US Policy

Ex-US Intelligence Chief on Islamic State’s Rise: ‘We Were Too Dumb’
Without the Iraq war, Islamic State wouldn't exist today, former US special forces chief Mike Flynn openly admits. In an interview, he explains IS' rise to become a professional force and how the Americans allowed its future leader to slip out of their hands. Michael Flynn, 56, served in the United States Army for more than 30 years, most recently as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, [...]
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Helping you to #QuestionMore: How Assange became RT contributor & fugitive of the West
Hunted by EU and US governments, WikiLeaks whistleblower Julian Assange managed to find refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London – and RT made sure his voice is heard. This is just one way we have helped you “Question More” in our 10 years of broadcasting. [...]
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‘Too dumb’: Ex-US intelligence chief blames Iraq War, poor strategy for rise of ISIS
The former commander of US Special Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq said that without the Iraq war, the Islamic State wouldn’t exist today, according to the German newspaper Der Spiegel. He also blamed a poor emotional response to the 9/11 attacks. [...]
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Are Washington’s Fingerprints All Over Downing of Russian Su-24 Bomber?
Turkey is a pawn in a NATO geostrategic game against Russia; Ankara has long been supporting ISIL on behalf of Washington, profiting from Syria's stolen oil, according to independent researcher and writer Timothy Alexander Guzman. Independent researcher and writer Timothy Alexander Guzman underscores that Turkey's provocation against Russia "is not surprising at all," claiming that Washington [...]
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US Sidelined? Russia, France Form Their Own Anti-ISIL Alliance in Syria
The tragedy of Paris seems to have accelerated long-awaited political changes: "the United States can no longer play its self-declared hegemonic, or only super-power, role in the world, and Russia has returned to the center stage of world affairs", according to NYU political science professor Stephen Cohen. [...]
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Turkey Provokes Russia with Shoot-down
President Barack Obama – always sensitive to neocon criticism that he’s “weak” – continues to edge the world closer to a nuclear confrontation with Russia as he talks tough and tolerates more provocations against Moscow, now including Turkey’s intentional shoot-down of a Russian warplane along the Turkish-Syrian border. [...]
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‘Global War on Terror’ Coincides with Dramatic Increase of Terrorism
Terrorism index shows nine-fold increase since 2000. In 2014, the number of lives lost to terrorism around the world increased by 80 percent, the highest level ever. The majority of such terrorist activity occurred in the largest refugee-producing nations, a Global Terrorism Index (GTI) showed. The GTI, developed by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), comprehensively studies the patterns [...]
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‘Washington using Turkey as a tool to destabilize Russia’
NATO member state Turkey seems strangely committed to keeping Islamic State going strong in Syria, thus willing to take dangerous risks in confronting Russia in the region. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, a group of experts told RT. “I don’t think the Turkish government would have undertaken such an action against a military superpower like Russia without the consent of the US. It’s [...]
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The ‘War on Terror’ Has Been Lost
After 14 years, trillions of dollars spent and hundreds of thousands of people dead – with violence expanding, not abating – perhaps it’s finally time to admit that the Bush-Obama “War on Terror” has been lost and that a new strategy addressing root causes is required, as Nat Parry describes. [...]
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Turkey Provokes Russia with Shoot-down | Consortiumnews
Turkey appears to have deliberately shot down a Russian warplane as a provocation designed to escalate tensions between NATO and Russia, a ploy that seems to have sucked in President Obama as he tries to look tough against Russia to appease his neocon critics, writes Robert Parry. President Barack Obama – always sensitive to neocon criticism that he’s “weak” – continues to edge the wo [...]
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New Docs Reveal NSA Never Ended Bulk Email Collection, Just Hid It Better
The National Security Agency (NSA) secretly replaced its program monitoring Americans' emails and moved it overseas before the operation was exposed by Edward Snowden in 2013, according to new reporting. NSA officials responded to Snowden's leaks by stating that the email records program had shut down in 2011—and in a way, it had. [...]
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Hagel: ISIS is the real threat, US needs to work with anti-ISIS players with common interests
US policy in Syria should shift from ousting President Bashar Assad to siding with other powers who share a common interest in fighting ISIS, former US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in an interview with CNN. Combating Islamic State (former ISIS/ISIL) is not about making an alliance with Moscow, former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel told CNN's Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” [...]
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No space for US without Russian rockets
The United States is continuing to buy Russian rocket engines which it once added to the list of sanctions, said Alexander Stadnik, Russia's trade representative to the US. The ban was lifted when the US realized its dependence on Russian rockets for its space program, according to him. [...]
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American media: Islamic State’s devoted public relations team
With every new manifestation of global terrorism, Western media outlets are dutifully serving as the mouthpiece for Islamic State, promoting its mad message and crazed claims without ever scrutinizing the group’s dubious origins. Ever since Russia opened its bombing campaign against Islamic State forces in Syria all hell has broken loose on the planet. [...]
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Armed With Fear, Not Facts, Officials Go After Encryption in Wake of Paris
Echoing the post-9/11 era, intelligence officials and lawmakers are exploiting Friday's massacre to expand mass surveillance Despite no available evidence that terror suspects used encryption to plan the Paris attacks, U.S. intelligence officials and lawmakers are seizing on the massacre to demand access to protected communications—in what critics warn is a blatant attempt to exploit fear in [...]
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‘US governors’ ban on Syrian refugees – just political posturing’
The US is largely a country of immigrants. That is how this country was built, says US human and labor rights lawyer Dan Kovalik. It would be “un-American” and immoral not to take in more Syrian refugees, he adds. So far, 26 US governors, mostly Republicans, have announced they would block the acceptance of thousands of migrants into their states. [...]
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Why Won’t This President Say Radical Islam?
After the attacks in Paris, many Republicans have been calling for President Obama to use the term “radical islam.” They are outraged that his language isn’t to their liking, but Obama doesn’t seem to care. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below. "The newest fault line in the 2016 presidential campaign is over two [...]
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US intentionally spare ISIS in Syria, want terrorists to weaken Assad – Russian FM
The US and its allies are playing a dangerous game in Syria as they count on Islamic State to weaken President Bashar Assad, but at the same time don’t want the terror group to seize power in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. [...]
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Do or Die: If US Does Not Cooperate With Russia in Syria, It Will Fail
US’ decision to deploy military advisors to Syria is a violation of the country’s sovereignty, according to a political scientist. Washington's attempts to battle the Islamic State in Syria can only succeed if they coordinate their efforts with the Syrian government and Russia, chief of the foreign relations department at Syrian Ministry of Higher Education Akil Mahfud said. [...]
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