Back in October, we previewed the “promised” battle for Aleppo, Syria’s largest city prior to the war.
By the time Russia began constructing an air base at Latakia, the city - which is immensely important both from a strategic and psychological perspective - was controlled by a hodgepodge of rebels and militants including al-Qaeda, the Free Syrian Army, and ISIS.
Russia is now the top crude oil exporter to China. It appears that Russia is reaping the rewards of dumping the dollar. At the the beginning of the decade the Saudi share of Chinese crude imports was around 20%, while Russia’s was below 7%… But that has changed and as the Russians creep in, the Saudis are starting to get nervous. Russia Insider reports: Now the Saudis find themselves neck and neck with Moscow for the lead in Chinese market share, with both performing in the 13-16% range. But Russia’s share continues to rise, as The Kingdom struggles to maintain a foothold. Why?
Authored by Eric Zuesse,
America’s military budget is roughly 7.2 times that of Russia ($610 billion compared to $84.5 billion), but even Western news-accounts are saying that the weaponry produced in Russia is superior overall to the weaponry produced in the United States.
President Putin of Russia has met with the former U.S. Secretary of State and National Security advisor Henry Kissinger at his residence outside Moscow. RT reports: The Kremlin said that the two have “long-standing, friendly relations” and that they have used the “opportunity to talk.” The meeting is a continuation of a “friendly dialogue between President Putin and Henry Kissinger, who are bound by a longstanding relationship,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “They communicate all the time, use the opportunity to talk,” he added.
Retired professor of Russian studies and history at Princeton, Stephen F. Cohen, warns that a nuclear war between Russia and the West looms on the horizon. The Pentagon has announced that it will quadruple US-NATO military forces in countries verging on Russia’s borders. The move by the Obama Administration to have the two opposing forces so close to each other would then necessitate a response from Russia. The presstitute media and the U.S. presidential campaigns prefer to ignore this dire international dilemma.