President Obama doesn’t take on Official Washington’s powerful neocons head-on, but he does drag his heels on some of their crazy schemes, which is better than America can expect from Hillary Clinton. From a “realist” perspective, there are plenty of reasons to criticize President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, particularly his timidity in facing down Official Washington’s dominant [...]

Exclusive: Sen. Sanders ventured hesitantly down the scary path of criticizing Israel, but even his timid approach looked heroic compared to the pro-Israel pandering from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, says Joe Lauria. Bernie Sanders supporters appeared thrilled when they learned he’d turned down an invitation to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference on Mo [...]

In his speech to the Cuban people in Havana, President Barack Obama declared, “I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas. … I’ve urged the people of the Americas to leave behind the ideological battles of the past.” But Obama made clear that his desire to end the decades-long US economic blockade of the island is not based on the fact that it constitutes [...]

To those living “outside the Beltway” it may seem counterintuitive that those of us whose analysis has been correct on key issues that the U.S. government got criminally wrong – like the invasion of Iraq in 2003 – would be blacklisted from “mainstream” media and ostracized by the Smart People of the Establishment. But, alas, that’s the way it is. [...]

Signaling that the primary race is far from over, a new national poll shows Bernie Sanders tied with Hillary Clinton among those who have voted or plan to vote in a Democratic contest this year.The Bloomberg Politics survey found 49 percent of respondents preferred Sanders, while 48 percent backed Clinton. [...]

Communications between the US National Security Agency (NSA) and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton show she repeatedly tried to obtain unsecure devices for use in government business, according to emails released by the US Department of State. Despite prior security concerns and cost, the NSA tried to modify Blackberry mobile phones to comply with Clinton’s repeated demands for the devi [...]

Following high-profile meetings in Moscow, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a joint news conference on Thursday night. Both diplomats agreed on the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between Washington and Moscow. [...]

In the article below by CNN Money, it says that Americans are becoming fearful of a future with a ’Dead-End Economy, Crap Jobs, and Awful Wages, and they have every reason in the world to think that way, because they’ll be lucky if it’s that... [...]

Following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris in November, Brussels’ town hall was lit in the colors of the French flag. Today, sadly, the Eiffel Tower is being lit for Brussels. On Tuesday, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that the tower would be lit in black, yellow, and red, to show solidarity after terrorist attacks of the morning left at least 31 dead and many more injured. [...]

Brussels, the administrative capital of Europe, was turned into a war zone after a series of deadly bomb blasts caused the city to shut down all transport links to the outside world. Zaventem International Airport was struck by two blasts during the early morning rush hour. [...]

Free movement between European states should have been abandoned after the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) attacks in Paris last November, former MP George Galloway said in the wake of Tuesday’s bombings in Brussels. The Respect Party’s candidate for mayor of London argued that suspending the right to free movement could have prevented attacks on European soil.   [...]

The whistle blower who exposed the totality of the America’s mass domestic surveillance program suggested that users should look to free and open source software to preserve their privacy. On Saturday, NSA whistle blower spoke to the Free Software Foundation’s LibrePlanet2016 conference [...]

Why did Vladimir Putin's decision to withdraw the Russian military forces from Syria take US hawks by surprise? Maybe, it's because Washington's party of war believes its own propaganda more than reality on the ground, Stephen F. Cohen notes, commenting on Russia's pullout. The leitmotif of Russian President Putin's foreign policy is the demilitarization of the ongoing new Cold War in the Middl [...]

Nadezhda Savchenko, a Ukrainian Air Force officer detained in Russia in 2014, is guilty of murdering two Russian journalists near Lugansk, eastern Ukraine, and of illegally crossing the Russian border, a court in the southern Russian town of Donetsk ruled.   [...]

The Bundesbank has announced plans to repatriate some of Germany’s gold reserves from abroad. At least half of the country’s gold would be transferred to Frankfurt by 2020, according to Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann. Weidmann says 366 tons of gold worth €11.5 billion have been delivered to Frankfurt so far. "There are now about 1,400 tons or 41.5 percent of our gold reserves here," t [...]

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed the price tag of the Russian anti-terrorist air operation in Syria – 33 billion rubles (about $464 million US). To get a handle on whether this was a little or a lot, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency has prepared an overview of some of the most expensive military operations since WWII. [...]

Sputnik looks at the key results and highlights of Russia's 5.5-month counterterrorist mission in Syria. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the air campaign prevented terrorist plans to expand into Russia and other countries, as well as undermined their administrative system and economic potential. Earlier on March 15, two air groups involved in the Syrian mission left Hmeimim o [...]

Syrians feel immense gratitude towards Russian military and Aerospace Forces with the popularity of Vladimir Putin soaring. The partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the country is a matter of concern for the Syrian community, but the faith in Moscow's help is unwavering, according to the US media. [...]

Russia’s military campaign in Syria seems to have changed President Barack Obama’s opinion of its armed forces. He now says it’s "the second-most powerful military in the world." Two years ago he labeled Moscow as nothing more than a "regional power." Speaking at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference in California, [...]