“Sabotage is the most likely cause of leaks in two Baltic Sea gas pipelines between Russia and Europe, European leaders have said, after seismologists reported explosions around the Nord Stream pipelines.” According to European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen “the leaks” into the Baltic sea were due to “sabotage”:  “Any deliberate disruption of active European en [...]

We discuss Western hegemony and U.S. policy in Russia, Ukraine, and China with Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, whose new article is headlined “The West’s False Narrative About Russia and China.” Sachs says the bipartisan U.S. approach to foreign policy is “unaccountably dangerous and wrongheaded,” and warns the U.S. is creating “a recipe for yet another war” in East Asia [...]

What makes the US such a potent ally and formidable adversary? Its nuclear arsenal? This helps. As does its incomparable navy and huge, hi-tech army. The soft power from its ubiquitous contributions to culture is clearly important. But none of these really explains America’s unique ability to project power globally. This is conferred by the mighty US dollar. 📃The article continues her [...]

Russia will now accept payment for gas exports to "unfriendly countries" in rubles only, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the government on Wednesday. The president explained that Russia plans to abandon all “compromised” currencies in payment settlements. He added that illegitimate decisions by a number of Western countries to freeze Russia’s assets destroyed all confidence i [...]

In the face of vociferous anti-Chinese sentiment from many former Soviet nations in Europe, and pressure from the US on NATO allies to fall in line with Washington, China is still receiving a warm welcome around the Mediterranean. For the past year, China has been battling to keep its relationship with Europe alive in the midst of growing pressures from multiple directions. It has one core st [...]

Russia has given the green light for American airlines to lay on flights across the world's largest country, Washington has claimed, in a move that would likely see Moscow collect large sums in exchange for opening up the skies. On Thursday, the US State Department announced that Russia has accepted requests made by the American airline association for both international passenger journeys an [...]

American companies operating in Russia have made direct investments amounting to a total of $96.05 billion, according to the sixth annual joint survey of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham) and Ernst & Young. The survey, which focused on the prospects for direct investment and bilateral trade between Russia and the US, was based on data from 160 companies. According to it [...]

How Does WhatsApp Make Money? This mini-movie tells the story of WhatsApp, and the insane journey of Brian Acton & Jan Koum. Imagine this: you go for a job at Facebook and get rejected. A few years later, Facebook buy your company for $19 billion dollars. Well, for WhatsApp founders Brian and Jan, that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately, for WhatsApp's users, the story perhaps doesn� [...]

They might be sleek and shiny, but Apple’s flagship mobile phones just aren’t living up to their flashy label any more, Russia’s most prominent digital entrepreneur has said, blasting the US company for restricting user choice. Pavel Durov, the Russian-born businessman who founded both the Telegram messaging service and the popular VKontakte social network, turned fire on the California [...]

Seven years of negotiations have concluded just days after Brussels and London agreed on a post-Brexit trade deal and ahead of tensions with the incoming Biden administration, according to reports. China and the European Union announced a long-awaited investment deal confirmed by Chinese president Xi Jinping and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, media reported on Wednesd [...]

The sale comes amid tighter restrictions from the United States in May, which blocked the Chinese tech giant's access to software and semiconductors made with US technologies. Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei Technologies, said he hoped Honor would become a strong competitor in the smartphone market and even surpass his company in the future, the South China Morning Post reported on Friday [...]

After pandemic-related delays, Russia’s first electric car, called the Zetta, is set to enter serial production in late 2020, the country’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has revealed. The Zetta will roll off the production line in the city of Tolyatti, one of the major centers of Russia's automotive industry. The cars will first be sold on the domestic market, but the initial [...]

China is slowly reorienting its economy "away from North America" and "towards the rest of Asia" as evidenced by the newly finalised Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that it has signed with 15 fellow Asian countries, covering 2.3 billion people, an economic analyst tells Sputnik. The world's largest trading block, led by China, finalised a new trade agreement on 15 November 202 [...]

Ten members the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and five other Asia-Pacific countries, including regional leader China, have inked the world’s largest free-trade pact that covers nearly a third of global economy. The long-discussed agreement, officially known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), was signed on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN summit on S [...]

Fifteen Asia-Pacific nations including China and Japan plan to sign the world’s biggest free trade deal this weekend. The FTA will cut tariffs, strengthen supply chains with common rules of origin, and codify new e-commerce rules. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is expected to be announced at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, which Vietnam is [...]

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has downgraded engine maker Rolls-Royce’s credit rating to junk, citing the disruption caused to global air travel from the coronavirus pandemic. The British company’s rating has been lowered to “BB” from “BBB”, (below investment grade) in response to Rolls-Royce’s worsening near-term prospects as whole fleets of planes remain gro [...]

The US Federal Reserve’s balance sheet could skyrocket to more than $9 trillion by the end of this year, amid massive interventions to shield the economy from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Financial Times. RT’s Keiser Report looks at the chart, showing that in 2007 there was “barely anything” on the Fed’s balance sheet. “The crisis hit in 2008 and you see the injustice [...]

A top US State Department official has praised Germany for strengthening regulations on Chinese company Huawei. However, Berlin decided against caving into pressure and banning the company outright, reports say. A tour by Keith Krach, US undersecretary of state for economic affairs, is part of repeated attempts by the US to discourage European countries from collaborating with Huawei in the r [...]

In 2013, the former NSA contractor leaked a cache of top secret US intelligence documents revealing a massive surveillance campaign of Americans.  US whistleblower Edward Snowden criticized Amazon after it was reported that Keith Alexander, a former chief of the US National Security Agency (NSA), who held the post when the global surveillance scandal broke out, had joined the e-commerce giant’ [...]

The Arctic Palladium project which involves development of several platinum-group metal deposits on Russia’s Taimyr Peninsula is nearing completion. It is expected to turn Russia into the world’s top producer of platinum metals. The platinum-group metals (PGMs) is a group of six metals: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. They have similar physical and chemical p [...]

The world's fourth-largest processor company may potentially strike fresh deals with a leading Chinese smartphone company as a trusted supplier amid the ongoing US trade war on China, it was revealed in reports this week. Huawei subsidiary smartphone maker Honor confirmed it would seek to acquire MediaTek 5G processors for upcoming mobile product lines, reports revealed on Thursday. [...]

West Texas Intermediate oil prices have gone negative in a record low for the US benchmark, as the market continues to crater amid the general economic collapse. Vanishing demand and a glut of supply have combined to heavily impact the US benchmark fuel, with prices dropping from $18.27 to close at -$37.63 a barrel on Monday – down over 300 percent from the previous day’s close. It's the first [...]