[This commentary was written for the Unz Review] The 20th century has seen a seemingly countless number of military conflicts, ranging from small local clashes, to at least two world wars. The same 20th century saw a huge efforts by major powers to develop three types of so-called “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD): Atomic, Bacteriological and Chemical (ABC). All of these WMD were initially seen as very effective and very
Dear friends I want to ask you all to read the moderation policy (https://10.16.86.131/moderation-policy/) before posting. In particular I would ask you Not to just post links, provide at least a commentary explaining why you want to draw our attention to the links. Please do not post categorical statements without having at least some fact based data to support them. Please remember that “possible” does not mean “likely” or, even
by Rachana Raizada for The Saker Blog A few days ago, I walked down the street to the supermarket to buy food past glittering skyscrapers, the seat of Lombardy’s regional government. According to an interview in the New York Times [1] with the region’s President Attilio Fontana, on the sixth floor, “two dozen epidemiologists and public health experts form the nerve center of the effort to contain a coronavirus outbreak
Dear friends, 172 comments since yesterday, so I decided to give you a new (kinda) open thread here. As for me, I few very short comments. First, turns out that the Idiot-in-Chief outdid himself yesterday. First, he *DID* mention cargo from Europe, then he made a 180: now he says that cargo will not be affected. Next time somebody asks me why I call him the Idiot-in-Chief, I will simply
Dear friends, I decided to post this short update to let you know that I am trying to take just a little time off to recover from a regular (non-COVID19) flu. Mostly, I am still exhausted and I need to rest a bit. Still, since the world does not stop rotating for yours truly, here area few comments I want to share with you about different matters and I post
One Russian Airbase Could Take Down Turkey’s Entire Fighter Fleet? New Assessment Shows a Favourable Military Balance in Syria Underlying Moscow’s Success by Aspelta for The Saker Blog While much uncertainty remains surrounding what exactly was agreed to in Moscow regarding the ceasefire agreement in Syria’s Idlib province, or how long Turkey intends to adhere to the new ceasefire agreement, it is clear that despite its bellicosity towards Damascus, Ankara
by Pepe Escobar – posted with permission Is the planet under the spell of a pair of black swans – a Wall Street meltdown, caused by an alleged oil war between Russia and the House of Saud, plus the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 – leading to an all-out “cross-asset pandemonium” as billed by Nomura? Or, as German analyst Peter Spengler suggests, whatever the averted climax in the Strait of Hormuz
Vladimir Putin took part in a plenary session of the State Duma on amendments to the Russian Federation Constitution. March 10, 2020 Transcript State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin: Colleagues, Let us get down to work. Mr President, the LDPR faction is the most active here. Colleagues, please register. Please turn on the registration mode. Please note that registration is on. Please show us the results of the registration. There are 428 deputies present and 22 are absent. We have a quorum. I give the floor to President of the Russian Federation
By Nat South for the Saker Blog Photo op of US State Department delegation putting a foot into Idlib. Kelly Craft & James Jeffrey met with the White Helmets at the Turkish /Syrian border. 2. France News 24 (02/03) 3. U.S. Intel sources indicate… (06/03) Rumour control: the ‘unconfirmed’, ‘unverifiable’ type as usual from journalists & media sources who diligently and blindly act as stenographers. Rather telling that a time
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham The Moscow Agreement: A New Mirage Praise be to God the Lord of the Worlds, and the best prayers and most complete salutations be upon our Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) and all his family and companions. As for what follows: The people of al-Sham have not despaired from seeking their freedom and dignity before the tyranny of iron and
by Pepe Escobar – posted with permission Once again it was Russia that just prevented the threatened ‘Muslim invasion’ of Europe advertised by Erdogan At the start of their discussion marathon in Moscow on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with arguably the most extraordinary diplomatic gambit of the young 21st century. Putin said: “At the beginning of our meeting, I would like to once
by Eric Zuesse for The Saker Blog Hillary Clinton, of course, received the Democratic Party nomination in 2016 and was widely expected to beat Trump but she lost to him (though she won California by 4,269,978 in the popular vote, and so beat Trump by 2,864,974 in the nationwide popular vote, while she lost all other states by 1,405,002 votes, and so she would have been California’s President if she
[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] Following 6 hours of grueling negotiations, including direct negotiations between Putin and Erdogan, the parties have finally agreed to the following: A ceasefire will begin at midnight. Russia and Turkey will jointly patrol the M4 highway (M5 now belongs to Damascus). A 6km buffer zone will have to be created and enforced on each side of M4 by the March 15th (see
From SANA Our military priority is Idleb as its liberation means that we move towards liberating the eastern regions 5 March، 2020 Damascus, SANA-President Bashar al-Assad affirmed that Head of the Turkish regime, Erdogan, fights beside terrorists out of his brotherhood ideology, so even Erdogan himself is unable to tell the Turks why he is sending his army to fight in Syria. The single reason is the Muslim Brotherhood and
By Pepe Escobar : posted with permission As Putin meeting looms, no one in Moscow believes any word, promise or cajoling from Erdogan anymore The latest installment of the interminable Syria tragedy could be interpreted as Greece barely blocking a European “invasion” by Syrian refugees. The invasion was threatened by President Erdogan even as he refused the EU’s puny “offer you can refuse” bribe of only one billion euros. Well,
G.H. Eliason for The Saker Blog Recently, I had the chance to sit down with the Deputy Director of the Institute for International Cooperation at DonNTU (Donetsk National Technical University) and had a frank discussion about the state of higher education at the university today. This is the first interview in what will be an ongoing series covering all the different aspects of nation-building in both Lugansk People’s Republic and
By Jimmie Moglia for The Saker blog Men judge by the complexion of the sky, the state and inclination of the day. Yet, to the perplexed observer it was difficult, in 2013, to guess what Pope Bergoglio was up to. For one, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was puzzling. After all, the last Pope to resign, 719 years earlier, was Celestine V, five months after his election, in 1294
