Moscow

(ANTIMEDIA) A regional and international proxy war that began in 2011 could well be on its way to becoming a hot global conflict as Russian and American troops arrive in the same Syrian city.

The Russian Interfax news agency is reporting that Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s point man in the Ukrainian conflict, has today issued a warning to Kiev that Russia will take unspecified action unless the coal blockade is lifted.
This follows warnings from Moscow that Russia will not allow a humanitarian catastrophe in the Donbass and from the authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics that they will enact a wholesale nationalisation of all Ukrainian owned plants and businesses within the Republics’ territories on 1st March 2017 unless the blockade is lifted.

As Washington descends into hysteria over the Russian hacking claims and the Dossier into Donald Trump’s supposed Russian connections, Moscow – the other capital involved in the scandal – remains calm.
Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s spokesman, denied the allegations in the Trump Dossier yesterday, just as the Russians have previously denied the hacking claims and the claims that they leaked the DNC and Podesta emails to Wikileaks.

Russia, together with much of the Orthodox world, celebrates Christmas today 7th January 2017.
This is not due to theological difference.  The Russian Orthodox Church retains the Julian Calendar, and by its reckoning today is 25th December 2016 ie. Christmas Day.  Russia continued to use the Julian Calendar until February 1918, when the new Bolshevik government switched to West’s Gregorian Calendar, which is why the “October Revolution” which brought the  Bolsheviks to power actually took place – according to the West’s calendar and to Russia’s present calendar – in November.

Front running a steadily moving train of Russian foreign politic, the Western corporate media announced the possibility of 35 American diplomats being expelled from Russia and barring all who remain

Reading Western media reaction to Putin’s decision yesterday not to retaliate in kind to Obama’s latest sanctions has been instructive, with the tone extending from the admiring, to the factual, and to the furious.
One comment however stood out as by far the most unpleasant, and it came (unsurprisingly to those who follow him) from Luke Harding in the Guardian

Fidel Castro was a staunch ally of nationalist, anti-colonialist and pro-independence African leaders like Nelson Mandela [Xinhua]
The 20th Century’s last great revolutionary, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, died on November 25.
And the age of revolution died with him.
Loved and respected by many, hated by some, there is no questioning that Fidel played a pivotal role in shaping the world in which we currently live.
François Hollande, president of France, called him a “towering figure of the 20th Century”. And so he was.

Fighting in and around Aleppo has generally subsided giving civilians much needed reprieve, but there have been reports of violations [Xinhua]
Russia has accused US-backed Syrian rebels of failing to hold their end of the bargain in a ceasefire which only began four days ago.
Major General Igor Konashenkov of the Russian military said in a statement from the Kremlin on Friday that he suspected Syrian rebels – namely Islamist armed groups – may not have the ability to comply with the tenets of the ceasefire agreement.

File photo of US Secretary of State John Kerry with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who are meeting in Geneva in another bid to reach Syria consensus [Xinhua]
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told reporters that he hoped a last-ditch effort by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry can reach a breakthrough in their talks on Syria today.
“We are all hoping for positive conclusions. The discussions are addressing complex, delicate and difficult issues,” de Mistura said.

(MEE) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan landed in Russia on Tuesday for his first meeting with counterpart Vladimir Putin as part of a bid to heal their bitter feud over Ankara’s downing of a Russian warplane late last year.