Cold War in popular culture

BELGRADE - US Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan is in Bosnia on an unannounced visit for talks with officials, the Web news publication Balkan Insight reported Friday.

The CIA director arrived from Saudi Arabia, where he met with senior officials from six Gulf Arab nations aimed at coordinating efforts in the conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, the report said.

Dzevad Galijasevic, an expert on terrorism, says there are two reasons for the CIA director's visit to Sarajevo on Friday.

Those are "the fight against arms trafficking, and Turkey," Galijasevic said, adding:

European police have amped security forces after receiving warning from a “friendly” intelligence service that capital cities across the continent could be targets of a terrorist attack before the end of December.

US President Barack Obama didn't know about State Department's move to ask Bulgaria and Greece to deny overflight permissions to Syria-bound Russian planes, Bloomberg says.

A piece on BloombergView reads that "there's disagreement inside the US government" on how to act to prevent Russian from flying combat missions a new air base inside Syria.

Robert Downey Jr. decided to spend an afternoon with a real hero. Seven year-old Alex Mead, born with a problem in his right arm, as it is only partially grown, was visited by Robert Downey Jr. who pretended to be Tony Stark!

The actor gave Alex a very special gift to match his 3-D printed arm: Iron Man’s bionic arm.

Watch the video below:

"European governments that cooperated with the CIA's secret detention, interrogation and torture operations as part of the USA's global 'war on terror' must act urgently to bring those responsible to justice following a US Senate report containing new details," Amnesty International said in a briefing paper published on Monday.

A parliamentary commission that will oversee all intelligence activities in Turkey was established on Nov. 20, with the head of the commission describing the move as “similar to Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon.”

The Turkish president is set to establish a team to monitor the work of the Cabinet, despite putatively being above the political realm as the head of state.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta hailed the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on his Facebook page on Sunday.

‘A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood’ by Ian Johnson (Mariner Books, 336 pages, $16)