Epstein Secrets

rdless of the human cost. The atrocities at Houla merely raised the temperature of that dispute. In the days after the massacre, Russia's President Vladimir Putin made it clear to European counterparts that his opposition to foreign military intervention in Syria was as strong as ever. This has put Russia on

tary for an alliance with Russia to stand up to the U.S. pressure. China's political leadership, for the time being, remains skeptical, and so does Putin. But in Moscow, too, there's a pro-China EFTA00702013 lobby, and Western intervention in Syria could provide the catalyst for a strategic rebalan

mes against humanity, indeed near-genocide, that Vladimir Putin ordered in Chechnya at the turn of the cen

egic rebalancing, with wide-ranging implications for the U.S. Putin has been in Beijing this week to meet Chinese leaders, including at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security and development arrangement focused on Central Asia. (In a coincidence of scheduling, Hillary Clinton was meeting some of her

A display of supremacy In December 2011, members of the Russian opposition obtained video evidence of ballot stuffing committed by operatives from Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in that month's parliamentary elections. A series of unusu- ally large protests ensued. Putin weathered the furor and went on t

n authoritarians. Again, Russia has taken the lead, with the state's asser- tion of authority over history textbooks and the process, encouraged by Putin, of reassessing the historical role of Joseph Stalin. • The hiring of political consultants and lobbyists from democratic countries to represent t

hinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing. 2016. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

r- national forums, subverting global human rights stan- dards and blocking precedent-setting actions against fellow✓ despots. With the formation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Russia, China, and a number of Central Asian governments have come together to discuss common regime-security strategies s More disturbingly, mod

oast a combined GDP of $32 trillion, versus the SCO nations' combined $10 trillion. So why did Erdogan announce that he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin that if Turkey were allowed to join SCO "we will forget about the EU"? Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped that bomb on Jan. 25. With Turk

urkish hopes for the EU membership diminishing, he declared the SCO to be a viable alternative to the European Union . "I said to Russian President Vladimir Putin,`You tease us, saying, `what [is Turkey] doing in the EU?' Now I tease you: Include us in the Shanghai Five and we will forget about the EU."'

unce that he had told Russian President Vladimir Putin that if Turkey were allowed to join SCO "we will

g the EU for the SCO? Raffaello Pantucci and Alexandros Petersen February 17, 2013 -- Recent moves suggest Turkey could make a bid for entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. It would be a mistake. The European Union is in a rut. Its once- vaunted economy and "ever closer" integration is facing the tough challenges of a

in the Russian Revolution (with the exception of Vladimir Lenin) were all in their thirties or younger. So

me increasingly feeble. The G8 has turned into a parody of a world government, and the G20 is obviously following suit. Organizations like BRICS or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are in no hurry to compensate for their weakness. EFTA00701865 International relations are being renationalized. Sovereign states are now coming