FRENCH PRESS AGENCY – AFP UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura (R) and Mohammed Alloush, the Syrian leader of the opposition delegation (L-2) arrive for talks on the Syrian conflict, Astana, Kazakhstan, 23 January 2017. (EPA Photo) Syrian opposition members vowed Monday to keep fighting if the peace talks fail […]
Source: Time By Ian Bremmer In the West, elites are under attack. As many of the world’s most influential political and business leaders gather in Davos, Switzerland, from Jan. 17 to […]
JORDAN TIMES – EDITORIAL The Astana peace talks brokered by Russia and Turkey appear to be in precarious position due to the fact that the ceasefire between Damascus and the rebel forces, painstakingly brokered by Moscow and Ankara, is often violated. As such, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday […]
How might Europe turn Brexit to its advantage? There was something of that in the Prime Minister’s speech but what she says carries no force. What we think does not matter. It is up to them Hamish McRae How can Brexit be better for Europe? From the UK perspective the whole business […]
By Juan Cole | Jan. 18, 2017 | By Michael T. Klare | ( Tomdispatch.com) Within months of taking office, President Donald Trump is likely to face one or more major international crises, possibly entailing a risk of nuclear escalation. Not since the end of the Cold War has a […]
Source: Time BY Katie Reilly President-elect Donald Trump suggested Friday that he would be open to ending U.S. sanctions against Russia. Trump said that “at least for a period of time,” […]
The mandate of the United Nations is to preserve peace in the world, but when it comes to the Syrian crisis, the global body has failed badly. Will the UN’s new secretary-general be able to finally introduce necessary reforms? By SPIEGEL Staff Photos AFP January 12, 2017 02:49 PM The […]
Source: BBC US President-elect Donald Trump says he is willing to work with Russia and China, providing they cooperate. Mr Trump told the Wall Street Journal that newly-imposed sanctions on […]
Source: The Independent I talked to Iraqi defectors in the 1990s who claimed to have plenty of information about WMDs and gossip about Hussein’s family affairs. It did not take long to work out that they were making it up when they produced convincing but uncheckable details By Patrick Cockburn […]
The Syrian dictator reiterated his pledge to recapture all of Syria. BY JACK MOORE ON 1/9/17 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said he is ready to negotiate on “everything” regarding the country’s conflict in proposed talks in Kazakhstan backed by Russia and Turkey. “We are ready to negotiate about everything,” he […]
Source: BBC Donald Trump says Democrats have shown “gross negligence” by allowing their servers to be hacked in the run-up to the 8 November presidential election. The US president-elect made […]
By Yara Bayoumy and Warren Strobel | WASHINGTON Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to help Republican Donald Trump’s electoral chances by discrediting Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential campaign, U.S. intelligence agencies said in an assessment on Friday. Russia’s objectives were to undermine public faith in the […]
Source: Time Moscow has been a key supporter of Assad’s government in Syria’s devastating civil war Russia announced on Friday that it is withdrawing its aircraft carrier and some other […]
Source: BBC The US has identified the Russian agents behind alleged hacking ahead of the presidential election won by Donald Trump in November, reports say. The agents, whose names have […]
This video is from 2013 Epigraph: Muhammad, thou shalt assuredly find those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ to be the nearest of them in love to the believers. That is […]
By Amanda Erickson January 5 A central mosque in Almaty, Kazakhstan. (Pavel Mikheyev/AP) In 1929, Soviet leader Mikhail Kalinin laid out his vision for Central Asia: “teaching the people of the Kirgiz Steppe, the small Uzbek cotton grower, and the Turkmenian gardener the ideals of the Leningrad worker.” It was a tall […]
Source: BBC The US intelligence chief has promised to explain why Russia allegedly meddled in the US presidential election. Director of National Intelligence General James Clapper said Russian President Vladimir […]
Jan 02,2017 – JORDAN TIMES – Gwynne Dyer So far the endgame in Syria has played out in an entirely predictable way. All of Aleppo is back in the Syrian government’s hands; that decisive victory for President Bashar Assad and his Russian backers has been followed by a ceasefire, and the […]
UN Security Council unanimously backs Syria peace plan By AFP – Dec 31,2016 – JORDAN TIMES Syrians gather around a Christmas tree in Aleppo’s government controlled Aziziyah neighbourhood on Saturday (AFP photo by George Ourfalian) UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously approved a resolution […]
Source: Time (BURLINGTON, Vt.) — Malware code linked to Russian hackers and found on a Vermont electric utility’s computer is further evidence of “predatory” steps taken by that country against […]