To describe the US attack on Syria as a serious development is to be guilty of understatement. Without any recourse to international law or the United Nations, the Trump administration has embarked on an act of international aggression against yet another sovereign state in the Middle East, confirming that neocons have reasserted their dominance over US foreign policy in Washington. It is an act [...]

In a serious setback to the promise of an impending peace process in Syria the United States have hit a Syrian airbase alleged to have carried out a chemical attack on a rebel held town, without any proper investigation of the incident. Only a day before the US strike, international donors in Brussels, as well as Syrian and Western politicians and experts in London were discussing ways of� [...]

Russia appears to have drawn a "red line" by suspending the air safety agreement, which Moscow and Washington reached in October 2015 to prevent aerial accidents in Syria's crowded skies, Director on geopolitical studies at the Brussels-based European Institute for International Relations (IERI) Pierre-Emmanuel Thomann told Sputnik. [...]

Mapping the War Machine! When it comes to understanding wars, for some people, a picture of the dead or of the injured or of the traumatized or of those made refugees can be worth ten million words. An event to mark 100 years since the United States entered World War I, and 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous speech against war. A new movement to end all war is growing. [...]

Russians responded with relative calm to the lethal terror attack on St. Petersburg’s metro but stressed that the incident underscored the need for counter-terror cooperation despite other disagreements, writes Gilbert Doctorow. Russia’s reaction to Monday’s terror attacks on St. Petersburg’s subway system stands in stark contrast to what we have seen in public behavior in Paris, Berlin [...]

Ankara has partially blocked its participation in some NATO projects, including political events and military drills, amid a diplomatic row over the cancelation of Turkish rallies in several European countries. A spokeswoman for Ankara's mission to the military alliance said on Thursday that Turkey's withdrawal is only aimed at Austria. [...]

The Russian military outlined the threats coming from a new missile defense system the United States is building across the world, explaining that Russia has to deliver an adequate response. Military expert Andrey Golovatyuk pointed out that Russia has reasons to be concerned. [...]

NATO is offering jobs to Russian-speaking actors ready to play civilians in the alliance’s military drills, according to a job advertisement on the official website for the city of Berlin. NATO is offering jobs to Russian-speaking actors ready to play civilians in the alliance’s military drills, according to a job advertisement on the official website for the city of Berlin. [...]

The humanitarian plight of war-torn Mosul has “escalated to the limit,” with the Iraqi president comparing it to a “full-on catastrophe,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. “It’s time to toll the alarm bells,” the official added.   [...]

Americans have shown that they strongly refute almost every aspect of the proposed budget of US President Donald Trump, a plan described as perfectly mirroring the agenda of his extremely wealthy cabinet members. A new Quinnipiac poll published Friday revealed that a wide majority of US citizens oppose the sweeping cuts proposed by Trump to popular long-term government programs. [...]

Afghanistan has long been called the “graveyard of empires,” the site of failed invasions. But the U.S. – in its 15-plus-year endeavor – seems determined to dig its own grave there, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar describes. Fifteen years and counting. America’s longest war keeps getting longer. The very duration of the expedition, with an end no more in sight now than it had been [...]

A recent deadly airstrike on a boat in the Red Sea carrying Somali refugees was likely a war crime, Human Rights Watch said. The strike off the Yemeni coast is believed to have been carried out by the Saudi-led coalition. [...]

The months leading up to the war in Iraq, unleashed on 20 March 2003, saw the very best of humanity engaged in a struggle with the very worst for the right to shape the future. When it comes to the very best of humanity, we are talking an anti-war movement that for a brief moment grew so large, powerful and determined that the New York Times described it as a second superpower on its front page [...]

The Western-sponsored project of Kosovo has failed to build its own sovereignty and national identity. According to journalist and publicist Zivojin Rakovevic, Kosovo was never an autonomous state and now its dependence is unprecedented. [...]

On Tuesday the Pentagon denied that it attempted to cover up a study from 2015 indicating potential savings in noncombat administrative programs of $125 billion. Through recommendations based on a back-office waste evaluation, the Defense Department hopes to save $7.9 billion in the next five years. [...]

Exact motivations behind the vehicle and knife attacks outside Parliament in London remain unclear, but observers have noted that the incident occurred on the anniversary of the multiple Islamist attacks on the Belgian capital on March 22, 2016. [...]

The Pentagon is asking Congress for an extra $30 billion for 2017, mostly to address pressing readiness issues and the fight against Islamic State – yet Russia and President Trump’s budget proposal dominated the Senate appropriations hearing. [...]

Citing her "duty not to conceal a clear crime," the head of a Beirut-based U.N. agency has resigned after the withdrawal of a scathing UN-commissioned report that for the first time charges Israel is "a racist state that has established an apartheid system that persecutes the Palestinian people." While furious Israeli leaders likened the report to Nazi propaganda, Rima Khalaf said she rejected the [...]

The Pentagon will aid in investigating reports that at least 33 civilian died near the Syrian town of Raqqa during a US-led coalition airstrike, officials said on Wednesday, following accusations from both local media and monitoring groups based abroad. [...]

The Trump administration does not view relations with the North Atlantic Alliance or Europe as a priority as evidenced by the fact that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will not attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers scheduled for April 5-6, political analyst Vladimir Batyuk told RIA Novosti. [...]

The Syrian Army says its air defenses have shot down one Israeli warplane and hit a second after four planes breached Syrian airspace and attacked government troops near Palmyra Friday morning. The Israeli military has denied the claims. Syrian military officials and observers told Sputnik that the incident sends an important message to Israel. [...]

Someone somewhere thought it was a good idea to use a $3 million Patriot missile to take out a rogue quadcopter. Militaries face a real challenge: the adaptation of cheap civilian tech. Are quadcopters the new IEDs? [...]