Friends, New York Times contributor Anatol Lieven, also an expert on Russia even though he is now working on Middle East issues, makes perfect sense in urging US-Russia rapprochement. Washington’s policy recently has created more chaos and potential confrontation between Russia and our country than the world can afford. When Congressmen urge “getting tougher” on Russia and Putin, what does this mean? Are they serious? Do they still see themselves as gun slingers in the Wild West?

Let’s hope that the NYT prints more of this kind of questioning of assumptions of current political leaders. After all they will be leaving their posts and the rest of us will have to deal with the consequences left by them.

Show this to your friends and families, particularly those who have been taken in by the Wild West lore of bygone decades.

–  Sharon

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Friends, all sides were informed about Russia’s departing Syria. Here is a Middle East report. It’s good to read how others see, understand and report. Apparently Putin, as usual, crossed every T before implementing the plan. Hopefully other nations are watching for cues how to behave properly in dicey situations. – Sharon

Moscow informed Washington, Damascus and Tehran of its intention to reduce forces in Syria

Russia Plan B is always an option in Syria

by Elijah J. Magnier

Hammymeem, Latakia

The Hammymeem military base hosting the Russian Air Force is observing frenetic movement preparing for daily departure of the excess of Air personnel and jets that were standing by for the last two weeks, following a reasonably implemented Cease-fire.

Russian Air Force used to carry between 200 to 350 sorties, bombing selective objectives, on daily basis until the end of the month of February when the Cease-fire was declared in Syria. Today, the operation room can identify less than 30 objectives per day, with a major concentration on hitting the “Islamic State” group (ISIS) in Palmyra, Tadmur, and other very limited objectives in cities under al-Qaeda fi bilad al-Sham, Jabhat al-Nusra’ control.

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The Nation

The US, Russia, China, and others are playing a dangerous game of military provocation. That’s exactly how World War I started a century ago.

By Michael T. Klare

Whether or not we have slid into a “new Cold War,” as claimed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the Munich Security Conference on February 13, we certainly have entered a period of escalating provocations, with China, Russia, the United States, and other major powers testing one another’s resolve through a series of military feints. While usually contained below the level of armed combat, these actions—deployment of bombers or warships in or near a rival’s territory, construction of new military bases in menacing locations, aggressive military maneuvers, and so on—naturally invite countermeasures of an increasingly belligerent sort and so increase the risk of war.

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Reinvent

Clinging to simplified narratives that mischaracterizes Russia as perpetually unreasonable has made productive US engagement with the country impossible.

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