Video: Why Europe is silent when Ukrainian army kills Russian journalists?

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Thousands gathered for rallies in French cities, standing in solidarity with victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris that killed 12 on Wednesday.

At the biggest rally, in Paris, people lit candles and held up their pens to support press freedom.
South Front

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bnku92NTr0&feature=youtu.be

Iceland to Withdraw EU Application: Prime Minister

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Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was cited as saying that participation in EU talks isn't valid any more.
Iceland is expected to withdraw its application to become a member of the European Union, the Reykjavik Grapevine reported Monday, citing the country's prime minister.

"Participating in EU talks isn't really valid anymore. Both due to changes in the European Union and because it's not in line with the policies of the ruling government to accept everything that the last government was willing to accept. Because of that, we're back at square one," Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was cited as saying by the magazine.

US State Department Warns Citizens Against Visiting Crimea, East Ukraine

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The US Department of State has issued a new travel warning urging US citizens to put off their travel to Crimea and conflict-torn eastern Ukraine.

The State Department warned US citizens "to defer all travel to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk" in a new travel warning issued Monday, as violent clashes continue in parts of the regions despite the Minsk ceasefire agreement, resulting in "thousands of injuries and deaths." The new travel advice supersedes a previous warning issued in August last year.

McCain, Other US, French Officials Accused of Visiting Syria Illegally

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Syria has filed a complaint with the United Nations accusing US Senator McCain as well as other high-ranking US and French officials of illegally entering the country without visas, thus violating its sovereignty.

Syria has accused several senior US and French officials, including Senator John McCain, former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and former US diplomat Peter Galbraith, of entering the country without visas, thus violating its sovereignty, according to a Reuters report.
"Such actions are a blatant violation of Syria's sovereignty and of the resolutions of the Security Council concerning Syria," the agency quotes Syria's ambassador to UN Bashar Ja'afari as writing in a letter dated December 30, which Reuters received Monday.

Past Russian wars: a quick look at history

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The number of well-informed commentators, politicians, blogger and observers who are predicting a war - or at least of a serious risk of war - between Russia and the USA is sharply rising.  Though I myself am rather inclined to believe that the US will use the Ukrainian junta to attack Russia rather then risk a direct confrontation,  I would not go as far as saying that I find a direct US-Russian war impossible.  If only because many wars are not deliberately started, but rather stumbled into.  For all these reasons, it is, I think, high time to look at the historical record of Russia in wars.

Putin Addresses the Nation With Annual New Year's Speech

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During his traditional New Year address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed sincere gratitude to Russian people "for staunch loyalty in both times of triumph and of woe."


 Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi, the reunification of Crimea with Russia and expressed sincere gratitude to Russian people for "unity and solidarity" during his traditional New Year address to the nation.

Should criminals be in charge of correcting the wrong they inflicted?

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Puerto Ricans vote in elections every 4 years at an 80% level of participation. Puerto Rico has been a colony of the United States (US) government for the past 116 years. If the US government has the final say in what happens in Puerto Rico, what is the purpose of these elections? The purpose is to fool the world that Puerto Rico is a democracy. 

The United Nations (UN) declared colonialism a crime against humanity in 1960. The UN has asked the US government 33 times to decolonize Puerto Rico immediately. The US government has refused. It says that Puerto Rico’s political relationship with the United States is none of the UN’s business. The US says that it is a domestic affair.

Historic Moment: Ramzan Kadyrov offers Putin his own *personal* volunteer Chechen special force

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Amazing video, thanks so much to all those who translated it in less then 24 hours!!  The video begins by showing the Chechen special forces equipped with Russian military and police special forces uniform.  Notice that the average age seems to be in the 30s.  You can tell that these are hard core, experienced fighters.  Will Putin actually use them and, if yes, how so?  It is hard to tell.  Probably not officially, but is obvious to me that these are ideal forces to send anywhere were "plausible deniability" is needed or to operate in a Muslim society (Lebanon? Xinjiang? Syria?).  What is certain is that they are already present in Novorussia.
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The US cannot start a major war in Ukraine

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By Nikolai Starikov 
Translated by Val from Osa 

http://www.vz.ru/opinions/2014/12/25/722171.html 

How long the West is willing to pay for the crumbling economy of Ukraine without guarantees of the beginning of its war with Russia? The Western strategy rule says: lost control over the territory - create the Antithesis. 

It is possible to understand what is happening in Ukraine, it is much more difficult to evaluate and forecast the development of events. Whatever the case, it is necessary to consistently follow one rule: set emotions aside. Blood, death and destruction are the most serious emotional blows, but if you follow your emotions, neither proper assessment nor correct forecast will result. 

2014 "End of Year" report and a look into what 2015 (WW3?) might bring - by Saker

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Introduction: 
By any measure 2014 has been a truly historic year which saw huge, I would say, even tectonic developments. This year ends in very high instability, and the future looks hard to guess. I don't think that anybody can confidently predict what might happen next year. So what I propose to do today is something far more modest. I want to look into some of the key events of 2014 and think of them as vectors with a specific direction and magnitude. I want to look in which direction a number of key actors (countries) "moved" this year and with what degree of intensity. Then I want to see whether it is likely that they will change course or determination. Then adding up all the "vectors" of these key actors (countries) I want to make a calculation and see what resulting vector we will obtain for the next year. Considering the large number of "unknown unknowns" (to quote Rumsfeld) this exercise will not result in any kind of real prediction, but my hope is that it will prove a useful analytical reference.