Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a stark warning to the government of Turkey, saying that if they do not leave Syria alone he will restore Istanbul to Christendom. Addressing a delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Putin began by reiterating that nothing can severe the alliance Russia has with Ukraine, despite efforts by the ruling junta in Kiev.
Christopher Preble adds to the discussion about U.S. allies and clients:
We can see, then, that for all the talk of free riding, for all those instances when some U.S. government official expresses concern or frustration that allies don’t do more to defend themselves and their interests, it’s just that: talk. For the dominant foreign-policy community, allies are the equivalent of Facebook friends. U.S. officials count them, rank them, and occasionally thank them. But we don’t ever expect these “allies” to actually do anything for us in return.
When it comes to skewering logic, cause and effect, and simple facts, nobody does it quite like Goldman. Which is why when we got the just released post-mortem of the Doha deal from Goldman's energy analysts Courvalin and Jeffrey "short gold" Currie, we fully expected them to spin today's unprecedented OPEC failure into a bullish catalyst. Not even they were so bold.
The Israeli Prime Minister has said that Tel Aviv will never withdraw from the Golan Heights, an area captured from Syria in 1967. Benjamin Netanyahu claims the strategic plateau bordering Syria has been in Israeli hands “since antiquity” and will forever stay that way. RT reports: While the UN-led peace talks on the future of war-torn Syria take place in Geneva, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the first-ever cabinet meeting on the Golan Heights to declare that Tel Aviv will not take a single step back from the annexed region.
Submitted by Eric Zuesse, author of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
Saudi King & Princes Blackmail U.S. Government