Politics

President Vladimir Putin denounces Bolsheviks and their leader Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin. The Russian president has criticized Lenin for placing a “time bomb” under the state, as well as weakening the country just before the end of the first world war, and for murdering the imperial family and destroying the monarchy. Belfast Telegraph reports: The harsh criticism of Lenin, who is still revered by communists and many others in Russia, is unusual for Mr Putin, who in the past carefully weighed his comments about the nation’s history to avoid alienating some voters.

James Poulos is not frightened by the prospect of a Trump nomination or a Trump presidency:

The most important thing I can say about Donald Trump is that I am not afraid of him. I’m not afraid he’ll be president. I’m not afraid he’ll be the nominee. For the sake of my own sanity and strength, I decline to be. I won’t confer on him the power to annihilate constitutional government, conservative philosophy, or the Republican brand. Trump could ruin America? Give me a break.

Investigations into as many as 57 alleged unlawful killings by British soldiers in Iraq, have been dropped. The cases won’t be followed up as “no criminality” had been established during the investigation, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has announced. The MoD said that the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat) tasked with investigating the alleged abuses by UK soldiers during the US-led invasion in Iraq, has decided not to proceed in 57 cases. The military’s prosecuting authority has also dropped another case of alleged human rights violations.

U.S. officials are quick to decry “human rights violations” in “enemy” states, but different rules apply to “allies” such as Saudi Arabia, which is committing war crimes in Yemen and executing dissidents at home while the Obama administration aids and abets the atrocities, writes Marjorie Cohn for TeleSUR. By Marjorie Cohn Saudi Arabia has engaged…

When last we checked in on Spain, the country was struggling to make sense of largely inconclusive elections held in late December.

Mariano Rajoy’s PP managed to secure the most seats in parliament, but when the electoral smoke cleared it was apparent that Spanish voters were no longer content with the political status quo.