Politics

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has claimed that American tech giant Google is closely cooperating with the US State Department to promote Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Addressing an international media forum, Assange said: “Google is directly engaged with Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” adding that the company used the State Department as part of “a quid pro quo.” The whistleblower also called Hillary Clinton a problem for freedom of speech in the US.

The military provocations between NATO and Russia reached a new post-cold war high yesterday when Poland became the host to the largest joint NATO war game in eastern Europe since the end of the cold war. The purpose of the massive drill, according to the Guardian, is for NATO "partner countries to mount a display of strength as a response to concerns about Russia’s assertiveness and actions." The 10-day military exercise dubbed Anaconda-2016, involves 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries.

The month of May was very contentious one for Euro-Turkey relations.

Tony Blair is expected to defend the Iraq war by claiming the situation in the Middle East would have been worse if Saddam Hussein had been left in power, but he will not comment publicly until Sir John Chilcot finally publishes his report on 6 July, Reports suggest that the former British prime minister will respond to the Chilcot report on the legality of the 2003 Iraq invasion by arguing the Middle East state was devastated by Iran, Al-Qaeda and a powder keg of tribal animosity unleashed by Saddam’s removal.

The former UK ambassador to Syria has said the US “is effectively siding with a branch of Al-Qaeda” in Syria. Discussing Washington’s recent request to Moscow not to target Al-Nusra positions with air strikes, Peter Ford told RT that the  US is “ready to de facto ally” with its archenemies from Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria as part of its “obsession” by using “so-called moderate” groups to overthrow the Syrian government.