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We may never know the answer. Possible culprits range from Russia's security apparatus to one of the extreme nationalist movements emboldened by Putin's climate of fear and paranoia. In a cynical regime like Putin's, the last thing we should expect is for the truth to emerge. Indeed, Kremlin apologists pointed to all the usual suspects in the killing's aftermath — Chechen terrorists, the Ukrainian government, Russia's democratic opposition itself, and even the United States. The Kremlin knows what to do at a moment like this — bury the truth deep beneath the Russian tundra, where no one will ever find it.
An equal opportunity destroyer, IS has gone beyond lopping off the heads of live perceived enemies to demolishing priceless artifacts from ancient Mesopotamia that had survived previous waves of conquest.
Europe Should Press Moscow to Respect EU Rules—and Kyiv to End Gas Monopoly
In recent days, Russia has once more threatened the security of Europe’s gas supplies by announcing that it will refuse to pipe gas through Ukraine and will require that a southern alternative be built through Turkey. The European gas supply system has become a vital issue over the past year given Europe’s significant reliance on Russian imports and the conflict arising from Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. Europe depends on gas imports from Russia for approximately 30 percent of its requirements, of which about 40 percent are transported through Ukrainian pipelines.
For years, Europe has allowed Gazprom, the monopolistic Russian state gas supplier, to sell in Europe on terms that are highly anticompetitive and inconsistent with market principles. This has let Russia use gas exports as a weapon of intimidation, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.
He gave rebels the sophisticated weapons that shot the Malaysian airliner out of the sky in July and have pulverized Ukrainian villages and towns.
'The Modern Mercenary' author McFate says contractors fill security vacuum left by departing troops
One of the biggest fallacies in Washington is that once the United States is done with private security contractors in Afghanistan and elsewhere they will simply pack their bags and head home, says Sean McFate.
In fact, these private armies go in search of new clients and conflicts.
As US and coalition troops withdraw from Afghanistan they are leaving behind a security vacuum that is being filled by private security contractors — an industry that has flourished since the Iraq war in 2003.
Some contractors may go to Iraq, while others are protecting international shipping in the pirate-infested waters off Africa.
“If the United States wants to be a global power with global presence all the time and be able to project power, but Americans themselves do not want to have to go to war, then it seems that contracting is not going to go away,” says McFate, a former US Army paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division who later worked with the private security firm DynCorp International.
On issues ranging from the 1956 Suez war to the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, the leaders of the U.S. and Israel have often clashed in ways that reflected different perceptions of their national interests.
Still, there is something particularly disturbing and counterproductive about the current disagreement over Iran.
Read the Issue Brief (PDF)Born to Belgium aristocrats in Brussels in 1926, his parents were Countess Audrey Dorothy Louise Townshend, daughter of Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend, KGB, DSO, and Belgian Count Baudouin de Borchgrave d'Altena, head ofBelgium's military intelligence for the government-in-exile during World War II. De Borchgrave would renounce his title in 1951 for American citizenship.
