The US must withdraw its troops from Syria’s northern Manbij region and put an end to its support for Kurdish militia in the area, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu demanded Saturday. Cavusoglu told reporters on Saturday that the US needs to immediately withdraw from the region near the city [...]

Qatar is in the “advanced stage” of negotiating the purchase of Russia’s advanced S-400 anti-aircraft system. The long-range SAM missile weapon seems to be the latest fad in the Middle East after its Syria showcase. Doha’s negotiations with Moscow on the purchase of the S-400 system is “in the advanced stage,” Qatari Ambassador to Russia Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah told TASS news age [...]

Kurdish officials in Afrin have urged Damascus to send troops to protect Syria’s sovereignty from the “Turkish occupier.” Ankara insists it will return the enclave to its “original owner” after its “liberation” from “terrorists.” The self-administrated, Kurdish-held enclave in the northern Syria issued a plea for help to the Syrian government on Thursday, reiterating its commitme [...]

The United States and its NATO allies are facing an existential threat. But the threat has nothing to do with Russia, China, or any other external “enemy” for that matter. The West’s own worst enemy is itself. Or more precisely, the intellectual bankruptcy of its political and military leaders and their dominant public discourse. [...]

The newly-adopted Ukrainian law on ‘restoring sovereignty over the Donetsk and Lugansk regions’ shows that Kiev is determined to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine by force, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The law grants Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “unlimited powers to silence dissent, similar to those of a dictator,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. [...]

US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has revealed a National Defense Strategy (NDS) shifting the focus from international terrorism to America’s old geopolitical rivals, Russia and China. But should these really be its priorities? [...]

Russia has accused the US of fueling the conflict in Ukraine after the ultra-nationalist Ukrainian Azov battalion was spotted wielding American-made TOW anti-tank weaponry, according to Moscow’s envoy to the OSCE. Russia is concerned that the US is encouraging Kiev to solve the Donbass conflict with force by supplying it with “defensive” heavy weaponry. [...]

US President Donald Trump has signed into law $700 billion in funding to the Pentagon, which includes a pay raise for troops and funding for a number of pet projects. It also breaks the ceiling set by the 2011 law on budget caps. Congress sent the final version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to Trump at the end of November, and he ceremonially signed the bill Tuesday. T [...]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has emerged a winner in the latest crisis around the Korean Peninsula, Russian president Vladimir Putin said. He believes Pyongyang is now trying to defuse tensions. [...]

Two Russian Syria-embedded journalists have put together a damning firsthand report on the true purpose of the secrecy-laden US military mission at At-Tanf, southern Syria. The Pentagon was forced to go into full public relations mode late last month amid fresh allegations by the Russian General Staff that US instructors were providing training assistance for some 350 ex-Daesh (ISIS) militant [...]

Advanced weapon systems and lack of necessity for bases in foreign nations are key factors that will allow the Russian military to defend the nation, despite receiving far less funding than their US counterparts, Putin said. [...]

The Trump administration is expected to reveal a new, hawkish nuclear doctrine, which reportedly incorporates more cases in which it would use nuclear weapons, and also mandates the development of smaller-yield, simpler warheads. [...]

The question whether Western leaders promised the Soviet Union that NATO would not expand east has been debated for years. Newly declassified papers prove what many Western officials and scholars have denied: A promise was broken. [...]

If World War III started today, what happens next? Would America "win" WW3? Which nations would be involved? Who wants war more - Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? How many people could be killed? How exactly did we arrive at the point of imminent nuclear disaster? 10 Countries Guaranteed to be in WW3 American Empire: An Act of Collective Madness 10 Countries That May Not Survive The Nex [...]

Moscow baffled by American and French statements over US-led coalition’s 'decisive role' in defeating Islamic State in Syria. “The defeat of IS in Syria is first of all result of actions by the Syrian leadership and governmental forces,” the ministry said. [...]

Charles Shoebridge takes a look at some of the last year’s security and foreign policy developments: on Trump, Syria, Israel, "Russia meddling", terrorist attacks. While perhaps forced to do so by the reality of the battlefield, Trump did honor his pledge to stop US funding and arming of Syria’s rebels. With it largely at an end, the massive scale of the arming program was at last publicly rev [...]

The new accusations add to the string of charges of alleged US-led coalition cooperation with Daesh (ISIS), contrary to its proclained goal of fighting terrorism in Syria. [...]

NATO's expansion eastwards in the wake of the Soviet Union's demise is the West's original sin, reflective of an agenda of domination and intimidation rather than peace and stability, much less democracy. It is proof that for Western ideologues the Cold War never ended. [...]

The Trump White House has set a record, as US troops deploy around the world in an ever-widening net of American outreach at the end of a gun barrel. According to new data, US Special Operations troops, including Navy Seals and Army Green Berets, were deployed in 149 nations in 2017, a 150 percent jump from the administration of George W. Bush, and a modern record for shipping US military policy [...]

A new report issued by the US-based research think tank RAND Corporation has suggested that under the threat of open confrontation with Russia and China, the United States is likely to suffer sufficient losses and eventually will be defeated. [...]

Washington has rejected Russia’s contribution in eradicating ISIS in Syria, claiming that only the US-led coalition has made meaningful progress against [Daesh/ISIS]. [...]

The ‘War on Terror’ cost US taxpayers at least $1.46 trillion since September 11, 2001, the Department of Defense’s cost of war report has revealed. The 74-page DoD dossier was obtained by the Federation of American Scientists’ Secrecy News. It breaks down the cost of the US’s various conflicts and reveals the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq account for the greatest chunk [...]