Gorbachev: US Pulled Russia Into New Cold War That Could Turn 'Hot'
"Where will that lead all of us?" asks former Soviet leader.

Mikhail Gorbachev stated that the United States has pulled Russia into a new Cold War that faces the risk of further escalation.

The 83-year-old former Soviet leader made the comments on Thursday in an interview with Russian news agency Interfax.

"The U.S. has already dragged us into a new Cold War, trying to openly implement its idea of triumphalism," he is quoted as saying.

"Where will that lead all of us?" he said.

"I can no longer say that this Cold War will not lead to a ‘Hot War.’ I fear that they could risk it," Gorbachev said, referring to the United States. "All you hear is about sanctions towards Russia from America and the European Union. Have they totally lost their heads? The U.S. has been totally 'lost in the jungle' and is dragging us there as well."

Just 4 purchases enough to ID you, despite anonymized credit card data

Anonymized credit card data – only locations and times of purchases made – are enough to identify a person, a new MIT study shows. Shopping habits are so unique, that knowledge of only four transactions help tell who the buyer is.

Three months of credit card transactions carried out by 1.1 million people in 10,000 shops in one country were studied by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology team, which made the results public in a January 30 issue of Science journal.

The name of the country is not specified, it’s only designated as an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country. The source of the data is only mentioned as a “majorbank.”

The scientists dealt with anonymized data, which did not contain neither names nor account numbers. Only metadata was left available – the time and place of a purchase.

Russia might bailout Greece – finance minister

Greece hasn’t outright asked Russia for a loan, but Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Moscow wouldn't rule it out. His statement comes days after Greece openly opposed further economic sanctions against Russia.

"Well, we can imagine any situation, so if such [a] petition is submitted to the Russian government, we will definitely consider it, but we will take into account all the factors of our bilateral relationships between Russia and Greece, so that is all I can say. If it is submitted we will consider it," Siluanov told CNBC in an interview in Moscow on Thursday.

The new left-wing Syriza government in Greece won a majority at last Sunday’s election on the promise to renegotiate the country’s €317 billion debt and end austerity.

Greece needs to negotiate with EU policymakers by February 28 in order to receive the next tranche of bailout funds. If Athens doesn’t get the money it will have difficulty servicing its debt. Two bailouts were paid in 2010 and 2014 totaling €240 billion.

Our dangerous new McCarthyism: Russia, Noam Chomsky and what the media’s not telling you about the new Cold War
Perverse, diabolical obsession: Policy cliques in D.C. have no intention of desisting in this war until they win it

It is time to attempt that hardest of things—to see ourselves for who we are, to see what it is we are doing and what is being done to us.

Two things prompt the thought. We have the latest news on Washington’s confrontation with Russia, and we have a newly precipitous decline in the national conversation on this crisis. In my estimation, we reach dangerous new lows in both respects.

It is always difficult for the living to see themselves as suspended in history. Being up against the rock face of events, being the stuff of which events are made, allows no distance, and achieving perspective without any takes an arduous effort.

But we have to make an attempt at this field of vision now. Every moment counts as history, but some passages are bigger than others. And this, ours, is very big as of the last 10 days, maybe two weeks.