Free Republic

For weeks Kiev officials and many corners of Western media and the Washington national security establishment have hyped the Russian troop build-up in regions of Russia that are within 400km of Ukraine's border, accusing the Kremlin of planning an invasion of Donbass sometime in January. This month started, for example, with The Washington Post citing US intelligence to claim this would involve a whopping 175,000 Russian troops mustered near the border. But like with prior similar instances (such as failed predictions last spring that never materialized), it's looking like the opposite is set to happen, with on Saturday Reuters reporting...

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden repeated his controversial contention Thursday that police should try to shoot dangerous suspects in the leg as a form of de-escalation. "You have to teach people how to de-escalate circumstances. De-escalate," Biden said during an ABC News town hall. "So, instead of anybody coming at you and the first thing you do is shoot to kill, you shoot them in the leg."

<p>US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday the United States would closely examine proposed de-escalation zones aimed at easing Syria’s civil war but warned “the devil’s in the details” and that much needed to be worked out.</p> <p>The deal to create “de-escalation” zones in the major areas of conflict in western Syria took effect on Saturday.</p>

Full text of the agreement reached between Iran, Russia and Turkey in Astana on May 4 on the creation of de-escalation areas in Syria has been released. The memorandum released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that the aim was “to put a prompt end to violence, improve the humanitarian situation and create favorable conditions to advance political settlement of the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic”. Full text of the agreement made between Iran, Russia and Turkey in Astane on May 4 is as follows: “The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation...