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EU 404? Not finding itself on Iran exemption list, Europe vows to defy US sanctions
European countries have vowed to maintain “effective financial channels” and to keep trading with Tehran after the US announced that the EU is not among those spared from its sweeping sanctions against Iran. [...]
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‘EU Must Not Trade Its Interests for the Sake of Turkey’
According to German politician and member of the European Parliament Angelika Niebler, Turkey is not yet ready to join the EU and European countries need to think carefully about providing the Turks with any benefits. The EU should not forget about its own interests in order to please Turkey, the politician said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk. [...]
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Euro is Too Weak For German Economy, Too Strong For Most Others in Euro – MP
German conservative Friedrich Merz said Thursday that Brexit would have a major impact on continental Europe's economy. He added that Brexit was the biggest threat the EU could be facing at the moment but didn't hope to see another referendum in the UK. [...]
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Russia’s ‘surprise & unexpected’ Syria withdrawal welcomed as signal of ‘true peace process’
Global political figures have welcomed the Russian military pullout from Syria, and while many have called the Kremlin’s decision “unexpected,” it is seen as clearing the way for dialogue while a truce in the five-year-old war is negotiated in Geneva. Acknowledging that five months of military campaigns have mostly succeeded in their primary objective of eliminating the immediate wider th [...]
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Ukraine 2018: Human rights nowhere, thuggery and corruption everywhere
The democratic revolution that ensued in Ukraine in 2014 was in fact a revolution against democracy, unleashing the dogs of thuggery and gangsterism. Someone who made the mistake of falling foul of those with a vested interest in the corruption that is a hallmark of today’s Ukraine was Katerina Gandzyuk. [...]
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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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German Politician: We Don’t Need EU Army, We Need a ‘European Home’ With Russia
Following years of floating within the bloc, the idea of Europe creating joint military forces is on the agenda after the French President and German Chancellor called on their EU allies to unite. While the EU leadership backed the initiative, it got a mixed response among European politicians. [...]
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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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Cuba Sees EU Effort to Sidestep Iran Sanctions as Blueprint to Break US Embargo
A senior Cuban official says the country is looking closely at the Special Purpose Vehicle the EU is creating for Iran, because Havana may benefit from a similar mechanism. [...]
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Europe’s Terror Blowback – Consortiumnews
The Paris and Brussels attacks are blowback from what Islamic State terrorists see as betrayal by Western benefactors who thought using jihadists could bring “regime change” in Syria, says Pakistani analyst Nauman Sadiq. France under President Nicolas Sarkozy played a lead role in fomenting the insurgency against the Gaddafi regime in Libya in 2011, and Sarkozy’s successor, Francois Holla [...]
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‘Created Out of Thin Air’: Kiev, West Invented Azov Sea Issue to Pressure Moscow
The controversy around the Sea of ​​Azov has been created out of thin air as Kiev and its Western backers continue to search for new ways to apply pressure on Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said. [...]
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Russia & Iran negotiate canal from Caspian Sea to Persian Gulf
Moscow and Tehran are holding talks on digging a ship canal from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf, said Iranian Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanai, speaking to students in St. Petersburg. Any canal linking the two has to go through Iran. "Yes, this issue is being discussed", said the ambassador on Thursday without specifying details, quoted by TASS. [...]
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US planned to ditch INF in advance, now seeks reason why it should – Putin on Pompeo ultimatum
The US has long planned to withdraw from the INF Treaty but it's only now that they started seeking justifications for it and conveniently pinned the blame on Russia, Vladimir Putin said after Washington’s 60-day ultimatum. [...]
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Austria: State of Emergency & Migration Crisis
The Austrian government is about to enforce a tougher asylum law. According to it, the government will be entitled to declare a state of emergency. If this happens, no refugee would be able to apply for asylum in Austria any longer. The opposition and other critics speak of a “de facto abolition of the right to asylum”. [...]
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EXCLUSIVE: ‘US Cannot Make Russia a Tool to Serve its Interests’ – Lavrov
In 2018, Russia's relations with Western countries severely deteriorated against the backdrop of numerous scandals and sanctions. In an interview with Sputnik on the eve of 2019, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, spoke about whether we should wait for further alienation, about Moscow's possible response to Washington scrapping the INF Treaty, the price of a potential conflict between Russia [...]
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Sanders’ campaign condemns NY voter irregularities that leave 125,000 Democrats disenfranchised
Bernie Sanders’ campaign team has slammed reports of voting irregularities at the New York state primary as “absurd” after more than 125,000 Democrats were unable to cast their ballots due to a mixture of broken voting machines, missing ballots and purged voter rolls. [...]
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29 Countries the US Government Doesn’t Want You to Go To
Source: Bogdan Khmelnytskyi / iStock A record number of Americans are forecast to travel to other countries this year, buoyed by a strong dollar and a surging economy. Last year, the number of U.S. visits overseas rose by 9.1% from the previous year to 38.3 million, according to data from U.S. Department of Commerce, International […] [...]
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Welcome to Fortified Europe: the Militarization of Europe’s Borders
It’s late in the afternoon and we are stuck behind a school bus in Northern Croatia as we drive through the what the GPS says is the miserable little town of Apatija, which my Croatian friend Juraj says literally translates to “apathy” in Croatian.   [...]
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Open Letter From US Pilots to Trump: End Shutdown Due to Airspace Safety Threat
Over 61,000 professional aircraft pilots are telling Trump to end the government shutdown, warning of security threats in US skies. With US President Donald Trump hunkered down in the White House tweeting his new "presidential harassment" slogan regarding the growing political opposition on Capitol Hill at the hands of a newly Democratic House of Representatives, US airline pilots have released on [...]
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China Closes the Innovation Gap
While the U.S. expands spending on wars and “regime changes” – and slashes its budget for science and infrastructure – China is making different choices, now rapidly closing the gap on scientific innovation, writes John V. Walsh. The headline reads, “The Rapid Rise of a Research Nation: China’s economic boom is mirrored by its similarly meteoric rise in high quality science.” [...]
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‘Totally Unhinged’: Trump Says Left ‘No Longer Care What is Right’ for US
Earlier, President Trump accused the "Radical Democrats" of being a "Party of open borders and crime" amid the ongoing government shutdown standoff over funding for the US-Mexico border wall. [...]
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The Danger of Demonization
As the West is sucked deeper into the Syrian conflict and starts a new Cold War with Russia, the mainstream news media has collapsed as a vehicle for reliable information, creating a danger for the world, writes Robert Parry. Does any intelligent person look at a New York Times article about Russia or Vladimir Putin these days and expect to read an objective, balanced account? [...]
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