Putin blasts the US at the Valdai Club Conference

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As always, the Kremlin translation service is pathetically slow in translating Putin’s speeches.  In the first half already published, there are some amazingly blunt statements by Putin.  See for yourself:

Today, unfortunately, we have again come across similar situations. Attempts to promote a model of unilateral domination, as I have said on numerous occasions, have led to an imbalance in the system of international law and global regulation, which means there is a threat, and political, economic or military competition may get out of control.

What, for instance, could such uncontrolled competition mean for international security? A growing number of regional conflicts, especially in ‘border’ areas, where the interests of major nations or blocs meet. This can also lead to the probable downfall of the system of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (which I also consider to be very dangerous), which, in turn, would result in a new spiral of the arms race.

We have already seen the appearance of the concept of the so-called disarming first strike, including one with the use of high-precision long-range non-nuclear weapons comparable in their effect to nuclear weapons.

Big meeting in Moscow !

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Big meeting in Moscow:

By now everybody has seen the photo of Putin and Assad shaking hands.  What has received less attention is whom Assad actually met.

Putin, of course.  And Lavrov and Shoigu.  They spoke for a total of three hours.  Then  Medvedevjoined them for a private dinner.   Guess who else joined them?  Mikhail Fradkov, Head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, and Nikolai Patrushev, Head of the Russian Security Council.

Guys, this is most definitely a power-meeting my any standard, something which only happens very very rarely in the presence of a foreign head of state (only Xi had that kind of access, if I remember correctly).  And that tells me that majo

WikiLeaks Releases CIA Director John Brennan's Hacked Email Contents

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WikiLeaks obtained and released the hacked contents of CIA director John Brennan's AOL account on Wednesday.

The organization released a statement saying:

"Today, 21 October 2015 and over the coming days WikiLeaks is releasing documents from one of CIA chief John Brennan's non-government email accounts.  Brennan used the account occasionally for several intelligence related projects."

Week Two of the Russian Military Intervention in Syria Options for Daesh, the Empire and Russia

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This column was originally written for the Unz Review: http://www.unz.com/tsaker/week-two-of-the-russian-military-intervention-in-syria/

The Russian offensive in Syria is still very much in full swing and it is hard to make sense of what is really happening or how effective it has been. According to the Syrians, 40% of all the infrastructure of “Daesh” (meaning ISIS+al-Qaeda+all the hundreds of smaller groups fighting together against the Syrian government) has been destroyed. Russian sources are less enthusiastic and speak of a rather slow and hesitant Syrian offensive. So far, no major victory has been reported, but since all sides agree that the Russian air campaign is devastatingly effective and highly disruptive for Daesh, I think that there is a good probability that the Syrians will soon achieve a major success. If not, then the Iranians most definitely have the capability to truly tip the balance. So this might be a good time to look at what options Daesh will have.