Section: Latest news

      Presidents, the Pope and Putin: a Heady Mix at the 70th UNGA

      The UN General Assembly’s annual meeting last month saw frosty and brief exchanges between the Russian and US Presidents, movement on the Sustainable Development goals, and encouraging talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for Iran. But Vladimir Putin sucked the oxygen out of the meeting, with his announcement about increased...

      Unidentified Russian rocket system is near Mariupol in Ukraine
      Oct08

      Unidentified Russian rocket system is near Mariupol in Ukraine

      New @Aero_Dnipro1 drone image show DNR w/ an unidentified weapon. Possibly 9K52 Luna-M SR-Ballistic Missile? #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/eVdZQJgAXi — Silver Surfer (@RobPulseNews) October 7, 2015 Aero_Dnipro1 drone footage shows Russian tanks, armour, and unknown Russian rocket system, 30km from Mariupol, Ukraine. Possibly it is 9K52...

      The Forgotten War: A View From Ukraine’s Frontlines
      Oct07

      The Forgotten War: A View From Ukraine’s Frontlines

      For a brief moment, it felt like déjà vu. As an officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, I visited several hot spots, witnessing my share of misery and destruction. Now I am in the Donbas, the war-torn region of eastern Ukraine.Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has struggled to shed its Soviet colonial past and the remaining vestiges of...

      Russia backs major Syrian assault

      Russia has showed off its military reach with a barrage of missiles fired against Syrian insurgents from the Caspian Sea. (VIDEO) ||| Beirut – Syrian troops and militia backed by Russian jets mounted what appeared to be their first major coordinated assaults on Syrian insurgents on Wednesday and Moscow said its warships fired a barrage of...

      Evolution, Not Revolution, Is the Way to Save Ukraine, Says Leading Anti-Corruption Crusader
      Oct07

      Evolution, Not Revolution, Is the Way to Save Ukraine, Says Leading Anti-Corruption Crusader

      Russian President Vladimir Putin is pivoting and wants to withdraw from the Donbas but keep Crimea, according to Iegor Soboliev, the head of the Ukrainian parliament’s anti-corruption committee.”He wants to give it back to us right now. He doesn’t need the Donbas,” he said in an interview on October 5.”Unfortunately,...

      The Donbas Black Hole
      Oct07

      The Donbas Black Hole

      What Russia hoped would be a small, victorious war has turned into the “geostrategic disaster of a new cold war,” writes Volodymyr Horbulin, a respected foreign policy analyst currently advising Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.In an article in Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Horbulin argues that the main participants in the war have exhausted...

      Animals abound at Chernobyl

      Nearly 30 years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, elk, deer, boar and wolves abound in the exclusion zone deserted by humans, researchers say in an international study. …read more Source:...

      Don’t Blame the Oligarchs: Why Have Ukraine’s Cultural Reforms Gone Nowhere?
      Oct06

      Don’t Blame the Oligarchs: Why Have Ukraine’s Cultural Reforms Gone Nowhere?

      The demonizing of Ukrainian oligarchs as major impediments to democratization and reform has become a shared mantra of Western and domestic pundits alike. Whenever explaining the slow pace of Ukraine’s changes after the Euromaidan, analysts argue that oligarchs only gained influence and that by controlling whole chunks of the state...

      USS Porter to Enter Black Sea
      Oct05

      USS Porter to Enter Black Sea

      Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter to enter the Black Sea: http://t.co/eUJBv0YqnH pic.twitter.com/ILCy0iJATL — US Mission to NATO (@USNATO) October 5, 2015 U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Africa/Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet informs that an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) will enter...

      Testing Putin’s Intentions
      Oct05

      Testing Putin’s Intentions

      The October 2 Paris Summit with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no breakthrough for peace in Ukraine. But it provided additional proof that, for the moment, Putin wants to lower tensions in the region. The parties spoke about...