“Smile, everyone”: Turkey, the US, Saudi Arabia, and Russia at the table in Vienna.
EPA/Eduard Pesov
With Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the US all at the table, Russia’s benighted Syria plan may at last have a chance of success.
EPA/Pavel Konovov
Increased submarine activity is fuelling concerns at Russia’s capability to wage information warfare on the West.
Just watch me.
Reuters/RIA Novosti
Russia’s Syrian venture is a dramatic example of modern realpolitik which has taken the West completely by surprise.
Supplied
Last week’s release of the Dutch Safety Board’s final report on the downing of MH17 held no surprises. While this essentially technical report had no brief to cast blame for the tragedy, no-one familiar…
Rouhani’s hand grows stronger thanks to Iran’s cooperation with Russia.
Reuters
Russia’s stepped-up role in Syria is likely to bolster Iran and the anti-Western opposition in Iraq.
Rebuilding MH17 from the wreckage was hard, but building a legal case is harder still.
Michael Kooren/Reuters
We have the courts, we have (some) evidence, but can we build a case? MH17 investigation could remain inconclusive.
Uneasy allies?
Alexei Druzhinin/REUTERS
Russia has different goals in Syria than the US and its allies. As ISIS weakens, that will become more apparent.
Vladimir Putin and friends at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in September 2015.
EPA/Mikhail Klimentyev/Ria Novosti
A renewed security focus on Afghanistan is part of Vladimir Putin’s plan to re-energise Russia’s vision of a ‘Greater Eurasia’.
The reconstructed front of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014.
AAP/Lloyd Jones
A Dutch Safety Board report is crucial to the progress of the ongoing criminal investigation into downed flight MH17.
Smiling again: Hassan Rouhani.
Reuters/Adrees Latif
After years out in the cold, the Iranians have a chance to be heard in the West – and they’ve got Saudi Arabia on their minds.
“It’s not that simple, Barack.”
Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Russia’s Syria play may have hit some snags already, but the US is hardly placed to kick up a fuss.
A Russian ship passes through the Bosphorus.
Reuters/Murad Sezer
Airspace incursions are spilling over into wider tensions.
The face-off between Russia and the West in Syria is giving both sides a chance to try out their new high-tech weaponry.
EPA/Russian Defence Ministry
Relations between the two countries, once cordial, have been strained by Russia’s intervention in Syria.
Putin talks, Russia listens.
EPA/Yuri Kochetov
To his home audience, Vladimir Putin’s strategy in Syria appears to be sound.
The Tsar Nicholas II and his son Alexei in capitivity in Tobolsk in 1917.
Romanov Collection, General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University/Wikimedia Commons
As the remains of the Tsar and Tsarina are exhumed, why their story continues to enthral.
EAP/Russian Defence Ministry
Despite a fierce exchange of rhetoric over Russia’s airstrikes in Syria, it makes sense for Moscow and Washington to coordinate their military intervention.
Mikhail Klimentiev/Ria Novosti
Why has Vladimir Putin stepped up his Syrian game so radically – and is it really all as sudden as it seems?
Julie Bishop says all options should be considered when it comes to Australia’s position on a post-civil war Syria.
AAP/Amanda Voisard
The real winners this week in international diplomacy have been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
More jaw jaw, less war war.
Ad Meskens
Sanctions against Russia and China would only escalate cyber-attacks, when what’s needed is international agreement.