Insistence on regional autonomy and a federal solution for Syria is straining the de facto alliance between the Rojava Kurds and Damascus, despite their mutual enmity for Turkey.
Is Trump's breach with Putin real, or is all the sudden sabre-rattling part of an elaborate charade to throw Congress off the scent of ongoing Trump-Putin collusion?
Amid growing crisis in Venezuela, it emerges that the country's state oil company, heavily indebted to Russian giant Rosneft, made a big donation to Trump's inauguration festivities.
Russian authorities say they have detained a suspect in the St. Petersburg metro bombing, as rights groups protest Moscow's draconian new anti-terrorism legislation.
US air-strikes killed more Arab civilians in ISIS-held territory, escalating tensions as US-backed Kurdish forces advance on Raqqa, the Arab-majority ISIS capital.
Western media refer to “evacuation” and “population transfer” of besieged Syrian towns, euphemisms that mask the sectarian and genocidal element of the regime strategy.
Alarming reports are emerging that Chechyna has opened “the first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler,” following a “gay purge” in the southern Russian republic. (Photo: Human Rights Campaign via Twitter)
The vote over the name change from South Ossetia to Alania reveals how the autonomist aspirations of the Ossetians (however legitimate) have been exploited in the Great Game. (Map: Wikipedia)
Trump, whose own air-strikes have killed hundreds, decides he must bomb an Assad air-base to retaliate for a gas attack—while the “anti-war” left is undisturbed by the gas attack.
The US air-lifts Kurdish fighters into ISIS territory in preparation for a final assault on Raqqa—while bombing the city, deepening the growing enmity between Kurds and Arabs.
The Kurdish YPG militia says it has agreed to establishment of a Russian military base in its territory, although Moscow calls it a "reconciliation center."
The US is denying reports that it bombed a mosque in northwestern Syria during evening prayers, killing at least 50—despite mounting evidence from survivors and witnesses.
