At 2 A.M. this morning, customers of  Florida's Pulse nightclub, one of the hottest gay bar in Orlando,  were attacked by a lone gunman Omar Saddiqui Mateen, 31,  carrying an assault rifle and hand gun.   More than 300 people were in the club at the time of the attack.. So far 50 people are dead and 50 have been…

In May 2016, Russia’s Mariinsky Theater orchestra held a classical music performance in the historic city of Palmyra, which had been retaken by the Syrian government after it suffered devastation from the self-proclaimed Islamic State. The concert has become yet another step in the new political race of the 21st century: a battle where new methods…

Author: Vitaly Naumkin, Academic Director of the RAS Institute for Oriental Studies, RAS Corresponding Member. What is happening in Crimea now can only be referred to as a massive violation of human rights. Human rights are being trampled on by those who tend to teach others how to honor these rights – the United States and other…

For now, what makes flaring a legitimate issue on the Russian agenda is the embarrassment of the Russian government for the internationally broadcasted satellite images of APG released in Siberia that “challenges China’s Great wall as the most visible man-made phenomenon that can be seen from space.” Thus, the legitimacy and…

Historically, APG (associated petroleum gas) was considered to be a waste byproduct rather than a valuable fuel what entailed a wide-spread practice of venting and gas flaring popular with most gas producing countries. While venting usually presupposes a “direct release of natural gas in the atmosphere” flaring accounts for the…

Many analysts and politicians consider the current political crisis between Russia and the European Union as part of a long-term negative trend that will lead to a further decrease in cooperation between the two parties. In reality, the current crisis is rather a temporary one that mostly concerns the state of relations between Moscow and Brussels…

A Legal Imbroglio in the South China Sea
 
A more concise version of this article was published as a CCTV Panview Oped.
 
The rhetorical war between the China and the United States over the South China Sea dispute is increasing in tempo and magnitude by the week.  The US is wasting no time, resource and effort in sponsoring…

On April 27, 2016, General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, declared that Libya barely existed as a state and was a breeding ground for jihadist networks, like the Islamic State. To justify his grim assessment, Gerasimov accused the United States of using democracy promotion as a pretext to destabilize the Middle East. He…

                             Unafraid, Bi-Partisan, Uphold U.S. and Freedom
 
Donald Trump:  “I don’t bring it [Vince Foster’s death] up because I don’t know enough to really discuss it … I will say there are people who continue to…

The quality of the commercial cooperation between Russian and Western European companies in the energy sector has remained significant, despite the sanctions regime. Strong economic rationale seems to prevail over politics. The German-Russian relations have been the most prominent in the region and have long-existed under the mutual awareness of…

In 1994, when Azerbaijan struck the ‘Contract of the Century’, it seemed that the republic’s future was defined for many years to come. The infamous oil contract has had a tremendous effect on Azerbaijan’s role and presence in the world energy network: an estimated 233 billion barrels worth of oil made Azerbaijan a new Saudi Arabia at the…

he Southeast Asian bloc of nations formed the ASEAN Economic Community at the end of last year, moving one step closer to full integration and creating a more formalized market of over 600 million people, which is larger than the EU. The region has an abundance of economic potential, which is giving rise…