Syria

Russia has accused Turkey of breaching the Open Skies Treaty by refusing to allow Russian surveillance aircraft to fly close to the Turkish border over Syria. “After the arrival of the Russian mission to Turkey and the announcement of the desired itinerary, the Turkish military officials refused to allow the inspection flight citing an order from the Turkish Foreign Ministry,” the head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, Sergey Ryzhkov, said in a statement.

Turkey’s supply line to opposition groups operating in and around Aleppo has been cut off due to Russian airstrikes and pro-government forces weakening rebel groups.  Russian airstrikes across northern Syria has driven the epicenter of war towards the north of Aleppo following Turkey’s shooting down of its warplane last year. At the same time pro-government forces have broken a rebel siege of two villages in the north, cutting Turkey’s supply line to opposition groups.

Startling drone footage reveals the scale of destruction in Syria after nearly five years of conflict. Huffington Post reports: RT correspondent Murad Gazdiev and his crew flew a drone through Hom’s abandoned streets and over its buildings, revealing haunting aerial views of a lifeless city of rubble. Syria’s third largest city, Homs was once a thriving industrial centre. RT YouTube video: In 2011 it become known as the “capital of the revolution” against the Assad regime and consequently the scene of some of the heaviest battles of the Syrian civil war.

Moscow have accused the Turkish government of resorting to “ignoring proof-less propaganda” as Turkey have said that they believe a Russian Su-34 bomber violated its airspace on Friday.  This latest confrontation between the two countries comes just two months after Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 warplane, which Russia say was legally flying over Syria. The incident has led to Russia imposing sanctions against Turkey. “There have been no Turkish airspace violations by the aircraft of the Russian airborne tactical formation [acting] in the Syrian Arab Republic.

Submitted by Justin Raimondo via AntiWar.com,

I haven’t had this much fun in years – of course I’m talking about the US presidential election season, with The Donald taking on all comers, and winning (at least so far), and Bernie Sanders burning up the self-satisfied mandarins of the Democratic party Establishment.

What’s great about this spectacle – and one must view it as a spectacle in order to gain maximum enjoyment from it – is that, as none other than Rush Limbaugh points out: