MoA – Microsoft Promotes Russia Scare To Gain Insider Access To Campaign Information:

Microsoft now offers a “special cybersecurity protection” to those candidates and campaigns that use its Office 365, Outlock or Hotmail cloud services.

NYT – Facebook Fueled Anti-Refugee Attacks in Germany, New Research Suggests:

Wherever per-person Facebook use rose to one standard deviation above the national average, attacks on refugees increased by about 50 percent.

From the comments at Naked Capitalism:

The banks that gave him loans were suspicious he was committing fraud, but did it anyway. I thought bankers were our best and brightest? How underhanded of him to take advantage of their willful naivete.

I’m confused as to why Manafort isn’t being treated as a hero by the Resistance, since the payments he received were from political entities opposed to Russia.

Manafort now has less incentive to turn on Trump, if there is anything there to reveal. If Manafort had something useful regarding charges against Trump he would have more likely cut a deal and plead guilty.

Having offshore accounts myself, I can say most of American tax law regarding citizens with accounts outside the US is painfully confusing, redundant and unfair. Yes, Manafort broke the law, but the law is garbage.

Voltaire Net – The 18,000 al-Qaeda Uighurs in Syria:

A Uyghur colony have transformed the city of al-Zanbaki (just on the Turkish border) into an entrenched camp. We do not know much about what is going on in this city, which is forbidden to anyone…

Speaking Turkish, rather than Chinese, they have benefited so far from the support of the Turkish secret services.

Washington Examiner – Rand Paul gets something about Russia that other senators don’t:

At a time when Democrat and Republican lawmakers alike are competing with one another over who can introduce the most anti-Russia sanctions bill, Paul is flying to Moscow to meet with Russian officials and lobbying President Trump to lift some travel restrictions on Russian parliamentarians so they can come to Washington for meetings…

This is a small price to pay for the possibility of a better understanding between representatives of the world’s two largest nuclear weapons powers.

Pepe Escobar: Exclusive, mega important Germany against the US dollar update:

Germany is in deep fear of the Strait of Hormuz being shut stranding a major supply of her natural gas and oil and placing her totally dependent on oil and natural gas from Russia. That is why they have to hold up the Iranian deal against all costs, as they could lose Russia next. Hence, the recent meeting of Merkel and Putin, (I covered it for Asia Times here) and the floating of a new currency plan to break the control over Germany and the world of the SWIFT-CHIPS dollar system.

ZH – New ‘Cold War’ Narrative Flops: Poll Shows Anti-Russia Campaign Had Little Effect:

Justin Raimondo: “It started in 2003, when the neocons declared war on Russia for Putin’s refusal to sign on to the Iraq war…

The majority of Democrats – 51% — say it’s more important to impose sanctions and take other hostile actions against Russia than to engage in diplomacy, while a whopping 74% of Republicans take the opposite view of diplomacy over confrontation…

Democrats swallow the Russia-gate myth whole: 78% believe it, despite the lack of publicly available evidence.”

How the fuck do you write an article about NED without mentioning Ukraine?

US Staged a Coup in Ukraine — Brief History and Facts

How Putin Solved the Problems of Europe and the US in Passing with Merkel:

It became clear that the Americans want to take away from the Germans their “cow” – the European Union, and to milk it themselves. But Germany in exchange is granted the “honourable” right to increase military expenses fourfold and switch from Russian gas to the three times more expensive American gas.

This is a great fucking article about Putin going to a wedding.

The U.S. Can’t Bring Russia ‘to Its Knees’:

Russia is the biggest natural gas exporter in the world and produces about three times as much crude oil as Iran.

“Thank God This Is Happening”: Russia Says Time Has Come To Ditch The Dollar:

There is a common understanding that we need to move towards the use of national currencies in our settlements.

What Russia is doing to counter the new round of American sanctions:

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that American sanctions would ultimately “damage the U.S. dollar as the international settlement currency.”

All the best Kremlin Trolls follow a guy who watches the Bosphorus.

Germany Considering Bailout For Turkey To Prevent “Full-Blown Economic Crisis”:

The IMF would also likely need to get involved…

Turkey hosts more refugees — 3.5 million — than any other country in the world. Most are Syrian…

The EU should pay €3 billion more to keep refugees in Turkey despite concerns about the Turkish regime, the European Commission has said.

White Helmets accompany large delivery of poisonous chemicals to militants in Syria – MoD

Syria Spurns US Offer to Pull Out Troops as Trade for Iran Withdrawal – Report:

American oil projects exist in Syria, albeit in the Golan Heights. Genie Energy Ltd., a New Jersey-based company, is pursuing a conventional oil project there. Genie Energy’s Strategic advisory board includes former US Vice President Dick Cheney, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, former CIA Director James Woolsey, Bill Richardson — a former US ambassador and governor who has repeatedly agitated in favor of the Syria conflict on cable news — and British investment banker Jacob Rothschild.