Hundreds of protesters marched from the center of Newport in a show of opposition to the NATO Summit. There are reports of several marches taking place in other Welsh towns. An estimated 500 NATO opponents made a three-mile trek to the venue in a peaceful protest through Newport. The turnout appears to be well below the 2,500 predicted by organizers. [...]

Some of Russia’s diplomats have joined a digital diplomacy row as they trolled NATO by “leaking” on Twitter the alliance’s “most convincing evidence” of Russian troops’ alleged presence in Ukraine. The Twitter account @RussEmbassyUAE, which is the official Twitter of the Russian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates, posted a picture of tiny toy trucks, tanks and armored vehicles al [...]

The self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk have come up with their own proposals to stabilize situation in south-eastern Ukraine, which include temporary ceasefire, 50km demilitarized zone, flight bans for Kiev and OSCE monitoring. The first and foremost step should be the announcement of a temporary ceasefire by both Ukrainian military and the self-defense forces starting fr [...]

Financing the military offensive in eastern Ukraine is now proving to be a major economic headache for Kiev. The cost of rebuilding conflict-torn eastern Ukraine may reach $8 billion, Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has indicated. As long as the military offensive in the east continues, Ukraine has to further dig into its fast-depleting state coffers to support the operation. If the war continu [...]

The recurring motif in discussions on the sidelines of the NATO summit taking place on September 4–5 in Wales is this: “But what can NATO do for Ukraine?” The presence of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the gathering seems to indicate that the Western alliance has somehow made itself Ukraine’s guarantee power. But this is only true in a largely symbolic sense. In real terms, the [...]

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko says he'll order a ceasefire for government troops fighting self-defense forces in the southeast of country if the meeting of Ukrainian, Russian and OSCE envoys takes place in Belarus on Friday as planned. "At 14:00 local time (11:00GMT Friday), provided the [Minsk] meeting takes place, I will call on the General Staff to set up a bilateral ceasefire and we [...]

The implementation of NATO's readiness action plan to 'overt' Russian threat, which will be presented at the alliance's summit in Wales on September 4, will involve "several hundred million euros" a year, says the bloc's commander. "Keeping people on alert carries a certain cost," General Jean-Paul Palomeros, the head of the Allied Command Transformation, which leads military transformation of [...]

Official Washington draws the Ukraine crisis in black-and-white colors with Russian President Putin the bad guy and the U.S.-backed leaders in Kiev the good guys. But the reality is much more nuanced, with the American people consistently misled on key facts, writes Robert Parry. If you wonder how the world could stumble into World War III – much as it did into World War I a century ago – a [...]

A US Navy destroyer and, reportedly, a French frigate have entered the Black Sea, as NATO builds up its presence in the region while tensions remain high in Ukraine. Another two warships are expected to arrive in the area by the end of the week. The US Navy 6th Fleet official command has confirmed on its official Twitter account that the destroyer USS Ross, (DDG 71), an Arleigh Burke-class guid [...]

Barack Obama says the "door to NATO membership will remain open" for new members, while also urging the organization to help strengthen Ukraine's military. Germany has promised to send non-lethal aid, such as bullet proof vests and medical supplies. Speaking in Estonia, Obama did not explicitly point to Ukraine when referring to expanding NATO membership to other nations. [...]

Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia may soon enter a trilateral treaty on friendship and cooperation with further formation of a joint military bloc that would oppose NATO, a top diplomat has said. South Ossetia’s ambassador to Abkhazia, Oleg Botsiyev, told popular Russian daily Izvestia that the planned coalition would be modeled on NATO’s structure and be allied with another Moscow-led mil [...]

Kiev retracted its earlier statement regarding a "permanent ceasefire" in eastern Ukraine, which followed a phone call between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. The new wording from Poroshenko's office talks of a ceasefire "regime". The Russian and Ukrainian languages use the word to mean “mode”, signifying the possibility of a softer, less permanent version of the previous suggestion. [...]

As long as Kiev continues to claim that everything that happens in Ukraine is Russia`s fault there is no serious prospect of there being any peace at all, John Laughland from the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris told RT. On September 3 Russian President Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko had a phone conversation concerning possible steps aimed at resolving the U [...]

Stephen Cohen on Russia-Ukraine Crisis As negotiations over the crisis in Ukraine begin in Geneva, tension is rising in the Ukrainian east after security forces killed three pro-Russian protesters, wounded 13 and took 63 captive in the city of Mariupol. Ukrainian officials said the pro-Russian separatists had attempted to storm a military base. [...]

Last week, a US military lawyer on the defense team for self-proclaimed 9/11-attacks mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed resigned from the Army in protest of the "show trial" conducted by the US at Guantanamo Bay. Maj. Jason Wright resigned on Aug. 26, according to NPR. He accused the US government of “abhorrent leadership” on human rights and due process at the military detention center at G [...]

With the escalating Ukrainian crisis towards the top of the agenda at this week's NATO summit in Wales, a group of former American intelligence workers is urging the alliance to be careful before crafting a response. Sixty foreign leaders and dozens of diplomats and defense officials from around the globe will convene at the event this week and are expected to approve a plan that calls for asse [...]

Human Rights Watch has condemned the illegality of Ukrainian actions in east Ukraine, ascribing direct blame to Kiev for the rising death toll in the Lugansk Region, which by local estimates has reached 300 since May. The organization visited the city on August 20-22, performing a survey of the situation and carrying out interviews with locals who in one way or another were affected by the heav [...]

Nato would not be able to stop a Russian invasion of Eastern Europe because of years of military cuts, one of Britain’s top generals has warned. General Sir Richard Shirreff, who stepped down from his post as Nato deputy supreme commander earlier this year, said the military alliance needed to rearm if it was serious about defending itself in the future. [...]

Ukrainian forces ceded a strategic eastern airport to pro-Russian insurgents on Monday as the government in Kiev accused Moscow of launching a “great war” that could claim tens of thousands of lives. The sense of foreboding in Kiev came as European-mediated talks over the fast-escalating crisis opened in the Belarussian capital Minsk behind closed doors, attended by government, separatist a [...]

America’s war hawks, including then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, were thrilled by the Libyan “regime change” engineered through a U.S.- European bombing campaign in 2011. But now with Libya torn by civil war and Arab powers intervening, the “victory” has a bitter aftertaste, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar explains. [...]

Moscow is to review its military doctrine, a move that is caused by expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe, problems of missile defense and the crisis situation in neighboring Ukraine, says an official from the Russia's Security Council. “I have no doubts that the issue of drawing of military infrastructure of NATO member-countries to the borders of our country, including via enlargement, will r [...]

Cuba's former president Fidel Castro compared NATO's recent statements to that of Nazi SS and accused US and its allies of igniting conflicts abroad. Castro slammed John McCain for backing Israel and accused both of being involved in the creation of ISIS. Apparently referring to the pressure the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been trying to exert on Moscow in connection with the [...]