US troops and coalition forces may stay in Iraq even after Islamic State terrorists are totally defeated, the top US commander in Iraq stated on Tuesday, just one day after Mosul was officially declared liberated from the terrorist group.

Iraq's second largest city was retaken following an eight-month-long operation mounted by Iraqi government troops and US - allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters with air support from the US-led coalition.

"The Iraqi government has expressed an interest in having the US forces and coalition forces remain after the defeat of ISIS [Islamic State, IS, formerly ISIL]. Our government is equally interested in that," coalition commander General Stephen Townsend said during a video conference, adding that other coalition members may join the mission as it is "still in the decision-making stages."

Ukraine's US election meddling to help Hillary Clinton is now seeing the light of day.

On January 11, 2017, Politico ran a post entitled "Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump backfire", which detailed how Kiev officials were scrambling to make amends with president-elect Trump after quietly working to boost Clinton.

Via Politico...

Donald Trump wasn't the only presidential candidate whose campaign was boosted by officials of a former Soviet bloc country.

Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton's allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.

Russian foreign policy always operates on a foundation of reciprocity...so after Putin's first fact-to-face with Trump, it appears that the sticky issue of Obama's Russian diplomat expulsion has now been solved.

Russia will just simply expel 30 US diplomats from the Russian Federation, as well as freeze some US assets "in a retaliatory move against Washington."

We have to admit, it is refreshing to see Russia do to the US what the US has been doing to the rest of the world for decades.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says he was astonished to learn the US president's son has been slammed for talking to a Russian lawyer. The minister has lampooned the accusations, saying they were "wild" and making a mountain out of a molehill.

"I was amazed to find out that Trump's son is accused of talking to her [Natalia Veselnitskaya]. For me it's basically wild, because when a person talks to a lawyer, what is the threat to anyone?" the top Russian diplomat said.

Lavrov added that he had learned about this fact from the media. "When I turned on the TV in the morning, all the Western channels were talking about it. It is amazing how serious people are making an elephant out of a fly," the minister added while speaking at a news conference with his Belgian counterpart, Didier Deynders, on Wednesday.

Iraq and the US-led coalition failed to create the conditions for an organized withdrawal of people from Mosul, which might have led to increased number of casualties during the operation against Islamic State, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

"In case of Mosul, no conditions were created to allow civilians leave in an organized way. It was all chaotic, spontaneous. Obviously, when it happens in such an unexpected manner, it adds inconvenience and, probably, causes an increased number of victims," Lavrov told the journalists after an informal OSCE ministerial meeting in Mauerbach, Austria on Tuesday.

On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi officially declared that Mosul, which has been Islamic State's (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) de facto capital in Iraq for the last three years, has been fully liberated from the terrorists.

However, the eight-month-long operation, which the Iraqi forces carried out with the support of the US-led coalition's aviation and Special Forces, has left most of the city in ruins, leading to thousands of civilian casualties and around a million people internally displaced.

"Of course, we are glad that the IS will suffer defeat, but, the price for victory against terrorism will be high in any case," Lavrov said.

When Israel passed a new counter-terrorism law last year, Ayman Odeh, a leader of the country's large minority of Palestinian citizens, described its draconian measures as colonialism's "last gasp". He said: "I see ... the panic of the French at the end of the occupation of Algeria."

The panic and cruelty plumbed new depths last week, when Israeli officials launched a $2.3 million lawsuit against the family of Fadi Qanbar, who crashed a truck into soldiers in Jerusalem in January, killing four. He was shot dead at the scene.

The suit demands that his widow, Tahani, reimburse the state for the compensation it awarded the soldiers' families. If she cannot raise the astronomic sum, the debt will pass to her four children, the oldest of whom is currently only seven.

Israel is reported to be preparing many similar cases.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has mocked Prime Minister Theresa May's appeal for cross-party collaboration in policy making by sending her a copy of his party's manifesto.

Corbyn took to Twitter to troll the PM after she appealed to the opposition and other parties to propose new policies and support government legislation through the Commons.

The socialist leader posted a picture of himself signing the 2017 Labour manifesto, with the autograph reading: "Dear Prime Minister, you asked for policy ideas. So here's our General Election manifesto. Kind regards, JB Corbyn."

The Tory leader - whose leadership has been under severe pressure since a disastrous showing in the general election left her party short of an absolute majority - made an unprecedented request for Labour to work together on ideas for government last week.

Manilla has chosen to set aside its maritime border dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea and focus on building economic links, according to the Philippines' trade minister.

"I credit it to the wisdom of our president [Rodrigo Duterte] to really be more realistic and practical, to consider the positive points of having a relationship with China renewed," Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Ramon Lopez told the South China Morning Post.

"He has mentioned in many of his statements that why fight China when we can set aside the differences and focus on areas of cooperation, focus on how China and the Philippines can help in mutual growth," he added.

Oil production in Iran will reach nearly four million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year, according to Deputy Oil MinisterAmir Hossein Zamaninia.

After years of international sanctions, the Islamic Republic has increased production to around 3.8 million bpd in recent months.

Tehran has been exempt from the production cut agreement between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producers.

The Art of The Deal meets popcorn passing on an epic geo-political scale.

As Russia threatens to expel US diplomats from the Russian Federation in retaliation for the still unresolved and unatoned for expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and embassy workers (including chefs) and the seizure of Russian property in the US by order of Barack Obama in his last month in office, the biggest question is not why but why now?

It is wise to remember that at the time, Vladimir Putin very publicly declined to take retaliatory measures against the United States. Instead, he issued a public statement that was both a dig at the very lame duck Obama and one which extended a proverbial olive branch to then President-elect Trump. President Putin's statement is reproduced below in its entirety.