Even facing what under any circumstances is a perfect storm; President Putin delivered an extremely measured performance at his annual press conference and Q&A marathon. The perfect storm evolves in two fronts; an overt economic war – as in siege by sanctions - and a concerted, covert, shadow attack to the heart of the Russian economy. [...]

Pope Francis has congratulated both the US and Cuba on restoring relations, as the Vatican together with Canada were confirmed to have played a significant role in the talks which broke 50 years of cold. The Vatican said that it was a key player in negotiations between the two countries, “resulting in solutions acceptable to both parties.” [...]

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood in principle. A total of 498 MEPs voted in favor, while 88 were against. A parliamentary session in Strasbourg on Tuesday could not decide on the matter, opting for further negotiations, but on Wednesday the European Parliament eventually adopted a resolution that “in principle” grants the troubled region sta [...]

The Russian currency remains volatile Wednesday, after it suffered its own "Black Tuesday" losing about 20 percent during the day. It had been a rollercoaster morning, with the ruble falling on the opening of Wednesday trading, and within 40 minutes rebounding, only to relapse later in the morning. [...]

The EU General Court has ordered that the Palestinian militant group Hamas be removed from the bloc's terror blacklist. The move comes over four years after Hamas appealed its terror designation before the EU. The European Union first banned Hamas’ military wing, the Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in 2002, though the organization’s social and political divisions were not put on the terror li [...]

Direct trade between India and Russia in rough diamonds is a diplomacy gem which was a Russian initiative buttressed by some quick decision-making by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The matter has been under discussion through the diplomatic channels between the two countries for quite some time and came up in a brief discussion between visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Modi during th [...]

US stock futures fell along with shares in European companies exposed to Russia, as the ruble and crude oil slid to new record lows on Tuesday. The Russian ruble lost over 20 percent against hard currencies on Tuesday. At its worst the ruble plummeted to 75 against the US dollar, and traded at almost 100 to the euro on the Moscow Exchange. [...]

An overwhelming majority of Russians named President Vladimir Putin "€˜Man of the Year"when pollsters asked them to choose from among serving Russian politicians. The latest research conducted by an independent Russian pollster Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) showed that 68 percent of Russian citizens consider Putin worthy of the title. [...]

The program imposed by the EU on Ukraine to diminish its alleged economic dependence on Russia is pushing this unstable country into a full scale crisis, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev writes in a newspaper article. The PM emphasized that the planned economic cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union looks very much like neo-colonialism. [...]

An Arab sheikh seems to think the 'world's poorest president,' Uruguay's Jose Mujica, is in dire need of cash. He's offered $1 million for Mujica's iconic 1987 VW Beetle - but the pot-smoking leader says he will donate the money to the homeless instead. “I didn’t give it any importance,” the humble ex-guerilla leader told a news conference, after the Uruguayan weekly Busqueda broke the st [...]

Six former US detainees, who have never been charged, are beginning their new life as refugees in Uruguay. They arrived on Sunday and have given their first comments to the press to say they are happy to be there. The six include four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian. Although they were cleared for release in 2009, the US was not able to discharge them until Uruguayan President Jose Mujica [...]

Pope Francis has promised that your favorite pooch will have a spot in heaven, along with all other animals. He made the vow while comforting a little boy mourning the loss of his dog, according to media reports. During his weekly address in the Vatican's St. Peter's Square, the pope told the boy that “paradise is open to all of God's creatures.” [...]

A German court has rejected a bid by opposition parties to bring ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden to Berlin to testify about the US agency's intelligence activities in Germany before a parliamentary committee. Members of Germany’s Green and left parties petitioned Berlin’s Federal Constitutional Court to grant Snowden temporary entry to Berlin in order to answer questions about the National [...]

Russia's Foreign Ministry has decried the US Senate-backed Ukrainian support bill as "anti-Russian" in a statement released on Friday evening. It says that Washington is seeking to "destroy cooperation" between the two nations. The bill, titled,“An act to support freedom in Ukraine in 2014”, would provide Kiev with weapons, millions of dollars in military assistance, and other forms of aid, [...]

A freight train carrying a whole column of American armored vehicles has been caught on camera in Latvia. Dalbe Railway Station, where the train was reportedly spotted several days ago, is less than 300km from the Russian border. The train was carrying at least 38 vehicles and several semitrailers, including eight Bradley Fighting Vehicles, nine M113 Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs), four petr [...]

So the EU “defeated” Putin by forcing him to cancel the South Stream pipeline. Thus ruled Western corporate media.  Nonsense. Facts on the ground spell otherwise. This “Pipelineistan” gambit will continue to send massive geopolitical shock waves all [...]

The economic burden of Western sanctions has pushed Russia to the east in search of business opportunities. Judging by the outcome of President Putin’s visit to India - 20 high-profile deals struck – Moscow’s ‘pivot to Asia’ is getting a warm welcome. Russian President Vladimir Putin achieved this during his visit to India spanning 23 hours and 15 minutes and at a summit meeting with [...]

Fifty-four countries were named in the Senate report into US terror activities around the world. Here are seven governments whose leaders will be having sleepless nights trying to come up with excuses to explain their actions. [...]

The lack of doctors and medicines in the eastern Ukrainian conflict zone is putting lives at risk says a new World Health Organization report, which describes the situation on the ground as "not just a humanitarian crisis." “No child has been vaccinated in the areas affected by conflict since September 2014, sending polio vaccine coverage down to less than 30-40 percent,” the WHO report rea [...]

When President Putin makes his lightning one-day visit to India, the main thing on his mind will be power. He'll be discussing nuclear cooperation and energy when he meets Prime Minister Modi. “Nuclear energy cooperation is one of the pillars of our strategic partnership. We concluded two inter-governmental agreements in this field in 2008 and in 2010,” Putin said in an interview with India [...]

Former congressman Ron Paul has lashed out at the resolution the House passed against Russia, branding it "one of the worst pieces of legislation ever." It could even pave the way for a potential war with Russia, as it was with Iraq, he warns. Resolution 758 strongly condemns the actions of Russia under Vladimir Putin, for what it describes as a policy of “aggression against neighboring count [...]

Russia is launching a new national defense facility, which is meant to monitor threats to national security in peacetime, but would take control of the entire country in case of war. The new top-security, fortified facility in Moscow includes several large war rooms, a brand new supercomputer in the heart of a state-of-the-art data processing center, underground facilities, secret transport rou [...]