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Tue Nov 10, 2015 1:42pm EST Syrian army breaks two-year siege at Aleppo airbase: state TV Syrian soldiers fought their way into an airbase in northern Syria on Tuesday, state television said, breaking a nearly two-year siege by Islamic State insurgents at the facility and freeing military personnel holed up inside. A military source close to the government said the army was working to secure the Kweires airbase in Aleppo province, where soldiers and officers have been under attack since 2013. State television broadcast live footage from the airbase of an emotional, fatigue-clad reporter announcing the news, played victory songs...

The United States and Gulf countries have been secretly backing efforts by opposition rebels to destroy al-Qaeda’s most extreme wing in Syria, diplomats and rebels involved in the plan have told The Telegraph. As Western leaders publicly push the Syrian regime and the opposition to the Geneva II peace conference that begins Wednesday Washington has also been quietly supporting moves by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to give weapons and cash to rebel groups to fight al-Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) in Syria. One source said the US was itself handing out millions of dollars to rebel groups...

CIA spies have smuggled up to 14 Stinger missiles into Syria so rebels can defend themselves from air strikes. The ground-to-air weapons have been delivered across the Turkish border to the Free Syrian Army and were partly paid for by Saudi Arabia, a security source claimed. President Bashar al-Assad’s MIG-23 warplanes and helicopter gunships have killed more than 1,000 people.

Wednesday brought a veritable smorgasbord of "new" information about the Russian passenger jet which fell out of the sky above the Sinai Peninsula last weekend. First there was an audio recording from ISIS' Egyptian affiliate reiterating that they did indeed “down” the plane. Next, the ISIS home office in Raqqa (or Langley or Hollywood) released a video of five guys sitting in the front yard congratulating their Egyptian “brothers” on the accomplishment. Then the UK grounded air traffic from Sharm el-Sheikh noting that the plane "may well" have had an "explosive device" on board. Finally, US media lit up with...

Wednesday brought a veritable smorgasbord of “new” information about the Russian passenger jet which fell out of the sky above the Sinai Peninsula last weekend. First there was an audio recording from ISIS’ Egyptian affiliate reiterating that they did indeed “down” the plane. Next, the ISIS home office in Raqqa (or Langley or Hollywood) released a video of five guys sitting in the front yard congratulating their Egyptian “brothers” on the accomplishment.

On November 2, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, President Barack Obama poked fun at the Republicans, joking that if they cannot handle CNBC moderators how could they possibly handle Russia’s Vladimir Putin? “Every one of these candidates says, ‘Obama’s weak, Putin’s kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin, he’s gonna straighten out.’ …and then it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators!” Mr. Obama said. “I mean, let me tell you: if you can’t handle those guys,” he continued, laughing, “I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to...

Serving or former Russian soldiers have been geolocated in Syria, bloggers have said today, suggesting the Kremlin's operation stretches well beyond it's air campaign. The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of Russian investigative bloggers, used social media to locate serving or ex-soldiers in the country. CIT's investigation seems to provide further proof of a Russian ground presence after images from social media accounts appearing to show military personnel in locations across Syria were revealed in September.

US Navy say "light in the West Coast sky" was a Trident II (D5) missile test at sea from the submarine "Kentucky" www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xLmB81v-BI

Late in September, we brought you "US Readies Battle Plans For Baltic War With Russia" in which we described a series of thought experiments undertaken by The Pentagon in an effort to determine what the likely outcome would be should something go horribly "wrong" on the way to landing the US in a shooting war with Russia in the Balkans. The results of those thought experiments were not encouraging.

- The Thomson flight from London Stansted only took evasive action - The pilot had spotted the missile speeding through the air - Holidaymakers were not told they had been seconds from disaster - It was just two months before a Metrojet plane crash in Sinai, killing 224 A British plane carrying 189 passengers came within 1,000ft of a rocket as it approached Sharm El Sheikh, it emerged last night. The Thomson flight from London Stansted only took evasive action after the pilot spotted the missile speeding through the air. The jet landed safely, and holidaymakers were not told they...

The Russian Defense Ministry denies US allegations that Russian warplanes in Syria are bombing regions, which are out of President Assad’s control, rather than terrorist infrastructure, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday. He explained that US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told Congress hearings held earlier that the Russian air group in Syria delivered most of its strikes at regions which were no longer under the control of President Assad’s regime rather than at terrorists. "If we analyze what various US officials say, there is an impression that the location of terrorist-held facilities is the most...

Days before he was elected to the Russian presidency in 2000, Vladimir Putin told the BBC that Russia was “part of European culture” and that he “would not rule out” the possibility of it joining Nato. “I cannot imagine my own country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilised world,” said Putin, who was still acting president after Boris Yeltsin’s sudden resignation on New Year’s Eve 1999. A generation later, as Putin marks the 15th anniversary of acceding to power on 7 May 2000, Russia has changed beyond all recognition from the chaotic, open free-for-all it...

Governor Backs Eminent Domain For Pipelines Posted 10:11 pm, November 2, 2015, by Aaron Brilbeck, Updated at 10:16pm, November 2, 2015 DES MOINES, Iowa -- This week, the Iowa Utilities Board will discuss whether to use eminent domain to seize property from landowners to use for a massive oil pipeline. Dakota Access, LLC wants to use the land for an underground pipeline that would carry roughly a half million barrels of crude oil from North Dakota, through Iowa and to a distribution center in Illinois. Governor Branstad says he believes eminent domain can and should be used for some pipeline...

Russia says Syria 'opposition' guided warplanes to bombing targets AFP 22 hours ago Moscow (AFP) - Russian jets bombed 24 targets in Syria Tuesday using coordinates supplied by "opposition representatives" -- the first time Moscow has claimed to work with opposition groups since the start of its air offensive. "The coordinates of all of these targets were given to us by opposition representatives," senior military official Andrei Kartapolov said, without specifying which groups Moscow had cooperated with. Kartapolov said Moscow's jets hit targets close to Palmyra, Deir Ezzor, Ithriya and eastern Aleppo with assistance from the opposition, destroying "terrorist" command...

Putin and Netanyahu to strike deal on Leviathan gas field The Australian October 20, 2015 12:00AM Russia wants to be the major partner in Israel’s offshore ­Leviathan natural gas field in the eastern Mediterranean, a top ­Israeli foreign affairs analyst said in Sydney yesterday. Ehud Yaari, the senior Middle East commentator for ­Israel’s Channel Two news, said “everybody regrets” a deal was not done with Woodside and that until now Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ruled out a Gazprom deal. Gazprom bid for a stake in the project in 2012 but was beaten by Woodside, which pulled out of...

President Obama mocked Republican candidates who suggested they'll be tough with Vladimir Putin but “can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators at a debate” during a speech on Monday. Obama stated, "Have you noticed that every one of these candidates say, 'You know, Obama's weak, he's — people — Putin's kicking sand in his face, when I talk to Putin, he's going to straighten out. Just looking at him, I'm going to - he's going to be'? And then it turns out, they can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators at a debate."

The weakest President since Jimmy Carter, the "man" who won the Olympic gold medal for Flexibility to Foreign Leaders, mocked the GOP candidates for their response to what is widely accepted as an astonishingly inept and biased set of debate moderators. Obama sneered: "Let me tell you, if you can't handle those guys then I don't think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about it." Ha ha ha, cooed the idiots in the audience. A couple of things about that. Firstly, the GOP candidates handled the left wing CBNC stooges beautifully. The candidates successfully put the...

Germany now is somewhere at the edge of anarchy and sliding towards civil war, or to become a "banana republic without any government," says Hansjoerg Mueller of the Alternative for Germany party. Bavarian official Peter Dreier called German Chancellor Angela Merkel to tell her personally that if Germany welcomes a million refugees, his town of Landshut will only take in around 1,800. Any extra will be put on buses and sent to her Chancellery in Berlin. RT: He says he's going to send them to Berlin, but does he have the power? Hansjoerg Mueller: The person who wants to send...

PHOTOS: Syrian Rebels Put Caged Women on Roofs to Deter Russian Airstrikes Published 9:06 am EST, November 2, 2015 By Sam Prince A new photo series released by an unknown group of Syrian rebels shows Alawite Muslim women locked in cages on top of roofs to help deter airstrikes by Russians. Rebel groups other than ISIS in the region the Free Syrian Army, the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda, and many others. All are fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime, which is currently being propped up by Russia and spearheaded by Putin. Assad himself is Alawite. Click on for the photos.

Gobal Warming blamed for antarctic snow growth as IPCC data wrong again, Putin says warming is a ‘fraud’ Warming equates to more snow is the latest update from global warming enthusiasts as the latest report from NASA and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) points out that from 1992 to 2001, Antarctica was estimated to have gained 112 billion tons of ice every year. Even when growth slowed, it still continued, adding 82 billion tons of ice during 2003 t0 2008. “We’re essentially in agreement with other studies that show an increase in ice discharge in the Antarctic Peninsula...