Just some educational information.
Sevastopol has its own anthem, and the words of the anthem should make any invader think twice.

Sung in full here (note that the video was uploaded in 2011. Spot the scenes that virtually say to Ukraine and the West, "don't push too hard, the citizens of Sevastopol are fed up and might take action"):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMKOgIEPD-c

Fly winged wind,
Over seas, over land.
Tell the whole world
About my beloved town.

Tell to the whole world
That on Crimean shores
Our grandfathers fought
And glorified in battle.

[Chorus:]
Legendary Sevastopol,
Impregnable to enemies
Sevastopol, Sevastopol,
The pride of Russian sailors

Here we went to the rightful and holy battles
For our Motherland
And your previous glory,
Have we multiplied

Having shrugged of black overcoats,
The Black Sea sailors during the days of War
Went against tanks with only handgrenades
Your sons went to their deaths

[Chorus]

If across the sea
enemies should come to us with swords,
We'll meet unwelcomed guests
with annihilating fire

The whole of beloved country knows
That the battleships do not sleep,
And are guarding surely
The shores of homeland

[Chorus]

Music: Vano Muradeli
Text: Petr Gragov
Written: 1954
Ratified as the official anthem of Sevastopol on 29.07.1994


Russian text here:
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BD_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8F

You can hear a rendition of it here, where a girl spontaneously performed it at an election locale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MERVP8BhP00

Ukrainians tried to re-write the text in 2006, replacing "Russian sailors" with "Ukrainian sailors",  "Sevastopol" with "whitestone fortress", and "kozaks" were added. The reaction of the citizens was strongly negative, to say the least.

I prey that US/NATO warmongers are not stupid enough and that Western soldiers would not need to hear that song performed on the other side of the trenches, as the citizens of Sevastopol yet again rise to defend their city from an "invasion from across the sea".

Russia retreats from Syria? Yeah right, like they retreated from Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine?
This is just a tactic, meant to get more long-term concessions from Assad. To show him that he can be left alone again, and he'll sign whatever Putin wants.

 
I dont even know what to say.

Spreading the gifted blankets, people lay down to rest on the pavement. Munich slows down with a reply today: the refugee centres there are already over-crowded, they just do not know what to do. “We were promised that we’d be in Germany today, – complains Khamis, a 44-year-old engineer from Damascus. – But now it turns out that the Germans were not prepared to accept more people. What to do? We sit on each other’s heads.” Meanwhile, in the course of the conversation an interesting thing turns up. Khamis has lived in the camp “for displaced persons” in Turkey (Mardin province) for two years and did not think about Europe: for the smugglers took 10 000 dollars per person for transport by sea to Greece, while he had nowhere near that kind of money. So, in July there came some unidentified recruiters to their camp – they promised free shipping to Europe. One had to agree to the offer quickly and to go right away. “I think it is very necessary for someone that Europe is drowned with refugees – said Khamis. – But honestly, I do not want to go into details. I’m just happy that I’m far away from war.”

– Many Europeans probably wonder: The war in Libya and Syria began five years ago, and in Iraq as far back as in 2003, so why do hundreds of thousands of people poured into the EU now? – says political consultant of the Lebanese TV channel “Al-Manar” Mohammed Aswad. – Turkey kept the Syrians behind barbed wire, their passports were confiscated, they were not allowed to leave the camps. And suddenly there come recruiters, offering a free ride into Europe. Why such selflessness? Turkey, the closest US ally, suddenly opens the door, releasing a crowd of fugitives who freely enter the EU. Now the question is: Who benefits? The main dividends are received by the United States. The tide of migrants means huge costs for the weak EU economy, which will lead to a drop in the Euro, worsening crime situation in Europe. As a result, the EU has no resources to bother with the United States, and Washington will be able to smoothly carry out its plans for the control of oil sources in the Middle East in order to bring the price of oil to $10 per barrel.

It means an islet in Icelandic. I guess the old Novgorod was surrounded by wetland and appeared like it was an island to those vikings. The readers of those old sagas probably could care less about some Constantine, Grand City was much more to the point. Same for the other names. It´s descriptive for literary purposes.

Specialists are attracted by one of the meanings of the Scandinavian name of the city ("Holmgard") - "cluster of villages, flooded during floods" [19]. Probably by Holmgard was meant a chain of settlements from the origins of the Volkhov (Peryn, Rurik settlement) and up to the Holopje gorodok  (opposite Krechevitsy, the village Novonikolayevsk) - see Gardariki. [19]. Later, the center of city life moved to Novgorod, and Rurik's township became the princely residence. [20]

The official date of the emergence of Novgorod is considered to be year 859 [21] [22] [23]; at the same time based on late Nikon chronicle [24] (composed in the XVI century, there is no information about the foundation or the construction of Novgorod under this date in this source). However, the annals do not specifically tell about the foundation of the city during this year, while one the year 6367 (859) there is a record of Gostomysl's death - a Novgorod elder - that can not be recognized as the date of foundation of Novgorod. The author of the official date of foundation of the city has become a historian MN Tikhomirov, who made a presentation at a scientific conference in Novgorod, on the eve of 1959, which made it possible to mark that year the 1100th anniversary of Novgorod [25]

Полномочия по расследованию дел об обмене криптовалют на рубли, скорее всего, получит Следственный комитет, сообщили RNS в пресс-службе Минфина. Ведомство подготовило и направило на межведомственное согласование соответствующий законопроект.

«Один из принципиальных вопросов, который предстоит решить в ходе обсуждений, — чья это будет подследственность. В вероятном итоге это будет закреплено за Следственным комитетом. Наказание предполагается довольно жесткое, но это обусловлено особенностями нашего процессуального законодательства», — пояснили в Минфине.

Первая версия законопроекта о введении уголовной ответственности за использование денежных суррогатов была представлена в сентябре, тогда замечания к документу возникли у Минюста. В частности, Минюст обратил внимание на неопределенность понятия «денежные суррогаты», говорили RNS в этом ведомстве. Также отмечалось, что дополнение Уголовного кодекса Российской Федерации проектируемой статьей 187.1 может повлечь конкуренцию с уже действующей статьей 187 «Неправомерный оборот средств платежей».

Министерство финансов сузило состав преступления — теперь речь идет только об обмене криптовалют.

«Но за счет этого предлагаем ввести наказание, которое предполагает преступление средней тяжести. Только при средней тяжести начинается право оперативно-розыскной деятельности. По административному правонарушению нет возможности проводить оперативно-розыскную деятельность», — пояснили в ведомстве.

Статья 187 УК предусматривает наказание за изготовление, приобретение, хранение, транспортировку в целях использования или сбыта, сбыт поддельных платежных карт, распоряжений о переводе денежных средств, документов или средств оплаты. Максимальное наказание — до 6 лет лишения свободы, а за совершенные в составе организованной группы деяния — до 7 лет.

Novgorod - Hólmgarður - Island or islet town

Kiev - Kænugarður - Boat town

Constantinople - Mikligarður - Big city

These names are about a thousand years old here.

I think the -garður suffix is basically the same as gorod in Russian.

A new wave of protests, mostly by Romanian citizens, has confronted Norwegian embassies around the world in response to a controversial case surrounding five children that were taken out of the care of their Norwegian/Romanian parents by the Norwegian Child Welfare Service (Barnevernet).

    Czechs disinvite Norway over forced adoption (08 Oct 15)
    'Norway took my child because of pretty dress' (28 Aug 15)
    Czech pres asks Norway king to get kids back (12 Jun 15)
    Swedish paper slams Norway’s child welfare (12 May 15)

A high-profile case in which five children were removed from their parents’ care by the Barnevernet in November has reignited international criticism of the Norwegian child welfare service.

...

...
“Very many people come from other cultures with no government intervening in their domestic affairs. Then they come to Norway and the government intervenes in the family and they have no experience with this,” said Gunnar Toresen, head of the Child Protection Service in Stavanger.

Pettersen's case is not unique. According to the latest available statistics 6,737 children were taken into care in 2012, some 1,049 were immigrants or born to immigrant parents.

The actions of the Norwegian authorities have causes diplomatic disputes with a number of countries including India and Russia.
...

...

"Put simply, it's an abuse of authority," Ana Lucia Lima, a friend of Jesumary's and a pastor at a pentecostal church in Oslo, told The Local.  "They say she's not eating like it's normal to do here in Norway and that she's developing a dominating character among her friends. They say this is because she's not getting good parenting."

...

The Brazilian embassy is giving Jesumary its full support, and Lima intends to lead the Brazilian community on a march to the Norwegian parliament on Saturday in protest at the decision.
 
Jesumary, who speaks neither Norwegian nor English, recently divorced from the girl's father, a Norwegian of Chilean descent, and fought a court battle for custody over the child, which ended up involving the child welfare authority.
 
The father told state broadcaster NRK that he also now wanted the mother and daughter to return to Brazil.
 
"I support (her) wish that they travel to Brazil,” he told NRK. “As I see it, it’s the only solution. We don’t think this can be solved in court.”

...

In my language we have an old and special name for Kiev even, Kænugarður. Literally Boat city I think or something close.

And nobody is denying it happened.

People are denying it was done by simple terrorist organization. It's like Kennedy assassination, people who are able to think more than 10 sec have some doubt with the "official" theory.

So why is more then half of syria on the run?
Because daesh is evil and assad+russia are good?

Please explain

The Dirty War on Syria has relied on a level of mass disinformation not seen in living memory. In seeking ‘regime change’ the big powers sought to hide their hand, using proxy armies of ‘Islamists’, demonising the Syrian Government and constantly accusing it of atrocities. In this way Syrian President Bashar al Assad, a mild-mannered eye doctor, became the new evil in the world.

The popular myths of this dirty war – that it is a ‘civil war’, a ‘popular revolt’ or a sectarian conflict – hide a murderous spree of ‘regime change’ across the region. The attack on Syria was a necessary consequence of Washington’s ambition, stated openly in 2006, to create a ‘New Middle East’. After the destruction of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, Syria was next in line.

Five years into this war the evidence is quite clear and must be set out in detail. The terrible massacres were mostly committed by the western backed jihadists, then blamed on the Syrian Army. The western media and many western NGOs parroted the official line. Their sources were almost invariably those allied to the ‘jihadists’. Contrary to the myth that the big powers now have their own ‘war on terror’, those same powers have backed every single anti-government armed group in Syria, ‘terrorists’ in any other context, adding thousands of ‘jihadis’ from dozens of countries.

Yet in Syria this dirty war has confronted a disciplined national army which did not disintegrate along sectarian lines. Despite terrible destruction and loss of life, Syria has survived, deepening its alliance with Russia, Iran, the Lebanese Resistance, the secular Palestinians and, more recently, with Iraq. The tide has turned against Washington, and that will have implications beyond Syria.

As western peoples we have been particularly deceived by this dirty war, reverting to our worst traditions of intervention, racial prejudice and poor reflection on our own histories. This book tries to tell its story while rescuing some of the better western traditions: the use of reason, ethical principle and the search for independent evidence.