US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Moscow today December 15 and has begun talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov primarily on Syria but also Ukraine. Later today he will meet with President Vladimir Putin. The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Heavy Casualties Reported After Multiple […]
Staunton, December 14 – Moscow’s primary goal in Syria is not to support its ally Bashar Al-Assad against all challenges but rather to destabilize the situation in the Middle East, undercutting the influence of the West and boosting its own; and to that end, it will be quite prepared to sacrifice the Syrian dictator, according […]
President Vladimir Putin gave his annual address to the Federation Council or upper house of parliament, emphasizing the battle against terrorism which he clearly sees Russia as leading, and taking a major swipe at Turkey which downed a Russian warplane, saying “Allah had punished” Ankara by “depriving it of sense and reason.” Welcome to our […]
The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Reports Of Russian Air Strikes Causing Heavy Casualties North Of Aleppo 2015-12-03 00:18:39 The Syrian Local Coordination Committees (LCC) report heavy casualties following Russian strikes on roads north of Aleppo. According to the LCC, at least 25 people were killed when Russian […]
The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Russia Hits Border Crossings As Fighting Breaks Out North Of Aleppo 2015-11-27 17:45:00 Russian jets have continued to strike rebel-held areas along Syria’s border with Turkey. According to the Syrian Local Coordination Committees (LCC), nine civilians, amongst them children, were killed and […]
The previous post in our Putin in Syria column can be found here. Russian Jets Reportedly Bomb Aid Convoy Near Turkish Border 2015-11-25 17:55:17 The Turkish IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation reports that an aid convoy has been bombed, reportedly by Russian jets, in the Syrian border town of Azaz. fetching tweet… fetching tweet… While the […]
Staunton, November 16 Vladimir Putin should be compared with Stalin rather than with Hitler, Avraam Shmulyevich says, not only because he is seeking to use an east-west alliance to legitimize his seizure of territory but also because Putin has played “no less a role” in the creation of ISIS than the Soviet dictator did in […]
Long before Edward Snowden worked for the NSA — before PRISM and Wikileaks — there was SORM, the Russian system of intercepting and monitoring communications. In the hands of a dictator, SORM has become a powerful weapon for the Kremlin to target his opponents both at home and abroad. Bloomberg has even questions whether Russia’s […]
Staunton, November 16 Western countries may be willing to form a “tactical” alliance with Russia about the fight against ISIS, but any such accord will have limited value both because “the struggle with Islamism doesn’t interest Putin” and because “history shows” that the Kremlin leader will violate it whenever it suits him, Igor Eidman says. […]
The Kremlin has finally admitted what other governments and experts have been saying for weeks – that the Metrojet flight downed over the Sinai on October 31 was destroyed by a bomb. FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov told President Putin during a for-camera briefing that traces of explosives had been found among the wreckage. Welcome to […]
