US President Donald Trump continues the blizzard of activity with which he has begun his Presidency with pronouncements that the practice known as 'waterboarding' works, and that he wants to see 'safe zones' established for refugees within Syria. [...]

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland has resigned from her post. Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Russian political scientist Alexander Konkov said that her departure is highly symbolic, and could presage important changes in the Trump State Department's attitude toward US-sponsored regime change operations. [...]

US President Donald Trump's idea to build safe zones in Syria has provoked mixed emotions in Ankara. Speaking to Sputnik, Turkish security analyst Dr. Nihat Ali Ozcan suggested that the introduction of safe zones in Syria would tip the balance in favor of the Syrian armed opposition. [...]

In their first phone conversation that lasted nearly an hour, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the new US President Donald Trump have outlined their intent to cooperate on issues ranging from defeating Islamic State to mending bilateral economic ties. [...]

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has called on the US to put an end to the “illegal war” she believes it wages in Syria after visiting Damascus and Aleppo. During her trip, she spoke with civilians, religious leaders, opposition leaders, and President Assad. [...]

US President Donald Trump said he’ll establish “safe zones’ within Syria for people fleeing terrorism, risking becoming even more involved in the crisis. He also believes the US should have “taken the oil” from Iraq as it pulled its troops out in 2011. [...]

Director of the Center for the South Pacific Institute of International Studies, Shen Shishun, spoke to Sputnik China about the South China Sea and US involvement in the region. “The US has no territorial jurisdiction in the South China Sea and moreover is not a part of this conflict. [...]

It seems so strange, twenty-seven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, to be living through a new Cold War with (as it happens, capitalist) Russia. The Russian president is attacked by the U.S. political class and media as they never attacked Soviet leaders; he is personally vilified as a corrupt, venal dictator, who arrests or assassinates political opponents and dissident journalists, and [...]

The Russian Aerospace Forces have conducted airstrikes in Syria based on intelligence provided by the US-led coalition, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. The Pentagon later denied that cooperation took place.   [...]

US President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that NATO is an obsolete organization since it is not much engaged in fighting terrorism and its members are not contributing enough. In an interview with Sputnik Germany, German politician Tobias Pflueger commented on Trump's statements and his position toward the military alliance. [...]

During US Vice President Joe Biden's recent visit to Kiev, Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko said his country is ready to cooperate with the new US administration. However, in general, there is a pessimistic sentiment among Ukrainian politicians regarding the new US President and his future politics, political expert Alexander Dudchak told Sputnik. [...]

Delanda est Cathargo ("Carthage must be destroyed") are words that come down to us from ancient history. It is said they were spoken by the famed Roman statesman and orator Cato the Elder at the end of his speeches. They remain relevant today in the case of Trump, Russia and a Washington establishment that is intent on destroying both. [...]

The breakdown of relations with Russia is a key foreign policy blunder committed by the Obama administration and it will go down in history as such, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said. In fact “US-Russia relations completely fell apart by the end of the second term of the Obama administration,” Medvedev said in a Facebook post. [...]

When former CIA Director Michael Morell suggested in his op-ed for The Cipher Brief that Edward Snowden should be presented as the “perfect inauguration gift” from Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump, Russians seemed offended by this tip. In fact, so much so, that Snowden’s asylum was extended for three more years two just after Morell made his argument. [...]

In the opinion of US Senator Rand Paul, "somebody needs to go to jail" for the #GoldenShowerGate 'scandal' that never was. "Look, the Intelligence Community has [had] a great loss of credibility in the past few years," Senator Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said. [...]

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, nominated to be the new US ambassador to the UN, told the Senate she would “always stand by Israel” and took a hard line on Russia, clashing with positions taken by President-elect Donald Trump. [...]

Since becoming the US Commander-in-Chief in 2008, Barack Obama charted a thinly veiled anti-Russia course that many failed to anticipate or appreciate due to the media-generated hype of “hope and change” that accompanied his rise to power. [...]

Trump advisor Anthony Scaramucci says US sanctions against Russia have, in fact, united the nation around President Putin and his government, having the opposite effect to that desired by Washington, largely due to the toughness of “Russian culture.” [...]

While the US continues to publicly accuse Russia of numerous hacking attacks without providing any proof, it actually actively uses its own advantages in cyberspace for surveillance and intelligence purposes, Russia’s security chief has said. [...]