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 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 [...]

Despite all their differences, the West must respect Russia and look to compromise with it, Daniel Kawczynski, a Conservative British MP, told RT while on a visit to Moscow with a group of British parliamentarians. The British MPs arrived in the Russian capital to resume inter-parliamentary contacts that had been stalled for two years, [...]

Less than a week after Russia marked its annual Victory Day commemoration of the end of the Second World War, NATO troops began planned military exercises in Estonia all the way up to Russia’s border. It begs the question – are these people actually mad? [...]

Russia will restore a missile attack warning station near Crimea’s Sevastopol to counter increasing NATO activity in the Black Sea, Izvestia daily reported, quoting a source in the Russian defense industry. The source told reporters that the installation will be based on the Soviet-era Dnepr station (NATO code name Hen House), but that it would be thoroughly modernized. [...]

$20 million over the next two fiscal years will be made available in the form of grants to unspecified people in Europe who will presumable carry stories that are more in line with US policy, Jim Jatras, former US diplomat, told RT.   [...]

German companies are stepping up their efforts to bypass Western anti-Russian sanctions since Russian remains one of the most lucrative markets in Europe. In order to operate under sanctions, German companies open their own production in and invest in factories in Russia. [...]

Work on the fourth and final power line to deliver electricity from mainland Russia to the Crimean peninsula has been completed. President Putin oversaw the launch of the energy bridge by video link from the Black Sea resort of Sochi. [...]

Russia’s human rights ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, has invited international observers to Crimea so that they can personally see the republic’s peaceful integration into the Russian Federation and the local population’s massive support for this. Moskalkova made the statement ahead of a conference on human rights observation during the process of Crimea and Sevastopol’s accession into [...]

The West’s propaganda war against Russia filters events there through a prism of cynicism and contempt, but that misses the human component of a country still remembering the deep personal scars of World War II, as Gilbert Doctorow reflects. I will open with full disclosure: I am generally not enthusiastic about crowds or going with the flow. [...]

Independent French political analyst Thierry Meyssan lays out what he believes is the real reason behind the destabilization of Syria and Ukraine, and how the horrific bleeding wounds can finally be stopped. In his analysis, published in the foreign affairs analysis website Voltaire Network, Meyssan laments that in spite of the assistance which Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah have provided to Syria [...]

As the project for a united Europe continues to experience arguably the most serious political crisis since its inception, policy elites in Brussels are urging Europeans not to despair, to stay together, and to prepare for confrontation with Russia instead. European Council President Donald Tusk is unsatisfied with the defeatist attitudes among Europeans. Speaking in Rome on Thursday on the 69t [...]

Not everyone was happy about the three-hour long talks between Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe which took place in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on Friday. While for Abe the meeting was diplomatically significant — a chance to discuss the disputed Kuril islands face-to-face with Putin — for the White House, it was an unwelcome fissure in the united front Washing [...]

The French government ignored its own intelligence in dealing with crises in Ukraine and Syria, and recklessly followed Washington’s lead by joining anti-Russian sanctions, dealing a huge blow to its agriculture, said a former French intelligence boss. [...]

Paleo-conservative commentator Pat Buchanan slams NATO hawks for working to expand the alliance's presence all along Russia's borders, while calling Russia out as the aggressive power. Instead of touting Putin's belligerence, Buchanan suggests, observers should think about what it would be like to walk a mile in the Russian president's shoes. On Friday, Buchanan recalls, "a Russian Su-27 did a [...]

Two new divisions will be set up in the Western Military District while one division will be set up in the Southern Military District. Russia will set up two new divisions in its Western Military District and one division in its Southern Military District to counteract NATO buildup near its borders, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Wednesday. [...]

The US has long relied on financial sanctions as a preferred weapon against its adversaries. However, in Russia's case, it turned out to be an “outright failure” and the West should admit this. Let’s have a look why. Washington’s favorite economic power tool has been so overused, it’s becoming ineffective and, in some cases, even counterproductive [...]

There are at least four reasons why Washington should not ban Russian RD-180 engines, Loren B. Thompson and Constance Baroudos of the Lexington Institute pointed out. Whether US Senator John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, likes it or not, Washington is unlikely to ban Russian RD-180 rocket engines anytime soon, and with good reason. [...]

The U.S. government doesn’t want to admit that its heady “unipolar” days are over with Russia no longer the doormat of the 1990s, but Washington’s arrogance risks war, even nuclear annihilation, explains Gilbert Doctorow. In Moscow, the preparations for the May 9th Victory Day parade began in the middle of the final week of April. [...]

A few decades ago, Russia's Aeroflot was notoriously considered to be among the world's worst airlines. Now it ranks among the world's best. The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten took a closer glance at the miraculous transformation. Today, Aeroflot's fleet consists mainly of new and modern Boeing and Airbus aircrafts, the average age being just 4.5 years. [...]

More and more the Western media is acknowledging that Russia is emerging as a great power and its economy is far from being “in tatters”, as was earlier suggested by President Obama. “The unthinkable has become a reality. Russia, seemingly finished after its defeat in the Cold War, is now emerging as a prospective great power challenging the West   [...]

Damascus and Moscow have signed nearly a billion dollars worth of agreements to rebuild war-torn Syria, according to the Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi. The two countries intend to develop energy, trade, finance and other sectors of the economy. [...]