Several posts on this site about Britain's 'special friend' have referred to the United States of America. Today seeing a barrage of news accumulating about another special friend, Saudi Arabia, aka Britain's biggest arms market last year, an overview of the last quarter follows.

At the closing session of a two-day Arab League summit held in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt's president el-Sisi announced that some Arab leaders had agreed to form a united military force to combat the "challenges" the region is facing. A high-level panel would work under the supervision of Arab chiefs of staff to work out the structure and mechanism of the force: roughly 40,000 elite troops, backed by jets, warships and light armour.

If Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko intends to tighten the Donbass economic blockade, he should make such decisions in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, who brokered the Minsk-II deal together with Russian President Vladimir Putin, head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic said.

On Friday, the Ukrainian parliament introduced a bill to ban trade with the so-called "temporarily occupied territories."

Kiev considers the territories under control of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as Russia's Crimea, to be "temporarily occupied."

Recently, several Finnish mainstream media outlets have targeted Finnish SOTT.net, accusing it of copyright law infringement. Among those who have made these allegations are Sanoma Oyj (the owner of Helsingin Sanomat - the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries), STT (Finnish News Agency) and Yleisradio (the main Finnish Broadcasting Company). Some have even accused us of "outrageous business" because we reproduce and comment on articles from other sources.

While we understand that media companies want to defend their business, considering the massive amount of news offered today and the near monopoly-status these companies enjoy in the Finnish information market, their "outrage" on this issue seems somewhat excessive, if not specious. More to the point, while copyright laws play an important role in any supposed democratic society, the interpretation of these laws is far from unambiguous.

The first point everyone needs to understand is that SOTT.net operates within the limits of fair use, based on the non-commercial and research nature of our content (see quotes below). Secondly, the Finnish mainstream media, (like the mainstream media of other EU nations) serves as a mouthpiece for vested political and corporate interests and, in pursuing that aim, often acts hypocritically and accuses others of that which they themselves are guilty of (e.g. the restriction of freedom of speech and "trolling").

This article should not be taken as an act of revenge or a war of words, but rather as an exercise in contextual social research. Such research is very much in keeping with the mission statement of SOTT.net - to explore social phenomena within various contexts. So what is the context in this case? The evidence from our research strongly suggests that the Finnish mainstream media would like Sott.net to quietly fade away from the information scene. It is obvious that the various mainstream media outlets seek to maintain their self-styled role of the official "bugle of truth", enjoying the exclusive confidence of citizens. It is equally obvious that those in the ivory tower are not pleased with the fact that we analyse world events that are either ignored or 'spun' by the mainstream, engage in critical commentary on "official" news, bring alternative perspectives and interpretations to generally "accepted truths" and expose mainstream media propaganda campaigns.

Shining the Light

SOTT.net is often compared to a lighthouse that shines the light of truth into the darkness of media lies and manipulation. The English website has been live since 2002 and our readership is counted in millions (2014 approx. 18 million users). The Finnish site was established recently to reach a wider audience of non-English speakers, so that they too might benefit from our research. We have already received a lot of positive feedback, especially about our contextual commentary that accompanies most articles and our regular original content. Most sincere media experts and writers on social issues have been pleased when their articles appear on our website because it means they reach a wider and more diverse audience.

As a result of the litigious rants from Finnish media companies' lawyers, the future of the Finnish SOTT.net site hangs in the balance - our research project has lost important material due to the removal of a vast number of articles. Working voluntarily and in their spare time, the small number of editors are already overwhelmed in trying to collect evidence in order to "connect the dots". After reading this article we hope readers will offer their opinion on this matter [e-mail sott@sott.net]. Do you feel that there is a demand and need for a multi-lingual angle to Sott.net including the Finnish SOTT site? The English pages will naturally retain their operation, thus answering the needs of millions of readers.

My last piece was quite long and involved, some liked it and "got it", others not so much. The breaking of confidence was the point I was trying to get to. I intend to try again with this writing but from a different viewpoint. Today, rather than continuing to hammer away at the fraud, collusion, and upside down logic of global politics, economics and finance, let's look at a real world case. I received a rather long note from a reader earlier this week who was visiting of all places ...Zimbabwe! I did not ask "why" he was visiting and can only imagine, but in light of where "we are going" it is fortuitous for us to have a pair of boots on the ground! The following is "the heart" of what he wrote. Please read this twice so it really sets in, I will comment afterward and hopefully this exercise will "make you think".

Series of explosions hit the city of Odessa in Ukraine last night. Witnesses report about at least 2 hard explosions in the center of the city. Partisans blew up 2 propagandistic constructions claiming to inform Security Service of Ukraine about so-called ''household separatists" - people who don't support Kiev political regime or doubt in need of war against population of Donbass region.

In the wake of the IMF walking out of negotiations with Greece, the Financial Times says the Pullout is Amid an "Air of Unreality".

What's Unreal?

Sure, everyone expected Greece to buckle. But what if Greece did buckle for the nth time? Greece was eventually going to default anyway.

There is not now, nor was there ever, anything "unreal" about the inevitable default.

Since the United States and its pals in the Justice League G-7 have decided to double-down on standing up to "Russian aggression," ™ I felt it was incumbent upon Russia Insider to pay tribute to one of the virtuous attendees of the Germany forum: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Now, I am not suggesting that Shinzo Abe is a bad person. I don't want anyone reading this to get the impression that he denies Japan's WWII-era war crimes, or that he is presiding over an increase in nationalist fervor in Japan, or that he is embroiled in nasty territorial disputes with neighboring South Korea and China, or that, following the Fukushima disaster, Japan banned the sale of foreign-made Geiger counters.

I'm just kidding. He's done all of those things.

Late yesterday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives considered H.R. 2685, the "Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2015." During consideration of the legislation, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Congressman Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) offered bipartisan amendments to block the training of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi paramilitary militia "Azov Battalion," and to prevent the transfer of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles—otherwise known as Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems (MANPADS)—to Iraq or Ukraine.

"If there's one simple lesson we can take away from US involvement in conflicts overseas, it's this: Beware of unintended consequences. As was made vividly clear with U.S. involvement in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion decades ago, overzealous military assistance or the hyper-weaponization of conflicts can have destabilizing consequences and ultimately undercut our own national interests," said Rep. John Conyers. "I am grateful that the House of Representatives unanimously passed my amendments last night to ensure that our military does not train members of the repulsive neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, along with my measures to keep the dangerous and easily trafficked MANPADs out of these unstable regions."

Ukraine's Ministry of Interior wants US Intelligence to keep an eye on Rep. John Conyers after he successfully introduced an amendment banning the training of neo-Nazis groups in Ukraine

Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anton Gerashchenko advised U.S. intelligence agencies to "pay attention" to U.S. Congressman John Conyers, who passed an amendment banning the training of Azov Battalion, according to a report in Korrespondent.

Chancellor Angela Merkel feels that she, as well as Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and French President Francois Hollande are responsible for the Normandy format talks seeking to find a peaceful resolution to the deadly Ukrainian conflict.

Merkel also reaffirmed Germany's stance that the civil war in the Eastern European nation could only be ended through political means. Russia has repeatedly echoed this sentiment, noting that sending lethal aid to Kiev would only worsen the Ukrainian crisis and provoke violence.

"We will find a political solution. A military solution is non-existent; I am deeply convinced of that," the German chancellor said, adding that Germany and France seek good relations with Moscow but will not accept violations of international law.