"The greatest warrior is not he who wins every battle. The most excellent warrior is he who wins without fighting." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 600 B.C.
I have read The Art of War many times, and you can bet that Vladimir Putin has too. I found the quote above to be the most important maxim in that masterpiece, and I think Putin would agree. And when the "fighting" could potentially lead to the 3rd World War and the extinction of Humanity, then to avoid fighting becomes as important as avoiding defeat, because the 3rd World War is a war no one will win. Once it starts, we all lose. And so far, it is Putin who has prevented the war from starting.

The recent criticism of Vladimir Putin for "betraying" Syria or the Donbass Republics or even Russia itself is as impudent as it is misguided, and it comes from the usual collection of armchair warriors and self-styled pundits who actually seem to think they know more about geopolitics than Vladimir Putin does.

They seem to fail to understand that war requires sacrifices, as well as deception, and that perhaps all may not be exactly as they think it is. They also fail to understand that preventing war sometimes requires distasteful compromises. These self-appointed critics and "strategists" should look at the results of Putin's work, rather than be confused by their amateur interpretation of how he accomplishes it. And they should keep in mind the fact that Putin's objectives may not be the same as their own, and that it is always easy to talk when you have no skin in the game.

Top officials, including former CIA officers, Pentagon officials, US Army officers and former diplomats demand explanation of Israeli actionsIn a letter addressed to President Donald Trump, with copies to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN Security Council, four top former officials at the highest level of the US government have given him legal notice about his duty to advise the US Congress, the ICC and the UNSC, among others, about Israel's actions coinciding with the "70^th anniversary of the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes."

The letter is signed, among others, by former CIA operations officer Phil Giraldi; former Pentagon official Michael Maloof; former US Army officer and State Department coordinator for counterterrorism contractor Scott Bennett; and former diplomat and author of Visas For al-Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked The World, Michael Springmann.

Maloof, Bennett and Giraldi, as well as Springmann and this correspondent, were among guests at the 6^th International New Horizon conference in the holy city of Mashhad, eastern Iran. The top themes of the conference's debates were Palestine and the Trump administration's unilateral exit from the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Pompeo would like his staff to always carry their "swagger" with them, obeying the idea that America is always right

This may just be a return to traditional American diplomacy a.k.a American exceptionalism; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke of the importance of what he called "America's essential rightness".

That honestly has to be one of the most Orwellian things a Secretary of State has said in recent memory. While it may seem benign at first, if thought about for a moment, what he is saying is that Americans must believe that America is essentially always right.

Sources in the Russian law enforcement agencies, citing data from closed communication channels with the Defense Ministries of China, Pakistan and Afghanistan, say that the operation to prepare a large-scale hybrid offensive against Russia through Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is in the final phase.

Reports of this have been received earlier, in particular, this was mentioned at a recent security conference held in Tashkent. Then the head of the Tajik Foreign Ministry Sirodzhiddin Aslov openly announced the activation of terrorists in the region:

The activation of terrorist groups, their advancement to the northern regions of Afghanistan, especially in the territories bordering Tajikistan, the increase in the number of ISIS supporters, as well as the participation of a certain number of citizens of the post-Soviet republics in the terrorist groups and movements present in Afghanistan ... causes our serious concern

The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) just issued a stunning rebuke to Israel, voting through a resolution calling on the council to "urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry... to investigate all alleged violations and abuses... in the context of the military assaults on large scale civilian protests that began on 30 March 2018," while the UN human rights chief slammed Israel's "wholly disproportionate response."

The UN's top human rights body passed the resolution with 29 votes in favor, two opposed and 14 abstentions.

The two HRC members in opposition were the United States and Australia (the UK abstained), with Israel condemning the vote, which was proposed by a group of countries including Pakistan. Both the US and Israel criticized the resolution's language for failing to mention Hamas - the militant group ruling over Gaza - which Israel blames for the scores of civilians killed during the 'Great March of Return' protests.

I am in Iran speaking at a conference on the future of the Middle East. The timing for the meeting is particularly appropriate due to the recent American withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which limited the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for suspension of sanctions. Initial discussions with Iranians revealed that they are less pessimistic about the development than are the Americans and Europeans present, believing as they do that the situation can somehow be reversed either by Congressional refusal to endorse the Trump decision or by rejection of the demands being made by the White House that all parties who were also signatories to the agreement (Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany) should also withdraw or themselves face secondary sanctions.

The Iranians concede that the move by President Donald Trump will bring with it additional economic suffering and will also likely upset the delicate political balancing act prevailing in their country, with President Hassan Rouhani being blamed by conservatives for having entered into the agreement in the first place. It was an agreement regarding which the president had expended considerable political equity, and he has also been accused of exaggerating its benefits, having claimed some months ago that all sanctions had been lifted, which was not the case. The stagnant state of Iran's economy has produced considerable unrest in recent months and it is anticipated that more will be on the way as the economy continues to decline.

An American doctor and Naval reserve officer who has done extensive medical evaluation of a high-profile prisoner who was tortured under the supervision of Gina Haspel privately urged Sen. Mark Warner, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to oppose Haspel's confirmation as CIA director, according to an email obtained by The Intercept.

"I have evaluated Mr. Abdal Rahim al-Nashiri, as well as close to 20 other men who were tortured" in U.S. custody, including several who were tortured "as part of the CIA's RDI [Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation] program. I am one of the only health professionals he has ever talked to about his torture, its effects, and his ongoing suffering," Dr. Sondra Crosby, a professor of public health at Boston University, wrote to Warner's legislative director on Monday. "He is irreversibly damaged by torture that was unusually cruel and designed to break him. In my over 20 years of experience treating torture victims from around the world, including Syria, Iraq, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr. al-Nashiri presents as one of the most severely traumatized individuals I have ever seen."

Nashiri was snatched in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in 2002 and "rendered" to Afghanistan by the CIA and eventually taken to the Cat's Eye prison in Thailand that was run by Haspel from October to December 2002. He was suspected of involvement in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen. He is currently being held at Guantánamo Bay prison.

As we reported on Thursday, a long-awaited report by the Department of Justice's internal watchdog into the Hillary Clinton email investigation has moved into its final phase, as the DOJ notified multiple subjects mentioned in the document that they can privately review it by week's end, and will have a "few days" to craft any response to criticism contained within the report, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Those invited to review the report were told they would have to sign nondisclosure agreements in order to read it, people familiar with the matter said. They are expected to have a few days to craft a response to any criticism in the report, which will then be incorporated in the final version to be released in coming weeks. -WSJ

Now, journalist Paul Sperry reports that

"IG Horowitz has found 'reasonable grounds' for believing there has been a violation of federal criminal law in the FBI/DOJ's handling of the Clinton investigation/s and has referred his findings of potential criminal misconduct to Huber for possible criminal prosecution."

Sperry also noted on Twitter that the FBI and DOJ had been targeting former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn before his December 2016 phone call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, stemming from photos of Flynn at a December 2015 Moscow event with Vladimir Putin (and Jill Stein).

Inaugurated for his fourth official term as Russia's president Monday, Vladimir Putin surprised many by declaring what sounds like a "Russia first" program: a relentless focus on domestic development, to be partially paid for by sharp cuts in defense spending.

It may sound contrary to Western perceptions of Russia's global intentions. But the priorities listed in the new Kremlin strategic program suggest that Mr. Putin has decided to use what seems likely to be his final term in office to cement his already substantial legacy as a nation-builder.

The projected surge in spending on roads, education, and health care will have to be paid for. A key source of that funding will be the military budget, which had been growing by around 10 percent annually for much of the Putin era.

Sanctions imposed by the Trump administration that could hurt companies in Germany and Russia were among the issues discussed by President Vladimir Putin and Chancellor Angela Merkel during their latest meeting.

Merkel arrived in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi to meet Putin on Friday, around a year after her previous visit in 2017. Both leaders have had their mandates reconfirmed by their respective electorate since - Putin during the March election, which he won in a landslide, and Merkel after winning the September 2017 general election in Germany and, arguably more impressive, securing a coalition agreement after a daunting six months of negotiations.

The way Putin greeted Merkel may have reminded her of the coalition talks. After the agreement was finalized and she was finally elected chancellor by the parliament in mid-March, Merkel received flowers from fellow members of the coalition. Similarly, the Russian president also handed his guest a bouquet when meeting her on the porch of his residence in Sochi, before having a three-way chat with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, whose cabinet reshuffle has just been completed.

While the two leaders had plenty of issues to discuss, from humanitarian aid and the political transition in Syria, to the crackdown on a Russia-linked news agency in Ukraine, the latest actions by the US were among the top priorities. President Donald Trump's decision to break a nuclear deal with Iran by re-imposing economic sanctions poses a potential threat to European companies doing business in Iran.

Merkel said that the Trans-Atlantic partnership was valued by Berlin and that European nations are currently discussing ways in which the EU can provide a safety net to companies dealing with Iran. The German leader added she hoped Tehran would see the benefit of observing the terms of the deal despite Washington's move.