Confirmation is rapid and unambiguous for former Utah governor, three-time diplomat.
The Putin Worldview, Russia in Syria, and the Ukraine Elections
Russia has said specifically in the Middle East that it is intervening to accomplish three objectives. The first is to help the Syrian and Iraqi governments to create conditions for peaceful resolution within their conflict-ridden regions.
The second is to inflict a preemptive strike against global terrorism. By the way, he [Putin] defines terrorists as the enemies of civilization. In other words, even people that he disagrees with—let’s say the United States’ policy and its aspirations—he does not see them as enemies of civilization; they simply want a different set of priorities within the context of our common civilizational values. But the people that Putin labels as terrorists he sees as the enemies of all civilization and all ethics and morality.
The third objective is to, by accomplishing these two first goals, assist all nations in the region that are threatened by terrorism.
The Guardian: Russia and US will cooperate to build moon’s first space station
Part of a long-term project to send humans to Mars, the Nasa-led programme will see the two countries working to create a crewed spaceport in lunar orbit
BREAKING NEWS: French online voting results: “Do you favor enlargement of the coalition against Daesh to include Russia?”
In answer to the question “Do you favor enlargement of the coalition against Daesh to include Russia?”
Featured in the online edition of the center-Right French newspaper Le Figaro, at 8.00 CET Wednesday, 18 November- 55,638 respondents voted as follows:
Yes: 92% No: 8%
The poll was positioned just below the following International News article by Isabelle Lasserre:
Hollande and Putin are drawing closer together to fight Daesh. The French President will meet Obama on 24 November, then his Russian counterpart two days later to try to form a single anti-Islamic State coalition.
After years of stalemate, sometimes it takes a single event to set off an abrupt acceleration of history and change the course of a war. Only four days after the attacks in Paris, France and Russia, embroiled in the conflict in Ukraine for more than a year and a half, have put their disputes to one side in the name of the fight against Daesh. Vladimir Poutine did not wait 24 hours to respond, at least symbolically, to the proposal of François Hollande to put together a single grand coalition to defeat the Jihadists. The Russian President, who will receive François Hollande in Moscow on 26 November, has ordered his navy in the Mediterranean to “cooperate with the Allies and enter “into contact” with the aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle, which is expected to reach the region on Thursday. At the conclusion of a telephone conversation on Tuesday, the two Presidents spoke of a “closer coordination” between their intelligence services.
Meduza: The most controversial, anticipated film in years is coming soon to Russia.
When it comes to cultural scandals in contemporary Russia, it’s hard to find anything so controversial as “Matilda,” a new film by Alexey Uchitel about the love affair between Nicholas Romanov, when he was still heir to the tsarist empire, and Matilda Kshesinskaya, a celebrated ballerina of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters.
A Grand Bargain With Putin Against ISIS?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made no secret of the fact that he would like some kind of political settlement with the West. The German magazine Der Spiegelhas just published a leaked official Russian memo outlining a proposed grand bargain in which Putin eases out its close ally, Syrian President Assad, in favor of a still pro-Russian regime that at least stops killing its own people. In return the West acknowledges what has been an open secret for several decades–that Syria is Russia’s sphere of influence in the Arab world.
Thomas Graham and Rajan Menon: The Putin Problem
The Russian–U.S. relationship has yet to hit rock bottom, although it continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate.
BREAKING: ISIS Receives Financing From 40 Countries
Russian President Vladimir Putin made claims Monday that the Islamic State group has received financial support from more than 40 countries, including some in attendance at the G-20 summit in Turkey. Putin told reporters that he shared evidence with other G-20 member states at the meeting.
RFE/RL: U.S. Military Chief Says Recommends Providing Ukraine With Lethal Defensive Aid
The top U.S. military commander has said he recommended that the United States provide lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine to help the country “protect [its] sovereignty”…
BREAKING: FRANCE SEEKS UNITED US-RUSSIA ASSAULT ON ISLAMIC STATE
Hollande said the United States and Russia needed to set aside their policy divisions over Syria, adding that he hoped to meet soon with President Barack Obama and Russian leader Vladimir Putin “to unify our strength and achieve a result that has been too long in coming.”
“We need a union of all who can fight this terrorist army in a single coalition,” he said.
John Hudson: US And Russia Quietly End Diplomatic Tailspin
A behind-the-scenes effort by US and Russian diplomats may have preempted a new wave of tit-for-tat retaliations.
French Connections: The Knock-On Effects of the Paris Attacks
“A U.S.-Russia grand alliance against Assad and ISIS?” asks Robert Kuttner. “Most readers of the Prospect have scoffed at the idea that the U.S. should make common cause with the thuggish Vladimir Putin, an idea promoted by Stephen F. Cohen on the left and Donald Trump on the right. But the idea just became a little less fringe.”
Reuters: Thousands evacuated in Ukraine as ammunition depot explodes
Massive explosions and a blaze at a military ammunition depot in central Ukraine forced authorities to evacuate 24,000 people and close airspace over the region, officials said on Wednesday.
Obama, Putin agree need for UN-negotiated Syria talks, ceasefire
Antalya (Turkey) (AFP) – US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Sunday on the need for UN-sponsored peace talks and a ceasefire to resolve years of war in Syria, a White House official said.
The two leaders spoke during a short and unannounced summit meeting over a coffee table on the margins of a G20 summit in the Turkish resort of Antalya.
Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor: Do Liberal Democrats Want War With Russia?
Having grown into an inescapable political phenomenon, “Russiagate” abets the chances of war with Moscow in at least three ways. It depicts Russia as a “hostile nation.” It has crippled Trump’s promise to ease tensions by cooperating with Moscow. And it discourages anti-Cold War voices in American mainstream media and politics.
France’s Sarkozy urges West, Russia tie-up vs Islamic State
PARIS (Reuters) – Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy called on Sunday for the creation of a single international coalition to combat Islamic State in Syria following attacks in Paris that claimed 129 lives.
Daniel Larison: Corker Announces His Retirement
Corker spent two terms in the Senate, and during that time he had a generally poor record on foreign policy issues.
Obama Administration Officials Insist Russia Is to Blame for the Syrian Crisis
Last week, on November 5, The Wall Street Journal reported that the CIA will be stepping up its illegal war in Syria by increasing the number of weapons it is providing to the so-called Syrian moderate opposition, putting the lie to President Obama’s pledge not to lead the United States into a proxy war with Russia. If a hearing held by the House Foreign Affairs Committee last Wednesday morning on “Russia’s Escalation in Syria” is any indication, the president should expect little to no opposition to the CIA’s action.
Robert Parry: The Rise of the New McCarthyism
As the New McCarthyism takes hold in America, the neocon Washington Post makes Russia the villain in virtually every bad thing that happens, with U.S. dissidents treated as “fellow-travelers,” writes Robert Parry.
RUSSIA ACCUSES US OF HIJACKING PREPARATIONS FOR SYRIA TALKS
VIENNA (AP) — Russia accused the United States on Thursday of hijacking preparatory talks for a weekend meeting of nearly 20 nations focused on ending the Syrian war. The charge was denied by U.S. officials, who expressed surprise that Moscow did not show up.