Vladimir Putin sent greetings to participants in a celebratory meeting marking the Day of Unity between the Peoples of Russia and Belarus. The message reads, in part: “I sincerely congratulate you on the Day of Unity between the Peoples of Russia and Belarus. This holiday symbolises the friendship between our nations, bound by a common history, cultural and spiritual values and, at the same time, cherishing their unique essence and national traditions. The special allied format of relations between Russia and Belarus ensures a high level of cooperation in the area of foreign policy, defence and security, and allows the citizens of both countries to enjoy equal education, employment and social security opportunities. We implement major bilateral economic, energy and infrastructure projects. We expand constructive dialogue between our legislatures, inter-regional cooperation, and contacts between business communities and public organisations. I am convinced…

-Oui, fit le sénateur de l’Indiana, brossant un tableau éloquent de la situation prévalant à Nassérah, Bark ajouta : -Si tu veux avoir un résumé plus élaboré, tu peux en parler directement à Jobran Afiya ? -Je voudrais bien. J’aimerais être informé, il n’est pas question d’y aller les yeux bandés. -Jobran t’appellera demain à votre bureau, ta seule présence chez sa parente sera d’un apport considérable, affirma le jeune sénateur Arabe.…

A friend of mine, Phil Collier, is an avid student of and sometime writer on Middle East affairs (and a National Master in chess); he informed me that Avi Shlaim has one chapter in his book Israel and Palestine: Reappraisals, Revisions, Refutations, headed "Palestine and Iraq", which presents a thesis almost identical to what I have written in The Transparent Cabal. This encouraged me to obtain the book, and Collier's description turns out to be correct. This similarity is quite significant, since what I have written about the neo-cons and their strong influence on US Middle East policy and connection to Israel…

A miniature Emancipation Proclamation helped to recruit Black soldiers during the Civil War. Picture the Emancipation Proclamation, the Civil War-era executive order that changed the legal status of enslaved African Americans in secessionist states, and you might imagine a large broadside, perhaps nailed to a tree or held aloft by Abraham Lincoln. But one of the earliest editions of this document took the form of a thin, pocket-sized pamphlet, no bigger than a playing card. Commissioned by John Murray Forbes, a white entrepreneur and abolitionist, this edition was distributed in the South in hopes of recruiting Black men to fight…

New secretary of state Anthony Blinken visited Europe last week in an apparent effort to strengthen NATO after a period of presumed drift during the Trump years. Among other things he urged Germany to cancel the Nord Stream II pipeline project that will bring cheap natural gas from point A on the Baltic Sea coast (Vyborg, Russia) to point B (Grieswald, Germany). It is a clear instance of free trade between capitalist countries, for mutual advantage. The project costing 10 billion Euros, begun in 2012, is 95% complete. Blinken like his predecessor Mike Pompeo asked Angela Merckel to cancel it…