Free Republic

Anti-Christian persecution Syrian Catholic leader demands the West step up against ISIS By Inés San Martín Vatican correspondent January 29, 2016 ROME — According to one of Syria’s most prominent Catholic leaders, if the West doesn’t commit to fighting extremism in the region, violence will escalate until there are no Christians left in the Middle East. “We have to say that the morale of the Christians in Syria and Iraq is getting lower, because we see how the world powers don’t care about the survival of minority communities, but [only] about their own geopolitical interests,” Syriac Catholic Patriarch Youssef III...

Report: Russia suspects Turkish nationalists behind Egypt plane crash February 01, 2016, Monday/ 17:03:24/ TODAY'S ZAMAN | ISTANBUL A Russian newspaper has claimed that Russian intelligence believes Turkish nationalists might be behind a plane crash in Egypt that killed 224 Russian citizens in late October of last year. A Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers crashed in a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31 shortly after losing radar contact near cruising altitude, killing all aboard. The Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia under the brand name Metrojet, was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh...

The review reflects mounting concerns in Washington over Moscow’s determination to exploit European disunity in order to undermine Nato, block US missile defence programmes and revoke the punitive economic sanctions regime imposed after the annexation of Crimea. The US move came as senior British government officials told The Telegraph of growing fears that “a new cold war” was now unfolding in Europe, with Russian meddling taking on a breadth, range and depth far greater than previously thought. “It really is a new Cold War out there,” the source said, “Right across the EU we are seeing alarming evidence of Russian...

Turkmens escape to Turkey from Russian, al-Assad fire in Syria ANKARA Some 1,635 migrants, mainly women, children and elderly people, crossed into Turkey on Jan. 29 and 30 from Syria, after leaving their camp across the border due to rising security risks, as the Russian and Bashar al-Assad forces’ bombardment of Turkmen villages continued. The group had taken refuge in the Turkish-built Yamadi camp after shelling by the regime and allied Russian forces’ intensified in the Bayırbucak region of northwestern Syria, according to a statement by the Turkish Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). However, they were forced...

Turkey said Saturday that a Russian warplane has again violated its airspace despite several warnings - two months after Turkey's military shot down a Russian jet for crossing over its territory. The past incident seriously strained the previously close ties between the two countries, damaging a strong economic partnership. A Foreign Ministry statement on Saturday said that a Russian SU-34 crossed into Turkish airspace on Friday, ignoring several warnings that were delivered both in Russian and in English by Turkish radar units. It said Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to the ministry Friday evening to "strongly protest" the violation. The...

As world leaders gathered in Paris last month for the United Nations climate summit, many seemed surprised that several large oil companies, including BP and Shell, endorsed a carbon tax as a "key element" of any international climate deal. Less surprising was the preference of those in the renewable energy sector to see a tax on carbon. The implication was of course that if major companies - oil companies in particular - want to tax themselves, who are we to stand in the way? It must be an indication that the climate crisis is so acute that even they have...

'Moscow gives us hope', says Syrian Catholic patriarch 'We will thank anyone who helps us stay in our country' 28 January, 20:21 - ROME - Syrian Catholic Church patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III Younan has said that he approves of Russia's actions as an attempt to resolve the Syrian conflict and defeat the Islamic State (ISIS). ''The Russian intervention gives us a bit of hope in this tragic situation,'' he said. ''Russia has helped Syria a great deal to retake and liberate cities and villages under the control of terrorist groups.'' ''Syrian Christians are grateful to Russia,'' he said. ''Since...

Catholic World News Patriarch grateful to Russia for military intervention in Syria January 29, 2016 The head of the Syriac Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See, welcomed the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War. In the four months since Russia, at the request of the Syrian government, began its air strikes against rebel forces and the Islamic State, “many things have changed on the ground,” said Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Yonan, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. “The Russian intervention gives us a bit of hope in this tragic situation,”...

Eight years ago, Senator John McCain declared that Russia, under Vladimir Putin's administration, could only afford to be a major player in world affairs as long as energy prices remained high. In 2016, his thesis will be tested. With oil prices dipping below the $30 per barrel mark, and with Russian companies like Lukoil warning that prices might hover in the low $20s range—on top of sanctions that the United States, Japan and the European Union continue to maintain (through midyear at minimum)—has the Kremlin's luck simply run out? And what of the dream of recasting Russia in the twenty-first...

Beleaguered currency has lost more than half its value in last 18 months A dazzling display of festival lights makes Moscow look magical, brightening up the dark winter night. But the image of a bright, confident 2016 is a mirage. "To tell you the truth, we are really worried for our country," says Anya Zhurova, passing by and lured in by the light show. "We feel sick for our country and we hope our president [Vladimir Putin] can sort out all the plans he's made, but it's a difficult period." Like a heavyweight boxer, the battered Russian ruble will try...

Stuck in a recession and with no sign of a reprieve in the oil price, Russia could quickly descend into chaos if the money runs out, William Browder, a well-known critic of the Kremlin and chief executive of Hermitage Capital, told CNBC. "I don't think you can underestimate how bad the situation in Russia is right now, you've got oil below any measure where the budget can survive and you've got sanctions from the West. Russia is in what I'd call a real serious economic crisis," he said on Thursday. Speaking to CNBC in Davos where global business and political...

Picture the scene. It is 2016, oil costs on average $35 per barrel, and Russia’s recession rolls into its second year. The economy shrinks by 2-3 percent. Unemployment creeps up, and wages continue to fall, depressing consumer spending. The ruble devalues, driving up inflation. To keep price rises in check, interest rates remain high, discouraging investment. The government drains its reserves, hoping that the oil price picks up before they run dry. This was the nightmare scenario painted by Russia’s Central Bank in its December research paper. The bank, and Russia’s federal budget, is still planning for average oil prices...

Can Russia Survive Through 2020? 05 August 2011 By Sergei Petrov Strategy 2020 — the question of where Russia will be in 2020 — hangs in the air. There are a variety of scenarios being offered by leading economists, political scientists and other analysts, but one thing is clear: There will be no miracles in the next nine years. The prospects for a country mired in archaic institutions, an oil- and gas-dependent economy, systemic corruption, unprotected property rights, corrupt courts, fraudulent elections and an apathetic population can only be dim at best. I’m almost certain that Russia will not be...

Senior Pentagon officials on Wednesday sought to defend the use of Russian-made rocket engines to send U.S. military satellites into space, telling exasperated lawmakers they are moving quickly to end the practice and rely on American-made rockets for the launches. But Air Force Secretary Deborah James and Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall failed to stem sharp criticism from several members of the Senate Armed Services Committee who view Russia as the chief geopolitical threat to the United States. Led by the committee chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., they said using the Russian engines enriches President Vladimir Putin's inner circle and...

Read the article that may have gotten Alexander Litvinenko Killed

BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Last week, fighting between security forces and Islamic State militants in Iraq's Anbar province continued alongside clashes across the border in neighboring Syria -- where the United States and Russia could be setting up new air bases. Syria Russia is reportedly establishing a presence in more air bases across Syria besides the currently used Hmeimim air base in Latakia province. Russian forces are also expanding the al-Shayrat air base, located in the countryside southeast of the capital of Homs province, according to SOHR. The facility will reportedly by used by Russian warplanes in operations around...

American business magnate and investor George Soros no longer views Russia as an enemy of the EU and is now openly calling on Brussels to cooperate with Moscow, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) wrote. According to him, the European Union may soon collapse due to the refugee crisis and the lack of leadership. In order to survive, European leaders need a "new Marshall Plan" in which Russia should play a key role, the investor stressed. Soros has always been a supporter of the idea of the EU's existence, but now he sees that the EU is "falling apart". In...

Billionaire prophet of doom George Soros said the European Union is on the “verge of collapse” as it faces five or six crises at once. “The Greek crisis taught the European authorities the art of muddling through one crisis after another. This practice is popularly known as kicking the can down the road, although it would be more accurate to describe it as kicking a ball uphill so that it keeps rolling back down,” Soros said in an interview with The New York Review of Books.

Moscow (AFP) - To reach the gigantic statue of Vladimir Lenin that overlooks Moscow's October Square, pedestrians can stroll down streets named after the Bolshevik revolutionary's wife or mother, or cross Lenin Avenue that intersects with a road named after his brother. More than a quarter of a century has passed since the fall of Communism but reminders of the Soviet Union's founding father Lenin -- who died on January 21, 1924 -- are still easy to find. Yet the man himself seems increasingly to mean little to many people in Russia, the cradle of his revolution.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the United States and Turkey were prepared for a military solution against Islamic State in Syria should the Syrian government and rebels fail to reach a political settlement. The latest round of Syria peace talks are planned to begin on Monday in Geneva but were at risk of being delayed partly because of a dispute over who will comprise the opposition delegation. Syrian armed rebel groups said on Saturday they held the Syrian government and Russia responsible for any failure of peace talks to end the country's civil...