This could be the most uncomfortable State Department press briefing moment yet. During a press conference about US President Donald Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East, AFP journalist Dave Clark asked a department official why the US criticizes the Iranian elections and its record on democracy, but not Saudi Arabia. [...]

The Russian-Egyptian deal on the sale of Ka-52K attack helicopters has reportedly reached the final stretch. Talks on the price of the choppers, to be used aboard Egypt's Mistral amphibious assault ships, are expected to begin later this month. Military expert Alexander Sitnikov explains how Russia ended up winning on the Mistral deal after all. [...]

The US launched a military strike on a Syrian government airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians. CNN's Athena Jones details the events leading up to the decision. Trump "No living being should suffer from such a nightmare." - I don't get it - he's speaking about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, right? Evidence Debunks OPCW Claim on Syrian 'Chemic [...]

Norway’s largest trade union body has voted in favor of economic, cultural, and academic boycott of Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. In response, Tel Aviv said that the union “placed itself shoulder to shoulder with the worst enemies of Israel.” [...]

US president Donald Trump is not a truly independent political leader but merely a puppet of US corporations, military and intelligence, and who serves their interests, Syrian President Bashar Assad has told the Latin American TeleSUR TV network. [...]

Russia’s brazen confidence in its victory in propping up Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s once-failing regime grows day by day, as evidenced by Moscow’s latest oil deals with the Syrian government. Sputnik news reports that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin visited Damascus in November to get the ball rolling on the fossil fuel deals. [...]

The collapse of Russo-American collaboration over flight safety in Syria turned out to be a painful experience for the US, Russian academic Nikita Danyuk suggested in an interview with Radio Sputnik, adding that it is unlikely that Washington will continue to infringe on the Syrian state. [...]

Russia strongly backs Iranian membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), now that UN Security Council sanctions have been lifted from the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. Iran is ready to become a full-fledged member of the organization, Lavrov said Friday during an SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana. [...]

Nothing prompts abdication of journalistic responsibility on American TV more swiftly than “beautiful” images of bombs crashing down on Syria. It must be assumed that while busy fawning over Donald Trump’s various military escapades, journalists simply haven’t had the time to give dissenting voices an opportunity to be heard. [...]

Fighting in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun will cease when experts arrive to investigate the alleged chemical attack, the Russian Ministry of Defense has said in a statement. [...]

In the aftermath of Thursday's Tomahawk cruise missile attack on the Ash Sha'irat airbase in Homs, Syria, Moscow vowed to strengthen its air defense umbrella over the country. Experts have already explained which systems need to be deployed to ensure Syria's safety against future US attacks. [...]

Acquiring a second citizenship is illegal in Austria. After the referendum in Turkey, the Austrian interior minister additionally called for fining Austrian Turks for obtaining it. Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said Wednesday he would seek hefty fines for ethnic Turks holding Austrian citizenship who illegally obtain a second passport. [...]

The current march to war in Syria is being justified by claiming that Bashar al Assad used chemical weapons on his people. This video demonstrates evidence that Assad did not have chemical weapons because they were all destroyed in 2014. Major Evidence That Assad Did Not Conduct Chemical Attacks Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard Says The U.S. Government Is Directly Funding ISIS And Al Qaed [...]

The Syrian chemical weapons attack last Tuesday blamed on the Assad regime was “100 percent” a “fabrication,” Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad said in an interview Wednesday with AFP. The embattled Syrian president argued he never ordered the attack on the Idlib province which left some 80 dead, and said western-backed forces were benefitting ISIS terrorists in the area. [...]

With Russia’s hopes for détente with President Trump dashed by his missile strike on Syria, the Kremlin looks askance at visiting Secretary of State Tillerson who it feels played the Colin Powell role for his boss, says Gilbert Doctorow. Secretary of State Tillerson Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow was supposed to prepare the way for a Trump-Putin summit either as a self- [...]

President Trump’s hasty decision to attack Syria may have lightened political pressure at home but Russia’s retaliation – suspending a key “deconfliction agreement” – left Secretary of State Tillerson as supplicant at the Kremlin, reports Gilbert Doctorow. The Russian media offered no complete account of what may have been accomplished during Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s [...]

Donald Trump authorized an unjustified attack on a sovereign country. Donald Trump’s decision to launch cruise missile strikes on a Syrian Air Force Base was based on a lie. In the coming days the American people will learn that the Intelligence Community knew that Syria did not drop a military chemical weapon on innocent civilians in Idlib. Here is what happened: [...]

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has criticized his ally US President Donald Trump for ordering a missile strike against an airbase in Syria in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack. The MEP warned that many Trump voters will be confused by his retaliation. [...]

Members of Congress are split on the question of whether President Donald Trump's ordered Tomahawk missile strikes against a Syrian airbase were in accordance with US law. Lines drawn on the issue did not follow the pattern of partisanship often seen in Washington, DC. The US airstrikes on the Shayrat Air Base in Homs, Syria, on Thursday evening prompted Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) to take t [...]

Once-dedicated passengers are now disembarking the ‘Trump Train’ following his administration’s actions against Syria. Previous supporters including Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Ingraham made public their opposition to the US president’s missile strike. Infowars Editor-At-Large Watson tweeted that Donald Trump “wasn’t 'Putin’s puppet' after all,” describing him as “another de [...]

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 [...]

The U.S. government and the mainstream media rushed to judgment again, blaming the Syrian government for a new poison-gas attack and ignoring other possibilities, reports Robert Parry. With the latest hasty judgment about Tuesday’s poison-gas deaths in a rebel-held area of northern Syria, the mainstream U.S. news media once more reveals itself to be a threat to responsible journalism and to t [...]