Moscow is used to "unsubstantiated claims" coming from Western capitals, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in a strong response to his British counterpart's statement that Russia is undermining international peace efforts in Syria.

"Concerning the statements from London and other Western capitals claiming that our Air Force operations in Syria are not contributing to the resolution of the conflict - we are used to such statements. They are completely groundless," Lavrov said following a meeting with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Tuesday.

Such statements "reflect the anxiety of our Western partners that our Air Force is operating effectively in Syrian airspace,"he added.

On Monday, the head of the British Foreign Office, Philip Hammond, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of undermining international efforts to end the Syrian civil war by bombing opponents of President Assad who are countering Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Highly classified Hillary Clinton emails that the intelligence community and State Department recently deemed too damaging to national security to release contain "operational intelligence" - and their presence on the unsecure, personal email system jeopardized "sources, methods and lives," a U.S. government official who has reviewed the documents told Fox News.

The official, who was not authorized to speak on the record and was limited in discussing the contents because of their highly classified nature, was referring to the 22 "TOP SECRET" emails that the State Department announced Friday it could not release in any form, even with entire sections redacted.

The announcement fueled criticism of Clinton's handling of highly sensitive information while secretary of state, even as the Clinton campaign continued to downplay the matter as the product of an interagency dispute over classification. But the U.S. government official's description provides confirmation that the emails contained closely held government secrets. "Operational intelligence" can be real-time information about intelligence collection, sources and the movement of assets.

For those who may be unaware, the Council on Foreign Relations is essentially a sister organization to the Royal Institute of International Affairs, one of the primary Anglo-American policy developers, and functions as one of the most effective direct control mechanisms in the world in regards to government-based decisions and governmental policy. It is from the RIIA and the CFR, as well as the other relevant sister organizations set up in nations all across the world, that the direction in which the world will go is decided and implemented through a number of other front organizations, conferences, publications, foundations, and NGOs.

Politicians - Senators, Congressmen, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Parliamentarians - all attend their relevant organization's functions, participate in "discussions" and hold memberships in their CFR-related clubs for the purposes of receiving their "marching orders" from their bosses. As one might suspect, this is no different for Hillary Clinton.

While a list of members and participants of the CFR would be far too exhaustive a list to reproduce during the course of this study, it is nevertheless important to point out that not only is Dick Cheney a member of the organization, he was actually a director for a period of time.[1]

In fact, David Rockefeller was Chairman of the CFR until Peter G. Peterson, banker, hedge fund hyena, and Rothschild associate, took over the position.[2] [3] Robert Rubin later took the post but David Rockefeller has remained an honorary chairman ever since.[4]

When President Obama secretly authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to begin arming Syria's embattled rebels in 2013, the spy agency knew it would have a willing partner to help pay for the covert operation. It was the same partner the C.I.A. has relied on for decades for money and discretion in far-off conflicts: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Since then, the C.I.A. and its Saudi counterpart have maintained an unusual arrangement for the rebel-training mission, which the Americans have code-named Timber Sycamore. Under the deal, current and former administration officials said, the Saudis contribute both weapons and large sums of money, and the C.I.A takes the lead in training the rebels on AK-47 assault rifles and tank-destroying missiles.

The support for the Syrian rebels is only the latest chapter in the decadeslong relationship between the spy services of Saudi Arabia and the United States, an alliance that has endured through the Iran-contra scandal, support for the mujahedeen against the Soviets in Afghanistan and proxy fights in Africa. Sometimes, as in Syria, the two countries have worked in concert. In others, Saudi Arabia has simply written checks underwriting American covert activities.

Originally appeared at Moskovsky Komsomolets. Translated by Julie Rakhmetova and Rhod Mackenzie

Secretary of the Security Council of Russia, Nikolai Patrushev, is one of the most powerful persons in Russia. Before he took up his current position in 2008, for almost 10 years he was the director of the Federal Security Service (FSB). Не rarely speaks to journalists but when he does, he provides profound insight into the thinking of those that shape Russian foreign and security policies as this earlier interview published in RI shows. His recent interview to one of Russia's most popular dailies, MK, will gives you an idea of the questions journalists from Russia's supposedly 'intimidated' media ask their leaders.

Q— Isn't Russia conducting a foreign policy that only a superpower like the USSR could afford?

A— Of course, Russia is only one part of the former USSR, and it doesn't claim to be a superpower. Unlike the USA our goal is not to dominate the world. But that doesn't mean we should not defend our national interests, and that means having an efficient foreign policy.

The Russian Federation is not interested in confrontation with the West. It is the US that started this confrontation, and Europe accepts it. So the decision to walk it back depends not only on Russia. We are always ready to restart equal and mutually beneficial cooperation.

The distant radar-tracking detection and management aircraft (AWACS) A-50 based on the Il-76 may be used by the ASF [Aerospace Forces] of Russia in Syria. A representative of the United Instrument Manufacturing Corporation, developer of the aircraft, reported this to TASS on January 14.

According to the agency's confidant, this aircraft's main task is detection and tracking of aircraft targets and surface ships, notification of command points regarding the air and surface situation, and management of fighters and strike aircraft to guide them to air, land, and sea targets. This air command point is capable of tracking up to 300 targets at the same time.

The source also clarified that the aircraft can detect aircraft objects at a distance up to 650 km, and land objects up to 300 km. In addition, the agency's confidant emphasized that the Russian aircraft even surpasses the American AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System) in a number of characteristics.

Russia remains the only country that could hypothetically give Germany the chance to escape Washington's control, according to political analyst Andranik Migranyan.

In an interview with Sputnik, Andranik Migranyan, a political analyst and professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, touted Russia as the only country capable of giving Germany the opportunity to unencumber itself from the tight control of the White House in the foreseeable future.

Migranyan commented on recent remarks made by George Friedman, founder of the global intelligence company Stratfor, who said that Washington is closely monitoring the relations between Russia and Germany and will do anything to prevent a strategic partnership between the two countries.

Entrepreneur Hunter Biden has acquired equity securities of a company in the country which his father, Vice-President of USA Joe Biden, called the most corrupt in the world.

An American businessman is increasing his assets in the energy sector of Ukraine through a third party.

According to available information, the Canadian firm Serinus Energy sold a 70 percent stake in KUB-Gas Holdings Limited company Resano Trading Ltd for $30 million, an affiliate of one of the largest Ukrainian gas companies Burisma Holdings.

Kiev has filed an official complaint to the European Commission regarding Russia's Nord Stream-2 pipeline, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk announced during a meeting with Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, Monday. "This is a political project. We are requesting the European Commission launch an investigation and stop the project that is anti-European, anti-Ukrainian, anti-Slovak, anti-Polish," said Yatsenyuk.

The Prime Minister also stressed that Kiev does not want Russia to "outmaneuver" Ukraine and voiced plans to create a transparent European gas market. "We want to build a clear European gas market. That's why we are sending out a strong signal to our European partners and European society," he said.

Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth. When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; a culture-death is a clear possibility. — Professor Neil Postman

If there are two spectacles that are almost guaranteed to render Americans passive viewers, incapable of doing little more than cheering on their respective teams, it's football and politics—specifically, the Super Bowl and the quadrennial presidential election.

Both football and politics encourage zealous devotion among their followers, both create manufactured divisions that alienate one group of devotees from another, and both result in a strange sort of tunnel vision that leaves the viewer oblivious to anything else going on around them apart from the "big game."

Both football and politics are televised, big-money, advertising-driven exercises in how to cultivate a nation of armchair enthusiasts who are content to sit, watch and be entertained, all the while convincing themselves that they are active contributors to the outcome. Even the season schedules are similar in football and politics: the weekly playoffs, the blow-by-blow recaps, the betting pools and speculation, the conferences, and then the final big championship game.

In the same way, both championship events are costly entertainment extravaganzas that feed the nation's appetite for competition, consumerism and carnivalesque stunts. In both scenarios, cities bid for the privilege of hosting key athletic and political events. For example, San Francisco had to raise close to $50 million just to host the 50th Super Bowl, with its deluxe stadium, Super Bowl City, free fan village, interactive theme park, and free Alicia Keys concert, not including the additional $5 million cost to taxpayers for additional security. Likewise, it costs cities more than $60 million to host the national presidential nominating conventions for the Republicans and Democrats.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with enjoying the entertainment that is football or politics.

However, where we go wrong as a society is when we become armchair quarterbacks, so completely immersed in the Big Game or the Big Campaign that we are easily controlled by the powers-that-be—the megacorporations who run both shows—and oblivious to what is really going on around us.

For instance, while mainstream America has been fixated on the contenders for the Vince Lombardi Trophy and the White House, the militarized, warring surveillance state has been moving steadily forward. Armed drones, increased government surveillance and spying, SWAT team raids, police shootings of unarmed citizens, and the like continue to plague the country. None of these dangers have dissipated. They have merely disappeared from our televised news streams.

In this way, television is a "dream come true" for an authoritarian society.