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.

Europe

Fascist pseudo-anti-fascism advances in Russia

Putin's political machine convened an "anti-fascist" summit at Yalta in annexed Crimea, attended by Hungary's Jobbik party, the British Nationalist Party and other neo-fascist entities.

Europe

Great Game for Arctic in Ukraine struggle?

At the NATO summit called in response to the Ukraine escalation, a particularly hard line is being taken by Canada—now in a race with Russia to claim Arctic oil resources.

Europe

Sarajevo at 100: ready for World War 5?

As the 1914 assassination of Archduke Ferdinand is commemorated in a bitterly divided Sarajevo, the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria show grim potential for a new world war.

Europe

UN: breakdown of law and order in east Ukraine

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report citing abductions, detentions, torture and killings in the eastern regions of Ukraine where armed groups hold control.