Beijing has announced plans to extend the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative to the Arctic by developing shipping routes, in a project dubbed the Polar Silk Road. In a white paper released on Friday, the country said it expects to have a “major role in expanding the network of shipping routes” and noted that “as a result of global warming, the Arctic shipping routes are likely to become impo [...]

President Vladimir Putin said he wants to keep foreign shipping out of Russia's Northern Sea Route, giving exclusive rights to Russian vessels. It will increase the volume of shipping, strengthen the position of the domestic shipping companies, and create additional opportunities for fleet renewal, he said. [...]

For centuries both Russia and the UK have struggled to define their relationship with continental Europe. Over the past few years, both seem to have decided to go their separate ways only to be pulled back. What does Europe think of it all, and whom does that refer to anyway? Oksana is joined by former Prime Minister of Italy Giuliano Amato to discuss this. [...]

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 [...]

While Secretary of Defense James Mattis recommends Ankara not to take reports of the creation of a "border force" in northern Syria to heart, Washington sees its Kurdish allies as a tool which will allow it to remain relevant in Syria, ex-CIA officer and Canada-based Syrian political observer told Sputnik. [...]

The American delegation at Davos seem to be avoiding any contact with their Russian counterparts. At least that’s the impression Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Arkady Dvorkovich, shared with journalists. [...]

Pyongyang has warned third parties against fueling tensions and interfering in the inter-Korean reconciliation process, claiming it is making a “great effort” to reunify the peninsula against the backdrop of US nuclear threat. “We will courageously smash all of the challenges of the nation’s desire for reunification,” the government statement carried by KCNA reads. [...]

If Washington wants to avoid direct confrontation with Turkey in northern Syria, it “should stop supporting terrorists,” the country's deputy prime minister told Turkish TV channel, A Haber. “Those who support the terrorist organization will become a target in this battle,” Bekir Bozdag said. [...]

The US' determination to maintain its presence in Syria is primarily about crude and pipelines, not security issues, geopolitical analyst Phil Butler told Sputnik. Meanwhile, it appears that the Turks may undermine the US' plans. Following the defeat of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL), Washington continues its proxy war in Syria, Phil Butler, a geopolitical analyst and author of "Putin's Praetorians: Confession [...]

On Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) held a session aimed at assessing the progress Israel made during its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a UN-backed process designed to assess the human rights record of a state and make recommendations for improvement.  In the course of the struggle between the Israelis and Palestinians, the UN has repeatedly accused Israel of not respecting hum [...]

A new report shows Angela Merkel's government has approved a record breaking €25 billion ($30.9 billion) worth of weapons sales since taking power in 2014, angering political rivals as well as the German public. [...]

There is nothing to be gained from carrying out the bidding of the US in Syria, and right now Turkey and the Kurds alike are learning this the hard way, independent political analyst Dan Glazebrook told RT. Turkey officially launched a military operation against Kurdish-held enclaves in Syria called operation ‘Olive Branch’ on Saturday, comprising airstrikes and a ground offensive. [...]

Hundreds of people flocked to the streets in Switzerland to protest the visit of US President Donald Trump to the Alpine town of Davos, where he is set to deliver a speech at the World Economic Forum. [...]

The US has no business in Afghanistan but it loves war and could be there for another 17 years, killing hundreds of thousands more people, according to Lew Rockwell, chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. The US State Department confirmed Tuesday that several Americans were among the victims in Saturday's attack on a hotel in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where 22 people died in the overnight si [...]

Former US vice president Joe Biden boasted that he had a word to say in another state’s internal affairs, admitting to have pressured the Ukrainian government into sacking a prosecutor general in just a few hours. [...]

The Russian military has delivered new units of its state-of-the-art S-400 anti-aircraft systems to Syria. The weapons have assumed combat duty in Russian army compounds in the country. Videos provided by the country's Defense Ministry show the arrival of four of the systems. [...]

Israeli pilots are taking a stand against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mission to expel tens of thousands of African migrants from the country, publicly declaring they will not “deport refugees to their death.” [...]

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pointed the finger at Syrian President Bashar Assad for the reported chemical incident in East Ghouta, while ultimately blaming Russia for it, regardless of who actually committed the attack. [...]

DAVOS (Sputnik) - Reports on disagreements between Russia and India in the area of defense industry cooperation are based on speculation and the two states maintain strong ties in defense cooperation and are developing a partnership on transfers of technology, Mobashar Jawed Akbar, Indian minister of state for external affairs, told Sputnik. [...]

According to designers, unlike Space X's Falcon 9, the KORONA is not just a rocket, but a spacecraft, capable of takeoff and landing, with its development effectively opening the path to interplanetary flights with crew onboard. [...]

With mounting problems at home, the UK Establishment is stepping up its campaign to divert our attention on to non-existent dangers from abroad. The so-called 'Russian threat,' is not only good for the arms industry, and defense budgets, but for politicians who have no answers to the very real threats the British public face in their daily lives. [...]