Eastern Europe

RFE/RL | – – The mainstream Muslim leadership in Russia’s Daghestan region has condemned an attack that killed five people outside a Russian Orthodox church, saying that the suspect had “nothing to do with the true Islam.” In a February 19 statement, the office of the region’s chief mufti also extended condolences to the relatives […]

Bashar al-Assad

Is the Syria War over and has Putin won it?

contributors

By Danny Makki | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The end game is clear: Assad, Russia and Iran will emerge victorious. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (2nd L, Front) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (2nd R) view a military parade in the Russian-run Hmeimim Air Base in the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, on Dec. […]

Donald Trump

Russiagate or Deep State? What Some Progressives Get Wrong on Russia

contributors

By John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – The bizarre denialism of some on the left and right about Russiagate doesn’t bode well for the future of American politics. When it comes to the Russiagate scandal, progressives usually take one of two positions. Glenn Greenwald talking Russiagate on Fox News’ Tucker […]

Featured

Let’s remember the Schoolchildren US & Russian bombs are killing, too

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US-backed Saudi-led war on Yemen is keeping two million children out of school (Yemen is a country of 27 million). Worse, schools and schoolchildren have repeatedly been struck from the air by Saudi, UAE, Moroccan and Jordanian pilots using American-supplied planes and bombs, in a […]

Featured

Russia warns Israel on Syria strikes, danger to Russian Troops

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – BBC Monitoring reports on a statement in Russian at the site of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reacting to the Israeli air attacks on Syria and the shoot-down by the Syrians of one Israeli fighter-jet. The Foreign ministry expressed “serious concern” over the Israeli air strikes, […]

Climate Change

Cheap German Green Energy, Decarbonization Laws, Pressuring Dirty Polish Coal

contributors

By Bartłomiej Derski | Euractiv.com / WysokieNapiecie.pl | translated by Alexandra Brzozowski | – – Since 1990, the production of “green” electricity in Germany has increased by 1,000% and export rates, according to preliminary data for 2017, just smashed another record. EURACTIV Poland’s partner WysokieNapiecie.pl reports. When Germany was reunified, three electricity sources reigned supreme: […]

Featured

Russia-aided Syria shoots down Israeli F-16 after downing of Iranian Drone

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Syrian anti-aircraft batteries scored a rare shoot-down of an Israeli F-16 late Saturday morning local time. It is being alleged by a whole range of analysts that this shoot-down could not have happened without Russian help. It required that the anti-aircraft personnel break Israeli radar jamming. […]

Antisemitism

Right’s ban on phrase “Polish Death Camps” Backfires on Warsaw

Juan Cole

Sławomir Sierakowski | (Project Syndicate) | – – A new Polish law criminalizes blaming Poles for any wrongdoing against other nations. But the move only serves to highlight the fact that some Poles were complicit in crimes against Jews, while jeopardizing the country’s relationship with its three most important allies: the US, Germany, and Ukraine. […]

Featured

Russia Mounts intensive Syria Air Campaign in Response to Downed Jet

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian side of the story, presented in the Syrian press, is that an al-Qaeda-linked group in Idlib, a northwestern province of Syria, used a shoulder-mounted missile launcher to shoot down a Russian fighter jet. The pilot ejected and landed, but then was attacked by ground […]