Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli have launched the construction of the first part of Gazprom’s Power of Siberia pipeline - which will deliver 4 trillion cubic meters of gas to China over 30 years. “The new gas branch will significantly strengthen the economic cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region and above all - our key partner China,� [...]

Official Washington’s war-hysteria machine is running at full speed again after Russia unilaterally dispatched a convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian supplies to the blockaded Ukrainian city of Luhansk, writes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern. Before dawn broke in Washington on Saturday, “Ukrainian pro-Russian separatists” – more accurately described as federalists of southeast Ukraine who [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on Kiev to start substantial talks on deescalating the crisis in eastern Ukraine. He added that it's an illusion to expect that the rebels would calmly watch their homes being destroyed. “We have agreed on a plan, so its realization must be pursued,” Putin told Channel 1 TV, adding that the Ukrainian government “must immediately start substantia [...]

The British government will press other European nations at a meeting in Brussels on Saturday to block Russia from using the SWIFT banking network, Bloomberg reported, in what could be a dramatic expansion of sanctions. The British government will press other European nations at a meeting in Brussels on Saturday to block Russia from using the SWIFT banking network, Bloomberg reported, in what c [...]

NATO is reportedly working towards the creation of an expeditionary force composed of 10,000 troops from seven different member states as a result of escalating tensions with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Financial Times, the force’s creation will be spearheaded by Britain and involve contributions from Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, and the Netherlands. [...]

The Ukrainian crisis has two closely intertwined dimensions: a domestic one and an external one, both testifying to the failure to manage the process correctly. Both provide abundant material for a study in abject mismanagement, with the lessons of European history consigned to oblivion. [...]

The head of the CSTO says its peacekeepers are ready for any operations, including in Ukraine, but their deployment requires the go-ahead from leaders of all member-countries. "Deployment of the CSTO peacekeeping force can be ordered only by the Collective Security Council – the supreme body formed with heads of state of the member countries. By a joint decision these leaders can order the us [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has compared the shelling of east Ukrainian towns and cities by Kiev's troops to actions carried out by the Nazis during World War II. “Sad as it might seem, this reminds me of the events of World War II, when the German Nazi occupants surrounded our cities, like Leningrad, and directly shelled those cities and their inhabitants,” Putin said on Friday, speak [...]

The road to the Minsk summit this past Tuesday began to be paved when German Chancellor Angela Merkel talked to ARD public TV after her brief visit to Kiev on Saturday. Merkel emphasized, “A solution must be found to the Ukraine crisis that does not hurt Russia.” She added that "There must be dialogue. There can only be a political solution. There won't be a military solution to this con [...]

Exclusive: Pressured by neocons and the mainstream U.S. media, the Obama administration is charting a dangerous course by seeking a military solution to Ukraine’s political crisis and possibly provoking Moscow to intervene to protect ethnic Russians, ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern warns. [...]

President Putin has called on the self-defense militias in Ukraine to provide Kiev's military units blocked in the east of the country with a safe humanitarian corridor to cross into Russia. “It is clear the militia has achieved a major success in intercepting Kiev’s military operation, which represents a grave danger to the population of Donbass and which has already led to the loss of man [...]

President Barack Obama acknowledged during an impromptu press conference on Thursday afternoon that the United States is considering new sanctions to impose against Russia over the escalating crisis in Ukraine. From the White House, Pres. Obama told reporters that he’s certain Russia is playing a direct role in the ongoing fighting in eastern Ukraine between anti-Kiev separatists and the coun [...]

Russian gas sector should not be subjected to EU sanctions despite the situation in Ukraine, EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said Thursday. "Gas is not a suitable sector for sanctions, as in this case everyone will lose - Russia, Ukraine and the European Union," RIA Novosti cites Oettinger as saying. [...]

The OSCE was told there was no Russian presence spotted across the Ukraine border, refuting Thursday's claims that a full-scale invasion was underway. Both the Ukrainian monitoring team head and Russia's representative have given a frim 'no.' The chorus of allegations about Russia's military invasion of Ukraine had President Poroshenko calling for an emergency meeting of the country’s securit [...]

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov attempted to dampen the escalating rhetoric around the Arctic, after his Canadian counterpart said his country was ready "to protect its sovereignty" in the resource-rich region. "The Arctic shouldn’t be dragged into the rhetoric of militarization,” the Russian official said during a Q & A at the Seliger youth forum in central Russia. [...]

One of the more intriguing and appealing features of Catholicism is confession. This basically means that, in the eyes of Rome, any error or crime, no matter how profound, can be exorcised once a believer receives absolution from a priest. The media has something similar, except it’s known as ‘mea culpa’ culture. Essentially, it allows them to print and broadcast any amount of utter codsw [...]

The day Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 fell to Earth in pieces, everyone in our world was told Russia and Vladimir Putin murdered the 298 people aboard. It is over a month since the biggest ‘shoot-down’ incident in air passenger history, and this is what we know for sure. Whatever happened in the skies above eastern Ukraine on July 17, we’ve been set on a reactionary course charted by eit [...]

Europe will remain heavily reliant on Russian gas for at least until the 2020s and potentially much longer due to the lack of an alternative, according to a report from Fitch Ratings. The substitution of Russian gas is not expected, given the weak prospects for shale gas production, the lack of available imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the absence of significant pipeline projects in Eu [...]

Under the pretext of an 'overt' Russian threat, NATO is pushing for a "readiness action plan" that will bring the Cold War military bloc closer to Russian borders than ever - even despite objections from some NATO members. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the 28-nation military bloc, which meets next week in Cardiff, Wales, would attempt to overcome internal opposition and agre [...]

It is funny that at the talks between the leaders of the Eurasian Customs Union and Ukraine the European troika will be in attendance, whereas the real policy for Kiev is being drawn up in Washington, foreign affairs analyst Srdja Trifkovic told RT. “So far Washington has been playing a game of geopolitical encirclement of Russia which cannot be in the European interest, and which in the long [...]

Russian and Ukrainian leaders have concluded their first official face-to-face meeting in Minsk during which they discussed Ukraine's Association Agreement with EU and the crisis and humanitarian disaster in the east of the country. Russia will do everything to facilitate a peace process in Ukraine, President Putin told the press following the 2-hour talks, which he described as “positive.” [...]

As much as Iran, Russia, the US and the EU are involved in a sophisticated nuclear/energy ballet, Syria and Ukraine are also two key power play vectors bound to determine much of what happens next in the New Great Game in Eurasia. And both Syria and Ukraine also happen to be energy wars. The Obama administration’s Syria master plan was ‘Assad must go’; regime change would yield a US-su [...]