NATO’s rapid expansion has not necessarily strengthened the alliance and the US should rethink its hostility towards Russia, former US Secretary of Defense William Perry said on RT’s SophieCo program. [...]

In this episode, we speak to Professor Mohammad Marandi from the University of Tehran ahead of the Iran-Turkey-Russia trilateral in Istanbul, which seeks to defeat British-backed atrocities in the Middle East. Britain’s former ambassador in Damascus on whether the US and the UK are using chemical attack allegations to justify breaches of the UN Charter. Plus, rock guitar legend Brian May on how [...]

Commenting on the claim made by the Iranian military that the US has provided direct assistance to Daesh in Afghanistan, political analyst Ahmad Wahid Mozhda told Sputnik that many Afghan politicians and ordinary Afghans are saying the same thing. According to the observer, the US's likely goal is to cause problems for the country's neighbors. [...]

Responding to NATO’s muscle flexing in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, which Moscow sees as a threat, Russia is upgrading its missile defenses with new and more accurate interceptors. The Russian military has successfully tested a new interceptor missile of for its A-135 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) system at a testing range in in Kazakhstan. [...]

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump released his “efficient, effective and accountable” budget for fiscal year 2019 and, to no surprise, social programs are on the chopping block. Aside from wanting to privatize the International Space Station and eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, Trump is also looking to cut food assistance programs by $214 billion. [...]

At a time of unprecedented goodwill between Seoul and Pyongyang over the Winter Olympics, the US has decided to double down on its inflammatory rhetoric, undermining a fragile thaw on the Korean Peninsula. On the eve of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, one would be forgiven for temporarily forgetting history’s bitter divisions on the Korean Peninsula. [...]

Lebanon is a pressure cooker which could blow at any moment, but don’t worry about confused US policy. Israel’s threats to invade are not irking the Lebanese, but many wish Hezbollah would end a local Shiite-Christian spat. [...]

More than half a year after being liberated, Mosul's battle wounds still fester. Entire districts lie in ruins with bodies scattered in the streets, and locals say they have yet to see the aid they were promised. [...]

From the Archive: With Moscow saying that U.S. proposals in its new Nuclear Posture Review to develop “tactical” nukes are “confrontational” and “anti-Russian,” we republish a 2016 article by Robert Parry. Through an endless barrage of ugly propaganda, the U.S. government and the mainstream American press have put the world on course for a potential nuclear showdown with Russia, an exi [...]

Perpetual war is leading to a host of societal ills, yet debates on war and peace are almost entirely absent from public discourse, Robert Wing and Coleen Rowley observe. Last October marked the 16th anniversary of our unending war – or military occupation – in Afghanistan, the longest conflict on foreign soil in U.S. history. [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told Sputnik on Saturday, hours after a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft was downed by militants in Syria, that the United States did not equip partner forces in Syria with surface-to-air weapons. Alongside by, with, and through our partners in Syria, the United States remains focused on the fight against ISIS [Daesh]. [...]

Russian lawmakers have called for a thorough investigation on the origins of the man-portable missile launcher that was likely used by militants in Syria to shoot down a Russian fighter jet before killing the pilot in a firefight. "Certainly, we will investigate, including a great many things: [...]

Congress has authorized $618.7 billion for the 2017 military budget. The bill ups aid to Ukraine by $50 million and allows the transfer of missiles to Syrian rebels. However, it omits controversial provisions about drafting women or religious exemptions for contractors. [...]

The problem-ridden US fighter-jet, projected to become the backbone of the Norwegian defense, as well as the nation's costliest defense purchase, is being met with increasing criticism in the Nordic country, as complications keep piling up. Reds leader Bjørnar Moxnes expressed his indignation over billions of kroner splurged on a plane, which has "a thousand errors" and cannot be used half the ti [...]

So far, the story of the US F-35 fighter aircraft in Norway has been a drama of epic proportions. Soon after the first jets landed on Norwegian soil, it was discovered that the expensive warplanes designed to be the backbone of Norway's defense lack adequate protection and will have to be stored in tents for lack of hangars. [...]

The Russian Foreign Ministry has commented on the Nuclear Posture Review, issued by the United States on February 2, naming Russia, North Korea, Iran and China as potential threats to the US national security. "The content of the new nuclear doctrine (the so-called Nuclear Posture Review) released by the United States on February 2 has provoked our deep disappointment. [...]

Imperialism – which today is usually referred to by the euphemism ‘liberal interventionism’ – went on Trial at the Waterside Theatre in Derry, Northern Ireland this week. Five passionate and well-informed speakers, who included the former British Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford, detailed the carnage and chaos that has been unleashed around the globe by the aggressive, warmongering policies [...]

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has stated that the United States should take concrete steps to prove the end of support for Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), rather than rhetoric. [...]

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. [...]