Politically and symbolically any attack on Belgium – the state where the political and administrative center of NATO is located – is by implication an attack on the US and its global dominance, French journalist and founder of Agora Erasmus political organization Karel Vereycken told Sputnik. [...]

Daesh-allied militants attacked a European city this week, setting off three bombs in Brussels that killed 31 and injured 260. In the United States, the response was immediate, first with the outpouring of support from the public, then, unsurprisingly, with a flurry of bellicose pronouncements from most of the remaining major-party presidential candidates. [...]

Much has been said and written about the Russian military operation in Syria, from its sudden start to its abrupt halt; few however have put it quite so 'eloquently' as The Spectator's Taki Theodoracopulos, who compared the Russian mission in Syria to Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov's successful campaign against Napoleon during the War of 1812. [...]

Libya's late leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned that terrorism would be on the rise in Europe if Western leaders help to destabilize the two countries, but no one listened. As a result, Libya and Syria have been plunged into chaos and now Europe has to grapple with a string of gruesome terrorist attacks. [...]

Following high-profile meetings in Moscow, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a joint news conference on Thursday night. Both diplomats agreed on the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between Washington and Moscow. [...]

Following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris in November, Brussels’ town hall was lit in the colors of the French flag. Today, sadly, the Eiffel Tower is being lit for Brussels. On Tuesday, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that the tower would be lit in black, yellow, and red, to show solidarity after terrorist attacks of the morning left at least 31 dead and many more injured. [...]

Brussels, the administrative capital of Europe, was turned into a war zone after a series of deadly bomb blasts caused the city to shut down all transport links to the outside world. Zaventem International Airport was struck by two blasts during the early morning rush hour. [...]

Free movement between European states should have been abandoned after the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) attacks in Paris last November, former MP George Galloway said in the wake of Tuesday’s bombings in Brussels. The Respect Party’s candidate for mayor of London argued that suspending the right to free movement could have prevented attacks on European soil.   [...]

Why did Vladimir Putin's decision to withdraw the Russian military forces from Syria take US hawks by surprise? Maybe, it's because Washington's party of war believes its own propaganda more than reality on the ground, Stephen F. Cohen notes, commenting on Russia's pullout. The leitmotif of Russian President Putin's foreign policy is the demilitarization of the ongoing new Cold War in the Middl [...]

Nadezhda Savchenko, a Ukrainian Air Force officer detained in Russia in 2014, is guilty of murdering two Russian journalists near Lugansk, eastern Ukraine, and of illegally crossing the Russian border, a court in the southern Russian town of Donetsk ruled.   [...]

The Bundesbank has announced plans to repatriate some of Germany’s gold reserves from abroad. At least half of the country’s gold would be transferred to Frankfurt by 2020, according to Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann. Weidmann says 366 tons of gold worth €11.5 billion have been delivered to Frankfurt so far. "There are now about 1,400 tons or 41.5 percent of our gold reserves here," t [...]

Sputnik looks at the key results and highlights of Russia's 5.5-month counterterrorist mission in Syria. Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the air campaign prevented terrorist plans to expand into Russia and other countries, as well as undermined their administrative system and economic potential. Earlier on March 15, two air groups involved in the Syrian mission left Hmeimim o [...]

Syrians feel immense gratitude towards Russian military and Aerospace Forces with the popularity of Vladimir Putin soaring. The partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the country is a matter of concern for the Syrian community, but the faith in Moscow's help is unwavering, according to the US media. [...]

Russia’s military campaign in Syria seems to have changed President Barack Obama’s opinion of its armed forces. He now says it’s "the second-most powerful military in the world." Two years ago he labeled Moscow as nothing more than a "regional power." Speaking at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference in California, [...]

Unlike the Bush administration's mission in Iraq, Russia has truly accomplished its mission in Syria, Bangkok-based analyst Tony Cartalucci writes. Does it mean the Saudi-Turkish elites now have a chance to balkanize Syria? Not by any means. Regardless of Western media's attempts to downplay the success of Russia's operation in Syria, there is no doubt that Moscow has accomplished the objective [...]

It’s spy thriller stuff; no one is talking. But there are indications Russia would not announce a partial withdrawal from Syria right before the Geneva negotiations ramp up unless a grand bargain with Washington had been struck. Some sort of bargain is in play, of which we still don’t know the details; that's what the CIA itself is basically saying through their multiple US Think Tankland m [...]

Natalia Poklonskaya may very well be one of the symbols of modern Crimea. Her struggle for Crimea’s reunification with Russia in the aftermath of the Euromaidan crisis in Ukraine was a heroic, selfless act. And it so happened that Russia and Crimea reunited on March 18, the same day Poklonskaya [...]

Washington and its allies created the Islamist Frankenstein with their own hands: over the decades radical Muslim 'agents of destruction' have formed the belt of instability which stretches across the MENA region to Central Asia and beyond. But how did it all begin? Back in December 1979 the USSR deployed a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan in response to repeated requests from [...]

The corporate media has virtually ignored Jean-Claude Van Damme’s commentary on the US election. Van Damme told the French TV show Le Grand Journal the global elite, controlled by “people like the Rothschild” will determine the outcome of the election and Ted Cruz and Donald Trump will not be elected. [...]

On Friday, March 18, Russia celebrates the second anniversary of Crimea’s reunification with the country. On this day exactly two years ago Crimea held a historic referendum on its status. Some 96 percent voted for the reunification with Russia. The following day Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to recognize the Crimean Republic. [...]

In the context of the current refugee crisis, leaders of the European Union reached an agreement on the deal with Turkey. The package of measures agreed on Friday morning is now awaiting approval by the Turkish government, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) reported, referring to Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel. [...]

A declassified email exchange between former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her adviser Sid Blumenthal shows that Clinton was up to her eyeballs in the Western conspiracy against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his Pan-African "Gold Dinar" currency, F. William Engdahl narrates. [...]