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A growing number of Syrian Christian leaders are traveling to the United States to plead with lawmakers to stop sending arms to the rebels. The most recent visitor is the Patriarch of the Church of Antioch, His Beatitude Gregorios III, who is based in Damascus. For the first three years of the civil war, Syria’s Christian leaders have not been frequent visitors to the U.S., in part fearing reprisals when they return to Syria, but also because they have been reluctant to engage in what they see as political issues. But with the civil war now in its fourth year,...

Washington's approach to the events in Ukraine is not fueled by concerns about the fate of the crisis-torn state, but rather by the desire to prove it is still running the show worldwide, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. The way the situation in Ukraine is reported in mainstream media indicates that “unfortunately, the information machine of our Western colleagues is working at full capacity,” Lavrov said following talks with his Chilean counterpart, Heraldo Munoz, in Santiago. The US is trying to shape public opinion in a specific manner “because they are not concerned by the fate of Ukraine in...

This is what we have come to. “US Synagogue network urges Jews not to walk home alone,” By Sam Sokol, Jerusalem Post, April 19, 2014 (thanks to Jack) Following anti-Semitic shooting in Kansas, US Jewish community on high alert; Police increase presence at Jewish sites in New York and Washington. The National Council of Young Israel has urged synagogue goers not to walk home alone during the final days of the Passover holiday. The security precaution is one of several emailed to those affiliated with the national modern orthodox synagogue network this week in response to the recent shooting attack...

"Officially, the People's Republic of China is an atheist country but that is changing fast as many of its 1.3 billion citizens seek meaning and spiritual comfort that neither communism nor capitalism seem to have supplied. "Christian congregations in particular have skyrocketed since churches began reopening when Chairman Mao's death in 1976 signalled the end of the Cultural Revolution. "Less than four decades later, some believe China is now poised to become not just the world's number one economy but also its most numerous Christian nation."

Moscow (AFP) - The Kremlin is preparing a new culture policy for Russia focusing on its distinctive civilisation and traditional values, which observers say has political ends amid Moscow's standoff with the West. At the end of four hours of questions Thursday in his annual call-in, President Vladimir Putin waxed philosophical on what it means to be Russian.

We're better than those damned Russians and their Putin; we have democracy! Well, maybe not. Quote: Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism. Lots of big words in that paragraph. Let's distill it down -- the argument presented is that America is really no different than...

Dodgers outfielder's antics are those of one young man's first taste of freedom Before you pile on atop irresponsible diva-punk-jerk Yasiel Puig, absorb a few random stories about the difficulties in his kind of transition: • Luis Castillo once set off a fire alarm in an American hotel, thinking it was a shampoo dispenser... • Rene Arocha felt his knees give -- actually felt faint and almost passed out -- the first time he walked into a grocery store and saw so many aisles of food...

SRIHARIKOTA: When Pakistani troops took positions in Kargil in 1999, one of the first things Indian military sought was GPS data for the region. The space-based navigation system maintained by the US government would have provided vital information, but the US denied it to India. A need for an indigenous satellite navigation system was felt earlier, but the Kargil experience made the nation realise its inevitability. On Friday, the Indian Space Research Organisation took the nation closer to the goal, which it would achieve in less than two years. The result, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) will be...

In a sudden development, US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell on Monday resigned in the midst of general elections in India in which Narendra Modi is perceived to be a front runner for the post of Prime Minister. The announcement of her resignation to her colleagues in the US mission here today came a week after media reports here that she may be shipped out by the Obama Administration to “clean the state” with India. Powell has been in India for less than three years. “US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell announced in a US Mission Town Hall meeting...

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Barack Obama of dramatically weakening the United States' position in the world, drawing a straight line between Obama’s ever-yielding foreign policy and the increasing troubles around the world.

Americans rode in wagon trains across this country, tossed the Brits’ tea in the Boston Harbor, outfought the superpower of the 18th century to get our freedom, pounded the Indians, Mexicans, and Spanish into the ground to fulfill our Manifest Destiny and then for an encore, we saved the planet in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War. Our pioneer-pilgrim, hard-fighting, gold-mining, wagon-training, gun-fighting ancestors were so hard, Kid Rock's American Bad Ass should have played when they walked into a room. We conquered a continent, built the Hoover Dam, went to the moon, and not only did our Olympic athletes...

Sen. Rand Paul is set to offer a dark portrait of the intelligence community on Wednesday, raising the prospect of “dystopian nightmares” in a speech at the University of California-Berkeley. The Kentucky Republican, who is heavily weighing a 2016 presidential bid, is speaking at the historically liberal bastion at a time when he is seeking to broaden the GOP base. He has long pointed to privacy concerns as an issue that could woo young people to a more libertarian-leaning Republican brand — like his.

(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Monday of being guided in its foreign policy not by international law but by the "rule of the gun." "Our Western partners headed by the United States prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun," he told a joint session of parliament.

Military radar evidence suggests the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner was deliberately flown west toward the Indian Ocean’s Andaman Islands, sources told Reuters on Friday as mounting evidence pointed to a criminal inquiry into Flight MH370. Two sources told Reuters that an unidentified aircraft – believed by investigators to be the missing Boeing 777 - was following a route between navigational way-points, indicating it was being flown by someone with aviation training when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast.

"Al-Qaeda unveils new magazine aimed at Western jihadis Advert for 'Resurgence' magazine uses words of Malcolm X in appeal to disaffected Muslims in US and Europe, as it turns focus away from Middle East" SNIPPET: "Al-Qaeda is starting an English language magazine as part of a fresh effort to recruit and inspire Western jihadis to launch attacks in their own countries, according to security analysts. A video posted on YouTube uses the words of Malcolm X to justify violent struggle, before announcing the name of the magazine, Resurgence." SNIPPET: "However, the new magazine appears to be the first English language...

The United States men’s national team’s friendly against Ukraine scheduled to be played in Kharkiv, Ukraine on March 5 will be relocated to Cyprus, according to a statement on the website of the Football Federation of Ukraine.

See result in comment section.

While that hockey win over the Russians might have given us a nice morale lift the numbers don't lie- the Americans have unfortunately slipped to 7th place in overall medals at the 2014 Winter Games, this after a record-breaking dominance at Vancouver last go-round. We're all but mathematically eliminated from any kind of top finish already. You knew we were in trouble from the minute they rolled-out those collegiate-grunge opening ceremony outfits that Ralph Lauren came up with... and what's up with Pee Wee Herman in the announcers' booth? This Olympics so far has far too much of the dreadful...

The snow in the Caucasus Mountains is dissolving, the white patches shrinking, and many athletes on Team USA seem to be melting down with them. Some Americans are drained, and others are dragging. When they ski or they skate, they think they went fast, but then they look up at the clock and are stunned to find they were a second slow, and finish eighth. Team USA’s self-esteem is leaking away, and it’s triggering anxious super-secret coaching meetings and conspiracy theories. What’s in the Russian water table — and why are those Swiss timers so suspiciously slow? It must be...

Yesterday “TheBlaze” published an interview with Romanian Lt. Gen Ion Pacepa, a discussion which arose around the publishing of his work, “Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism.” Pacepa is a defector to the United States, but not just any run-of-the-mill defector. He is the highest-ranking Soviet intelligence officer to ever defect. He crossed over back in 1978 and was given political asylum by then President Jimmy Carter. He has made a practice since that time to write in defense of freedom while living his life under threat of assassination, hiding out...