Ukraine says Russia has 40,000 troops amassed in Crimea with 'very bad intentions'

A build-up of Russian military on Ukraine's border with the Crimean region, which has been annexed by Moscow, could reflect "very bad intentions," Ukraine's U.N. envoy warned on Thursday after the U.N. Security Council discussed the growing tensions.

Ukrainian U.N. Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko, who requested the closed-door meeting of the 15-member council, said Russia had amassed more than 40,000 troops in Crimea, seized by Moscow in 2014, and on the Ukrainian border.

'Last doctors of Aleppo' write heartbreaking letter to Obama: 'We need action'

Aleppo, which has been beset by constant violence since 2012, and the site of unspeakable suffering from air strikes, ground fighting, and even chemical weapons attacks, has become a humanitarian nightmare.

 A man carries an injured man after what activists said was shelling from forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo's Al-Mashad neighbourhood March 20, 2015.
 
A shortage of well-supplied hospitals has resulted in countless deaths that might have been prevented had the mortally wounded been able to seek medical treatment — a shortage of doctors, many of whom have either been killed or fled Aleppo since the fighting erupted, has made the situation even more dire.

Ukraine is on the verge of full-scale war

MARYINKA, Ukraine - Framed by a tiny cutout in the fortified bunker, this particular piece of no-man's land is tinted a blood-reddish orange by the setting summer sun.
It's hot as hell, and it's about to get hotter. When the sun goes down, the guns start blazing. And all that separates the men at their triggers is a grassy patch of land the size of a soccer field that is heavily mined. If you're a Ukrainian soldier here, you don't need binoculars to observe the enemy -- you just look in his direction.

 A Grad multiple rocket launcher system fires during a military exercise for Ukrainian army reservists at a shooting range near the village of Goncharivske in Chernihiv region, Ukraine, June 22, 2016

It starts with a single shot from a Kalashnikov: Ziiip. Then another: Ziiip. And three more: Ziiip. Ziiip. Ziiip. Each shot whizzes dangerously closer. In the time it takes to boil an egg, the situation escalates as the rifles are joined by .50-caliber machine guns, mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades that explode with hollow thuds against the earth or cottages where the soldiers eat and sleep, showering everything with shrapnel.
Within an hour, shells from howitzers and tanks -- and eventually surface-to-surface Grad missiles, whose name is Russian for "hail" -- begin pummeling the scarred steppe.

Детей Беслана убили не чеченцы, а русский спецназ

Резня детей русскими в Беслане произошла 1 сентября 2004 года, после того, как Путин отдал приказ начать бойню.


Варшавская Gazeta Wyborcza сообщает, что в европейском суде постановили, что Москва не предоставила существенных доказательств, которые бы подтвердили, что 344 детей в Беслане убили чеченские муджахиды, а не русские боевики из банды «ФСБ России».

ISIS is raising a new generation of terrorist fighters — and its system of indoctrination is 'unprecedented'

ISIS might be ceding territory in the Middle East, but it hasn't given up the battle for hearts and minds.

The terrorist group is playing a long game, working aggressively to indoctrinate children under its control to groom the next generation of jihadis in its image.

While other terrorist groups around the world have also used children, new reports reveal the unprecedented system ISIS has created to raise the next generation of terrorists.

German newspaper Der Spiegel talked to several children who explained how ISIS, also referred to as IS or the Islamic State, methodically brainwashes kids to ensure that even if its territory is wiped out, it'll still have a loyal band of followers keeping the group alive.

Pictures appear to show British special forces on the front lines in Syria

The first images of what appear to be British special forces operating on the ground in Syria have emerged, showing vehicles patrolling near the scene of an attack by Islamic State.
The pictures were taken in June and were first published by the BBC.

It is believed to be the first time British forces have been photographed operating inside Syria, where they are engaged in relatively small numbers in wide-ranging roles that include surveillance, advisory and combat.

There are more losers than winners in Syria

The battle for Aleppo has the Arab world, Middle East observers and Western policymakers on edge.
In what is likely a turning point in the long Syrian civil war, a coalition of opposition fighters is attempting to break Bashar al-Assad regime’s siege of the country’s commercial capital.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government – with Russian support – is bombing rebel strongholds in the city which is still home to 250,000 people, according to the BBC.

 A rebel fighter sits with his weapon in the artillery academy of Aleppo

Thanks to recent U.S. diplomatic overtures to deepen cooperation with Russia against the Islamic State, or IS, and al-Qaida affiliate Al-Nusra Front, the U.S. could be considered a partner in those airstrikes. The U.S. overtures have been criticized as strategically inconsistent and Putin-pleasing.

As a student of American policy in the Middle East, I’d argue that American efforts are key to the tumultuous trajectory of Syria’s uprising-turned-war.

What’s less clear to me is how much U.S. President Barack Obama’s approach prioritizes either the immediate needs of Syrians suffering from war and terrorism or their aspirations for self-liberation from authoritarian rule.

Will the Russians Try Another Land Grab in Ukraine?

The war in eastern Ukraine has lately resembled the anecdote about boiling a frog: the fighting has been slowly increasing in intensity, but the international community has thus far acted as if nothing was happening. Then, over the weekend, a car bomb went off wounding Igor Plotnitsky, the head of the so-called breakaway Luhansk People’s Republic, prompting Kyiv and the separatists to lob accusations at each other as to who was behind the attack. Nervous reports by Ukrainian officials that Russia was sending fresh tanks over the border into Donbas and massing troops on the crossing into Crimea had Ukraine-watchers fingering their panic buttons. Today, the Poroshenko Administration went as far as to announce it was putting its forces on high alert in anticipation of some kind of Russian attack. The frog looked set to leap out of the pot.

У России в Сирии начались серьезные потери

В российском сегменте Сети бытует древняя, но похоже — бессмертная сага о том, что оружие они лепят не «имеющее аналогов» и «серьезно опередившее», но вот часто оно попадает в неумелые руки.

Наиболее показательным является российское участие в сирийской войне. Здесь Россия воюет официально и не стесняется в применении всего вооружения, которое имеет, включая авиацию и тактические ракеты. Причем, авиация применяется всех типов, от фронтовой, до стратегической и плюс к этому – задействованы средства военно-морского флота.

Собственно, Алеппо может и в котле, но, какую не какую, а беспилотную зону повстанцы все же создали.