By Patrick Cockburn, THE INDEPENDENT Gloomy predictions precede this week’s Geneva II peace talks aimed at ending the three-year-old war in Syria. US Secretary of State John Kerry says the meeting is about a mutually agreed political transition in Damascus, while the Syrian government insists it should focus on how […]
Don’t assume the rainbow-hued volunteer uniforms at the Sochi Winter Olympics mean that Russia is softening its hardline stance against homosexual propaganda. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his government has nothing against gay people, as long as they leave kids alone, according to Reuters. “There is no ban on non-traditional […]
Source: Asia Times: Russia faces serious threats to its stability from Islamic insurgencies. Recent suicide blasts in Volgograd were a painful reminder of this. Historically, Russia has tried to suppress Islamic movements (also religious activities in general) not only in Russia but also in Central Asian states (especially in the […]
RT: In the last years of his life, Mikhail Kalashnikov, the famous Russian weapon designer, anguished over his responsibility for the millions of deaths his inventions caused, his published letter […]
January 13, 2014 12:48 AM By Nina L. Khrushcheva The Daily Star Story Summary For more than two decades, August has been the cruelest month for Russian leaders. The August 1998 debt default and ruble collapse laid waste to President Boris Yeltsin’s free market reforms and resulted in the sacking […]
Turkey could help Russia prevent its Muslim population from being influenced by radical groups that have come under the spotlight in the wake of two suicide bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd last week, say analysts. “Turkey and Russia should establish cooperation not only between foreign ministries and intelligence […]
Source: China Daily All 52 passengers stranded on the Russian research ship Akademik Shokalskiy in Antarctica for nine days were rescued by a Chinese helicopter on Thursday. The helicopter from […]
Source: TOI MOSCOW: The suspected involvement of converts to Islam in Russian suicide bombings points to the growing reach of jihadists far beyond the Muslim provinces of Chechnya and Dagestan, where insurgency and separatism have simmered for two decades. Russian news media say the authorities suspect an ethnic-Russian convert to Islam may have been […]
Source: BBC Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to fight “terrorists until their complete annihilation”, in his first comment on two suicide attacks in the southern city of Volgograd. The […]
Source: BBC Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to fight “terrorists until their complete annihilation”, in his first comment on two suicide attacks in the southern city of Volgograd. The […]
Source: NY Times: Twin terrorist attacks in the city of Volgograd within 24 hours injected new urgency on Monday into Russia’s long, ruthless effort to contain a diffuse Islamic insurgency on its southern border, one nominally led by a veteran, battle-scarred Chechen often called Russia’s Osama bin Laden. More:
Source: BBC An explosion at a train station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd has killed at least 13 people, reports say. A female suicide bomber was thought to […]
Source: BBC An explosion at a train station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd has killed at least 13 people, reports say. A female suicide bomber was thought to […]
STORY SUMMARY The Swiss expert who examined samples of Yasser Arafat’s remains dismissed as a “political declaration” a statement Thursday by Russian researchers excluding radiation poisoning as the cause for the Palestinian leader’s death. Bochud criticised the Russians for not releasing their report. Some 60 samples were taken and divided […]
STORY SUMMARY The Swiss expert who examined samples of Yasser Arafat’s remains dismissed as a “political declaration” a statement Thursday by Russian researchers excluding radiation poisoning as the cause for the Palestinian leader’s death. Bochud criticised the Russians for not releasing their report. Some 60 samples were taken and divided […]
BY ROBERT FISK, THE INDEPENDENT I always had a soft spot for old Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, who died just before Christmas. When I met him, his Siberian eyes were as […]
The Moscow Times: The Krasnodar Regional Court overturned a local court’s decision to ban a widely read Russian translation of the Quran on Tuesday, quieting fears of unrest among the […]
By Christian Neef and Matthias Schepp SPIEGEL.DE In one of his many foreign-policy successes this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin has used power politics and blackmail to bring Ukraine back […]
Source: Spiegel The fight for Ukraine has now become a contest between the Russian president and the German chancellor. Putin won the first round. But Merkel and her fellow Europeans are grooming professional heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko to be their new strongman. More:
The Review of Religions — November 2013 – 16 Gressenhall Road Southfields, London SW18 5QL, UK 18 September 2013 His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Putin President of the Russian Federation The […]