German Chancellor Angela Merkel has squandered the inheritance of the old Federal Republic, German political scientist Jurgen Dittberner writes, referring to Merkel's inconsistent domestic policies and the deterioration of Russo-German relations. In the period from 1945 to 1990 it seemed that Germany could become a country that had learned a lesson from its previous arrogance and militarism, ab [...]

As pressure again builds on President Obama to attack Syria and press a new Cold War with Russia, the extraordinary events of three years ago after a sarin attack near Damascus are worth revisiting, says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern. Three years ago, when a reluctant President Barack Obama was about to launch an attack on Syria, supposedly in retaliation for President Bashar al-Assad crossing a [...]

Behind the U.S. media-political clamor for a new Cold War with Russia is a massive investment by the Military-Industrial Complex in “think tanks” and other propaganda outlets, writes Jonathan Marshall. The U.S. military has won only a single major war since the end of World War II (the Gulf War of 1990-91). But U.S. military contractors continue to win major budget wars in Congress nearly e [...]

As the 2016 Olympic Games kicks off in Rio, Radio Sputnik discusses with Dr. Francisco Rodriguez, the head of Middlesex University's Centre for Brazilian and Latin American Studies, developments in the ongoing coup against suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Talking about the roots of the ongoing impeachment process with Loud & Clear, Rodriguez suggested that it is a result of politi [...]

Earlier this month, Chinese Admiral Guan Youfei visited Syria. Few details were made available on the specifics of Beijing's cooperation agreement with the Syrian military, but the pact itself represents a landmark shift both in the military sense and from the perspective of international geopolitics, says French political analyst Thierry Meyssan. [...]

From best-selling author and filmmaker, Peter Navarro, comes DEATH BY CHINA, a documentary feature that pointedly confronts the most urgent problem facing America today – its increasingly destructive economic trade relationship with a rapidly rising China. Since China began flooding U.S. markets with illegally subsidized products in 2001, over 50,000 American factories have disappeared, more [...]

Far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) presidential candidate Norbert Hofer has called for a ban on naturalization of Turkish residents in Austria until dual citizenship issues are resolved and said that his country could still leave the EU if Turkey joins the bloc. [...]

Jan Tombinski, the European Union's outgoing ambassador to Ukraine, has revealed that the EU's sanctions against Russia are not really connected to the Minsk agreements on peace in eastern Ukraine, but on 'Russian aggression' against Kiev. Accordingly, the diplomat implied that anti-Russian sanctions may be extended indefinitely.   [...]

Vladimir Putin’s popularity in the Czech Republic has surged and could now be higher than that of Angela Merkel, who has seen steadily falling ratings, German mass media report, referring to data from recent opinion polls. Die Welt newspaper reported that just a year ago more than 70 percent of Czechs said they trusted the German chancellor. [...]

Interview with Vadim Trukhachev, Senior Lecturer, Department of International Relations and Foreign Area Studies, Russian State University for the Humanities. Rethinking Russia: What are some of the reasons you would give for the political tensions between Russia and Western Europe and the USA? [...]

Viktor Medvedchuk, Representative of Ukraine in the Minsk contact group, claimed that the Crimea is part of Russia and it will not return under control of the Kiev authorities. Medvedchuk explained during his interview with the Radio Liberty, that de facto ‘it [Crimea] belongs to Russia. Do not expect that the peninsula will be returned to Ukraine’. He also pointed out that the Kiev authoritie [...]

Controversial Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party has published a manifesto calling for an end to accepting refugees and immigration from Islamic nations, closing all mosques and banning the Koran, as well as for the Netherlands to leave the European Union. [...]

Finland's health and social affairs ministry wants to try out a basic income scheme to test the impact of unconditional cash payments on work incentives. The experiment aims to show if the measure can simplify the welfare benefits system and lower unemployment in the country. [...]

China’s recent announcement of an increase of its humanitarian support for the Syrian people and that it would provide additional training to the Syrian forces comes as a “headache for the US,” according to the American media. “As if the multi-party war in Syria weren’t complicated enough, it now appears that the People’s Republic of China has decided to take a more active role in t [...]

Anti-war advocates are launching an 11th-hour bid to stop U.S. Congress from approving a $1.15 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia in its fight against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which was announced earlier this month.Chief among them are the activist group CODEPINK and U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), [...]

The first president and the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev celebrates its 85th birthday on Wednesday, March 2. Gorbachev has been praised by millions around the world – especially in the West — as the man who put Russia on the road to democracy and ended the Cold War. [...]

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry's is talking about filing a lawsuit against Russia over suspected violations of international maritime law in Crimea. In response, Crimean authorities suggest that maybe it's time they file charges of their own against Kiev from when the peninsula was part of Ukraine for what they say amounts to "20 years of plunder." [...]

Russia's current actions in the Middle East show how Moscow can catch the West by surprise, according to Thomas Avenarius, a journalist writing for the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. It seems that the West has been caught by surprise by Russia's current actions in the Middle East, [...]

Turkey's foreign minister has recalled its Austrian ambassador for "consultations" in the wake of a rally held in Vienna in support of the PKK. "In response to recent events, we have withdrawn our ambassador from Vienna for consultations and to review our relations with Austria," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters. [...]

Moscow possesses strong evidence that Ukraine really prepared sabotage in the Crimea. Russia is ready to provide representatives of the Western countries with this evidence, Sergey Lavrov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said. ‘We really don’t conceal what is known, we show people who were detained, stores with weapons and munition, which were detected in the Crimea. [Elite_video_player [...]

Social media users are in a panic after WikiLeaks said an unknown man had climbed the Ecuadorian embassy in London where Julian Assange has been staying for four years. Users suggested that it was probably an assassination attempt, “ordered by Clinton.” [...]

Germany is on high terror alert following another round of attacks that have shocked the country leading Germany to urge citizens to stockpile resources for the first time since the Cold War. The German government plans to tell citizens to stockpile food and water in case of a catastrophic terror attack the Frankfurther Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported on Sunday as the country find [...]