Speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the UN 70th General Assembly (Updated with transcript!)

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Transcript:

Mr. Secretary General,

Distinguished heads of state and government,

Ladies and gentlemen,

The 70th anniversary of the United Nations is a good occasion to both take stock of history and talk about our common future. In 1945, the countries that defeated Nazism joined their efforts to lay a solid foundation for the postwar world order. Let me remind you that key decisions on the principles defining interaction between states, as well as the decision to establish the UN, were made in our country, at the Yalta Conference of the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition.

We came, we saw, He Died: How will Washington react if Assad repeats fate of Gadafi ?

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Following the death of Muammar Gaddafi then-US State Secretary Hillary Clinton jokingly said: "We came, we saw, he died." However, now amid the massive migrant crisis in Europe, Washington would unlikely react the same way if Syrian President Bashar Assad repeats the Libyan leader's fate, author Brian Cloughley believes.

The US invasion in Iraq, as well as NATO-led airstrikes in Libya and support of the so-called Syrian moderate rebels have backfired. Not so much on Washington, but its ally Europe, which is suffering from the largest migrant crisis since World War II, with hundreds of thousands fleeing violence in war-torn regions in the Middle East and North Africa, author and expert in political and military affairs Brian Cloughley noted. According to Brian Cloughley, the US war in Iraq has displaced about 1 in 25 Iraqi citizens, while the violent expansion of the ISIL jihadist group contributed to more Iraqis fleeing their homes.

Interesting but ambiguous video

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This video was supposedly made near Homs and supposedly shows a “large Russian aircraft and 4 escorts”.  Maybe.  The large aircraft could be either Il-76 (transport) or Il-78 (refueling).  The four smaller aircraft are not escorts, but probably SU-24, and if that guess of mine is correct, then this is interesting.    Careful now!  Iran also has Il-76 and SU-24s, so we don’t know for sure that these are Russian.  But if these are, indeed, Russian SU-24s that would significant as the Syrian Air Forces does not have such aircraft.

Iceland Counters US Military Claims of 'Russian Flights'

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Iceland's foreign ministry countered US defense department claims that Russia has increased activity around the country and that it is interested in "military cooperation."

The US government attempted to convince Iceland to accept a higher US military presence over what it called increased Russian military flights in the region, Icelandic media reported.

Iceland's foreign ministry released figures showing that Russian military flights anywhere near the country's airspace have actually decreased more than five times compared to 2007. None of the flights breached Icelandic airspace.

Operation Unthinkable 2.0? Pentagon Updating War Plans Against Russia

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According to State and Defense Department sources speaking to Foreign Policy, the Pentagon is "dusting off," reevaluating and updating its contingency plans for war with Russia. The publication explains why all of this is Russia's fault, and where things may go from here.

The article, written by well-known Russian politics critic and self-confessed Russophobe Julia Ioffe, explains this is "the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union" that the Pentagon has decided to review and update its contingency plans for war with Russia, based on revised appraisals of the country as a potential threat, rather than a potential partner, to NATO.