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Russian President Vladimir Putin spent years building up an alliance with Venezuela's late populist leader Hugo Chavez and his successor Maduro, often playing host to the two in Moscow. As pressure has built on Maduro from self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido and his Western allies, Russia has stood firm behind its man in Caracas. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday vowed Moscow would "do everything" to protect its ally. Behind this support, analysts say, is an understanding that if it loses Venezuela, Moscow will have few allies to speak of in Latin America. "Venezuela is practically the last thing that...

A state-funded Russian film that lionises a Soviet World War II tank and its crew has become the second highest grossing home-grown production since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Kremlin has long put the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany at the heart of a patriotic push to accompany what it casts as the country's return to greatness under Vladimir Putin who has portrayed Russia as a fortress besieged by the West. The new film, "T-34," has been praised by the defence ministry which has shown it to its troops. Its release coincides with heightened tensions with the West,...

Several liberal Democrats are speaking out against the Trump administration's stance against Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro -- even describing the support for opposition leader Juan Guaido as a “US backed coup” -- despite bipartisan support elsewhere for the administration's actions. The Trump administration announced last week that it was formally recognizing Guaido as the country’s legitimate leader, and this week announced billions of dollars in sanctions against Maduro and the state-owned oil company. Republicans and some Democrats have backed Trump’s move, noting the appalling human rights conditions in the country as well as the dire economic situation fueled by...

About 20 tons of gold from Venezuela's central bank was ready to be hauled away Tuesday on a Russian airline's Boeing 777 that landed in Caracas a day earlier, a Venezuelan lawmaker wrote on Twitter.

About 20 tons of gold from Venezuela's central bank was ready to be hauled away Tuesday on a Russian airline's Boeing 777 that landed in Caracas a day earlier, a Venezuelan lawmaker wrote on Twitter. The destination of the $840 million in gold bars was unknown, but a source told Bloomberg News that it represented about 20 percent of the country's holding of the metal. The gold was set aside for loading, the report said. The news outlet, which first reported on the tweet, identified the lawmaker as Jose Guerra. The lawmaker did not provide evidence for his claim but...

Former US president Barack Obama lied to Saudi Arabia when violating the redlines he famously declared regarding Syria’s use of chemical weapons and then not acting when they were used, a former senior Saudi official said in an interview with Independent Arabia. Bandar bin Sultan served for years as head of Saudi intelligence as well as the Saudi ambassador to the United States. In the interview, he recalled a last phone call between the late Saudi King Abdullah and Obama, during which the Saudi leader told the US president: “I did not expect that [after] this long life, I would...

"Pay the soldiers. The rest do not matter." This was the deathbed counsel given to his sons by Roman Emperor Septimius Severus in A.D. 211. Nicolas Maduro must today appreciate the emperor's insight. For the political survival of this former bus driver and union boss hangs now upon whether Venezuela's armed forces choose to stand by him or to desert him and support National Assembly leader Juan Guaido. Wednesday, Guaido declared Maduro's election last May to a second six-year term to be a sham, and had himself inaugurated as acting president. Thursday, the defense minister and army chief General Vladimir...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is poised to use a foreign policy bill to break with President Trump, saying on Tuesday that he will offer an amendment that would warn against a "precipitous withdrawal" of troops from either Syria or Afghanistan. McConnell, speaking from the Senate floor, said his proposal would "acknowledge the plain fact" that Al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and their affiliates "pose a serious threat to us here in home." “It would recognize the danger of a precipitous withdrawal from either conflict and highlight the need for diplomatic engagement and political solutions...

Monday on MSNBC’s “All In,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said she has no proof, but she believes Paul Manafort, who was campaign chairman for Donald Trump from June to August 2016, was planted by Russians. Waters said, “At the center of this question about whether or not the president colluded with Russia or Putin or the oligarchs et cetera is the question of sanctions. We know that Putin wants these sanctions lifted. I’ve said from the beginning that I believe, and I don’t have the proof, but I believe that Manafort was sent to the campaign to be there to...

Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, who already has a legal president waiting in the wings to take the reins, now has a mountain of U.S. pressure to get out while the getting's good. He's not much for Twitter, but in the last few hours, he's been going like gangbusters, or, well, in his case, gangs, trying to rally the left to his regime and get his "narrative" for them out. Look at this amazingly long string of recent tweets. The big thing making him scream publicly is news of the crushing round of sanctions employed by President Trump and his dream...

In most of the media, it's playing as one of those gotcha moments. At Monday's White House press briefing National Security Advisor John Bolton came to make some remarks on Venezuela. He carried a lined yellow legal pad, on which two short scribbled notes were visible to photographers. The scribble that made news was: "5,000 troops to Colombia." That sure sounds like a ramped-up threat to Colombia's neighbor, Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. A glimpse of inside pow-wows at the White House. It looked a lot more specific than President Trump's warning that "all options are on the table." Was it...

On Monday, the White House held its first press briefing in over a month, During that briefing, a photographer caught a note written on National Security Advisor John Bolton‘s notebook that was not visible to reporters in the room. It read: “5,000 troops to Colombia.” CNN’s Jim Acosta reported on what happened. “Wolf, we want to draw your attention to one other thing that happened at the White House briefing earlier this afternoon,” he explained. “John Bolton, the National Security Adviser, was caught on camera. A photographer took a picture of this note pad…Notice on the second line, it says...

The Trump administration on Monday announced devastating sanctions against Venezuela in an effort to pressure President Nicolás Maduro to step aside — as the country’s opposition leader vowed to take control of the oil rich country. National-security adviser John Bolton said penalties would be imposed on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company as President Trump recognized self-proclaimed interim President Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate leader. While announcing the hefty sanctions, Bolton did not rule out the use of military force as a means to oust Maduro. “The president has made it clear that all options are on the table,” Bolton told...

FULL TITLE: World War 3: ‘Resistance axis’ of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah ‘planning for war with Israel’ HEZBOLLAH has warned it could team up with Iran and Syria to bomb Israel, and is already planning for “the next war”, the Lebanese group’s leader has said, ramping up tensions in the region still further. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah made his comments as he responded for the first time to Israel's discovery of tunnels dug into Israeli territory from Lebanon by claiming his organisation had "for years" been able to enter Israel. Israel's unveiling of what it called Hezbollah "attack tunnels"...

The Trump administration will sanction Venezuela's state-owned oil firm, Petroleos de Venezuela, a move the White House has long put off for fear that it would raise oil prices and hurt American refiners. The move comes after a turbulent week for Venezuela that has created a standoff over the country's leadership. Last week, the opposition leader of Venezuela's National Assembly, Juan Guaido, named himself interim president amid street protests. President Donald Trump soon recognized Guaido as the nation's leader and his administration has been marshaling international support for the opposition figure since then. However, socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, having recently...

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told me that as recently as a couple of weeks ago Trump mused to him about the possibility of using military force in Venezuela, where the U.S. government is currently pushing for regime change using diplomatic and economic pressures. What happened: Graham, recalling his conversation with Trump, said: "He [Trump] said, 'What do you think about using military force?' and I said, 'Well, you need to go slow on that, that could be problematic.' And he said, 'Well, I'm surprised, you want to invade everybody.'" Graham laughed. "And I said, 'I don't want to invade everybody,...

When it comes to understanding the crisis in Venezuela, the new self-proclaimed democratic socialists revert to the old trope of Stalinist era lefties. In the old days of the Cold War, the horror that emerged after the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe—discussed in great depth in Anne Applebaum's Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe—was "explained" in this manner by the fellow-travelers of the Old Left: The purge trials, arrests of dissidents, their torture and years of imprisonment may have been harsh, but were all necessary to preserve socialism and prevent a "fascist" takeover from occurring. And if people they...

Venezuela is once again in a state of economic and political chaos. Juan Guaido – Venezuela’s charismatic opposition leader and head of the country’s National Assembly – has declared himself Venezuela’s interim president, directly challenging the legitimacy of President Nicolas Maduro, who began his second term earlier in January. In May 2018, Maduro won a highly controversial election in which he suddenly moved the election date from December 2018 to May and banned numerous political rivals from participating in the election. Maduro has also been accused of buying votes and rigging the election in his favor. Much of the international...

Full title: Rep. Swalwell's 'Outrageous' and 'Irresponsible' Interview in Which He Calls Trump an 'Agent of Russia' In a recent interview for PBS Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, didn't even flinch when he called President Trump an "agent of Russia." Swalwell video at link Ryan Saavedra ✔@RealSaavedra Margaret Hoover presses Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) about claiming, without evidence, that President Donald Trump is “an agent of Russia” "He betrayed our country and I don't say that lightly," Swalwell said. He doesn't say it with evidence, either, as Ms. Hoover...

In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Vladimir Putin again denied meddling in the 2016 presidential election and peddled the conspiracy theory it was really the work of the US intelligence community. “There’s a theory that Kennedy’s assassination was arranged by the United States Intelligence services,” Putin said. “So if this theory is correct and that can’t be ruled out, then what could be easier, in this day and age, than using all the technical means at the disposal of the intelligence services, and using those means to organize some attacks, and then pointing the finger at Russia.” SEE ALSO Putin...