Vladimir Putin's first big interview of the year was with Germany's leading newspaper Bild. Nikolaus Blome, Bild's deputy editor-in-chief who spoke to the Russian president, told Deutsche Welle that he was "happy with the result" and shared what impressed him the most. "Although I was aware of that, I was still surprised by how well [Putin] speaks German and understands the subtleties of the la [...]

The Kremlin has found a new ally in the Kurds during its anti-terrorist campaign in Syria. They are effective in pushing Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist groups out of key areas in Syria, French political journalist Olivier d’Auzon wrote for Le Huffington Post. Turkey's decision to shoot down a Russian Su-24 bomber in November made Moscow furious; in turn, the Kremlin decided to support [...]

Washington's constant attempts to impose its own vision of an ideal state system on Moscow are a huge mistake. While it might be acceptable to more modest, smaller countries, it is not to be tolerated by such a heavyweight, according to Matt Rojansky, Director of the Kennan Institute. [...]

UNITED NATIONS - The West continues its strong political and military support to one of its longstanding allies in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia –- despite withering criticism of the kingdom’s battlefield excesses in the ongoing war in neighboring Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition has been accused of using banned cluster bombs, bombing civilian targets and destroying hospitals – either by acci [...]

After the incidents of sexual assault in Cologne, Germany on New Year’s Eve committed by Muslim refugees against German women, feminist apologetic have acquired renewed vigor in the European debate. Pundits and politicians assure the public that refugee males now storming the gates of Europe from the Middle East, Northern Africa and Central Asia will be required to learn that Western women ar [...]

After the shock of the New Year’s Eve assaults, and the subsequent backlash, some migrants are trying to teach refugees about the challenges of life in Germany and about mutual tolerance. Skinny-dipping, gay relationships and parenting all form part of Magdi Gohary’s crash-course introduction to a strange new home [...]

The price may vary depending on the exchange rate of the national currency. The cost of a single dose of the Russian vaccine against the Ebola virus is approximately $160, the director of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology said Friday. [...]

The proposal comes two weeks after hundreds of women were attacked by aggressive men of allegedly Arab and North African origin in a number of German cities. After the attacks on women in Cologne and a number of other German cities, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has called to consider the deployment of Bundeswehr forces within the country. [...]

In an interview with German newspaper Die Welt, Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio admitted that he would love to play Vladimir Putin onscreen if provided with such an opportunity. Dicaprio said that for him bringing the image of the Russian president onscreen would be a ‘very, very interesting task.’ [...]

Most in America were happy when Tehran promptly released ten US sailors, who were detained when their two boats drifted in Iran's territorial waters on Tuesday; but US hardliners were furious. "If you think about the [US] bases that surround Iran, you can understand why [the Islamic Republic] would be concerned when a heavily armed naval vessel ventures into Iranian territory," political analys [...]

Crimean authorities are working hard to make Cannes- and Nice-bound vacationers change their mind and set their sights on the Black Sea peninsula, Russian media quoted Crimea’s top prosecutor as saying on Wednesday. Natalya Poklonskaya said that she couldn’t care less about the western [...]

Whatever happened to the days when the primary purpose of journalism was to hold our government accountable for its stupid actions, like when the US Navy, for example, strays into the territorial waters of an Islamic nation at the worst possible time? Just how long and deep America has snorted from the cracked mirror of imperial power, intoxicating the nation with delusions of grandeur and exce [...]

Austria is set to use its army to stop refugees intending to transit through Germany and not apply for asylum there, as hundreds are being rejected at the German border. More than 1,000 migrants with forged IDs are being turned around at the Austrian border each week. [...]

On New Year's Eve the German city of Cologne witnessed mass organized sexual assaults on hundreds of German women. For five days following the assaults the German media failed to report them. When under public pressure they eventually did, it turned out that a string of similar assaults had also happened simultaneously in various other German cities. [...]

Jordan has set up a joint war room with Russia to carry out coordinated anti-Daesh (ISIL) military operations in Syria, indicating a turn by the country from its US, Saudi Arabia and Israeli allies, in the face of the increasing volatility of the entire Middle East region. [...]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's migration policy has brought into question the German leader’s political future. What if Angela Merkel steps down? Experts weigh the pros and cons of the potential move. Angela Merkel's "open-door" refugee policy has already prompted fierce debate among the Chancellor's political opponents and ordinary Germans; the violent massive sex assault on women in Colo [...]

A German court has ruled Facebook’s ‘friend finder’ function, which allows the social network to market services to non-users, illegal. The court said the promotion is “intrusive” and that Facebook had not adequately informed its members about it. [...]

The head of a Bavarian district has sent a bus with 30 refugees aboard on a 550km trip to Angela Merkel’s Berlin office – fulfilling a threat made in October, when he said he would act if the number of refugees exceeded housing capacity in his area. Peter Dreier, head of the Landshut district in Bavaria, reportedly had an angry phone conversation with Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the [...]

Some of the key conclusions of the Dutch Safety Board’s final report on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash were ‘unsubstantiated and inaccurate,’ Russia’s aviation agency said in a letter to its counterpart in the Netherlands, citing new research. [...]

After an Austrian bar announced that it was "free of refugees," with people expressing their outrage on social networks, claiming that such measures reminds them of the Nazi regime. A local bar in the small town of Bad Ischl, Austria, has banned asylum seekers from entry and has caused outrage among the local population, media reported. [...]

Exclusive: In Official Washington’s propaganda world, the U.S. government and its “allies” are always standing for what’s right and good and the “enemies” are the epitome of evil doing the vilest things. But some emails to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton depicted a far different reality... To justify U.S. “regime changes,” the U.S. government has routinely spread rumors and m [...]

The strains on Europe from neocon-devised policies of “regime change” in Syria and Ukraine are resurfacing historical divisions and reviving old animosities among European states, including a war of words between Angela Merkel’s Germany and Poland’s new right-wing government, as Gilbert Doctorow explains. [...]