Almost entirely unnoticed internationally, Turkey's government and rebellious Kurdish groups are locked in battle in a series of sieges in the main towns in the east of the country. Turkey's prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu describes it as a struggle against terrorism which will be fought to the end without compromise.

Close-up details of the sieges are scarce even in the Turkish press. Few Turkish journalists let alone foreign correspondents are covering what amounts in effect to war conditions in the affected towns. Other information comes from clandestine Kurdish sources and pictures, coming not from the Turkish press, but sent via the Internet showing ravaged buildings and bodies lying in the streets. According to a government statement on Dec. 25, 217 Kurdish terrorists have been killed in the past month. The Turkish Human Rights foundation says that over 124 civilians have been killed in recent months. In total there have been about 150 days of "curfew", each of them lasting for the whole 24 hours, not simply overnight.


The two worst-affected settlements are Sur, the old city of Diyarbakir, and Cizre, a town close to the Tigris and Turkey's border with Iraq. Sur was designated a protected area of outstanding beauty before the shooting started. Now many of its historical buildings, as well as schools and social centers, have been burnt out: the government and the PKK each blame the other.

In his seminal Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization, Bryan Ward-Perkins writes:

Romans before the fall were as certain as we are today that their world would continue forever... They were wrong. We would be wise not to repeat their complacency.

The Empire of Chaos, today, is not about complacency. It's about hubris - and fear. Ever since the start of the Cold War the crucial question has been who would control the great trading networks of Eurasia - or the "heartland", according to Sir Halford John Mackinder (1861 - 1947), the father of geopolitics.

We could say that for the Empire of Chaos, the game really started with the CIA-backed coup in Iran in 1953, when the US finally encountered, face to face, that famed Eurasia crisscrossed for centuries by the Silk Road(s), and set out to conquer them all.

Only six decades later, it's clear there won't be an American Silk Road in the 21st century, but rather, just like its ancient predecessor, a Chinese one. Beijing's push for what it calls 'One Belt, One Road' is inbuilt in the 21st century conflict between the declining empire and Eurasia integration. Key subplots include perennial NATO expansion and the empire's obsession in creating a war zone out of the South China Sea.

As the Beijing-Moscow strategic partnership analyses it, the oligarchic elites who really run the Empire of Chaos are bent on the encirclement of Eurasia - considering they may be largely excluded from an integration process based on trade, commerce and advanced communication links.

Beijing and Moscow clearly identify provocation after provocation, coupled with relentless demonization. But they won't be trapped, as they're both playing a very long game.

Russian President Vladimir Putin diplomatically insists on treating the West as "partners". But he knows, and those in the know in China also know, these are not really "partners". Not after NATO's 78-day bombing of Belgrade in 1999. Not after the purposeful bombing of the Chinese Embassy. Not after non-stop NATO expansionism. Not after a second Kosovo in the form of an illegal coup in Kiev. Not after the crashing of the oil price by Gulf petrodollar US clients. Not after the Wall Street-engineered crashing of the ruble. Not after US and EU sanctions. Not after the smashing of Chinese A shares by US proxies on Wall Street. Not after non-stop saber rattling in the South China Sea. Not after the shooting down of the Su-24.

The Russian Air Force has carried out 121 sorties over the last two days, hitting a total of 424 targets across Syria, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. A large Islamic State arms depot was struck, as was a meeting of the jihadist group's commanders in Raqqa.

The bombing raids were undertaken by Su-24, Su-25 and Su-34 warplanes on with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) strongholds of Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor, the ministry reported on its website.

Moscow says it is receiving intelligence from Syrian government opposition groups, which is helping it to conduct its bombing missions against jihadist forces. This cooperation enabled Russian warplanes to bomb a building that was used for a meeting of IS commanders.

An Informed source from Mosul city, reported that ISIS terrorist organization has executed children fleeing from the fighting in Ramadi, Iraqi Media reported.

That elements of ISIS terrorist organization have executed thirty boys who did not exceed the age of 16 years old after they fled from the fighting in Ramadi, in the courtyard of the center of Qayyarah area south of Mosul.

It is noteworthy that ISIS is forcing hundreds of children in Mosul and other terror camps, to enter special training camps to murder and use weapons spreading extremist ideas and send them to face the battle fronts to strengthen the shortage in camps after many of ISIS elements have escaped.

ISIS is suffering from refracts in morale among its elements after victories of Peshmerga in Sinjar recently as well as the Iraqi security forces , the victory of tribal members and the Popular Mobilization Units in Salahuddin and finally liberation of Ramadi.

Declassified papers reveal US President Ronald Reagan urged Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to read Tom Clancy to interpret Soviet Cold War strategy, and that a jar of moon dust, given by Richard Nixon, was left in a Downing Street cupboard for years.

The files disclose a series of bizarre moments in the nations' so-called 'special relationship' during the 1980s, when Cold War tensions flared between the West and Soviet Russia.

RT picks the highlights of these newly declassified documents from The National Archives.

The Syrian army has managed to move inside the town of Sheikh Maskin, which was controlled by foreign-backed militants, in the southern province of Dara'a. The military said in a Wednesday statement that troops were in the town's main square, capturing its eastern and northern neighborhoods.

Sheikh Maskin is located on a major supply route from the Syrian capital of Damascus to the city of Dara'a.

Syria's official SANA news agency, meanwhile, said terrorists have started to move their operations' center from the town to the city of Nawa, adding that the militants are also fleeing Sheikh Maskin after a number of their leaders were killed in the army's operation.

Terror groups have confirmed the killing of at least 11 of their members, including four of the their commanders, in Sheikh Maskin.

Separately, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least ten Takfiri militants, including a top leader of the al-Nusra Front, were killed by the Syrian army near Dara'a. The new advances came a day after army units succeeded in gaining control over Tal al-Hash and the 82nd brigade camp in the vicinity of Sheikh Maskin.

Syria's drive against militants across the Arab country saw a major boost since Damascus began to have the Russian air cover on September 30. The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the United Nations.

The Obama administration still sticks to the Cold War 2.0 script on Russia.

Let's talk about "Russian aggression."

The fight to the death in Moscow's inner circles is really between the Eurasianists and the so-called Atlantic integrationists, a.k.a. the Western fifth column. The crux of the battle is arguably the Russian Central Bank and the Finance Ministry - where some key liberalcon monetarist players are remote-controlled by the usual suspects, the Masters of the Universe.

The same mechanism applies, geopolitically, to any side, in any latitude, which has linked its own fiat money to Western central banks. The Masters of the Universe always seek to exercise hegemony by manipulating usury and fiat money control.

Global economic growth will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has also deteriorated, the head of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide.

Saudi warplanes hit the positions of the forces allied with the Saudi-led coalition in Southern Yemen, and killed a large number of militants loyal to fugitive former President Mansour Hadi, in what has come to be known as "routine" shooting and bombing of friendly troops by Saudi forces.

Tens of pro-Hadi militias were killed in the Saudi fighter jets' air raid on their positions in the town of Sabr al-Mavadem in Ta'iz province in Southern Yemen, the Arabic-language media quoted eyewitnesses as saying.

In a similar incident on November 17, the Saudi warplanes killed scores of militias loyal to Mansour Hadi.

Also on October 18, the Saudi fighter jets killed 30 pro-Hadi militants in Ta'iz province.

Also on August 10, the Saudi fighter jets killed 20 other friendly militias from pro-Hadi militant groups.

In a similar incident on July 28, Saudi Arabia killed 15 pro-Hadi militants. Saudi fighter jets conducted airstrikes on hills overlooking the al-Anad air base near the city of al-Houta, located about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the strategic Southern port city of Aden, leaving 15 militants dead and at least 40 others wounded.

Kuwait is ready to send an artillery battalion to protect Saudi Arabia against cross-border incursions by Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Qabas reported.

Kuwait is part of the anti-Houthi coalition in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia, which wants to bring back to power ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who fled from the Shiite insurgents in January.

"Kuwait decided on the participation of its ground forces, represented by an artillery battalion, in operations to strike at positions of Houthi aggression against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," the newspaper wrote on Tuesday, citing an informed source.