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WIN FOR PUTIN? Iran nuke deal fuels arms race, helps Russia, officials say [this was the title of the piece on the FoxNews home page] THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL and the negotiations leading up to it already are fueling an all-but-declared nuclear arms race in the Middle East, according to current and former government officials who say the situation also creates an opening for Russia to exert more influence in the region.

Iran and six world powers reached a nuclear deal on Tuesday, capping more than a decade of negotiations with an agreement that could transform the Middle East, and which Israel called an "historic surrender". Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the US, European Union and the UN would be lifted in return for Iran agreeing [sic] to long-term curbs on a nuclear programme that the West has suspected was aimed at creating a nuclear bomb. ... The EU has also imposed sanctions prohibiting trade with Iran's oil sector. This includes any business with any part of Iran's energy sector or...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to ask Tajikistan for the lease of a former Soviet airbase that was refurbished by India in 2007. Government sources told Mail Today that use of the Ayni airbase for the Indian Air Force, tops the agenda for discussion with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon when the prime minister arrives on a state visit on July 12. Tajikistan marks the last leg of Prime Minister Modi's eight-day tour of the five Central Asian Republics and Russia. The Ayni airbase near Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe has long been key to expanding India's strategic footprint in Central Asia. India...

Russia's "Zelenodolsk Design Bureau" (ZPKB) developped a trimaran vessel concept that Russian Navy is ready to test as "proof of concept" in a scale model. The concept is based on a civilian vessel designed by ZPKB, the "RUSICH-2.2". Zelenodolsk Design Bureau (ZPKB) Trimaran Vessel Concept (SAR) could be Russia's future Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) This military concept is being considered as a possible patrol vessel by the Russian Navy, and for some potential foreign customers. For this reason, in April this year, Russian MoD awarded a contract for proof of concept: The contract and allocated funds are for "Design, construction...

HILLARY CLINTON: You know, you're starting with so many assumptions that are -- I've never had a subpoena, there is nothing -- again, let's take a deep breath here. Everything I did was permitted by law and regulation. JOHN KING, CNN: Welcome back. Hillary Clinton there, in her own words, to CNN -- you just heard them. "I've never had a subpoena". Well that's just simply not true. Here's the calendar right here, March 4th, 2015. And here's the subpoena sent to her by the House Select Committee on Benghazi. You see it right here addressed to the Honorable Hillary...

A section of a Russian military barracks has collapsed, killing 23 soldiers, near the Siberian city of Omsk, officials say. A further 19 servicemen were rescued. Some have been flown to Moscow for medical treatment.

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Monday took a giant step toward letting Democratic voters know she’s representing the progressive agenda, calling for tax increases and more regulation on Wall Street -- while making a play for a liberal base that has been gravitating toward Sen. Bernie Sanders. “I know as much as anybody, the role Wall Street should play for main street,” said Clinton, who vowed, if elected, to “rein in excessive risks” and appoint regulators to “prosecute firms and individuals” who break the law. Clinton also vowed to increase taxes on large corporations and the country’s highest wage-earners,...

Pundits have focused recently on Hillary Clinton’s narrowing lead in polls among a group of less well known Republicans, along with voters' growing skepticism about her integrity. But there's a more immediate threat to her electability: In the last few weeks, Clinton has lost significant ground in New Hampshire and Iowa to socialist Bernie Sanders. The latest Suffolk University poll has Sanders within 10 percentage points of Clinton, at 41-31, among Democrats in New Hampshire. Clinton is only eight points ahead of Sanders, 43-35, in a WMUR/CNN poll. In Iowa she has slipped 26 points since May. Considering this enthusiasm...

Few in the odd coalition of Left and Right pushing for reauthorization of the 81-year-old Export-Import Bank have been louder than Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “It’s wrong that candidates for president, who really should know better, are jumping on this bandwagon,” she said at a May 22 campaign stop in New Hampshire. “It’s wrong, it’s embarrassing. . . . The idea that we would remove this relatively small but vital source of funding for our businesses to compete is absolutely backwards.” Clinton’s defense of Ex-Im may be motivated by more than mere concern for American businesses. Critics have argued...

House Select Committee on Benghazi Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., charged on Friday that the State Department gave his committee thousands of pages of press clippings in response to a subpoena that was issued in March. For some reason, Gowdy said, some of those press clippings included articles about actor Richard Gere. "You know what we got last week? We got 3,600 pages, half of which were press clippings, including articles about Richard Gere," he said on CNN. "So if that is their idea of complying with a congressional investigation, then we are going to be at this for a long...

Fox News analyst and former judge Andrew Napolitano recently posted a Washington Times op-ed called "Hillary's Secret War," in which he declares with certainty that Hillary Clinton "provided material assistance to terrorists and lied to Congress in a venue where the law required her to be truthful." Napolitano came to this conclusion after reading the transcript of an interview with a lawfully licensed American arms dealer named Marc Turi, as well as emails to and from the State Department and congressional officials while Hillary was Secretary of State. In 2011, Turi received approval from the Departments of State and Treasury...

I have enormous respect for Victor Davis Hanson and read with great interest his account this week that people are fed up with liberal elites. Amid all this leftish high-fiving about court decisions and executive orders, we forget political and electoral reality. Barack Obama has done more to destroy liberal political power in the Congress and in the statehouses than any Democratic politician since the 1920s. His executive orders and neglect of enforcing existing law have green-lighted the executive power of the next Republican president in a way that Richard Nixon could hardly imagine. He has discredited the idea of...

[W]ith the “no” vote in Sunday’s Greek referendum on bailout terms posing the biggest challenge yet to decades of European integration, risks to the European project resulting from Germany’s rise as the Continent’s most powerful country are becoming clear. On Friday, Spanish antiausterity leader Pablo Iglesias urged his countrymen: “We don’t want to be a German colony.” On Sunday, after Greece’s result became clear, Italian populist Beppe Grillo said, “Now Merkel and bankers will have food for thought.” On Monday, Ms. Merkel flew to Paris for crisis talks amid signs the French government was resisting Berlin’s hard line on Greece....

As chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel leads a nation that prizes fiscal rectitude and adherence to the rules, and, after pledging tens of billions in bailout programs for five years, has expressed scant sympathy for Greece’s demand for more financial help. As de facto leader of Europe, Ms. Merkel faces a very different set of responsibilities, starting with maintaining European unity in general and holding the euro together in particular.

Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, has written an op-ed in the Financial Times which sets forward a distinct sequence for ostensibly resolving the daunting security challenges of the Middle East. First, the P5+1 - the group of powerful nations negotiating with Iran - should come to a deal over its nuclear program. As a result, he argues, Tehran will "open new horizons" and join "the international battle" against "the increasingly brutal extremism that is engulfing the Middle East." The idea that Iran is a partner in the fight against terrorism is not only disingenuous but also absurd. What Zarif is...

Pope Francis on Saturday condemned a fatal car-bomb attack outside the Italian Consulate in Cairo, where one person was killed and eight others were injured. According to the Associated Press, the pope sent a telegram to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi calling for “political and religious players at all levels to unite their efforts to combat with ever more determination the plague of terrorism and to promote harmony and solidarity.” The explosion took place in the early-morning hours, causing heavy damage to the building and sparking fears that Islamic militants have begun a fresh round of attacks against foreigners, Reuters...

: Infectious Diseases Society of America Date: 2005-12-15 New Study Identifies Louse-borne Diseases That Ravaged Napoleon's Army Using dental pulp extracted from the teeth of soldiers who died during Napoleon’s disastrous retreat through Russia in 1812, a new study finds DNA evidence that epidemic typhus and trench fever ran rampant among the French Grand Army. The study, published in the Jan. 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online, identifies the specific species of louse-borne pathogens that were a major cause of death among the remains of the retreating army. Napoleon marched into Russia in the summer...

The general chosen by President Obama to replace the Pentagon’s top military officer has put the administration in an awkward position after remarks Thursday in which he called Russia "the greatest threat to our national security" -- a stance taken by 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and lambasted by the president during the 2012 campaign. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, nominated to replace Gen. Martin Dempsey as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the comments in response to a question by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., at Dunford's confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee....

Vietnam and Russia are in the final stages of negotiation for the sale of two Gepard-3.9 class (Project 11661) light stealth frigates. The Vietnam People's Navy is also considering the procurement of 4 more Tarantul-class (Project 1241.8). Vietnames People's Navy Gepard 3.9 class (Project 1166.1E) Frigate (picture: Zelenodolsk) Vietnam already has two Russian-made Gepard 3.9 class light frigates, with two more currently undergoing final systems outfitting. The extra procurement of two more frigates would bring the total inventory to 6 vessels of this class in the Vietnam People's Navy fleet. According to its builder, Zelenodolsk shipyard, the Vietnamese Gepard 3.9...

As we read the news that more than two dozen Democrats have proposed legislation that would eliminate the words "husband" and "wife" from federal law at Washington Examiner, we see a countering headline at The Independent this morning announcing that Russia has unveiled a "'straight flag' to rival gay pride symbol," to promote "traditional family values." Therefore, in response to the LGBT movement's rainbow flag, the United Russia Party unveiled a banner celebrating the traditional, nuclear Russian family. The flag depicts two parents - a woman and a man - holding hands with three children. It was unveiled at a...