The only way for US President Donald Trump to liberate Raqqa, the de facto capital of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL), from terrorists, is to join forces with Russia and Damascus on the ground, Russian military expert Ivan Konovalov told Radio Sputnik. [...]

This week, the situation in southeastern Ukraine took a turn for the worse, with clashes intensifying between Kiev forces and Donetsk People's Republic militia. Concerned by the situation, Opposition Bloc Rada lawmaker Vadim Novinsky reminded President Petro Poroshenko of his 2014 election campaign pledge to end the war in the Donbass. [...]

The major takeaway from the US Presidential election, and from the events which have shaped the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s Presidency - both his actions and the reactions of his opponents - is that America is tired. It is not difficult to see why since the US has for decades been behaving in a way that was guaranteed eventually to exhaust it. [...]

The US shares responsibility for the ongoing migrant crisis, according to Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern. Speaking on the sidelines of an EU summit in Malta, he stated that American “interventions” are in part to blame for the refugee flows. [...]

The deputy speaker of the Russian State Duma says the US Congress is “transfixed on war and destruction,” after it issued an order to evaluate the ‘survivability’ of Russian and Chinese leaders in the event of a nuclear exchange. [...]

Ukraine’s deputy defense minister says its troops are slowly advancing on rebel positions. He claims, however, that the steps were provoked by actions from anti-Kiev forces. “As of today, despite everything, meter by meter, step by step, whenever possible our boys have been advancing,” Igor Pavlovsky told the Ukrainian media on Wednesday.   [...]

This is also the first time US troops will have been stationed right on Russia’s borders. It is a great concern and is part of the US buildup of empire, says Elsa Rassbach, German affiliate of War Resisters International, Code Pink. NATO's anti-Russia exercises are being ratcheted up with Germany announcing it would deploy tanks to Lithuania. [...]

With the new Pentagon chief already ordering the review of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, RT's Viktor Astafyev looks into what went wrong with the most expensive weapon in history. Earlier this week, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis sent two memorandums for Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work to review the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program to "determine opportunities to signifi [...]

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. [...]

French and Iraqi forces have uncovered a mustard agent and missiles in an area formerly controlled by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) during a sweep of eastern Mosul. The mustard agent was found in an abandoned storage area near the historic Nineveh ruins, AP reported, hoping to avoid attracting attention from locals [...]

The MiG-35 multirole jetfighter fully meets the demands of modern-day aerial combat and will be a welcome addition to Russia’s fleet of light frontline fighters, the Russian Airspace Forces’ former deputy commander, Col. Gen. Nikolai Antoshkin told RIA. [...]

Austrian police have arrested eight people in anti-terrorist raids conducted in Vienna and Graz, the country’s APA news agency reports. According to the local Kronen Zeitung newspaper, all of those detained were from the former Yugoslavia. [...]

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-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. [...]

A senior NATO general echoed the words of US President-elect Donald Trump in acknowledging that parts of the NATO military alliance are “obsolete,” saying it needs to adapt, but cited very different reasons and directions for change. [...]

Moscow and Ankara are carrying out their first joint military operation against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the Syrian province of Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry has announced. [...]

A military security system, which would include Russia, should be set up instead of NATO, Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the German Left party said in an interview, echoing Trump’s recent statements on NATO. [...]

We live in dangerous times, where the behavior espoused by Obama and Clinton has been extremely dangerous, says former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray. Russian hackers have found themselves at the center of yet another controversy, thus helping to fuel the latest round Russophobia [...]

The F-35 stealth fighter jet suffers from hundreds of problems and won’t be fully combat-capable before 2020, says a scathing report from the Pentagon’s top evaluator. New issues keep cropping up, and fixing them all may cost over $1 billion. [...]