In Khan Sheikhoun, Idlib province, on February 26, 2019: a man holds the body of his daughter, killed in a bombardment by pro-Assad forces.
Anas Al-Dyab/AFP
At worst, more lethal aid could escalate the conflict further. At best, it will continue to keep alive a conflict that has already claimed more than 10,000 lives.
Cars pass the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, March 25, 2019.
AP/Pavel Golovkin
Russian media outlets are holding up the Mueller report as another example of American dysfunction, with President Trump a symptom of larger problems rather than the man who might solve them.
Members of Jehovah’s Witnesses wait in a court room in Moscow, Russia, on April 20, 2017. Russia’s Supreme Court banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses from operating in the country.
(AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)
The US president’s tweet declaring the US would recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Syrian territory was unexpected and will do nothing for regional stability.
‘Games without frontiers, war without tears …’
Kirillir_makarov
The Syrian civil war has ended, but there are millions of Syrian refugees living in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. With danger from a hostile regime back in Syria, what will happen to them now?
Vietnam’s President Nguyen Phu Trong with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev met in Hanoi on November 19, 2018.
Luong Thai Linh/AFP
A small country surrounded by giants such as China, Russia and the United States, Vietnam long ago learned to work with its neighbours and assert its independence.
Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is newly independent of the Russian Orthodox Church.
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
Ukraine’s Orthodox Church recently broke off from Russia. This dispute has a history that goes back to medieval Christianity, and continues to shape modern-day politics.
Polar bears ‘invading’ a Russian village have renewed concern over climate change in the Arctic, but human-wildlife conflicts are flaring up everywhere.
The presidents of Russia and Egypt.
AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, Pool
The private space race is about to take another great leap as Israel sends a private lander to the moon.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2015. In the 2018 Transparency International report, Venezuela ranks 168 and Russia ranks 138. The least-corrupt country in the world is Denmark, followed by strong democracies such as New Zealand, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.
kremlin.ru
The rankings in Transparency International’s 2018 index shows that highly democratic countries tend to have low levels of corruption. Is there something inherent in corruption that can kill democracy?
Military action during the NATO-led military exercise in Trondheim, Norway on Oct. 30, 2018. The NATO exercises included some 3,000 troops, 20 ships, several tanks and about 50 aircraft from various nations.
(Gorm Kallestad/NTB scanpix via AP)
Military exercises are more than just ‘war games’ – they’re aimed at signalling military capability and intent. But NATO must honour its commitment to transparency, and pressure Russia to do the same.
Look out for Russian influence.
M-SUR/Shutterstock.com
Terry Thompson, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
European countries, especially the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have confronted Russian disinformation campaigns for decades. The US can learn from their experience.