Nice to see you, to see you nice!
Here's a remarkable and telling photo of Donald Trump with a big cheesy grin on his face to welcome the arrival of Russia's Vladimir Putin at an Armistice Day ceremony in Paris at the weekend.
Trump's reaction is in stark contrast to that of French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Putin goes on to shake Trump's hand warmly, taps him on the arm and give him a 'thumbs up' sign.
As regular readers know, Putin's Russia recently used a nerve agent on UK soil, previously poisoned a Russian dissident with radioactive Polonium, was denounced for the shooting down of civilian Flight MH17 over Ukraine, annexed Crimea and has been condemned for interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
Things have come to a pretty pass when an American president is on friendlier terms with a Russian tyrant than he is with the elected leaders of major countries in Europe.
Putin's Russia (27/0/18)
The BBC reports that a Joint Investigating Team (JIT) representing the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine has concluded that Russia was responsible for the murder of 298 innocent people when Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
At the time President Putin denied all responsibility and no doubt will continue to doing so even though there is a clear pattern of Russia's culpability on the world stage:
- The murder of Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive Polonium in 2006
- Team Russia's systematic cheating in the Sochi Winter Olympics 2014
- Large-scale, organised Russian interference in America's presidential election in 2016
- The attempted assassination of a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia on UK soil in 2018 with a military grade nerve agent
No wonder Russia is widely regarded as a rogue state these days, even if Donald Trump and Jeremy Corbyn are both badly out of step with public opinion.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44235402
MH17 missile owned by Russian brigade, investigators say
Media caption - Investigators said they had evidence of the route taken by a Russian missile convoy
The missile that downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014 belonged to a Russian brigade, international investigators say.
For the first time, the Dutch-led team said the missile had come from a unit based in western Russia.
All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
It was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine. Russia says none of its weapons was used.
But on Thursday Wilbert Paulissen, a Dutch official from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told reporters: "All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces."
He restated the JIT's conclusion that the plane had been destroyed by a Russian-made Buk missile, adding that it had been supplied by the country's 53rd anti-aircraft brigade in Kursk.
At a news conference in the Dutch city of Utrecht, the investigators also showed social media pictures which they said traced the route the missile convoy had taken to reach eastern Ukraine.
What happened to MH17?
The incident occurred at the height of the conflict between government troops and pro-Russian separatists.
The plane left Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on 17 July 2014 and was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on the following day.
Malaysia plane crash: What we know
MH17: Our special report
Who were the victims?
The plane lost contact with air traffic control about 50km (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Media captionIn 2015, the Dutch Safety Board released an animated video showing the flight path of the plane
It crashed in the Donetsk area, in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Footage was later released by the Ukrainian government suggesting that a Buk missile had been brought in from Russia on the day of the crash, and then taken back across the border the next day.
What has been said about the incident?
In October 2015 the Dutch Safety Board concluded that the plane had indeed been hit by a Buk missile.
How does a Buk missile system work?
While Russia continues to pour out disinformation about the chemical weapon attack in Salisbury, here's how the Kremlin responded to the independent investigation into the biggest doping scandal in world sport - there's ever been.
If you ask me, Jeremy Corbyn supporters and their fellow conspiracy theorists are being had - big time!
"Nothing to see here, move along", seems to be the response of Putin's Russian into the biggest doping scandal there's ever been.
The independent report was carried out at the request of WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) and exposes cheating on an industrial scale - not just on the part of individual athletes and rouge coaches, but at the highest levels of the Russian state.
Read the following report from the BBC which includes a link to McLaren's findings in relation to the London Olympics in 2012 and further Olympic events in 2013 and 2014.
Doping is the course of modern sport, from the Olympic Games to professional cycling, yet instead of being part of the solution the Russian Government under President Putin appears to be a huge part of the problem.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/38261608
Russian doping: McLaren report says more than 1,000 athletes implicated
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44235402
MH17 missile owned by Russian brigade, investigators say
Media caption - Investigators said they had evidence of the route taken by a Russian missile convoy
The missile that downed a Malaysia Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014 belonged to a Russian brigade, international investigators say.
For the first time, the Dutch-led team said the missile had come from a unit based in western Russia.
All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 died when it broke apart in mid-air flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
It was hit by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in Ukraine. Russia says none of its weapons was used.
But on Thursday Wilbert Paulissen, a Dutch official from the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), told reporters: "All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces."
He restated the JIT's conclusion that the plane had been destroyed by a Russian-made Buk missile, adding that it had been supplied by the country's 53rd anti-aircraft brigade in Kursk.
At a news conference in the Dutch city of Utrecht, the investigators also showed social media pictures which they said traced the route the missile convoy had taken to reach eastern Ukraine.
What happened to MH17?
The incident occurred at the height of the conflict between government troops and pro-Russian separatists.
The plane left Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on 17 July 2014 and was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on the following day.
Malaysia plane crash: What we know
MH17: Our special report
Who were the victims?
The plane lost contact with air traffic control about 50km (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Media captionIn 2015, the Dutch Safety Board released an animated video showing the flight path of the plane
It crashed in the Donetsk area, in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Footage was later released by the Ukrainian government suggesting that a Buk missile had been brought in from Russia on the day of the crash, and then taken back across the border the next day.
What has been said about the incident?
In October 2015 the Dutch Safety Board concluded that the plane had indeed been hit by a Buk missile.
How does a Buk missile system work?
In September 2016, the JIT - which includes officials from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine - reached a similar conclusion in a preliminary report.
It said it had "irrefutable evidence" that the missile had been brought in from Russian territory and fired from a field controlled by pro-Russian fighters.
The investigators simulated various trajectories of the warhead. They showed it had exploded metres above the aeroplane's nose, showering the aircraft with fragments.
On Thursday Russia restated its position that none of its forces had been involved. "Not a single anti-aircraft missile system from the Russian Federation has ever crossed the Russia-Ukraine border," the defence ministry in Moscow said.
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised in a Facebook post (in Ukrainian) that he would "spare no effort to ensure that the actions of the Russian Federation as a state which supports terrorism get an appropriate assessment" in the International Court of Justice.
It said it had "irrefutable evidence" that the missile had been brought in from Russian territory and fired from a field controlled by pro-Russian fighters.
The investigators simulated various trajectories of the warhead. They showed it had exploded metres above the aeroplane's nose, showering the aircraft with fragments.
On Thursday Russia restated its position that none of its forces had been involved. "Not a single anti-aircraft missile system from the Russian Federation has ever crossed the Russia-Ukraine border," the defence ministry in Moscow said.
Meanwhile Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised in a Facebook post (in Ukrainian) that he would "spare no effort to ensure that the actions of the Russian Federation as a state which supports terrorism get an appropriate assessment" in the International Court of Justice.
Putin's Russia and 'Disinformation' (07/04/18)
While Russia continues to pour out disinformation about the chemical weapon attack in Salisbury, here's how the Kremlin responded to the independent investigation into the biggest doping scandal in world sport - there's ever been.
If you ask me, Jeremy Corbyn supporters and their fellow conspiracy theorists are being had - big time!
Putin's Russia (15/12/18)
"Nothing to see here, move along", seems to be the response of Putin's Russian into the biggest doping scandal there's ever been.
The independent report was carried out at the request of WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) and exposes cheating on an industrial scale - not just on the part of individual athletes and rouge coaches, but at the highest levels of the Russian state.
Read the following report from the BBC which includes a link to McLaren's findings in relation to the London Olympics in 2012 and further Olympic events in 2013 and 2014.
Doping is the course of modern sport, from the Olympic Games to professional cycling, yet instead of being part of the solution the Russian Government under President Putin appears to be a huge part of the problem.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/38261608
Russian doping: McLaren report says more than 1,000 athletes implicated
BBC Sport
The report's author, Richard McLaren (centre), said doping took place on 'an unprecedented scale'
More than 1,000 Russians - including Olympic medallists - benefited from a state-sponsored doping programme between 2011 and 2015, a report claims.
At least 30 sports, including football, covered up samples, the report says.
"It was a cover-up that evolved from uncontrolled chaos to an institutionalised and disciplined medal-winning conspiracy," said the report's author, Richard McLaren.
Lawyer McLaren said London 2012 was "corrupted on an unprecedented scale".
The report also implicates medallists at the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow, and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
According to the report, salt and coffee were used to manipulate Russian samples.
The report added the system was refined over the course of the 2012 Olympics, 2013 Worlds and Winter Olympics to protect likely Russian medal winners.
More than 1,000 Russians - including Olympic medallists - benefited from a state-sponsored doping programme between 2011 and 2015, a report claims.
At least 30 sports, including football, covered up samples, the report says.
"It was a cover-up that evolved from uncontrolled chaos to an institutionalised and disciplined medal-winning conspiracy," said the report's author, Richard McLaren.
Lawyer McLaren said London 2012 was "corrupted on an unprecedented scale".
The report also implicates medallists at the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow, and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
According to the report, salt and coffee were used to manipulate Russian samples.
The report added the system was refined over the course of the 2012 Olympics, 2013 Worlds and Winter Olympics to protect likely Russian medal winners.
