this is it, cause her heinous would be surging with this news.

Inconceivable!

become possible with Russia as an intermediary in the region. The US has only exacerbated tensions within the region. The only voice of reason in the ME for the last two decades has been Russia.

Baghdad seeking ‘substantial’ Russian military & political presence in Iraq – vice-president

Russian military and political presence in Iraq would bring balance to the whole Middle Eastern and North African region, Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi vice-president, said during his visit to Moscow.

"It’s well known that Russia has historically strong relations with Iraq, therefore we would like Russia to have a substantial presence in our country, both politically and militarily,” al-Maliki said during his meeting with the speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko.

“This way, a balance would be established that would benefit the region, its peoples and its countries,” he added.

The vice president said that Baghdad wants to boost relations with Moscow as it believes “in Russia’s role in solving most of the key international issues as well as improving stability and balance in our region and worldwide.”
...
Moscow supports the efforts of the Iraqi authorities to “normalize the situation in the country, first of all aiming at eradicating the terrorist threat,” Lavrov said.

It’s vital that Baghdad’s struggle isn’t carried out in isolation, but is carried on in the context of international efforts to eradicate the terrorist threat across the globe, including in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and other countries, the Russian FM added.

Al-Maliki is also travelling to St. Petersburg, where he’s expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

of american imperialism. can we get rumsfield's investment back yet? maybe to buy down the chinese debt? or just to feed our poor! if wishes were fishes...

Iraq was a client of the soviet Union as was India and Libya and many other nations. By creating the divide between the US and Russia, many of these states are reconsidering their alliances, for good reason. Russia is a good partner. Russia is willing to help, but will respect international law, and will not try to dictate behaviors. Russia will supply S400 air defense systems to Turkey but will not tell them where they can and cannot deploy them, unlike the US. Russia will not fund destabilizing NGOs. Russia will deal honestly and respectfully with a nation's sovereignty. Russia honors its treaties and contracts. In Syria, Russia clearly had no other agenda than to stabilize the situation on the ground as the best outcome for the Syrian people. The US is always playing games of intrigue. Are they carrying water for Israel, Saudi Arabia? Engineering a coup? Interfering with your elections? The answer to these questions seems to be yes.

I am very concerned about two issues currently. The increased economic sanctions against Russia, passed nearly unanimously by a Congress filled with false patriots. It not only increases the sanctions but gives the power to remove them to Congress, which means that they are permanent. You have no idea how angry this makes Russians. Not on the effects, which are minimum, but the dishonest, illegal, imperialist nature of the sanctions. On top of that, President Putin did not retaliate against Obama's totally childish behavior of expelling diplomatic personnel and the taking of Russian property in the US. He did that as a favor to the new president. Trump has not taken the opening to improve relations, but instead has made the situation worse. Russia will now respond. Europe is caught in the middle and now has to decide whether they will continue to suffer for Washington's arrogance. Russia has the world's most healthy economy, with a debt to GDP ratio of about 16%, a trade surplus, and a growth rate of about 3% this year, and the world's biggest grain exporter. They have gone out of their way to make their economy financially independent from the West, and have succeeded. All of this flies in the face of the fake patriots in Congress and the neocon state department. Should be interesting going forward as I would predict that the move to multi-polarity is going to go into high gear from now on.

and we're stuck with Amtrak? What would it take to get the Chinese to build high speed rail here?

adage from my younger.days. It's crude but it's the absolute truth:

Paybacks are a bitch BUT revenge is a mother f*cker.

We're going to be finding that out some day in the near future.

Iran, India, China, and Russia. They will kick our asses on the international arena. They will be the new leaders of the global economy. If we don't decide to nuke them out of spite, that is. Which we damn well might. We've shown that we'd rather destroy a country than allow them to tell 'no' or that deny our hegemony.

Then everyone (as well as planet Earth) will suffer. But that will be cool because we'll still be #1