Russia

In a new strategy document, Russia has for the first time appraised the United States as a threat to its national security. Times of India reports: The document, “About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation”, was signed by President Vladimir Putin on New Year’s Eve. It replaces a 2009 version, endorsed by Dmitry Medvedev, president then, and the current prime minister, which mentioned neither the United States not Nato. It says Russia has managed to heighten its role in solving global problems and international conflicts.

It’s no secret that relations between Moscow and the West have deteriorated the post-Cold War lows. 

The annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Ukraine have pushed the two sides to the brink of a Baltic battle while Russia’s intervention in Syria changed the West’s calculus when it comes to pushing for regime change in the Mid-East. 

Earlier this year, in a hilariously accurate assessment of US foreign policy, Vladimir Putin’s Security Council issued a statement entitled "About The US National Security Strategy". Here are some notable excerpts (translated):

President Putin has signed a decree approving of a new national security strategy to deal with the ever-increasing threat NATO pose to Russia.  The National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation says that it is concerned with the build up of NATO’s military.

Russia and China have agreed to join forces militarily in the fight against ISIS and terrorism, as the Chinese National People’s Congress passed the “On Combating Terrorism” law on December 27.  The Russian Foreign Ministry have announced, “We proceed from the fact that the Chinese partners have taken an important step towards the creation of a solid legal framework to effectively combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations“.

Submitted by Burak Bekdil via The Gatestone Institute,

• Earlier in 2015, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he found it difficult to understand what Russia was doing in Syria, since "it does not even border Syria."

• By that logic, Turkey should not be "doing anything" in the Palestinian territories, Somalia, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan or any of the non-bordering lands into which its neo-Ottoman impulses have pushed it.