parliamentary elections

Last week, Bashar al-Assad celebrated one of the most significant (at least from a symbolic perspective) military victories in the history of his government’s campaign against opposition groups battling for control of Syria.

With the help of Russia and Hezbollah, Assad’s army liberated the ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State. Palmyra is a UNESCO world heritage site and over the course of the last nine or so months, ISIS has obliterated a number of priceless artifacts on the grounds that they are monuments to paganism.

Submitted by Russell Whitehouse via OrientalReview.org,

President Vladimir Putin has warned the internal security of the Russian state to be on the lookout for “foreign foes” who present a “direct threat to Russia’s sovereignty.” Putin has urged the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB- the organisation that came after the KGB) not to allow foreign influence in the upcoming September parliamentary elections in Russia.

In what amounts to a referendum on President Hassan Rouhani’s leadership, voters in Tehran turned out overwhelmingly for moderates in closely watched parliamentary elections that may serve as an important signal for where Iran is headed.

Pro-Rouhani candidates are set to sweep all 30 of Tehran’s parliamentary seats. The 290-member body is dominated by hard-liners, but that looks set to change under the President, whose decision to negotiate with the US over the country’s nuclear program was an enormous political gamble.

Vladimir Putin has accused foreign enemies of seeking to disrupt Russia’s upcoming parliamentary elections, and has ordered Russian security services to be extra vigilant.  The parliamentary elections are due to take place in September, and Putin says he has seen documents that prove “foreign enemies are preparing for these elections too“. Indiatimes.com reports: He added that foreign intelligence services had become more active in Russia last year, saying that 400 foreign spies and agents had been exposed and 23 of them had been prosecuted.