America’s chronic trade deficit with the rest of the world is testimony to a failed US economy. In reality, the US has no-one else to blame but itself for such an historic failure. But in typical chauvinist fashion, the Trump administration has found a handy scapegoat by blaming China — its top bilateral trading partner. President Donald Trump this week ordered a probe into alleged tr [...]

We need to have a conversation about Twitter threads. Especially examples where pseudo-'Russia experts' try to connect Moscow to every problem facing the United States (and the wider world). Because if you believe some of these clowns, before Vladimir Putin arrived on the political scene there was no Ku Klux Klan, no Nazis and no white supremacists in America. [...]

It’s not every day that you’ll hear a news anchor be so upfront about the media’s worst proclivities — but last week, NBC anchor Brian Williams told a panel of guests that the media’s job was to “scare people to death” about North Korea. Keep in mind that Williams is the same anchor who was widely ridiculed for waxing lyrical about the “beauty” of American missiles back in Ap [...]

The UK is investing in F-35 fighter jets, part of a massive £160 billion program to re-equip the British military. It comes in the midst of painful austerity when there is no money for anything else, says political analyst Dan Glazebrook. The UK's plan to purchase F-35 fighter jets has MPs debating the increasing costs.   [...]

Senior Crimean officials have said that despite the attempts of Ukrainian authorities to isolate the peninsular and damage its tourist-oriented economy, the flow of visitors has remained constant with many of them coming from Ukraine. “An attempt to impose a ‘tourist blockade’ of Crimea has drowned in the thousands-strong torrent of Ukrainian citizens who, despite of all propaganda and lengt [...]

The Russian government is taking steps to reduce the value of transactions using the American currency in the country, according to Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin. “There is a big trend toward the de-dollarization of the Russian economy.  [...]

The discovery of toxic agents manufactured by US and UK companies in the territories liberated from terrorists has once again revealed the hypocrisy of the US-led coalition, Ammar Waqqaf, a Middle East expert told Radio Sputnik, adding that it is not the first time jihadists have been spotted using poisonous substances in Syria. [...]

Previously obedient European allies of Washington have openly criticized Donald Trump's policy toward North Korea, political commentator Rostislav Ishchenko writes, adding that for the first time since the Second World War "the West" is split over the issue of war and peace. Washington's ramping up of the war of words with Pyongyang hasn't got the backing of the EU, RIA Novosti contributor [...]

A British writer and journalist Edward Lucas, one of the pioneers of the theory presenting Russia as an existential threat to the US and the European Union, several years ago coined the term of “whataboutism.” The term is supposed to denote the inclination of Russian media to question the moral ground of Western accusations against Russia by pointing to the West's own failures: "What ab [...]

Will World War III kick off this week because of the bellicose actions of a buffoonish leader with a dodgy hair-cut and his sinister nuclear-armed warmongering rogue state?  Or, can Donald Trump and the US be deterred? Of course, in State Department-friendly Western media, it’s North Korea and its leadership who are routinely portrayed as the nut jobs. [...]

The German government reiterated German Chancellor Angela Merkel's call for a diplomatic and political solution to the crisis on the Korean Peninsula. The German government believes that a military solution to the North Korean issue will have terrible consequences, spokesman Steffan Seibert said. [...]

A temporary agreement on establishing a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Iran may be signed in 2017, Chairman of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Board Tigran Sargsyan said Monday. [...]

China "will stay neutral" if North Korea launches missiles threatening the United States, according to an op-ed in the influential Chinese newspaper Global Times. At the same time, Beijing will respond if the US and South Korea strike first and try to overthrow the North Korean regime. [...]

A CIA whistleblower and ex-Marine Corps captain are among the outspoken leaders of a campaign to stop the US bombing of Syria before a “nuclear apocalypse” erupts out of the conflict with Russia. The National Press Club in Washington, DC on Tuesday hosted a conference of five speakers opposed, morally and legally, to US intervention in Syria, especially the use of US warplanes and drones. & [...]

The United States is ready to use the "full range" of its capabilities if provoked by North Korea, the country's top military officer said, noting that Washington is still hoping for a "peaceful resolution" to the crisis. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made clear on Monday that Washington is ready "to use the full range of military capabilities to defend [...]

Washington has once again misread Moscow, not expecting that a series of anti-Russia measures adopted under the Obama and Trump administration would result in the large-scale expulsion of US diplomats from Russia, Pavel Salin, the director of the Center for Political Studies at Moscow's Financial University, told Radio Sputnik. [...]

The UK government saw Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait as an "unparalleled opportunity” to hawk military wares to international customers, particularly the Gulf states, declassified documents reveal. An arms trade researcher has told Sputnik their efforts created strong bonds between the UK and repressive regional powers that endure to this day. [...]

The US Department of Defense declined to comment on reports of Ukraine selling military technology to North Korea. The US Department of Defense declined to comment on reports of Ukraine selling military technology to North Korea and referred to the Intelligence Community to respond, Department spokesman Col. Rob Manning said during a press briefing. [...]

Iran has resumed oil swap operations in the Caspian Sea in a bid strengthen the country’s strategic position in the region, local Mehr news agency reported Monday. An oil tanker arrived to Neka terminal earlier in the month to discharge oil for swapping purposes for the first time in seven years, the Iranian Petroleum Ministry was cited as saying by Mehr. [...]

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Russia will only stand to gain from US sanctions, which also threaten to sour Washington’s relations with its European partners, political analyst Dmitry Solonnikov told Sputnik. "The sanctions will not only have negative consequences for Russia, but will also hurt Europe and the US itself.   [...]

The German media has characterized US arms deliveries to Ukraine as a nightmare. In an interview with Sputnik, political analyst Igor Shatrov said that this opinion is shared by all Europeans who have fallen victim to Washington’s sanctions. [...]