As a result of US President Donald Trump’s belittling attacks on “Rocket Man” Kim Jong-un, Pyongyang is refusing to hold discussions with the US. "Multiple US government and congressional officials" told NBC that they have been warned by Joseph Yun, US envoy to North Korea, that Trump's insults won't help them bring North Korean officials to the negotiating table. [...]

The US has a serious addiction problem. George W Bush previously warned about its “addiction to oil”. Current President Trump this week declared the nation’s addiction to opiate drugs an “emergency”. While his predecessor Barack Obama’s calls for firearms controls following numerous mass shootings fueled concerns of “gun addiction”. [...]

Reports that the US is preparing to put B-52 nuclear bombers on 24-hour alert are nothing short of a “major escalation of US nuclear war readiness,” Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste watchdog at Beyond Nuclear said on Monday’s episode of Loud & Clear. [...]

The Russian Defense Ministry "has questions" about the sudden move of the anti-Daesh coalition to help civilians in Raqqa. "[The only explanation of this] is an aspiration to quickly cover up the tracks of the barbaric bombings of the United States and the coalition's aircraft that have buried thousands of civilians liberated from the Islamic State [Daesh] under the ruins of Raqqa," Russian Defens [...]

The US intelligence services enjoy three times more funding than they received before 9/11 and wield a great amount of power over the US President; if Trump were to challenge the CIA, NSA or other elements of the "deep state" it would be an unprecedented move, former US intelligence analyst Ray McGovern told Sputnik. [...]

Poland may lose its last EU ally over its unwillingness to vocally protest against the Ukrainian discriminatory education law, Polish independent commentator Janusz Niedzwiecki told Sputnik, adding that Warsaw is bowing to Washington's will. Meanwhile, Brussels is running out of patience over Kiev's failure to implement the Minsk accords. [...]

A crusading legal expert has filed a bar grievance against former FBI Director James Comey, claiming he lied to Congress and destroyed evidence in investigations into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The action could mean Comey loses his law license - and is opened up for criminal prosecution. [...]

Moscow has perfect counter-measures in response to US plans to install THAAD air defense systems closer to the Russian territory in South Korea on the pretext of Pyongyang's threat, a military expert told Sputnik, naming the Iskander and Kalibr missiles. [...]

As the situation around the decision of the US President on the Iran nuclear deal gains momentum, University of Minnesota Professor of Anthropology and Middle East historian William Beema and Center for Peace & Democracy Director Ivan Eland told Sputnik in an interview what could be behind Trump's steps, and their possible consequences. [...]

Czech political analyst and activist Jan Miklas, recently back from a trip to Crimea, gives his take on the planned 'Crimean march' planned by Ukrainian nationalists, and on Washington's efforts to use Kiev as a pawn in its geopolitical confrontation with Russia. [...]

The US decision to withdraw from UNESCO has prompted shock and concern from the international community. Observers say the move hints at Washington's growing international isolation, and that the vacuum will quickly be filled by China.   [...]

The political settlement of the Syrian conflict is hardly possible without taking into account the Kurdish problem and for their part Syrian Kurds wants to further develop relations with Russia as a country that has clear goals in the crisis, Kurdish politician Salih Müslim, ex-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said. [...]

The US Central Intelligence Agency “has done everything in its power, legal and illegal, to stop the American people from learning about the CIA’s torture program,” CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou told Loud & Clear on Radio Sputnik Wednesday. [...]

Lee sits down with Jimmy Dore, political comedian and host of the “Jimmy Dore Show," to talk the viability of the of the Draft Bernie movement and the fraudulent Democrats. As the Democrats make their move to the center and give nothing but lip service to the progressive left, what should we do to make sure that the Bernie Sanders progressive movement doesn't die? The two also discuss how politi [...]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Washington of an inability to build bridges and stick to agreements. The US unilaterally slapped sanctions on North Korea and may now pull out of the landmark Iran nuclear deal, Lavrov said. “Two years ago, an agreement was reached on the Iranian nuclear program, which was approved by the UN Security Council. [...]

U.S. politicians often lecture other nations about their flawed governance as if American democracy is the gold standard, but anti-democratic measures like gerrymandering belie that self-image, says ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar. An old fear about Islamist political parties entering government is that once in power, even if they had gained their position through democratic means, they would sub [...]

President Trump boasts about his “zigzag” foreign policy as if inconsistency is an attribute in dealing with a fragile world, but his zigzagging endangers backchannel intermediaries handling outreach to North Korea, reports Robert Parry. President Trump’s bellicose speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month sparked a crisis for the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that was then [...]

From October, the US Department of Homeland Security will be able to monitor the social media activity and search histories of all immigrants - including permanent residents and naturalized citizens - and anyone they interact with. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced it is expanding the kinds of information it collects on immigrants to include social media activity and s [...]

The US Intelligence Committee chief Richard Burr has said that the probe into alleged Russia's meddling into the 2016 US Presidential election has not come to a definitive conclusion, however no vote totals were affected. [...]

Rex Tillerson took a moment at the UN Security Council to remember Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov, who bravely called a false alarm when all computer data told him the US had launched nuclear missiles at the USSR at the height of the Cold War. [...]

The investigation into the alleged Russian meddling in the US elections and the supposed use of social media by Moscow to sway public opinion is just a “witch hunt,” former US Congressman Ron Paul told RT. The people who promote this witch hunt do not care about what [the former US presidential candidate] Hillary [Clinton] was doing and they are very biased against the Trump campaign,” Pa [...]

Russia’s engagement in the Syrian conflict has been very important, including a number of major victories both on the battlefield and on the diplomatic front. At the same time, the US involvement has done more harm than good to the situation, Australian political analyst Tom Anderson told Radio Sputnik. [...]