Eric ZUESSE – US Now Overtly at War Against Russia

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on February 2nd that he approves of US ‘Defense’ Secretary Ash Carter’s proposal to quadruple US armaments and troops in Europe, against ‘Russian aggression’. Secretary Carter said earlier that same day, in his announcement of America’s arming for war against Russia: «We are reinforcing our posture in Europe to support our NATO allies in the face of Russia’s aggression. …

Pepe Escobar – Why the ‘Sultan of Chaos’ is freaking out

Picture sleepless nights at ‘Sultan’ Erdogan’s palace in Ankara. Imagine him livid when he learns the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), backed by Russian air power, started a preemptive Battle of Aleppo – through the Bayirbucak region – cutting off Ankara’s top weaponizing corridor and Jihadi highway. Who controls this corridor will control the final outcome of the war in Syria. …

You Won’t Believe What Former US Ambassador Robert S. Ford Said About al-Qaeda’s Syrian Allies

Robert Ford was US Ambassador to Syria when the revolt against Syrian president Assad was launched. He not only was a chief architect of regime change in Syria, but actively worked with rebels to aid their overthrow of the Syrian government.  Ford assured us that those taking up arms to overthrow the Syrian government were simply moderates and democrats seeking …

Daniel Larison – Yemen and Crimes Against Humanity

The U.N. has been investigating war crimes in the war on Yemen, and their monitors have confirmed what critics of the bombing campaign feared: A Saudi-led coalition fighting in neighboring Yemen has targeted civilians with air strikes and some of the attacks could be crimes against humanity [bold mine-DL], United Nations sanctions monitors said in an annual report to the …

Juan Cole – Top 5 Ways Putin has won big in Syria and why Europe is embracing him

Russia is so far winning big in Syria, and making Moscow’s projection of force in the Middle East a reality that the other great powers have to recognize. As Russia has emerged as a major combatant against Syrian al-Qaeda and against Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), it is being accepted back into a Europe traumatized by two major attacks on Paris. France …

Patrick Cockburn – Syrian civil war: Why the endless conflict is at a decisive point

The Syrian peace talks between government and opposition will begin in the next few days in Geneva in an atmosphere of almost undiluted gloom about the prospects for success. The two sides hate each other and have spent five years trying to kill each other, making it unlikely that they will agree to share power in any way except geographically, …

Stephen Lendman – Hillary Clinton: A Deplorable Choice for President. “The Most Dangerous of the Bunch”

Among an array of deplorable Republican and Democrat presidential aspirants, Clinton stands out as the most dangerous and sinister of the bunch – an unrequited war goddess, risking nuclear confrontation if elected. Her record in office and since leaving government shows support for imperial lawlessness, indifference to human suffering, and addiction to self-aggrandizement, along with using her high office to …

Saudi Arabia is on the Brink of Regime Change

It seems that Saudi Arabia has started to undergo the transformation various experts predicted. Those became obvious when the sitting king Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud replaced his deceased elder brother Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in January 2015, and made a number of quite unusual arrangements within the ruling elite, appointing the head of the Ministry of Interior Muhammad bin …

Islamist fighters in Syria, got reinforcements from Turkey – Russian Foreign Ministry

Terrorists have increased their activities ahead of the next week’s inter-Syrian talks, with insurgents in the Syrian province of Aleppo receiving reinforcements from Turkey, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. The much-anticipated talks between the Syrian government and different opposition groups are scheduled to take place in the Swiss city of Geneva on January 25. “Unfortunately, in recent days, it’s especially noticeable …

Graham E. Fuller – Turning Change into Chaos

A renowned Arab religious scholar in the Fourteenth Century, ibn Taymiyya, is sometimes quoted as saying,  Al-zulm afdal ‘ala al-fawda — “oppression is to be favored over anarchy.” Although ibn Taiymiyya was no establishment figure in his time, this perspective was welcomed by all rulers since it provided explicit religious justification in support of arbitrary and often oppressive authority.Maybe there’s …