The approval rating of President Vladimir Putin is now higher than ever at 89.9 percent and pollsters say the fresh surge in the Russian leader’s popularity is due to the successful anti-terrorist operation in Syria. “Vladimir Putin’s approval rating has set a new record at 89.9 percent refreshing the previous maximum set in June 2015 [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin plays a key role in fighting global terrorism, his Argentinian counterpart Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner told RT, after speaking with the Russian leader on Wednesday. The two presidents held a video conference to mark 130 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and discussed Russian-Argentinian partnership in a number of fields. [...]

Another certified moron bites the dust! JOHN SIMPSON, BBC: Western countries almost universally now believe that there’s a new Cold War and that you, frankly, have decided to create that. We see, almost daily, Russian aircraft taking sometimes quite dangerous man oeuvres towards western airspace. That must be done on your orders; you’re the Commander-in-Chief. It must have bee [...]

Iraq's ruling alliance has written to the country’s prime minister, requesting Russian help in the fight against ISIS terrorists. An Iraqi politician told RT that the public wants Russian involvement and there is breakdown in trust with the Americans. [...]

Human rights groups have condemned Saudi Arabia after the beheading of five foreigners this week. Experts warn 2015 will mark a dramatic increase in public executions, as 80 people have already been killed, compared to 88 in the whole of 2014. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar Assad held talks in Moscow on Tuesday. The Syrian leader said Russia’s actions have prevented the terrorists from seizing larger areas in his country. “Yesterday evening Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Moscow for a working visit,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. [...]

The whole Global South is now informed about how the Russian campaign in Syria has swiftly smashed all of ‘Exceptionalistan’s’ elaborate plans for a “Greater Middle East.” These plans span everything from the Wolfowitz Doctrine to Dr. Zbig “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski’s categorical imperative of preventing the emergence of a strategic competitor across Eurasia. [...]

The Liberal party’s victory in the Canadian general election is raising questions about the new government’s commitment to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Keystone XL pipeline, projects of interest to the US championed by the outgoing cabinet. [...]

Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner has agreed to look into a complaint filed by an Austrian law student claiming that Facebook has made his personal data available to US intelligent services and doesn’t guarantee a sufficient level of security. [...]

US-led airstrikes have killed 52 Syrian civilians in one day, a monitoring group reports. There was fighting in the vicinity, but the strike allegedly failed to kill even a single Islamist fighter. The US military, however, denies the report.   [...]

Russia and the US have signed an agreement regulating the operations of the two countries' air forces in Syria. The deal is aimed at preventing incidents and providing for the smooth operation of the two nations' aircraft, and for mutual aid in critical situations. [...]

The United Nations is on the verge of calling for governments around the world to end the “war on drugs” by decriminalizing the use and possession of illicit narcotics, according to businessman Sir Richard Branson. In a surprise post on the website of his company, Virgin, the entrepreneur and drugs campaigner said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is about to announce a “refreshing [...]

The unearthing of classified memos, revealing that Tony Blair committed Britain to following the US into the war in Iraq, regardless of its legality, suggests the net may finally be closing in on a man whom many consider a war criminal. The UK tabloid, the Mail on Sunday, has published damning memos that show the former British PM had agreed to the invasion of Iraq a full year before it had be [...]

The French Ambassador to Russia has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry after a French Air Force warplane allegedly came dangerously close to a Russian aircraft carrying State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin. [...]

Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, committed the UK to joining the US invasion of Iraq a year before it began, a newly disclosed White House memo reveals. The US documents obtained by the Daily Mail and published on Sunday are part of the batch of emails from the private server of former US State Secretary, Hillary Clinton, which US courts have made her disclose. [...]

Russian bombers and assault planes have attacked 49 terrorist targets, making a total of 33 sorties over the last 24 hours. All the planes have successfully returned to the Khmeimim air base in Latakia, Russia’s Defense Ministry reports. The airstrikes hit targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Idlib and Latakia. [...]

Russian attack jets have hit 51 Islamic State targets in Syria in the past 24 hours, including four command posts, six arms depots, a mortar battery, two underground bunkers, 32 field camps and six outposts. The strikes took place in the Latakia, Aleppo, Hama and Damascus provinces. [...]

The United States is in decline. While not all major shocks to the system will be devastating, when the right one comes along, the outcome may be dramatic. Not all explosives are the same. We all know you have to be careful with dynamite. Best to handle it gently and not smoke while you’re around it. [...]

The spat between two leading GOP presidential nomination candidates has sunk to a new low, as Donald Trump and Jeb Bush spent the entire weekend throwing non-stop barbs at each other, with Bush forced to defend his family honor over 9/11. The feud heated up on Friday, when the property mogul appeared to imply that George W. Bush was at least partly at fault for the 2001 attacks that brought dow [...]

Since Moscow joined the struggle against Islamic State in Syria, its military efforts in the region have become a target in themselves with western mainstream media attacking Moscow, publishing unconfirmed reports and scaremongering at every opportunity. A drone over Turkey near the Syrian border is one of the recent "Russian" targets. After the Turkish military released a statement saying that [...]

It's like our Nobel Peace Prize winning president once said: "We must declare war on war, so the outcome will be peace upon peace." “More proof we're living in an Orwell novel: Obama Told You We Were Training ISIL Forces. On Twitter [...]

A senior leader from Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, has been reportedly killed alongside two other members of the terrorist group in the province of Aleppo. Sanafi Al-Nasr, who was allegedly killed in an airstrike near the town of Dana, was Al-Qaeda’s senior strategist and an important power broker, the Iranian Fars news agency reports, citing jihadist sources close to the kill [...]