by Alexander Mercouris for The Duran Whilst the Russian-Turkish ceasefire agreement offers the best route to peace in Syria, and in theory gives the Syrian army the space to rebuild and to take the war to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, its success ultimately depends too much on the commitment of Turkish President Erdogan to invest too much hope in its success. As my colleague Adam Garrie has previously reported, on 31st
December 30, 2016 We regard the recent unfriendly steps taken by the outgoing US administration as provocative and aimed at further weakening the Russia-US relationship. This runs contrary to the fundamental interests of both the Russian and American people. Considering the global security responsibilities of Russia and the United States, this is also damaging to international relations as a whole. As it proceeds from international practice, Russia has reasons to respond in kind. Although we have the right to retaliate, we will not resort to irresponsible ‘kitchen’ diplomacy but will plan our further steps to restore
Foreword by the Saker My article about 2016 being a year of triumph for Russia has elicited a number of outright bizarre comments in reaction to my statement that there was no such thing as a “Russian ethnicity”. Some commentators even made it sound as if I was denying the existence of a unique Russian nation. Others were shocked by my statement (repeated many times over on this blog) that
Despite claim that Western sanctions were supposed to target just parts of Russia’s economy and not its general population, they were specifically designed to trigger the collapse of its banking system, food production, civil construction, and to trigger massive unemployment, widespread hunger and civil unrests. In essence, in 2016 Russia was supposed to have a return of the 90s catastrophe period known as “perestroika.” As for Russia’s involvement in Syria,
by Peter Koenig Imagine, Mr. Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, Nobel Peace Laureate 2016, for achieving a Peace Agreement with the FARC “rebels” (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) – this same peace-loving Mr. Santos is inviting NATO to his country to help fight “organized crime”. As TeleSUR reports, this could jeopardize the recently signed (the ink is not yet dry) Peace Agreement between the
This column was written for the Unz Review: http://www.unz.com/tsaker/2016-the-year-of-russias-triumph/ Just like European maps place Europe in the center of the planet, so do most western commentators look at the past year from a US/Europe-centered perspective. Which is fair enough. Furthermore, the AngloZionist Empire has just suffered two major disasters, the Brexit and the election of Trump, so there is truly much interesting to focus on. Still, what I want to
by Peter Koenig Random killing by the western secret services – 12 dead, about 40 injured, is the result of the latest false flag attack in Berlin, when on 19 December, a truck plowed into a Christmas market at Berlin’s Bretscheideplatz, near the lush Kurfuerstendamm. It’s a ‘déjà-vu’ of not even half a year ago, when in Nice, France, on 14th July a truck mowed down hordes of people celebrating
It is too early to conclude what happened with this aircraft, but since I have been asked about this by email, here are my own, personal and provisional, thoughts: Mechanical failure: unlikely. The Tu-154 is a three engine aircraft and an extremely strong beast. It’s safety record is comparable to most aircraft of its time, even though it was often used in extreme conditions other aircraft types did not have
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is “stronger than any potential aggressor” because it has modernized its nuclear missiles and other forces. He also said the US withdrawal in 2001 from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty had “created the conditions for a new nuclear arms race.” Putin: “Dear comrades,(Уважаемые товарищи) Russia is stronger than any potential aggressor” The US Department of State immediately went into an overdrive trying to proclaim
19 December 2016, the Assembly adopted, by a vote of 70 in favor to 26 against with 77 abstentions, the draft resolution titled “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)”. The Western and Ukrainian media true to its practice to never say a word of truth reported this as “The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on human rights in Crimea.” There is a
Is it finally the demise of the “men and boys” mantra? by Stephen Karganovic Well, so far at least. Shocking as it may appear in the midst of the rejoicing that the terrorist occupation of Eastern Aleppo and the agony of tens of thousands of its helpless inhabitants are finally over, accumulated evidence suggests that the vengeful Empire was (and possibly still is) entirely prepared to inflict a “Srebrenica” style
By Aram Mirzaei On December 8, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group launched a major offensive in a bid to recapture the ancient city of Palmyra, which was otherwise lost to the Syrian Army earlier in March this year. ISIL managed to not only muster between 4000-5000 fighters, but managed to travel across the eastern Homs desert unnoticed until they reached the gates of the ancient
Death of Geneva format, new format for resolving the Syrian conflict, more facts in the murder of Russia’s Ambassador. Russia, Iran, Turkey: countries who are deciding the future of Syria. New format for resolving the Syrian conflict has been established on Tuesday. The US has been pushed out of the Middle East and has lost most of its influence despite of its military presence in Iraq. Ankara took the role
This text is slightly modified from an interview that Andrew Korybko gave to a Moscow-based PhD student specializing in the “Arab Spring” regime change events. The Role Of Social Media Social media platforms were instrumental in organizing and deploying the regime change destabilizations that took place during the “Arab Spring” theater-wide Color Revolutions. They allowed the initiators of these events to more easily connect with tens of thousands of sympathizers
Okay, so tonight we have the name of the assassin, it is Mevlut Mert Aydintas, a 22 year old policeman who had been recently fired following the anti-Gulenist crackdown of Erdogan against the forces which had attempted to overthrow him recently. We also have a very useful video of the murder. That video of the attack also shows something very important: the only shots fired are those fired by the
RT is reporting live on the murder of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey. Right now, we absolutely have to wait to get the real facts on the ground and not jump to conclusions. God willing, I will share an analysis with you this evening. The Saker
Dear friends, We are going to go on a break. Most of us are exhausted, this has been an amazing, but exhausting year. I personally am going on fumes. Furthermore, we are about to enter the period of western Christmas, the civil New Year and the Orthodox Nativity. Finally, the next year is likely to be extremely interesting, in the sense of the Chinese (?) curse “may you live in
by Ghassan Kadi In his recent article titled “Obama Out Not With a Bang, But a Whimper”, and in his regular eloquent and expressive style, Pepe Escobar nailed it. More need not be said about the Obama legacy, but this man, Obama, has had a personal effect on me, one that I cannot let go of without putting down on paper my own views of his infamous legacy. I am
This column was written for the Unz Review: http://www.unz.com/tsaker/neocon-panic-and-agony/ There are clear signs that the Neocons running the AngloZionist Empire and it’s “deep state” are in a state of near panic and their actions are indicating that they are truly terrified. The home front On the home front, the Neocons have resorted to every possible dirty trick on the book to try to prevent Donald Trump from ever getting into
December 15, a day of remembrance for journalists killed in the line of duty is observed across Russia in memory of journalists who died while simply doing their jobs. We remember how Russian journalists were made to be targets by NATO-backed forces in Ukraine. The hunt was declared not just on Russian journalists, but Ukrainians and Italians who were writing against the NATO occupation. A similar relentless hunt was conducted
