[This column was written for the Unz Review] There is nothing new about empires taking hostages and using them to put pressure on whatever rebel group needs to reminded “who is boss”. The recent arrest in Italy of Alexander Korshunov, the director ...

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, branded in mainstream media as “Putin’s chef”, is hiring hundreds of “freelance fighters” as a part of a plan to attack Syria’s Greater Idlib, a Jihadists stronghold, Bloomberg reported on September 6, citing “people with direct knowledge of ...

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) abandoned their military facility at Avivim in Upper Galilee, which had been targeted by Hezbollah anti-tank guided missile strike. According to a released video, IDF troops left behind at least 2 pieces of military equipment ...

Hezbollah, allegedly, posted a picture of Netanyahu taken through his office window. The captions for the image say: “Don’t test our capabilities…” A photo of Netanyahu is, allegedly, taken in Israel from a quadcopter drone.

A large-scale escalation has taken place on the contact line between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. On September 1, the Israeli military launched several shells at unidentified targets in Shebaa Farms, located in the Israeli-occupied area. An Israeli ...

Hezbollah-linked al-Manar TV channelhas released a video showing Hezbollah’s anti-tank guided missile strike on Israel’s Wolf armoured personnel carrier near Avivim in Upper Galilee. Hezbollah says that the vehicle was destroyed and several Israeli soldiers were killed or injured. Israel ...

by Pepe Escobar, Curitiba, Brazil – posted with permission Former Brazilian leader wishes emerging economies were closer, recalls Obama ‘crashing’ Copenhagen climate meet Former Brazilian leader Lula holds hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao, left, at the BRICS summit in Brasilia on ...

Meanwhile, fires rage in the Amazon and Brazilian President Bolsonaro has become a target of global indignation. By Pepe Escobar from Brazil – posted with permission Former president Lula speaks with reporters from a prison room in Curitiba in southern ...

The situation in the Middle East is once again escalating. On August 24, Israeli warplanes bombed what the Israeli military described as ‘Iranian targets’ near the town of Aqraba south of the Syrian capital, Damascus. The Syrian air-defense forces intercepted ...

by Peter Koenig for The Saker Blog On 28 October 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was elected President of Brazil with 55.1% of the vote – and with a gigantic help from Cambridge Analytica. At the World Economic Forum (WEF) in January ...