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Focus: Russia Sanctions and Europe – July 31, 2017

State TV interview: Putin defends massive cut of US diplomatic staff in Russia in response to sanctions – TASS

VIDEO: Putin: US diplomatic mission needs to cut 755 employees, time to show we won’t leave anything unanswered – YouTube

Washington can decide embassy staff cuts, Kremlin says – TheHill

Putin says the U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia needs to cut 755 employees. What do all these people do? – The Denver Post

U.S. embassy in Moscow says locked out of diplomatic property – reuters.com

US calls Vladimir Putin’s expulsion of diplomats from Russia ‘regrettable and uncalled for’ – The Independent

What’s in the Russia sanctions bill that Trump will sign – ABC News

Will Trump hold signing ceremony on Russian sanctions? – TheHill

ARCHIVE: Text of bill to provide congressional review and to counter aggression by the Governments of Iran, the Russian Federation, and North Korea – docs.house.gov

Pence read more

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Tomgram: Michael Klare, Spreading the Cult of Carbon

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.




America’s Carbon-Pusher in Chief
Trump’s Fossil-Fueled Foreign Policy
By Michael T. Klare

Who says President Trump doesn’t have a coherent foreign policy? Pundits and critics across the political spectrum have chided him for failing to articulate and implement a clear international agenda. Look closely at his overseas endeavors, though, and one all-too-consistent read more

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Focus: Syria – July 29, 2017

ISIS militants fight back in Raqqa, hit SDF-held areas – ARA News

Daesh claims deadly attack in Syria against US-backed force – AP

Savage gunfights between Kurdish forces and ISIS in the streets of Raqqa (VIDEO) – almasdarnews.com

PHOTO: Raqqa: ISIS SVBIED attack against YPG in Raqqa today – WorldOnAlert on Twitter

In pictures: ISIS overruns, destroys Kurdish base in Hasakah (PHOTOS) – almasdarnews.com

At least 11 Kurdish fighters killed in clashes with ISIS in Syria’s Raqqa – ARA News

PHOTO: Today in Hesekê 11 YPG & 2 Asayîş members were burried who fell fighting daesh in Raqqa. A very sad day. – Rojava on Twitter

Raqqa: YPG suffered heavy losses in Raqqa [list] – WorldOnAlert on Twitter

Kurds may leave coalition Raqqa op if Turkish attacks continue: YPG Commander – Sputnik International

British ex-soldier arrested in Turkey and accused of fighting alongside Kurdish rebels – telegraph.co.uk

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Congressional Opponents of Sanctions As Nuts As Supporters

By David Swanson, American Herald Tribune

Both houses of Congress have now passed big new sanctions bills by veto-proof majorities, in fact with near unanimity. The vote this week in the House of Misrepresentatives was 419–3 on a bill to sanction Russia, Iran, and North Korea as punishment for primarily imaginary crimes, despite the sum total of the global legal bodies having asked the United States to judge these crimes, skip over a trial, and move right ahead with punishment being exactly equal read more

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Tomgram: Laura Gottesdiener, The Wrath of the U.S. Along the Euphrates River

Burning Raqqa 
The U.S. War Against Civilians in Syria
By Laura Gottesdiener

It was midday on Sunday, May 7th, when the U.S.-led coalition warplanes again began bombing the neighborhood of Wassim Abdo’s family.

They lived in Tabqa, a small city on the banks of the Euphrates River in northern Syria. Then occupied by the Islamic State (ISIS, also known as Daesh), Tabqa was also under siege by U.S.-backed troops and being hit by daily artillery fire from U.S. Marines, as well as U.S.-led coalition read more

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What’s Missing from Dunkirk Film

Yes, I’m going to tell you what’s missing from this film without watching the film. Trump has, as promised, made me so sick of winning that I really could enjoy watching a defeat film, but I think I’ll pass. If I’m wrong about what’s missing from it (I mean one of the many things that are, no doubt, missing from it), I promise that I will eat an entire plan for victory in Afghanistan annually for the next decade.

One of the oddest things about World War II is how it read more

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Focus: Raqqa – July 25, 2017

SDF And Syrian military make secret deal, divide spheres of influence in Deir Ezzor, Raqqah provinces: Media – southfront.org

Kurds ‘collaborating’ with Russia and Syrian regime over Raqqa, SDF reportedly ceded towns in northern Syria to regime forces as part of a Russian-brokered deal – alaraby.co.uk

More details: Raqqa July 20 SDF & SAA & tribal forces signed agreement to hand over some SDF areas to SAA within 3 days – Ivan Sidorenko on Twitter

Secret Russian-Kurdish-Syrian military cooperation is happening in Syria’s eastern desert – The Independent

Continued fighting in areas in the western part of Al-Raqqah city and ISIS continues its counter attacks – SOHR

Kurdish-led forces fling back huge ISIS counterattack in Raqqa – almasdarnews.com

In pictures: ISIS uses hordes of suicide bombers against Kurdish forces in Raqqa city (PHOTOS) – almasdarnews.com

SDF says 45% of Raqqa city liberated, operations ongoing – ARA News

Syrian Democratic Forces deny pause in anti-ISIS operations in Raqqa – ARA News

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Tomgram: William Hartung, The Trillion-Dollar National Security Budget

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

In May 2012, TomDispatch featured a piece by Chris Hellman and Mattea Kramer, both then analysts at the National Priorities Project, headlined “War Pay: The Nearly $1 Trillion National Security Budget.” The two of them ran through the figures for the cumulative annual budget for what we still mysteriously read more