Middle East

‘Biggest bribery scandal’: US, UK, Australia launch probe into mass oil industry corruption
An investigation into a massive global oil bribery scandal has been launched by authorities in the US, Britain, and Australia, after leaked confidential files indicated that some of the world’s most powerful corporations were part of the racket. [...]
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Russian soldier who called airstrike on himself while surrounded by ISIS is hero
I don’t know Aleksandr Prochorenko. I know nothing of his background or what his dreams and hopes were for the future. But I do know that he’s a hero who will never be forgotten, and that the cause for which he sacrificed his life is a righteous one. [...]
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Iran’s ‘Suez Canal’: Tehran Could Connect Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf
One of the most ambitious initiatives that Tehran plans to launch will see an artificial channel link the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. The project, which is expected to be completed in the 2020s, is particularly interesting for Russia due to the cold spell with Turkey, but European and post-Soviet states will also benefit from it. [...]
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Untold Story of Syrian Coup: Who is Really Behind the Plot to Topple Assad?
Thanks to modern technologies one can easily reconstruct the story of Washington's conspiracy aimed at destabilizing Syria by exploiting the country's ethnic and religious divisions. In his recent Op-Ed for Russia Today Neil Clark, a journalist, writer, broadcaster and blogger, writes that former US Secretary of State Clinton's emails as well as secret labels and reports provided by Wikile [...]
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All quiet on Western front after Syrian forces recapture Palmyra from ISIS
The recapture of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra was the single biggest defeat for ISIS since it declared its caliphate, but the West does not seem interested. Why? Because then they’d have to give some credit to Russia. Indeed, it must have been a tough weekend for Western media’s favorite Syria pundits. [...]
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Broken Dreams: This is How Russia Ruins Erdogan’s Energy Plan
Moscow’s responsive measures toward Ankara have dealt a heavy blow to the Turkish economy. What is more, Russia’s military success in Syria risks ruining the entire Turkish energy industry. On November 24, 2015 a Turkish jet downed a Russian Su-24 bomber over Syria. Relations between Turkey and Russia deeply deteriorated [...]
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Reaping Fruits of Victory: First Results of Russia’s Air Campaign in Syria
The war on terrorism in Syria is not over yet. However, after the bulk of Russian forces were withdrawn from Syria one can take a closer look at some aspects of how the operation unfolded and the weapons involved. Key Ingredient to Combat Success. In order to be successful, any military operation needs full-fledged combat support. [...]
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Desert Falcons Thank Vladimir Putin for Support in Liberation of Palmyra
A field commander of Syria’s Desert Falcons militia forces thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin on behalf of the Syrian people for supporting the country in the fight against terrorism. Earlier on Sunday, the Syrian Army alongside the Desert Falcons forces fully liberated the ancient city of Palmyra from Daesh militants. [...]
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Horror Persists, From Brussels to Cuba — Guantanamo, Cuba, That Is
Daesh-allied militants attacked a European city this week, setting off three bombs in Brussels that killed 31 and injured 260. In the United States, the response was immediate, first with the outpouring of support from the public, then, unsurprisingly, with a flurry of bellicose pronouncements from most of the remaining major-party presidential candidates. [...]
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In Syria, Putin Smashes Terrorists Like Kutuzov Smashed Napoleon
Much has been said and written about the Russian military operation in Syria, from its sudden start to its abrupt halt; few however have put it quite so 'eloquently' as The Spectator's Taki Theodoracopulos, who compared the Russian mission in Syria to Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov's successful campaign against Napoleon during the War of 1812. [...]
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Gaddafi, Assad Warned of Terror Epidemic in Europe, But No One Listened
Libya's late leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned that terrorism would be on the rise in Europe if Western leaders help to destabilize the two countries, but no one listened. As a result, Libya and Syria have been plunged into chaos and now Europe has to grapple with a string of gruesome terrorist attacks. [...]
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The Peace Seeker: What Lies at the Root of Putin’s Foreign Policy in Syria
Why did Vladimir Putin's decision to withdraw the Russian military forces from Syria take US hawks by surprise? Maybe, it's because Washington's party of war believes its own propaganda more than reality on the ground, Stephen F. Cohen notes, commenting on Russia's pullout. The leitmotif of Russian President Putin's foreign policy is the demilitarization of the ongoing new Cold War in the Middl [...]
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Syria: Mission Accomplished
Sputnik looks at the key results and highlights of Russia's 5.5-month counterterrorist mission in Syria. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the air campaign prevented terrorist plans to expand into Russia and other countries, as well as undermined their administrative system and economic potential. Earlier on March 15, two air groups involved in the Syrian mission left Hmeimim o [...]
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Diplomacy Over War: Syrians Praise Putin Amid Russia’s Pullout
Syrians feel immense gratitude towards Russian military and Aerospace Forces with the popularity of Vladimir Putin soaring. The partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the country is a matter of concern for the Syrian community, but the faith in Moscow's help is unwavering, according to the US media. [...]
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Keeping an Eye Out: Russia Continues to Call the Shots Despite Pullout
Unlike the Bush administration's mission in Iraq, Russia has truly accomplished its mission in Syria, Bangkok-based analyst Tony Cartalucci writes. Does it mean the Saudi-Turkish elites now have a chance to balkanize Syria? Not by any means. Regardless of Western media's attempts to downplay the success of Russia's operation in Syria, there is no doubt that Moscow has accomplished the objective [...]
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Is There a US-Russia Grand Bargain in Syria?
It’s spy thriller stuff; no one is talking. But there are indications Russia would not announce a partial withdrawal from Syria right before the Geneva negotiations ramp up unless a grand bargain with Washington had been struck. Some sort of bargain is in play, of which we still don’t know the details; that's what the CIA itself is basically saying through their multiple US Think Tankland m [...]
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‘Agents of Destruction’: How CIA Helped Create Islamist Frankenstein
Washington and its allies created the Islamist Frankenstein with their own hands: over the decades radical Muslim 'agents of destruction' have formed the belt of instability which stretches across the MENA region to Central Asia and beyond. But how did it all begin? Back in December 1979 the USSR deployed a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan in response to repeated requests from [...]
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Germany to Bear Main Burden of Refugee Crisis Despite EU-Turkey Deal
In the context of the current refugee crisis, leaders of the European Union reached an agreement on the deal with Turkey. The package of measures agreed on Friday morning is now awaiting approval by the Turkish government, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) reported, referring to Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. [...]
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De-Dollarization: The Story of Gaddafi’s Gold-Backed Currency is Not Over
A declassified email exchange between former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her adviser Sid Blumenthal shows that Clinton was up to her eyeballs in the Western conspiracy against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his Pan-African "Gold Dinar" currency, F. William Engdahl narrates. [...]
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Against All Evidence, Pentagon Just Can’t Accept Russia’s Syrian Withdrawal
As Russian troops and planes return home following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s surprise announcement, one organization, the Pentagon, remains unsurprisingly unconvinced. "I think that the task that was assigned to the Ministry of Defense and the armed forces as a whole has achieved its goal, [...]
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Turkey’s Path to Dictatorship
Throttling Turkey’s democracy, President Erdogan seized an opposition newspaper that dared reveal his clandestine arming of jihadists seeking to overthrow neighboring Syria, as Alon Ben-Meir explains. Only a few months after Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raided the offices of the Koza Ipek Media Group, the Turkish police assaulted early this month the offices of Feza Publications, [...]
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Russia’s Military Aims Achieved, Putin Switches to Diplomacy
American presstitutes, such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, expressed surprise at Russia’s support for the Syrian ceasefire, which Russia has been seeking, by Putin’s halt to attacks on the Islamic State and a partial withdrawal of Russian forces. The American presstitutes are captives of their own propaganda and are now surprised at the failure of their propagandistic pr [...]
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