Exclusive: In pursuit of Russia-gate, the U.S. mainstream media embraces any attack on Russia and works to ensure that Americans don’t hear the other side of the story, as with the Magnitsky myth, reports Robert Parry.
Mountain Ambush (Andrew Cockburn)
“Looking at the detailed Russian timeline of what happened,” says defense analyst Pierre Sprey, “I’d say the evidence looks pretty strong that the Turks were setting up an ambush.”
Rich Lowry: The Facebook Farce
We are supposed to believe that it bought the American presidential election last year with $100,000 in Facebook ads and some other digital activity.
Poroshenko interview with Deutsche Welle
In light of Vice President Biden’s pledge on Monday to increase US funding to the government of Petro Poroshenko to the tune of $190 million, it might be worth watching the below interview between journalist Tim Sebastian and Poroshenko from early November. It does a great deal to shed light on the mindset of the Ukrainian President.
Dave Majumdar: This Is What a NATO vs. Russia War over the Baltics Would Look Like
How would a war between Russia and NATO in the Baltics play out? Chances of a Russian invasion of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia appear fairly remote…
Biden announces more US aid for Ukraine (AP/Yahoo News)
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden assured Ukraine Monday of continuing U.S. support and announced the release of an additional $190 million in U.S. aid to help support reforms.
Jeremy Kuzmarov: Democrats Betray Supporters Yet Again with Russia-Gate Distraction
In a front-page article on October 23rd by Nicholas Fandos “Hopes Dwindle for 3 Inquiries on Russia Ties,” The New York Times – a leading fomenter of anti-Russia hysteria – all but conceded that the Russia-Gate inquiries would amount to nothing.
The danger of Russian and Turkish competitive machismo in Syria (Charap and Shapiro)
President Vladimir Putin, not someone known for a supplicant’s pose, has repeated his openness to enhanced cooperation with the United States over Syria like a mantra for almost two months—and he continues to do so, despite being consistently spurned by the Obama administration.
Paul Robinson: Which is Worse, The Book or the Reviews?
I’ve read some pretty bad book reviews in my time, but I’m pretty certain this is the worst. Why the New York Times would give a book like this to somebody like Fukuyama to review I can’t imagine. (Because the book has ‘History’ in the title?)
Russia’s Endgame in Donbass (Paul Robinson)
Although in recent weeks the attention of many has shifted to events in Syria, the war in Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, has not entirely ended. Fighting continues to kill two or three people each week, and the peace process established at Minsk in February 2015 has reached something of an impasse, due to disagreement over the provisions concerning constitutional change and the holding of local elections
Stephen F. Cohen and John Batchelor: US Double Standards in the New Cold War
Moscow and Washington have conflicting narratives, expressed in their respective mass media and periodic “diplomacy,” regarding the history, causes, and nature of the new Cold War. Not surprisingly, both narratives are often self-serving and unbalanced. But, Cohen argues, the near-consensual version presented in the mainstream media of the American establishment ought to be of grave concern to all Americans…
Russia accuses US of cover-up over IS oil smuggling to Turkey (AFP)
Russia’s defence ministry on Saturday accused the United States of turning a blind eye to the trafficking of oil into Turkey from Syrian areas under Islamic State control, after Washington called the amounts involved insignificant.
“The declarations of the Pentagon and the State Department seem like a theatre of the absurd,” the statement added, suggesting that Washington “watch the videos taken by its (own) drones which have recently been three times as numerous over the Turkey-Syria border and above the oil zones”.
Dr. Ellen Mickiewicz: The New York Times’ Misleading Media Report
In the New York Times of October 24, 2017, a front-page story repeats some of the errors about the U.S. audience for RT on YouTube and then adds its own mistakes. RT has very high numbers on YouTube, because they show sensationalist videos from foreign countries under the RT logo. [Read more…] about Dr. Ellen Mickiewicz: The New York Times’ Misleading Media Report
Putin: Turkey ‘will regret’ downing Russian bomber in Syria (BBC)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has castigated Turkey’s leaders, warning that they will regret shooting down a Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria. In a state of the nation speech, broadcast live on Russian television, he said that “if anyone thinks Russia’s reaction will be limited to trade sanctions, they are deeply mistaken”.
“We’ll remind them again what they did – they will regret it.”
Katrina vanden Heuvel: The escalating nuclear threat finally has the public’s attention. Now what?
Nuclear anxiety is on the rise. While President Trump has denied reports that he sought a “nearly tenfold” increase in America’s nuclear arsenal, there is no disputing that the risk of a nuclear catastrophe is escalating on his watch.
Is Europe’s Buffer Zone in Ukraine Keeping it Safe? (Olena Lennon, Brian Milakovsky)
Figures cannot express the full cost of suffering and strife in eastern Ukraine…Denis and Yulia survived the shelling in summer 2014, when the Ukrainian army drove the separatists out of their city. But that winter, their home was destroyed by a direct hit from separatist artillery, killing both of Yulia’s parents.
They returned, and for months cleared the rubble and planted their garden under intermittent shelling….Gazing at the cinderblock walls of their house Yulia sighs: “For me and the kids, this is already happiness. Just give us peace so we can enjoy it!”
Just give us peace.
Defense One: US Preparing to Put Nuclear Bombers Back on 24-Hour Alert
The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers back on 24-hour ready alert, a status not seen since the Cold War ended in 1991.
Whoever heard of a moderate with a Kalashnikov, anyway? (Robert Fisk)
Vladimir Putin…knows that Turkey is helping Isis – this is why he is going to destroy the Isis oil smuggling route to Turkey – and, as a former serving KGB officer, he understands the cynicism of any crisis. If an American aircraft had strayed into Turkish airspace, he asked at his Kremlin press conference with François Hollande last week, does anyone believe that Turkey would have shot down the US pilots? We all know the answer to that. If Turkey wished to destroy Isis, why does it bombard Isis’ Kurdish enemies?
NY TIMES: Clinton Campaign and Democratic Party Helped Pay for Russia Dossier
The presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee paid for research that was included in a dossier made public in January that contained salacious claims about connections between Donald J. Trump, his associates and Russia.
Putin calls for broad international anti-terror front (AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Thursday for “one powerful fist” to fight terrorism, hinted at more sanctions against Turkey and accused Western powers of creating “a zone of chaos.”
Speaking in his state-of-the-nation address televised live, Putin called for an end to what he called double standards that hampered uniting global efforts in fighting terrorism. Without naming the United States, he accused Washington and its allies of turning Iraq, Syria and Libya into a “zone of chaos and anarchy threatening the entire world” by supporting change of regimes in those countries.