Syria’s Phony Peace Talks - WSJ Editorial | Syria Peace Talks Inch Ahead as Bombings Near Damascus Continue - The New York Times | Death of the GRU Commander - by Peter Zwack - Defense One | After Sanctions, Iran's Growing Role in the Caucasus - Stratfor | iran and south caucasus - Google Search | DHS Loses Hundreds of Badges, Guns, and Electronics | Chechnya's Kadyrov puts Putin critic Kasyanov in gunsights - BBC News | Could ISIL go nuclear? - NATO REVIEW | ‘Eyewash’: How the CIA deceives its own workforce about operations - The Washington Post
Leroy Neiman "Red Square" Death of the GRU Commander - by Peter Zwack - Defense One : "Finally, Flynn hosted an unprecedented dinner for his counterpart in my residence at the U.S. Embassy. The GRU director arrived with two generals and an interpreter. It must have been bemusing for them to go through U.S. Embassy security onto U.S. soil for the first time. Always inquisitive, Sergun showed particular interest in a colorful Leroy Neiman print titled “Red Square.” The customary toasts were hoisted, though Sergun himself was a modest drinker. The last toast called for making “the airlocks fit,” an allusion to the extraordinary Apollo–Soyuz link-up in 1975 during the heart of the Cold War, and an allegory for improving relations. He liked that. All departed with U.S. Embassy baseball caps for their children. The following night Sergun hosted our U.S. delegation at the venerable Sovietsky Hotel, where he gave us a personal tour of Stalin’s time-warped su