The belief that Vladimir Putin single-handedly “manufactured” the current conflict with the West to win domestic support, spark a surge in Russian patriotism and hold on to power at any cost, has been a staple of mainstream Western analysis of Russia since the Ukraine crisis began. That same belief — that Putin manufactures crises or otherwise inserts Moscow into them to distract an antsy [...]

Almost uniformly, the western think tankers and media types who comment on Russia purport to be strongly concerned with freedom. After all, the central tenet of their anger with the country’s rulers is what they perceive as a lack of democracy. The usual charge goes something like this. Putin is a “dictator” who is suppressing the liberty loving Russian people and crippling their hopes and d [...]

Looks like Spain is in trouble. The country has been slammed for “betraying its NATO allies” allowing Russian Navy vessels to refuel in its North African territories – but in reality what the claim does is expose a massive web of hypocrisy. [...]

Turkey has questioned its relationship with the US, with the deputy prime minister saying it is "unsuitable" for soldiers of a country which is friends with Ankara to wear the badges of a "terrorist organization." [...]

Besides US special forces and advisers, American volunteers have also been seen fighting alongside the Kurdish militia in Syria. One US vigilante just outside Islamic State-controlled Raqqa said they are there to bring democracy to the war-torn country. [...]

Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the 20th century’s iconic figures. While Ukraine’s decision to blacklist him for supporting Russia’s re absorption of Crimea is ludicrous, Western media's silence is odious, if depressingly predictable.   [...]

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker plans to visit Russia on June 16, during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Reuters reports, citing his spokesperson. The Commission president would be the first leader of an EU institution to visit Russia since sanctions were imposed in March 2014 over the conflict in Ukraine. [...]

US foreign policy in Syria is schizophrenic and opportunist as they are combating the Assad government, which has done the bulk of the fighting against Islamic State and the terrorists in general, Brian Becker, from the anti-war ANSWER Coalition told RT. [...]

The large-scale US-NATO amassing of military forces on Russia’s Western borders, NATO’s so-called “Eastern Front,” is unprecedented and creates the impression of actual war preparations, according to Professor Stephen F. Cohen, however it might also be driven by the economics of the US military industrial complexes. [...]

So foreign ministers from the 28 NATO member-nations met in Brussels for a two-day summit, while mighty military power Montenegro was inducted as a new member. Global Robocop NATO predictably discussed Afghanistan (a war NATO ignominiously lost); Iraq (a war the Pentagon ignominiously lost); Libya (a nation NATO turned into a failed state devastated by militia hell); Syria (a nation NATO, via T [...]

On 8 April, 1783, Russian Empress Catherine II signed the decree “On Accession of the Crimean Peninsula, the Taman Island and the Kuban Region to the Russian Empire.” Everyone was due to maintain the document in secrecy until the integration became a fait accompli. On 28 June, 1783, the Manifesto was finally promulgated as the Crimean nobles swore allegiance to the Empress in the presence o [...]

Austria’s extremely close-run presidential vote reveals people are disappointed with the political system and don’t feel represented any longer, while the refugee crisis, the euro crisis and dissatisfaction with the EU have also caused the shift to the right in Austria, experts say. [...]

A HEROIC German shepherd has reportedly saved the lives of a group of SAS fighters facing off against ISIS in Iraq. The Special Forces team were ambushed by a group of ISIS fighters when the Alsatian attacked two jihadis. The furry fighter escaped the battle unhurt and has been hailed a hero by troops after saving the British team’s lives. [...]

Confirming suspicions that the ouster of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is, in fact, a coup designed to eradicate a wide corruption probe, Brazil's largest newspaper on Monday published damning evidence of a "national pact" between a top government official and oil executive. [...]

The Green Party’s Alexander Van der Bellen has won Austria’s presidential election, beating the Freedom Party’s Norbert Hofer in a neck and neck race, according to the Interior Ministry. A mere 0.6 percent of the mail-in ballot made the difference. [...]

The chairman of the Russian Constitutional Court has said that Barack Obama’s statements about American exceptionalism were very similar to propaganda used by Nazi Germany and equally dangerous to world peace. “The idea of specialness, exceptionality and unique rights of the American state and American people has been used in US internal political rhetoric for quite a while, [...]

Germany is pushing NATO to holding a meeting with Russia ahead of the upcoming summit of the alliance in Warsaw. It comes as NATO continues to ignore Russia’s concerns over its expansion and military build-up in Europe. “There was broad agreement yesterday that NATO should convene a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council before our next summit in July," [...]

Hillary Clinton winning the White House would constitute “a danger for the world peace,” as she would continue to drag Europe into her “destructive policy” of conflicts, Marine Le Pen, leader of the French National Front party, told RT. While declining to endorse any of the US presidential front-runners, Le Pen said she believes there is one that would definitely not benefit France. [...]

The EU is on the brink of collapse, as two of its main “pillars” are “crumbling” despite the billions of euros spent on keeping the structure from falling, far-right French leader Marine Le Pen told RT, adding that the union would fail if France left it. [...]

As the West is sucked deeper into the Syrian conflict and starts a new Cold War with Russia, the mainstream news media has collapsed as a vehicle for reliable information, creating a danger for the world, writes Robert Parry. Does any intelligent person look at a New York Times article about Russia or Vladimir Putin these days and expect to read an objective, balanced account? [...]

A new study reveals that the increasing numbers of Germans living in Austria feel that they are the subject of "Anti-Germanismus" (Germanophobia), Die Presse reported. Not only are Germans sick of being the butt of Austrian jokes, they also face daily discrimination based on their nationality, Austrian newspaper Die Presse reported. [...]

A Russian diplomatic call to outlaw the US-sponsored policy of “regime change” is timelier than ever following recent events in Latin America. The developments there are now routinely described as ‘institutional’ coups d’état, with popular presidents removed from power and replaced by neoliberal functionaries, enjoying almost unhidden support of the US government and American financi [...]