Europe

Tatar autonomy suppressed in Crimea

The Supreme Court of Russia-annexed Crimea officially designated the Tatar Majlis an "extremist entity" and banned its activities—effectively ending Crimean Tatar autonomy.

Greater Middle East

Pseudo-left ‘monsterphilia’ hits bottom

Actively embracing monstrous regimes such as that of Bashar Assad, the contemporary "left" has thrown in its lot with fascism rather than revolution—and is in fact no longer a "left."

Europe

Obama’s nuclear upgrade: Euro-missiles redux?

Revelation of Washington's plan to station missile-capable nuclear warheads in Germany was met with a Russian threat to deploy ballistic missiles in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

Greater Middle East

Tatar militants pledge to Syria’s Nusra Front?

In a claim convenient to Russian war propaganda, a group of Tatars calling themselves the Crimean Jamaat reportedly pledged loyalty to Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise.

Planet Watch

Behind oil slump: shale boom or geopolitics?

Experts tell us the North American shale oil boom is responsible for low prices despite Middle East unrest. But the price slump serves Western aims of weakening Russia and Iran.

Inner Asia

Next: Free Siberia?

In a little-noted irony, as Vladiimir Putin backs the "People's Republics" in eastern Ukraine, he has cracked down on a separatist movement that has emerged in Siberia.