CIA and Pentagon Bicker While Russia Wipes Out U.S.-Backed Rebels

U.S.-backed opposition forces in Syria’s largest city are facing a ferocious Russian-led assault, raising fears that the rebels could be eliminated in a matter of weeks. So how are the Pentagon and the intelligence community responding? By catfighting among themselves. Two Department of Defense officials told The Daily Beast that they are not eager to […]

MC-21: Russians hail new airliner as better than Boeing or Airbus

Russia has unveiled a medium-range passenger plane that state media hailed as superior in many ways to western-made counterparts. In a glitzy Siberian ceremony attended by the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, the Irkut Corporation rolled out its new MC-21 airliner, which is still undergoing testing but is due to enter serial production in 2017. The plane […]

Putin’s New Stealth Jet Is on a Mission: To Prove Russia Can Still Fight

Russia’s new stealth fighter made an eyebrow-raising surprise appearance on June 5—soaring over the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow ripped from Ukraine in early 2014. The T-50—Russia’s answer to the U.S. Air Force’s F-22—is far from war-ready. Indeed, the twin-engine, radar-evading warplane is suffering such serious design, quality-control, and financing problems that it might never enter […]

Russia Pounds the Achilles’ Heel of America’s ISIS War

In the last week, Russia has stepped up its attacks in northern and western Syria, and the U.S. has cried foul, claiming Russia is only pretending to target terrorists. “Despite claims they are focusing on [al Qaeda in Syria] and [ISIS], Russia and [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad have primarily targeted the moderate opposition,” a […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin warns he’ll retaliate against NATO missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia will retaliate against the placement of U.S. missiles in nearby countries such as Romania, according to Russia’s state-run news agency TASS. The United States launched a ground-based missile defense system earlier this month in Romania. The system is meant to defend Europe against rogue states like Iran and not intended […]

Syria civil war tops Russia-Arab Gulf meeting agenda

Arab Gulf leaders have held talks with Russia’s foreign minister in Moscow as part of renewed efforts to stop the war in Syria. Thursday’s meeting between Sergey Lavrov and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers comes as rebels in northern Syria continue to make slow progress in their campaign to evict the Islamic State […]

Russia Finally Releases Ukrainian Pilot Nadiya Savchenko in a Prisoner Exchange – Video

A Ukrainian pilot detained in Russia since 2014 has made a triumphant return home following a prisoner swap that saw her traded for two Russians. Nadiya Savchenko was met by Ukraine’s president at Kiev’s Borispol airport, where she made a passionate speech sarcastically thanking those “who had wished me evil”. “Through you I survived,” she […]

Russian helicopters and military vehicles ‘destroyed by Islamic State’

Dozens of Russian military vehicles and attack helicopters deployed to Syria may have have been destroyed in an apparent attack by Isil. Images released on Tuesday by Stratfor, the American intelligence think tank, show what appear to be the blackened remains of four attack helicopters and dozens of lorries at an airbase used by Russia near […]