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The reason Assad has been vilified is because Qatar wants a natural gas pipeline to run through the Arabian peninsula, through Jordan, through SYRIA, to Turkey. From Turkey, it can connect with existing pipelines to Europe, in order to supply Europe with natural gas. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-16/mystery-sponsor-weapons-and-money-syrian-rebels-revealed This proposed pipeline would threaten Russia economically, as Russia currently supplies Europe with natural gas. Syria and Russia are allies. Thus, Assad said "No" to the proposed Qatar-Turkey pipeline that would run through Syria. Next thing you know, there's an "uprising" in Syria, and Assad is public enemy number one. And when it became clear...

The European Union’s executive has unveiled a vast plan to boost coordination between the EU’s 28 national energy markets to wean Europe off unstable Russian gas supplies and provide cheaper energy for consumers. European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič on Wednesday called it “undoubtedly the most ambitious energy project” since the inception of the EU over half a century ago. He believes that improving links across borders in Europe’s energy grid could save businesses and consumers up to €40 billion ($45.4 billion) a year. A more energy-independent Europe will also increase the EU’s political options in eastern Europe. […] “Our...

MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko would like to expand cooperation with Latvia and other European Union member states without any prejudices. The Belarusian head of state made this statement as he met with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics on 20 February, BelTA has learned. “There are issues that we have to keep in mind all the time, discuss them and, if possible, find acceptable solutions. I have never had and hopefully will never have any prejudices against Latvia. We have always managed to find common ground with our partners, in particular, in trade and economy. I...

Alexander Lukashenko wants the Chief of General Staff to report on the plans of special operations, the readiness of the Armed Forces to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country in order to prevent anyone from attempts to impose military pressure on Belarus.

Increasingly frequent snap military drills being carried out by Russia near its eastern European neighbors could be part of a strategy that will open the door for a Russian offensive on the Baltic States, according to defence expert Martin Hurt, deputy director at Estonia’s International Center for Defence and Security. The Lithuanian and Estonian defense ministries have expressed alarm at the increased military activity, and drawn comparisons to moves prior to the Russian invasion of Crimea. Commenting on Russia’s announcement last week that its armed forces will not cease holding snap military exercises, Hurt, who has previously worked for Estonia’s...

FSB, the Russian Federal Security Service, is planning to study the Russian-language skills of ethnic Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Ukrainians. FSB has published a tender to study the linguistics of Russian regions and the post communist countries. The study will ask ten men to read out texts in Russian, which will be recorded and analyzed. The results will be used to compile an atlas of the modern Russian language.

2,000 Russian special troops and 500 armed units are taking part of the military drills in Pskov region, near Estonia-Russia border. According to Russian Defense Ministry, the exercises are part of Russian Airborne Forces tactical drill. More than 1,500 servicemen will be airdropped during the training which is expected to last until February 27. Martin Hurt, an Estonian defense expert at the International Centre for Defense and Security, said to Newsweek magazine that the increasingly frequent snap military drills being carried out by Russia near its neighbours could be part of a strategy that will open the door for a...

Editor's Note: This is an English-language translation done by the Kyiv Post of a leaked analytical note published by the Russian online newspaper Novaya Gazeta on Feb. 24. According to sources of Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's last independent newspaeprs, this document was written and provided to the President Vladimir Putin's office for consideration between Feb. 4-12, 2014, the same month that the EuroMaidan Revolution drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 22, 2014. The following is the Novaya Gazeta introduction: Novaya Gazeta is publishing the plan for alienation by Russia of some territories of Ukraine, composed in the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. military official said Tuesday the Pentagon will be deploying a small number of troops to Ukraine to provide combat medical training to forces there who have been battling Russian-backed separatists.

(Reuters) - Ukraine fears pro-Russian forces are seeking to extend their control to the government-held port of Mariupol, its foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin said after talks in Paris aimed at enforcing a ceasefire.

"It is no secret that the Russian army is here. My wife runs a small shop and some men only wanted to pay in rubles. They are Russian! They have broken the silence that we once had!" Vladimir said, as his three chess partners agreed in unison. "We'd like them to leave. It's not their country," he says. "I've lived most of my life in the Soviet Union. I consider myself Ukrainian, but I prefer to live in Russia, yes. You know why? Because my wife is from Russia. My two sons live in Russia. My entire family lives in...

Britain was pulled closer towards a renewed cold war with Russia when David Cameron announced UK military trainers are to be deployed to help Ukraine forces stave off further Russian backed incursions into its sovereign territory. The decision – announced on Tuesday but under consideration by the UK national security council since before Christmas – represents the first deployment of British troops to the country since the near civil war in eastern Ukraine began more than a year ago. Downing Street said the deployment was not just a practical bilateral response to a request for support, but a signal to...

Ash Carter has quietly thrown down the gauntlet in a lingering dispute with Russia: If President Vladimir Putin continues to violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the U.S. could respond in kind. “The range of options we should look at from the Defense Department could include active defenses to counter intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missiles; counter-force capabilities to prevent intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missile attacks; and countervailing strike capabilities to enhance U.S. or allied forces,” Carter told senators in little-noticed written answers to follow-up questions from his confirmation hearing. The defense secretary’s bottom line: “U.S. responses must make clear to Russia that...

THE Eternal Love of The Father Virtue upon virtue , line upon line of My Word is truly a River of Life as you walk in My Love and not your own for as your Father in Heaven I AM with you always even onto forever but it is My desire you carry My Heart and not your own for your love can be injured But My Love for you ,in you and through you is an unstoppable Truth that sheds off the lies of the enemy and before which all condemnation Must Fall! For My Love is Sovereign and...

The government of Poland has directed to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Russia the note with the requirement to give out fragments of plane Tu-154M which was broke near Smolensk in April, 2010 and which victim became the president of country Lech Kaczynski. About it write the Polish mass-media referring to diplomatic sources, the European truth passes. As it is marked, the Russian side has taken time up to the end of March to answer the note. Also in March to Russia there will arrive delegation of Poles which will engage in details

War in Ukraine and the threat of conflict in the Baltics raise fundamental questions about the West's military alliance. What is Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation - for? And is it up to the job? Do would-be aggressors still believe that - as stated in Article 5 of Nato's founding treaty - an attack on one Nato member would be treated as an attack on all? Four expert witnesses including Anders Fogh Rasmussen - who led the organisation until a few months ago - share their insights with the BBC World Service's The Inquiry.

Vilnius (AFP) - Lithuania announced on Tuesday it would return to limited conscription later this year as concern mounts over Russian military exercises near NATO Baltic states.

Russia could inflict the tactics it is accused of using to destabilize Ukraine on Baltic members of NATO, British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon warned in comments to British newspapers on Wednesday. He said that NATO must be prepared for Russian aggression in any form, and warned of a “real and present danger” to Baltic members of NATO.

RIGA - NATO commanders have given the green-light for the creation of rapid-response force command and control centres in the Baltics and three other countries, National Armed Forces Commander Raimonds Graube confirmed to Latvian Radio. According to the portal lsm.lv, this means that a new unit will be set up in Latvia, and this unit will man and operate the new command and control centre. The unit will be responsible for logistics and organisational exercises, as well as receiving rapid-response forces in crisis situations. NATO already has a rapid-response force model in place, however, after Russia’s aggression in Ukraine —...

Staunton, February 17 – Most analysts have become so focused on Vladimir Putin’s use of “hybrid war” that they do not take into consideration that he could choose to wage a conventional war in some places, and most of these same analysts are also guilty of evaluating the Baltic countries as if Moscow would use the same and common strategy against them. But Marius Laurinavičius, an analyst at the Vilnius Center for Research on Eastern Europe, points out that Moscow could very well employ a “hybrid” war strategy against Estonia and Latvia but use a “conventional” against Lithuania in order...