NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, will ask Russian law enforcers to protect him, his lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, has said. The former NSA contractor is concerned about his safety after seeing death threats coming from the US. ● Snowden, who is currently living in Moscow under Russia’s temporary asylum, has been following the threats against him in various American media. “We are concerned with the situation around Edward. We see the statements made by some US officials containing potential and implicit threats and openly calling for causing him bodily harm,” Kucherena said. One such statement published by BuzzFeed quoted a US intelligence officer describing in detail how he would have assassinated Snowden, if he “had the chance.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday said the absence of Iran from this week's peace talks on the Syrian crisis would be an "unforgivable mistake". "Not to ensure the presence at this event of all those who may directly influence the situation, I think, would be an unforgivable mistake," Lavrov told a televised press briefing. "So I fully support the responsible and principled approach by UN Secretary General (Ban Ki-moon), who sent an invitation to those countries that influence the situation, including the Islamic Republic of Iran." Lavrov added the Iran's absence would make the talks that are due to start on Wednesday in the Swiss city of Montreux a "sham".

Stephen Lendman: Syria Peace Talks: DOA ■ Geneva talks aren't about peace. Obama demands regime change. [He says] conflict resolution is impossible as long Assad remains president. He won't step down as long as Syrians want him retained. They do so overwhelmingly. No global consensus exists. Washington, other Western countries, Israel, and rogue regional allies want regime change. Russia, China, Iran and numerous other nations want Syrian sovereignty respected. Demanding Assad must go violates it. Syrians alone must decide their future. International law prohibits outside interference. Washington rules make peace impossible. Talks are DOA.

Finian Cunningham: Geneva II: Iran nixed proves US fixed ■ There is a good reason why Iran has been blocked from attending the Geneva II conference on Syria – because the meeting is not about finding a peaceful settlement. Rather, it is merely an American mechanism for engineering regime change in Syria. What the Americans have failed to achieve through state-sponsored terrorism, they are now trying to win through state-sponsored politics. Iran has consistently endorsed the sovereign right of the Syrian people to negotiate their political future – without pre-conditions or pressure from external powers. And it is because of this Iranian position of principle over Syria that it is being banished at the behest of the US. Iran being nixed proves the US has fixed.

Riot police brutally dispersed radical protesters from central Kiev in the largest operation since the latest outbreak of violence. Almost 200 officers have been injured over four days of scuffles. Two people were reportedly killed amid the crisis. The police cleared Khrushchevskovo Street, the scene of intensive confrontation with radical anti-government activists in the vicinity of the Ukrainian parliament building. They proceeded to the neighboring European Square, where opposition activists have been camping for weeks. Footage from the Ukrainian capital showed hundreds of police officers using tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades against the protesters. Some episodes involved policemen snatching individual rioters from the crowds and brutally beating them.

Russia Today: Police and rioters face-off in Kiev - LIVE

Former Assistant Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts is making some bold new claims about the Federal Reserve and its official government gold holdings. ● Dr. Roberts contends, “They don’t have any more gold. That’s why they can only give Germany 5 tons of the 1,500 tons it’s holding. In fact, when Germany asked for this delivery last year, the Fed said no. But it said we will give you back 300 tons...So, they said we will give you back 20% of what you trusted us to keep for you over the next seven years, but they are not even able to do that.” Dr. Roberts goes on to say, “The stocks of gold at the Bank of England seem to be disappearing. The stocks of many of the gold trusts, such as GLD, are being looted...all of this gold is disappearing into Asian markets. The entire West is being drained of gold.”

Dieudonné | Mahmoud [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

The property website Zoopla has announced that it will end its sponsorship of West Bromwich Albion at the end of the current season. Zoopla said its decision was prompted by the actions of French striker, Nicolas Anelka, who has been photographed (right) making a gesture known as the quenelle which, Zionists claim has “anti-Semitic” connotations. Zoopla is owned by the Jewish businessman Alex Chesterman. It was reported last week that the company had told West Bromwich that it would withdraw its sponsorship if Anelka wasn’t dropped from the team. Zoopla was reportedly “stunned” when the team didn’t comply. The Football Association has announced that it has appointed an “expert” to look into the matter. The Football Association has not yet named the “expert” who will lead the investigation into the gesture, which was made by the French striker after he scored against West Ham in late December.

The quenelle – which translates literally as “dumpling” in English – is a straight-arm salute with one arm pointing downwards and the other hand across the chest. It has been made famous by the French comedian Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, who has described it as a gesture of defiance, not specifically against Jews but against the establishment in general. Although Dieudonné denies the gesture is “anti-Semitic” it has been described by his critics as an inverted Nazi salute. As has been pointed out however, an inverted Nazi salute could just as easily be interpreted as a gesture of defiance against “anti-Semitism” rather than support for Nazism. Dieudonné , who French authorities claim has been insulting the memory of Holocaust victims during his stage shows, has been banned from performing in a growing list of French towns and cities.

Xymphora: No change, no hope ■ "Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, It's About Blackmail, Not National Security" Blackmail is important, but I think the bigger reason for the mass surveillance state is to create the general idea (paranoia) that since they know everything about everyone, the destruction of your reputation and your life is always possible, and will be used against you if you even think subversive thoughts, subversion being anything that might undermine the position of the 1%. Surveillance is social control (and has been under every fascist government through recorded history). We still have the war on drugs for the same reason, but the surveillance threat tends to be more effective against slightly higher classes.