Words fail us. Well, not really. Here are some words: BS, Farce, Con job, Sham, Travesty, Mockery. We could go on, but those should suffice for now to describe the official narrative around the Brussels bombings last week.

Suicide bombers, they told us, were behind the blasts in the airport and metro station. Yet a preponderance of lower leg injuries at both sites argued strongly for bombs that were placed on the floor, not attached to the chest of some wild-eyed jihadi of the type that appears only in the best wet dreams of NATO officials.

But we have proof! Don't we? Video evidence even! We all saw the footage of the bombers as they nonchalantly pushed their baggage carts through the airport just before detonating their 'vests' and considerately leaving a few behind in a trash can for good measure (and authorities' ease in establishing a narrative from the get-go). Three guys, two dressed in black and a third with a hat, glasses and white coat. That's them! Those two in black, they suicide bombed themselves and the third one got cold feet at the last minute and put his bomb in a suitcase and took off. The 'authorities' later found him and arrested him; they'll certainly make him spill the beans. Right?

The biggest military defeat that Isis has suffered in more than two years. The recapture of Palmyra, the Roman city of the Empress Zenobia. And we are silent. Yes, folks, the bad guys won, didn't they? Otherwise, we would all be celebrating, wouldn't we?

Less than a week after the lost souls of the 'Islamic Caliphate' destroyed the lives of more than 30 innocent human beings in Brussels, we should - should we not? - have been clapping our hands at the most crushing military reverse in the history of Isis. But no. As the black masters of execution fled Palmyra this weekend, Messers Obama and Cameron were as silent as the grave to which Isis have dispatched so many of their victims. He who lowered our national flag in honour of the head-chopping king of Arabia (I'm talking about Dave, of course) said not a word.

The liberation of Palmyra is a decisive turning point in the war on Syria. While there were earlier military successes by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies, the publicity value of securing the valued Roman ruins of Palmyra is much higher than any earlier victory. It will change some of the false narratives of the conflict.

The Syrian government is no longer "the Assad regime" and the Syrian Arab Army no longer the "Assad forces". Ban Ki Moon, the head of the United Nations, congratulated the Syrian government to its success:

In a news conference in Jordan, Ban said he was "encouraged" that the UNESCO world heritage site is out of extremist hands and that the Syrian government "is now able to preserve and protect this human common cultural asset".

One important part of liberating Palmyra was the use of Russian electronic warfare equipment to interfere with electromagnetic signals around Palmyra. The Islamic State rigged the ruins with improvised explosive devices but was unable to remotely detonate them.

The dust has barely settled on the site of the Brussels bomb blasts and already the EUreaucrats are salivating about the prospect of a pan-European intelligence agency. Join James for today's Thought for the Day as he explains the latest example of how the authoritarians take more control after every major terror event.

It has emerged that Faycal C, the only person to be charged so far with last week's deadly terror attacks in Brussels, lived just a few hundred meters away from the European Union headquarters in a quiet residential area of the city.

Identified by the federal prosecutor as Faycal C, a list of tenants by the door to the block of flats where he resided revealed the name "Faycal Cheffou." Although he has been charged with terrorist activities, it has not been confirmed whether Faycal C was the man in the white coat who was captured on video on Tuesday walking with the two airport suicide bombers, Ibrahim El Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui, at Brussels' Zaventem Airport.

It has been an alliance between the leaderships of U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE; but, regardless of whether it's called "the U.S. alliance" or "the Saudi alliance," or even (possibly) "the Turkish alliance" (and it could be called by any of those three names), it's the jihadist alliance, and it now seems to be near its final defeat, by, quite clearly, the Russian alliance: Russian air power has enabled the Syrian army (called the SAA or "Syrian Arab Army") of Bashar al-Assad, plus Lebanon's Shiite warriors (called "Hezbollah"), plus organization by Iran's generals, to exterminate thousands of ISIS jihadists. The pro-Syrian alliance, under Russian air-power, are now making final preparations to finish the job, in the Syrian headquarters of ISIS — the city of Raqqa, where ISIS's "Caliph" is, who could soon be meeting his end.

In a single tweet, the head of Russia's Foreign Affairs Committee Alexei Pushkov summed up John Kerry's Moscow visit: "There's nothing more powerful in politics than need. Under its influence, forgetting about isolating Russia, the US has begun to move."

Washington's policy of "isolating" Russia internationally was a non-starter from the very beginning. On this, Kerry's third visit to the Russian capital in 10 months, it was abundantly clear that this fact has well and truly sunk in. After four hours of talks with his counterpart Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kerry emerged with a noticeably softer tone both on the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine.

Ceasefire on Syria?

In the case of Syria, perhaps the most striking comment was an admission by Kerry that he had "reached a better understanding of the decisions that President Putin has made of late." For anyone who watches the relationship between Moscow and Washington closely, this kind of talk will sound like an almost revolutionary breakthrough.

The men agreed on a "target schedule" for establishing a framework for political transition in Syria and draft constitution to be drawn up by August. Both sides reiterated a commitment to use their influence to push the warring parties in the country into "direct talks" with each other. Kerry said the ceasefire that had been hammered out by Moscow and Washington was holding, shakily, despite the "dire predictions" of many. To everyone's surprise, both powers have seemed uncharacteristically happy with the other's efforts where the ceasefire is concerned.

Hello ordinary people of the world! How are you? Are you awake? Are you watching what's going on on your planet? Or have you given up already? It's actually very important to stay alert to global events, and we don't just mean taking note of what Western political talking heads say. We mean taking careful note of what's actually happening in the world, and noticing when what happens appears to directly contradict what your political leaders say.

Specifically today, we'd like to know if any of you have noticed that the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria has been liberated by the Syrian army. And if you have noticed, do you understand what it means?

You may recall hearing that ISIS had taken control of Palmyra last year, and of the significant fears that the jihadis might destroy much of the impressive Roman ruins there. As part of the West's "Christian" historical heritage, you might have thought that the threat of a gang of extremist Muslims destroying those ruins would provide lots of motivation for Western governments to move in to rout the infidels and protect the city.

Bizarrely however, not only did Western governments largely ignore the capture of Palmyra, the general response of US and European politicians to the impressive advance of ISIS across Syria and Iraq over the last 2 years has been to engage in lots of hand-wringing and issue warnings of the dire threat that these grotesque caricatures of Muslims pose to you and your children. We think it's fair to say that the general impression given to Western populations was that, despite their military bases, long-term presence in the Middle East and vast military machines, there was nothing NATO countries could do to impede the march of the jihadis.

But if you recall, the US and its allies had no problem delivering 'shock and awe' to Iraq and then occupying the country for 10 years with hundreds of thousands of US troops and mercenaries, yet we are asked to believe that Western powers were completely impotent in the face of a relatively small band of cutthroats as they rampaged across Syria, killing and maiming Syrians and sending millions fleeing towards Europe in the process.

You'll agree, that narrative is a little difficult to swallow.

So it really is a bit perplexing to realize that all it took was 6 months of Russian bombing of ISIS targets in Syria and direct support for the Syrian army in its fight for national sovereignty to render ISIS no longer a significant military threat in Syria or Iraq, for 500 towns and villages to be liberated - including Palmyra - and a peace process - largely put in motion by Russia - to be established.

RT's exclusive interview with Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov reveals how ISS residents, NASA's Scott Kelly among them, reacted to last year's downing of a Russian plane by the Turkish air force and the pilot's subsequent death at the hands of militants.

The International Space Station (ISS) is supposed to be a place free of all political talk - but is that really so? Kornienko and Volkov, who returned from the ISS early March, say it is, though there is an exception to every rule. Such was the case for Russian pilot Sergey Rumyantsev.

"When the pilot who ejected was shot while still parachuting - that was a topic for discussion. We were all unanimous that it's completely wrong, you can't do that," Volkov told RT. "We're all military pilots and we know what it's like," he added.

"Scott Kelly was outraged when the Russian pilot was shot by militants in Syria while parachuting. It is a war crime. And he told us so - he couldn't grasp how such a thing could happen," said Mikhail Kornienko, who spent almost a year in orbit with the US astronaut.

"As for the rest, we are one mechanism, together as one. All six people who work at the station depend on each other. We are a good, well-knit team," the cosmonaut summed up.

Last November, a Russian Su-24 jet was downed on the Turkish-Syrian border by a Turkish F-16. Two pilots ejected from the stricken aircraft, one of them - captain Sergey Rumyantsev - was reportedly killed in mid-air. A Turkmen militant brigade claimed responsibility for the murder. The other pilot managed to flee and returned home safely after being rescued.

US President Barack Obama will not have a personal meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during Erdogan's upcoming visit to the United States, media reported.

A number of world leaders, including Erdogan, are expected to gather for the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), due to run in the United States from March 31 to April 1.

Obama has rejected Erdogan's request to participate in a joint event and the US leader has no plans to have a one-on-one meeting with his Turkish counterpart, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday, citing US officials.