Free Republic

Damascus, April 12, Interfax - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sees no future for his country and the entire region without the Christian presence, Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), secretary for inter-Christian relations at the Moscow's Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, told reporters after a meeting with al-Assad on Tuesday. "During the talks today, Bashar al-Assad noted that Syria has traditionally been a multi-faith country, and both its future and the future of the Middle East is inconceivable without the Christian presence," he said. According to him, al-Assad noted the crucial peacekeeping and humanitarian role of the Russian Orthodox Church in efforts...

The story of Putin’s fabled billions is a case study of something which people passionately believe in independently of any facts. As often happens in such cases, those who believe in that thing then hunt around for facts to prove it true. Every so often they come up with facts they claim proves it true. On careful examination however it turns out they do nothing of the sort. When that is pointed out to the true believers it does not change their belief that what they believe is true. Instead they retreat into denial and set off hunting for new...

A senior Russian official says Moscow has started delivering S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who spoke on Monday on Ekho Moskvy radio, wouldn’t say how many systems have been delivered or provide any other specifics. […] The S-300 deal has long worried the U.S. and Israel, which see it as destabilizing. …

NATO’s secretary-general says the NATO-Russia Council will meet for the first time since 2014 within the next two weeks. The announcement Friday from Jens Stoltenberg was a sign both sides might be seeking an improvement in relations, which have been in the deep freeze since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. NATO accuses Moscow of violating its international obligations by annexing Crimea, and of backing a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine. …

Washington is behind the recently released offshore revelations known as the Panama Papers, WikiLeaks has claimed, saying that the attack was “produced” to target Russia and President Putin. On Wednesday, the international whistleblowing organization said on Twitter that the Panama Papers data leak was produced by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), "which targets Russia and [the] former USSR." The "Putin attack" was funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and American hedge fund billionaire George Soros, WikiLeaks added, saying that the US government's funding of such an attack is a serious blow to its integrity.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch voted Wednesday in a referendum on a far-reaching free trade deal meant to foster closer ties between Ukraine and the European Union that has run into opposition in the Netherlands where many see it as evidence of unwanted EU expansionism. The non-binding vote in the Netherlands exposes deep divisions about this country's place in Europe and comes less than three months before British citizens decide in their own referendum whether to leave the EU altogether. Dutch opponents of the EU-Ukraine association agreement argue its ultimate goal is bringing Kiev into the EU. Supporters...

Professional criminals convince parents that their daughters are going to a better life in Turkey. The parents are given 2000-5000 Turkish liras ($700-$1700) as a "bride price" -- an enormous sum for a poor Syrian family. "Girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen are referred to as pistachios, those between seventeen and twenty are called cherries, twenty to twenty-two are apples, and anyone older is a watermelon." — From a report on Turkey, by End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT). ◾Many Muslims have difficulty with, or even an aversion to, assimilating into...

...The documents analysed by Russian journalists from Novaya Gazeta opposition newspaper put Putin's close friend at the top of an offshore empire worth more than $2 billion that has made his circle fabulously wealthy. The Kremlin spokesman, who himself figures in the leaked documents, said there was "nothing new or concrete" about the Russian leader in the leaks, but blamed them on a mood of rampant "Putinophobia."

Sergei Roldugin is Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest friend. They met when Putin was training to become a KGB officer at school, where Roldugin's brother was one of Putin's classmates. Roldugin introduced Putin to his future wife, Lyudmila, and the couple made him the godfather of their eldest daughter in 1985. ...Roldugin is not the only friend and confidant of Putin's mentioned in the Panama Papers. The reports mention Putin’s judo sparring partners, the wives of Putin’s spokesman and a governor, sons of economy and deputy interior ministers,...

A network of secret offshore deals and vast loans worth $2bn has laid a trail to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. An unprecedented leak of documents shows how this money has made members of Putin’s close circle fabulously wealthy. Though the president’s name does not appear in any of the records, the data reveals a pattern...The documents suggest Putin’s family has benefited from this money – his friends’ fortunes appear his to spend….. The Panama Papers disclose that Kovalchuk and Bank Rossiya achieved the transfer of at least $1bn to a specially created offshore entity called Sandalwood Continental. These funds came...

A storm is coming By Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer The interrogation room in which Iceland’s recent history was rewritten is sparse, furnished only with a table, some chairs, and a computer. A camera is fixed to the wall, and the frosted, double-glazed windows have completely blocked out the sound of the gale-force winds in Reykjavik’s Faxafloi Bay. It was in this room that some of Iceland’s most powerful bankers, executives, and investors had to answer to special investigator Olaf Hauksson. A tall man with a heavy build, Haukkson has spent the past six years investigating the transactions that brought...

Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption Millions of documents show heads of state, criminals and celebrities using secret hideaways in tax havens Files reveal the offshore holdings of 140 politicians and public officials from around the world â—¾Current and former world leaders in the data include prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia â—¾More than 214,000 offshore entities appear in the leak, connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories â—¾Major banks have driven the creation of hard-to-trace companies in offshore havens...

It’s being called the “Panama Papers” — a trove of 11.5 million leaked internal documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, showing how hundreds of thousands of people with money to hide used anonymous shell corporations across the world. Fusion’s investigative unit was one of the more than 100 media organizations that dove into the files — and found drug dealers, arms traders, human traffickers, fraudsters. We also found no shortage of politicians or their family members. Here is a listing of current and former world leaders connected to the files. Check out Dirty Little Secrets, Fusion’s full investigation...

A huge leak of confidential documents has revealed how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth. Eleven million documents were leaked from one of the world's most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. They show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax. The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing. The documents show links to 72 current or former heads of state in the data, including dictators accused of looting their own countries. Gerard Ryle, director of the...

The German government on Monday said it hoped the revelations from the so-called “Panama Papers” will spur global efforts to combat tax evasion and money laundering. “We hope the current debate will turn up the heat,” finance ministry spokesman Martin Jäger told a news briefing. […] The Panama Papers are a massive leak of 11.5 million documents allegedly exposing the secret offshore dealings of a host of world leaders, celebrities and sports stars, implicating figures from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Barcelona striker Lionel Messi. […] The documents, from around 214,000 offshore entities covering almost 40 years, came from Mossack...

Skittish banks have been closing what they consider high-risk accounts, many of them held by money transfer firms and humanitarian organizations, prompting the U.S. Government Accountability Office to open an investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. This week, the Journal detailed how such organizations have been forced out of the global banking system. More than 50 nonprofits sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry accusing banks and the Treasury of playing the blame game and doing little to solve the problem. They want the U.S. Treasury to state nonprofits aren’t inherently high-risk....

The political and military environment in Kazakhstan is deteriorating due to the efforts of pro-Russian activists. The activities of pro-Russian movements in Kazakhstan indicate a tremendous growth of the threat to the acting authority, which emerged in the last 18 months. Currently, Kazakhstan is ready for the repeat of the “Crimean scenario”. It could be triggered by domestic problems in the Russian Federation or a sudden change in the state regime of Kazakhstan. Such threats to Kazakhastan are driven both by its citizens, who are coming home having obtained combat experience in Donbas region, and the increased activities of Cossack...

Russia is preparing an "asymmetric" response to the increase in NATO troop rotation in Eastern Europe, and in particular the United States' military presence near Russian borders, Russia's ambassador to NATO said on March 31. "Of course, our response will be completely asymmetrical. It will be calibrated to match our ideas about the degree of military threat, to be most efficient and not overly expensive," Alexandr Grushko said on Rossiya-24 television. "We can see that the U.S. continues to increase its military presence in Europe with an emphasis on the Eastern front... We are not passive observers. We consistently implement...

According to a March 11 Bloomberg article, the Russian government is considering changes in the tax regime for the Russian oil and gas industry in order to bolster government revenues. Should Vladimir Putin consider nationalizing this industry as one of the alternatives? Possibly—if the U.S. shale revolution represents a paradigm shift that will result in sub-$50-$60 crude prices and substantially lower natural gas prices well into the future. Should this be the case, without significant changes in its approach to generating revenue from this industry—which historically has funded ~50 percent of the government’s budget—it seems the Russian government could consign...

Why — and how — Russia won in Syria By Josh Cohen March 15, 2016 Here’s what Russia achieved — and why it was so successful. First — and most importantly — Russian bombing turned the tide of the war in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s favor. Second, Putin recently achieved an important diplomatic objective by forcing the United States to acknowledge that Russia plays a key role in determining Syria’s future. Third, Putin responded to Turkey’s shoot down of a Russian jet by humiliating Ankara, an emerging rival in the Middle East and Central Asia. Putin also grievously wounded Turkey’s...