The US is getting ready for an open dialogue with Iran to discuss Iraq's security concerns and ways of responding to radical Sunni militia that have been gaining ground in western Iraq, The Wall Street Journal quoted senior US officials as saying. [...]

Apparently, the bloody wave of Islamic extremism gripping Iraq is an internal occurrence and was in no way facilitated by the Western invasion. This is former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair'€™s version of events concerning the entire Middle East. In fact, the former prime minister describes at length how it’s necessary to rid oneself of any feeling of responsibility that the crumbling country an [...]

NATO is preparing a package deal to ramp up the Ukrainian military because it "€˜must adapt"€™ to Russia viewing it as an enemy, the outgoing chief of the military bloc said. The deal would be submitted to foreign ministers of members states later this month, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told El Pais in an interview. [...]

Self-defense forces in the town of Gorlovka, eastern Ukraine, say they have downed another plane - a Sukhoi-24 bomber jet. The pilot is alive and currently being taken for questioning, witnesses told RIA Novosti reports. [...]

Forty-nine Ukrainian troops were killed when their military Il-76 transport jet was taken down by local militia forces just before it started its descent toward Lugansk Airport. Some military hardware and supplies were lost as well. [...]

At least one Ukrainian armored vehicle crossed the Russian border with Ukraine Friday overnight and stopped in the Rostov Region, according to Russia'€™s Security Service. The military abandoned the vehicle and returned to Ukraine. [...]

Residents of Slavyansk and its suburbs were awoken overnight on Thursday by what they say were incendiary bombs that were dropped on their city by Kiev'€™s military. Witnesses and local media reports suggested that the bombs might be phosphorous. [...]

Heavily-armed, Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants have seized the Iraqi city of Mosul, driving back government forces. Officials say the Iraqi Army'€™s soldiers are demoralized and are no match for the attacking militant forces. “The city of Mosul is outside the control of the state and at the mercy of the militants,” an Interior Ministry official told AFP on Monday. [...]

Despite President Poroshenko intention to bring about a ceasefire, Kiev’s relentless military operation in the country's east is intensifying. Slavyansk has become one of the main targets of artillery attacks, amateur videos filmed in the area show. [...]

The US Air Force has sent more of its bombers to Europe, deploying two B-2 stealth aircraft as part of a military exercise. On Sunday they joined three B-52 StratoFortress bombers already deployed in Britain. “This deployment of strategic bombers provides an invaluable opportunity to strengthen and improve interoperability with our allies and partners,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, commander, US Str [...]

A major military exercise kicked off in Latvia, with 10 NATO member countries participating. The war games involve 4,700 troops and 800 military vehicles. Russia sees NATO's military build-up as a sign of aggression. The Saber Strike ground forces exercise is being conducted for the fourth time this year and coincides with Baltic Host 2014 and Baltops 2014 naval drills. [...]

Two Eastern European nations, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, have refused to host foreign troops and military bases. The prime ministers of both countries have consecutively spoken against the proposal voiced by US President Barack Obama. [...]

President Obama has announced a plan to invest $1 billion in stepping up its military presence in Eastern Europe amid the Ukrainian crisis. The White House will send more troops and equipment to the region to "€œreaffirm"€ its commitment to NATO allies. [...]

Several buildings, including an orphanage, have been severely damaged by artillery fire in Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine, where fighting between self-defense troops and Kiev'€™s army renewed over the weekend. [...]

An Italian reporter and his interpreter may have been shot dead and a French photographer has been wounded near the city of Slavyansk, in eastern Ukraine, as their car came under fire, Russian media report. [...]

Activists around the world will join the Gitmo Global Day of Action, demanding the prison be closed and an end to the indefinite detention of its inmates. They say President Obama hasn't fulfilled his promises as hunger strikes and force-feeding continue. [...]

Contrary to what the mainstream media has tried to convince you, it's not at all a mystery how the fire started in Odessa, Ukraine and it's not at all a mystery who started it. We owe it to the victims to expose what really happened. On May 2nd 2014 over 40 people were murdered in Odessa Ukraine. Some eyewitnesses claim the real number is over a hundred. [...]

A German medical jet which was to be hired by RT TV channel in order to pick up RT'€™s stringer, critically wounded during a military operation in Mariupol, was denied landing in the eastern Ukrainian city, gripped by unrest. [...]

Kiev'€™s forces are using heavy weaponry and tanks in the eastern city of Mariupol to storm the local Interior Ministry building, where police have barricaded inside. After residents began flocking to the scene, Kiev fighters opened fire on civilians. [...]

The families of soldiers who lost their lives in Kiev'€™s "€œanti-terrorist operation'€" in the south-east of Ukraine will be compensated by 1 million hryvnas (around $86,000), pledges a charity, newly founded in Ukraine. The initiative to create a special foundation to support the injured troops and the families of the deceased soldiers came from the Dnepropetrovsk Region’s National Defens [...]

A senior Russian MP has suggested the Commonwealth of Independent States set up its own Court of Human Rights to investigate the events that led the current Kiev regime taking power and the actions of pro-Maidan radicals against federalization supporters. [...]

Radicals set the building with innocent people inside on fire in Odessa, then strangled the survivors and finished them with bats, while police did nothing to prevent the bloodshed. That'€™s the scary picture a survivor of the massacre told RT. [...]