of Iranian weapons is being coordinated by Qassem Soulimeini, the head of the Iranian Al-Quds force, as well as President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. An Iranian civilian ... Kerry Counts on Russia to Help Chart Course Out of Syria's HellBloomberg Obama fumbles for credibility in Syria as Russia and Iran seize initiativeThe Guardian Russian firms to rebuild war-torn SyriaRT New York Times -Jerusalem Post Israel News -Wall Street Journal all 1,367 news articles » |
 Huffington Post |
Why Russia Perceives Syria as Its Front Line
Huffington Post BEIRUT -- Russia believes that it sees the situation of the Middle East very plainly. Vladimir Putin sees nation-states across the region weakening and eroding: Iraq fractured, Syria in conflict, Lebanon without a state, Yemen in anarchy, Libya in ... Kelly McParland: US and Russia to convene talks offering a rare hint of ...National Post What is Russia doing in Syria?The Boston Globe Russia Goes Online to Win Support of 'Generation Putin' for Syria CampaignWall Street Journal Military Times -Daily Signal -The Moscow Times (registration) all 3,157 news articles » |
 Forbes |
Putin's Syria Narrative Must Win Russian Public Opinion--But It'll Be A Hard Sell
Forbes Russia's premier polling organization, the Levada Center, surveyed the Russian people at the beginning of the Syrian bombing campaign. Unlike Crimea, at this stage of the campaign, one-fifth or more of respondents have not yet made up their minds. and more » |
 BBC News |
Russia's Syria intervention: One month in
BBC News The deployment of a Russian strike force of 34 combat jets and 21 helicopters showed how billions invested in the armed forces by President Vladimir Putin had paid off. Within days of arriving they were flying attack missions, and have now clocked up ... Why Russia Perceives Syria as Its Front LineHuffington Post Russia 'Will Feel Serious Pain' of Syrian War: Retired Marine GeneralMilitary.com German Vice Chancellor calls for better collaboration with Russia over Ukraine ...Deutsche Welle Forbes-National Post all 3,303 news articles » |
Telegraph.co.uk |
Nato considers sending 4000 troops to Russian borders
Telegraph.co.uk Russia has repeatedly said it considers Nato a security threat, and Vladimir Putin has blamed the expansion of Nato into Eastern Europe for the crisis in Ukraine. A large force would likely be seen in Moscow as a violation of a 1994 agreement that ... NATO discussing increasing troops near Russia's borders: WSJReuters NATO Weighs A Serious Upping Of The Military Ante Against Russia — To The ...Daily Caller NATO Looks at Stationing More Troops Along Eastern FlankWall Street Journal Sputnik International all 23 news articles » |
Military.com |
Russia 'Will Feel Serious Pain' of Syrian War: Retired Marine General
Military.com Russia's bid to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is going to cause them pain "in ways they can't imagine," the senior U.S. diplomat charged with organizing the war against the Islamic State told a Senate committee on Wednesday. Retired Marine ... Russia: Consequences of US Troops in Syria 'Unpredictable'teleSUR English Russian tactics in Syria point to diplomatic dealChatham Daily News Russia's Success In Battling ISIS Has The US Scrambling To Play Catch-upMintpress News (blog) The Fiscal Times -DEBKA file all 985 news articles » |
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CNN |
US sensors detect Russian submarines near underwater cables
CNN While the Russians have insisted the Yantar is not a spy ship, U.S. naval intelligence believes it has one significant and unsettling capability: small underwater vehicles that can cut vital undersea cables carrying vast amounts of commercial and ... How undersea cables became the latest Russia-US issueCBC.ca Fears Russia could sabotage global InternetTechCentral all 56 news articles » |
Globalnews.ca |
Islamic State on recruitment spree in Russia's North Caucasus
Globalnews.ca MAKHACHKALA, Russia – The Russian province of Dagestan, a flashpoint for Islamic violence in the North Caucasus, is feeding hundreds of fighters to the Islamic State in Syria — and now some are coming back home with experience gained from the ... Islamic State on recruitment spree in Russia's North Caucasus _ raising fears ...Fox News The Russian village that sent 20 men to wage jihad in SyriaWashington Post all 71 news articles » |
The Guardian |
Russia's Gulag camps cast in forgiving light of Putin nationalism
The Guardian In today's Russia it is not fashionable to delve too deeply into Gulag history, and 60-year-old Panikarov's collection is one of just two museums devoted entirely to the Gulag in the whole country. Indeed, even Panikarov himself has a somewhat ... |
Reuters |
Russia's Putin Says Global Warming Is 'A Fraud'
Daily Caller Russian President Vladimir Putin believes global warming is a “fraud” — a plot to keep Russiafrom using its vast oil and natural gas reserves. Putin believes “there is no global warming, that this is a fraud to restrain the industrial development of ... Russian media take climate cue from skeptical PutinReuters all 14 news articles » |
Business Insider |
REPORT: Russia is helping Iran deliver arms to Syria
Business Insider rouhani putin iran russia REUTERS/Alexei Nikolsky/RIA Novosti/KremlinRussia's President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani at the welcoming ceremony during a summit of Caspian Sea regional leaders in the ... Russia's Syria intervention: One month inBBC News US aims to see if Iran, Russia ready to dump Syria's AssadReuters Kerry Counts on Russia to Help Chart Course Out of Syria's HellBloomberg TIME -Wall Street Journal -Fox News all 2,088 news articles » |
РБК |
Путин создал аналог пионерской организации
РБК В России появится новая молодежная структура, которая может напоминать пионерскую организацию времен СССР. Целью движения станет воспитание школьников на основе ценностей, «присущих российскому обществу». Фото: Вячеслав Юрасов/ТАСС. Президент России Владимир ... Российское движение школьников создано в день рождения комсомолаИнтерфакс Путин создал Российское движение школьниковBBC Russian Владимир Путин создал аналог пионерской организации — «Российское движение школьников»Коммерсантъ NEWSru.com- ИА REGNUM Все похожие статьи: 162 » |
ISIS Begins Its War against Moscow -- Fighting Along 60 Percent of Afghan-Tajik Borderby paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 29 – Having declared jihad against Russia, ISIS has now begun its war against Moscow in earnest, stepping up its recruiting efforts in the Russian Federation and other post-Soviet states and actively supporting a military campaign which, the president of Tajikistan says, has led to fighting along 60 percent of his country’s border with Afghanistan.
Because Dushanbe does not have an effective army – the only real combat forces there are Russian – those attacks are attacks on Russia itself; and consequently, it is no surprise that Vladimir Putin is worried and seeking to mobilize CIS security forces against ISIS and what he describes as its threats to those states both from within and from without.
In a commentary on this today, Russian political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin argues that not only will Putin have to fight this threat but that his own policies in Syria mean that he will have to do so far sooner than he may have expected (nv.ua/opinion/oreshkin/dzhihad-igil-protiv-rossii-chto-grozit-putinu-76734.html).
“Putin accelerated the inevitable clash of the remnants of Russian civilization with the Islamist International and this undoubtedly will backfire on Russia,” Oreshkin argues. “the Islamic State is a major threat for Russia,” especially as it moves against the country through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The Russian military is being “dragged into a hot phase” of this conflict already “on the territory of the former USSR. Battles on the borders are already going on” in Tajikistan. And they can be expected in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan as well, something especially serious in the former case because of the age of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov.
Consequently, Oreshkin says, “the main threat of the Islamic State comes precisely from this region and not from Syria.” Moreover, one cannot exclude that “terrorist actions will begin.” All of this threatens Putin personally. And the claims of his propagandists that things would have been even worse had he not intervened in Syria will sound hollow to most Russians.
Putin’s “military operation in Syria is a major strategic mistake,” albeit not exactly the one many are talking about given how it is intensifying tensions with the West. He may not have recognized that he was coming out in support of the Shiite minority by intervening as he has, and thus he may not have recalled that most Muslims in Russia and Central Asia are Sunnis.
“Among these,” Oreshkin continues, “certainly will be found extremists who consider Putin an enemy.” Russian officials are already talking about some 5,000 former Soviet citizens fighting for ISIS in Syria; and the numbers of those who sympathize with their actions but who have remained at home are certainly far larger.
That leaves Putin between a rock and a hard place. He must either win in Syria, something Oreshkin suggests is impossible, or he must force Asad to agree to negotiations so that he can present himself as a peacemaker even though he has gone to war. (The Russian analyst does not say so but Putin has had much success in the West with such sleights of hand.)
But that may not matter as much as the Kremlin leader hopes. “If earlier Putin conducted small victorious wars – in Chechnya, Georgia, and Ukraine, which were accompanied by increases in his rating, now he will be forced to engage in defensive battles.” And if those go wrong, it will open the way to Putin’s “political end.”
“It is one thing,” Oreshkin says, “to defeat Chechen terrorists or a small Georgian army; it is quite another to fight with the enormous Islamist International.” And he is going to have to fight, much sooner and much closer to home than he imagined when he launched his ill-fated Syrian campaign.
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Kremlin Views Any Differences with Moscow in the Regions as Separatism by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, October 29 – Just as the Kremlin views any opposition to Russia abroad as a manifestation of “Russophobia,” so too it now views any expression of differences with Moscow in Russia’s regions as an expression of separatism and appears likely to bring ever more charges against those in the regions who are unhappy with the central government, experts say.
Moscow clearly hopes to intimidate regional leaders and activists into silence, but charging those who express a difference of opinion with separatism may have exactly the opposite effect, leading those possibly subject to such charges to reflect on what it means to be part of a Russia run in this way and thus to think more seriously about separatism.
To date, it has brought such charges against only two people – Rafis Kashapov of the Tatar Social Center who said Crimean should be returned to Ukraine and now Vladimir Zavarkin, a Karelian deputy, who said that if Moscow doesn’t listen to the regions, perhaps they should have referenda on whether to separate from Russia.
But Aleksandr Verkhovsky, the director of the SOVA Center, predicts the number of such cases will rise dramatically in the coming months. After all, he points out, the law on this point is a new one and prosecutors have not had time to employ such charges against opposition figures (vedomosti.ru/politics/articles/2015/10/26/614406-nedovolstvo-separatizmu).
Kashapov already has been found guilty – see “’Support Ukraine and You’ll Go to Jail,’ Kremlin Tells Russians,” Window on Eurasia, September 16, 2015 at
windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2015/09/support-ukraine-and-youll-go-to-jail.html– but the Zavarkin case is still open, the subject of the Vedomosti article in which Verkhovsky is quoted.
The Moscow newspaper’s Anastasiya Kornya shows just how absurd and overreaching it is. She notes that Zavarkin did not specifically call for a referendum on secession but said that one might be necessary “if the Russian Federation does not hear us,” a distinction that prosecutors have ignored.
The deputy’s lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, points out that Zavarkin’s comment was not a specific proposal but a figure of speech and that prosecutors have taken in out of context. He says that the defense will “insists on psychological and linguistic analysis” in advance of any trial.
That was supposed to begin on Monday of this week, Kornya reports, but the case had to be continued because none of the prosecution witnesses showed up. The judges wanted to allow their previous statements to be admitted as evidence, but Dinze objected and now the case has been continued.
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UN Expert Says N. Korea Forcing Citizens to Work Abroad for Cash by webdesk@voanews.com (Margaret Besheer)
The U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea said Wednesday that government is sending tens of thousands of its citizens abroad to work under harsh conditions and is making more than $1 billion a year from their confiscated salaries. In his latest report to the U.N. General Assembly to be formally presented on Thursday, Special Rapporteur Marzuki Darusman says as many as 50,000 workers are laboring under conditions that “amount to forced labor”. The vast majority are working in China and Russia, but others are in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “I think it reflects the really tight financial and economic situation in the North,” Darusman told reporters. North Korea has been under targeted international sanctions since 2006 for its launch of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons tests. The special rapporteur said North Koreans are mainly employed in the construction, mining, logging and textile sectors and it is believed the government is earning between $1.2 billion and $2.3 billion a year from this system. In his report, Darusman says laborers often work up to 20 hours each day in unhealthy and unsafe environments with inadequate food rations and rarely a day off. They are threatened with repatriation if they do not perform well or violate rules. Workers are under constant surveillance by North Korean security personnel. He called on the government to end this abuse and urged foreign companies to be vigilant so they do not become complicit in the forced labor practices. Darusman also highlights other human rights violations in his report. He says North Korean women, men and children continue to be victims of “long-standing and on-going systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations by the government,” including torture, arbitrary detainment, summary execution and discrimination. Last year, the Commission of Inquiry (COI), a U.N. panel tasked with probing North Korean human rights, released a lengthy report alleging gross abuses. These included summary executions, rape, torture, forced abortions and enslavement. The chief targets were religious minorities and political dissidents allegedly detained in prison camps with up to 120,000 inmates. Darusman and the COI have both urged the U.N. Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court to face accountability. That is unlikely to happen, however, as China – Pyongyang’s ally – holds a veto on the council and could block any referral. Special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council to report on specific human rights issues.
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Freedom House: World Internet Freedom Keeps Erodingby webdesk@voanews.com (Alberto Pimienta)
Internet censorship around the globe continues to intensify. According to a report by the independent monitoring group Freedom House, for the fifth consecutive year, more nations are censoring information online and demanding that companies and individuals remove content or face retribution. The annually released Freedom of the Net Report assessed 65 countries and identified China as the worst offender. University scholar Ilham Tohti, who became a leading voice in the Uighur opposition to Beijing’s policies, was sentenced in September 2014 to life in prison for questioning online the government’s decisions. This is one of the toughest sentences in the country in recent years. Gady Epstein, former Beijing bureau chief for The Economist magazine, said China has become more aggressive with censorship in the last couple of years under President Xi Jinping. “They’ve blocked Google; they’ve blocked Gmail and other Google services. They arrested more online activists, people who comment independently on a range of issues, including corruption,” said Epstein. Freedom House said China is only one nation in which this type of crackdown has been increasing. In Russia and Iran, people who post content deemed offensive by the government can quickly and easily land in prison. “Those countries tend to block materials of political and social relevance. They tend to arrest users for writing about human rights and opposition,” said Sanja Kelly, director of the report. Mideast freedoms Syria is the second-worst performer in the study. Bloggers, journalists and activists face execution by armed groups in the country, according to Freedom House. In Iran, rated the third-worst nation, Tehran’s conservative powerbrokers, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, keep extremely tight control over the Internet, despite better bandwidth and the increase of 3G cellular connections. Social media’s role Social media, like Facebook and Twitter, increasingly play a big role in the way people get access to information in countries with restricted Web freedom. These social media services, however, are banned from nations like China and Iran. That means citizens there have to find alternative ways to use them and have contact with family and friends abroad who post content they would not otherwise be able to reach. “It is actually because of their desire to connect to these popular media platforms that they’re seeking circumvention tools, and they’re seeking the use of VPNs [virtual private networks] so they can then bypass censorship," Kelly said. "And then, as a result of that, they are able to read a whole vast world of information out there.” The combination of social media services and content that authorities dislike, though, can be life-shattering. That is the case for Atena Farghadani, 28, an Iranian cartoonist. She was sentenced to 12 years in jail for posting one of her caricatures on Facebook, which portrayed Iranian lawmakers as animals. Threats to companies Freedom House said that during the research for the report, which focuses on events from June 2014 through May 2015, it stumbled upon a new development: Governments increasingly attack the source now. Kelly said authorities warn individuals that they must remove offensive content or face torture or imprisonment. The watchdog group emphasized that this new approach also extends to technology companies. “The governments are actually going to the company and saying, ‘This type of information exists on your servers. Take it down. If you don’t take it down, we’re going to either block your services or we’re going to take away your license so you will not be able to operate in our country any longer,’ ” said Kelly. Censorship exported Experts say Beijing’s efforts not only have proven successful inside the country’s borders for the last two decades, but also abroad. Analysts assert that as China exports its model around the world, especially in Central Asia, Chinese companies also are sharing their expertise in Internet censorship. Journalist Epstein said he witnessed this firsthand in Kazakhstan. “In there, what they’ve done is brought Chinese hardware and know-how — you know, Huawei, CTE, these folks who make their routers and have built their Internet infrastructure,” he said. “But they weren’t just copying China. They’re also looking to Russia, where they are basically importing Russian censorship. So it is a blend, especially in the former Soviet republics.”
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US, China to Discuss South China Sea Tensionsby webdesk@voanews.com (William Ide)
China’s Defense Ministry said it will voice its “solemn position” to the United States when top navy officials from both countries hold an hour-long video teleconference Thursday to discuss tensions in the South China Sea and naval ties. Admiral John Richardson, the U.S. chief of naval operations, and his Chinese counterpart Admiral Wu Shengli will participate in the talks. The two countries have previously held two other video teleconferences. According to the U.S.-based news website Defense News, a U.S. official said the call on Thursday was not scheduled but the two navies agreed to hold the teleconference “in light of current events.” Earlier this week, Washington took its biggest step to date to challenge China's claims in the South China Sea, sailing a U.S. navy warship within a 12 nautical mile zone of man made islands in the hotly disputed waters. WATCH: video clip of US ship in S. China Sea Beijing, which claims most of the South China Sea as its own, responded angrily calling the trip a “deliberate provocation” and filing a formal protest to the U.S. Ambassador in Beijing. Chinese defense officials have warned that further forays into territory that it claims as its own may “trigger eventualities.” Speaking at a regular press briefing on Thursday, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun commented on the teleconference call and said that China would raise its “solemn position regarding the U.S. vessels entry without permission.” Yang also urged Washington to not continue to go down what he called the wrong path. “If they do, we will take all necessary measures in accordance with the need," he said. Online reaction Online commentaries in the wake of the trip have been heated, with some urging the Chinese military to ram U.S. vessels if they return and others calling for a military response over the dispute. Some have argued that China’s leaders need to be more like Russian President Vladimir Putin in protecting their country’s interests. But despite the heated reaction online, from officials and in state media, the two countries appear to be continuing efforts to engage and keep the doors of communication open. In addition to the teleconference on Thursday, there are reports that U.S. Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris and U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift are planning to visit Beijing in the coming weeks. The Communist Party-backed newspaper Global Times ran a front-page story Thursday that said Admiral Harris is slated to visit Beijing on Monday, November 2. However, a defense ministry official said Thursday that the two sides are still working on a final date for the visit. It is not just the U.S. Navy that is increasing its engagement with China. A French frigate is currently on a four-day visit to China’s main South China Sea base in the southern province in Guangdong. And next week, two Australian warships will hold exercises with the Chinese navy in the South China Sea. Australian media have reported that the exercise will include live-fire drills. And Australian military officials have said there is no sign that China plans to delay or change the schedule for the drills. Germany's stance On a visit to Beijing Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged China to resolve South China Sea disputes in international courts. Merkel also said that it was important that sea trade routes remain open. China is unlikely to accept such a view as it has long rejected efforts for international intervention in the disputes. Instead, Beijing favors holding bilateral discussions with other claimants. More than $5 trillion in trade passes through the South China Sea each year where Vietnam, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also have rival claims. Some material for this report came from Reuters
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US Officer Fired for Tossing Teen, Questions Remainby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
A South Carolina sheriff says he acted swiftly but carefully in firing a school resource officer caught on video flipping a disruptive student out of her desk and tossing her across the floor. In the wake of the firing, though, questions remain about whether the officer should have been in the classroom in the first place, and where the former deputy goes from here. The Spring Valley High School student refused to leave the classroom Monday despite being told by a teacher and an administrator to do so, according to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. That's when Senior Deputy Ben Fields was brought in to remove her. She again refused, and Fields told her she was under arrest. Video shows the deputy flipping the teen backward and then throwing her across the room. At that point, Lott said Wednesday, Fields did not use proper procedure. "Police officers make mistakes too. They're human and they need to be held accountable, and that's what we've done with Deputy Ben Fields," Lott said. Outrage spread quickly after videos of the white officer arresting the black teenager appeared on the Internet. One question is if Fields should have been involved in the situation at all, or whether it was a situation that should have been handled by school officials. "We know important work is ahead of us as we thoughtfully and carefully review the decision-making process that may lead to a school resource officer taking the lead in handling a student disruption," Richland 2 Superintendent Debbie Hamm said in a statement. It's up to school teachers and administrators to deal with disciplinary issues, and a memorandum of agreement delineates the circumstances under which it's OK for officers to get involved. The school district and sheriff's department have yet to provide that document after repeated requests. Lott said Wednesday that both the teacher and vice principal in the classroom at the time told deputies they supported Fields' actions. An attorney for Fields, Scott Hayes, said in a statement that the deputy's actions were justified and lawful. Fields' was fired and banned from Richland 2 District properties. Federal and state investigations into his actions have just begun, so it will be unknown for some time if he will face charges. The sheriff also had stern words for the student who he said started the confrontation by refusing to hand over her cellphone after her math teacher saw her texting in class — a violation of school policy. Both she and another student who verbally challenged the officer's actions during the arrest still face misdemeanor charges of disturbing schools, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or 90 days in jail, Lott said, although in most cases, judges impose alternative sentences that keep students out of jail. "The student was not allowing the teacher to teach and not allowing the students to learn. She was very disrespectful and she started this whole incident," Lott said. Lott declined to release Fields' personnel file, but said none of the complaints filed against him came from the school district. He did say that he and other deputies were trained not to throw or push subjects away unless they are in danger. An expelled student has claimed Fields targeted blacks and falsely accused him of being a gang member in 2013, court records show. That case goes to trial in January. The girl in the videos remains unidentified, but she has obtained a prominent attorney — Todd Rutherford, who also serves as House minority leader in South Carolina's legislature — who contradicted the sheriff's claim Tuesday that the girl "may have had a rug burn" but was otherwise uninjured. In an interview with The Associated Press, Rutherford said his client has a hard cast on her arm and complains of neck and back injuries as well as psychological trauma. Rutherford said he doesn't know if race played a factor. "I'm positive what he did to her should not be done to any human being," he said. "It should not be done to any animal. If he was on video and a dog bit him, and he threw a dog across the room, he'd still go to jail."
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Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Wins Human Rights Prizeby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The European Parliament has awarded its annual Sakharov Prize for human rights to Raif Badawi, a Saudi Arabian blogger sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Muslim clerics. President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz announced the selection Thursday, saying Badawi's sentence is "a kind of torture" and "one of the most cruel sentences possible" in Saudi Arabia. He said he had spoken with the King of Saudi Arabia to ask him to pardon Badawi and to release him so he can travel to Strasbourg in December to accept his prize. Badawi was arrested in 2012 after founding a website that served as an online platform for political and religious debate. He was charged with insulting Islam and his 10-year prison sentence was upheld by the Saudi Supreme Court in June 2015. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $266,000. Badawi is reported to be in poor health. He received the first 50 of his 1,000 lashes in a public display in January 2015. Subsequent lashes were set to be delivered in sets of 50 over 20 sessions, but were suspended due to his poor health and to international outcry. In February, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for Badawi's release, calling his public whipping a "cruel and shocking act." Badawi's wife and children have fled to Canada because of death threats. The Sakharov Prize is named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and is awarded by the European Parliament to people and organizations who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. The two other finalists for this year's prize were the Venezuelan opposition movement Mesa de la Unidad Democratica and the assassinated Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in Moscow in February 2015.
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Ukraine Rejects Talks With Russia Over Flight Banby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia said on Thursday it had proposed to Ukraine's aviation authorities further talks on resuming flights between the two countries, but Kyiv swiftly turned down the offer. Direct air services between the one-time allies ceased on Sunday, a new low in commercial relations between the two neighbors. They’ve been in a bitter standoff since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014 following a pro-Europe street uprising in Kyiv. As of Sunday, Kyiv banned incoming flights by Russian airlines, including flagship carrier Aeroflot, to punish them for flying to Crimea. Moscow criticized the move as "another act of madness" and responded by closing Russian airspace to Ukrainian airlines. Rosaviatsia said in a statement on Thursday that it had proposed "continuing the dialogue with the aim of quickly resuming air links between Russian and Ukraine." The termination of flights, it said, was pushing up costs for passengers. A spokesman for Ukraine's infrastructure ministry confirmed receipt of a letter from Rosaviatsia, but said negotiations could only start "if Russia pays existing fines and stops flying to restricted areas, principally Crimea." The fines were imposed on Russia for violating airspace over Crimea. Approximately 657,000 passengers flew between Russia and Ukraine in the first half of 2015. The loss of ticket sales will affect the bottom lines of both countries' airlines, some of which have already posted losses for parts of this year. Earlier this week, people familiar with the matter said flights were unlikely to resume soon.
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Opposition party RPR-Parnas needs to come up with better ideas than shortening its name if it is to have any success in future elections, writes columnist Reid Nelson.
LIVE UPDATES: Russian jets have struck targets in the southern Daraa province for the second time this week, with reports of coordination with the Lebanese military and Hezbollah ahead of a Syrian regime offensive in the area.
The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here.
As the EU hardens its heart to refugees, a few thousand more make it into Austria before barrier is erected
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Greek authorities rescue 242 people but further casualties feared after ‘day of death’
The blogger has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in the gulf state
Mohamed Januzi disappeared from outside the 'Lageso' refugee centre in the German capital
Staff who object and stand up for editorial independence are sacked on the spot
Snowden tweeted the vote was a 'chance to move forward'
The Guardian |
Russia risks a repeat of doomed Afghan war in Syria, says EU foreign policy chief
The Guardian Russia risks being trapped in another quagmire like Afghanistan unless it helps orchestrate a political transition in Syria, the EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has warned. Referencing the Soviet-Afghan war, Mogherini spoke on Wednesday on ... Russia Bombs Hospitals. Lefties Shrug.Daily Beast UPDATE 1-US's Blinken: Russia cannot win in Syria, must push for transitionReuters U.S.'s Blinken: Russia cannot win in Syria, must push for transitionThomson Reuters Foundation all 18 news articles » |
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Fox News |
Exclusive: Russia flying Iranian weapons shipments into Syria, sources say
Fox News Fox News is told the increased Russian transport of Iranian weapons is being coordinated by Qassem Soulimeini, the head of the Iranian Al-Quds force, as well as President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. An Iranian civilian ... Kerry Counts on Russia to Help Chart Course Out of Syria's HellBloomberg Obama fumbles for credibility in Syria as Russia and Iran seize initiativeThe Guardian Russian firms to rebuild war-torn SyriaRT New York Times -Jerusalem Post Israel News -Wall Street Journal all 1,367 news articles » |
Huffington Post |
Why Russia Perceives Syria as Its Front Line
Huffington Post BEIRUT -- Russia believes that it sees the situation of the Middle East very plainly. Vladimir Putin sees nation-states across the region weakening and eroding: Iraq fractured, Syria in conflict, Lebanon without a state, Yemen in anarchy, Libya in ... Kelly McParland: US and Russia to convene talks offering a rare hint of ...National Post What is Russia doing in Syria?The Boston Globe Russia Goes Online to Win Support of 'Generation Putin' for Syria CampaignWall Street Journal Military Times -Daily Signal -The Moscow Times (registration) all 3,157 news articles » |
Forbes |
Putin's Syria Narrative Must Win Russian Public Opinion--But It'll Be A Hard Sell
Forbes Russia's premier polling organization, the Levada Center, surveyed the Russian people at the beginning of the Syrian bombing campaign. Unlike Crimea, at this stage of the campaign, one-fifth or more of respondents have not yet made up their minds. and more » |
BBC News |
Russia's Syria intervention: One month in
BBC News The deployment of a Russian strike force of 34 combat jets and 21 helicopters showed how billions invested in the armed forces by President Vladimir Putin had paid off. Within days of arriving they were flying attack missions, and have now clocked up ... Why Russia Perceives Syria as Its Front LineHuffington Post Russia 'Will Feel Serious Pain' of Syrian War: Retired Marine GeneralMilitary.com German Vice Chancellor calls for better collaboration with Russia over Ukraine ...Deutsche Welle Forbes-National Post all 3,303 news articles » |
Telegraph.co.uk |
Nato considers sending 4000 troops to Russian borders
Telegraph.co.uk Russia has repeatedly said it considers Nato a security threat, and Vladimir Putin has blamed the expansion of Nato into Eastern Europe for the crisis in Ukraine. A large force would likely be seen in Moscow as a violation of a 1994 agreement that ... NATO discussing increasing troops near Russia's borders: WSJReuters NATO Weighs A Serious Upping Of The Military Ante Against Russia — To The ...Daily Caller NATO Looks at Stationing More Troops Along Eastern FlankWall Street Journal Sputnik International all 23 news articles » |
Military.com |
Russia 'Will Feel Serious Pain' of Syrian War: Retired Marine General
Military.com Russia's bid to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is going to cause them pain "in ways they can't imagine," the senior U.S. diplomat charged with organizing the war against the Islamic State told a Senate committee on Wednesday. Retired Marine ... Russia: Consequences of US Troops in Syria 'Unpredictable'teleSUR English Russian tactics in Syria point to diplomatic dealChatham Daily News Russia's Success In Battling ISIS Has The US Scrambling To Play Catch-upMintpress News (blog) The Fiscal Times -DEBKA file all 985 news articles » |
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CNN |
US sensors detect Russian submarines near underwater cables
CNN While the Russians have insisted the Yantar is not a spy ship, U.S. naval intelligence believes it has one significant and unsettling capability: small underwater vehicles that can cut vital undersea cables carrying vast amounts of commercial and ... How undersea cables became the latest Russia-US issueCBC.ca Fears Russia could sabotage global InternetTechCentral all 56 news articles » |
Globalnews.ca |
Islamic State on recruitment spree in Russia's North Caucasus
Globalnews.ca MAKHACHKALA, Russia – The Russian province of Dagestan, a flashpoint for Islamic violence in the North Caucasus, is feeding hundreds of fighters to the Islamic State in Syria — and now some are coming back home with experience gained from the ... Islamic State on recruitment spree in Russia's North Caucasus _ raising fears ...Fox News The Russian village that sent 20 men to wage jihad in SyriaWashington Post all 71 news articles » |
The Guardian |
Russia's Gulag camps cast in forgiving light of Putin nationalism
The Guardian In today's Russia it is not fashionable to delve too deeply into Gulag history, and 60-year-old Panikarov's collection is one of just two museums devoted entirely to the Gulag in the whole country. Indeed, even Panikarov himself has a somewhat ... |
Reuters |
Russia's Putin Says Global Warming Is 'A Fraud'
Daily Caller Russian President Vladimir Putin believes global warming is a “fraud” — a plot to keep Russiafrom using its vast oil and natural gas reserves. Putin believes “there is no global warming, that this is a fraud to restrain the industrial development of ... Russian media take climate cue from skeptical PutinReuters all 14 news articles » |
Business Insider |
REPORT: Russia is helping Iran deliver arms to Syria
Business Insider rouhani putin iran russia REUTERS/Alexei Nikolsky/RIA Novosti/KremlinRussia's President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani at the welcoming ceremony during a summit of Caspian Sea regional leaders in the ... Russia's Syria intervention: One month inBBC News US aims to see if Iran, Russia ready to dump Syria's AssadReuters Kerry Counts on Russia to Help Chart Course Out of Syria's HellBloomberg TIME -Wall Street Journal -Fox News all 2,088 news articles » |
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