The US White House and Pentagon have dismissed Russia’s new nuclear arsenal as “no surprise.” American officials took the opportunity to accuse Russia of treaty violations and boast that their arsenal is “second to none.” [...]

Prior to the 2016 presidential election, if one were to ask what single act could seal a new Cold War with Russia, align liberals and progressives with the operational core of the American military-industrial-surveillance complex, expose the preponderance of left-activism as an offshoot of Democratic Party operations and consign most of what remained to personal invective against an empirically da [...]

The Cold War displaced the legacies of the New Deal. Time and Trump are now displacing Cold War legacies. Where capitalism was questioned and challenged in the 1930s and into the 1940s, doing that became taboo after 1948. Yet in the wake of the 2008 crash, critical thought about capitalism resumed. [...]

The Psycho-Politics of Geopolitical Depression It should not be all about Trump, although his election in 2016 as U.S. president is symptomatic of a menacing national tailspin. This downward political drift in the United States, not only imperils Americans, but threatens the world with multiple catastrophes, the most worrisome of which involves Trump’s double embrace of nuclearism and climate [...]

Exclusive: Selective outrage over civilian suffering in Syria – hyping Syrian government abuses while downplaying the effects of U.S.-led Coalition air strikes – undermines the legitimacy of human rights advocacy, argues Jonathan Marshall. Few things threaten the legitimacy of human rights advocacy more than partisans invoking it selectively to promote one side in a violent conflict. Tha [...]

With the so-called “Western military strategy” having been a failure, Iraqi leaders are now looking to Russia in a bid to improve the country’s defenses. The Iraqi government is interested in buying the S-400 air  defense system from Russia to defend the country’s airspace, the head of the parliament’s defense and security committee, Hakim al-Zamili, has said. [...]

In January, Russia’s Central Bank (CBR) increased its holding of gold by almost 20 metric tons to 1,857 tons, hitting a historic high and outstripping China in gold reserves. But why does Russia need so much gold and how does it help the government to level currency risks? Russia’s international reserves amount to $454 billion, gradually approaching the target level of $500 billion set by the [...]

The US-led coalition carried out airstrikes on Monday to impede the advance of pro-Damascus forces towards Syria’s oil-rich city of Deir ez-Zor, the Anadolu agency reported, citing local sources. Both Syria and the US have yet to comment on the fresh reports. [...]

An investigative journalist, known for reporting on the tax fraud and shady deals of Slovakia’s elite, was shot dead on Sunday. The killing resonated among the EU’s public, raising concerns over press freedom in the EU. The bodies of 27-year-old Jan Kuciak and his partner Martina Kusnirova were found by officers on Sunday evening in their house in Velka Maca, a town east of the capital Bratisl [...]

Are we headed towards another world war or is a ‘long peace’ in our future? A new study has examined decades of conflicts to evaluate the likelihood of another global war.  It has been over 70 years since last major world war. Despite the multiple conflicts ongoing across the globe, there hasn’t been a large, global conflict in decades. [...]

The Pentagon will pump millions into a State Department center created to fight propaganda and disinformation campaigns waged by foreign nations, as it wants to be “on the offensive” and respond “aggressively” to attacks. The State Department announced on Monday that it had signed a memorandum with the US Department of Defense to transfer $40 million to the State’s Global Engagement Cent [...]

It’s no coincidence the US is warning against chemical weapons use by Damascus, while the most likely source of an attack would be rebels, to trigger a response against the Syrian government, says former US diplomat Jim Jatras. Amid calls for a ceasefire in eastern Ghouta, Syria, figures in Western media are accusing President Bashar Assad of launching a chemical gas attack. [...]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the country’s state energy company PDVSA to close some of its purchase and sale deals using the national commodity-backed digital currency ‘petro.’ The country’s oil ministry tweeted the president’s directive, which also applies to Venezuelan state-run conglomerate CVG, which is charged with economic development in the Guayana region. [...]

A new report by Syrian media about the evacuation of Daesh militants adds to the growing evidence that the US is using its aviation to assist terrorists. According to the Syrian state-run news agency SANA, the US has evacuated Daesh leaders from the Al-Shaddadah area in the northeastern al-Hasakah Governorate using its helicopters. [...]

An article mentioning “NATO’s Eastern Front” in a headline got Germany’s Die Welt newspaper in hot water, with furious readers accusing it of warmongering. The term Eastern Front is associated with the 1941 Nazi invasion of USSR. [...]

For an event designed to address real global security issues, the Munich Security Conference has shown itself to be a useless talking shop. But it does add more propaganda fodder for Russia-bashing, Finian Cunnigham writes. [...]

The appearance of two Su-57 fighters at Syria's Hmeymim Airbase, yet to be confirmed by the Russian MoD, has nevertheless got defense observers and armchair analysts alike talking. But what might the planes be doing there? Is their deployment strictly testing-related, or is it also meant to send a political message? Sputnik investigates. [...]

May you live in interesting times, goes the Chinese proverb. Few can doubt that we are indeed living in such an interesting time. Big changes are afoot in the world, it seems. None more so than the collapsing of the American Empire. The US is going through an historic "correction" in the same way that the Soviet Union did some 30 years ago when the latter was confronted with the reality [...]

President Donald Trump has accused Russia, Iran and the Syrian government of causing a "humanitarian disgrace" in Syria, and said that the US military only remains in that war-torn country "for one reason: to get ISIS and get rid of ISIS and to go home." But let’s look at the facts. [...]

A Hungarian city’s bid to become the European Union’s next “Capital of Culture” was allegedly rejected by EU officials because its video entry showed too many smiling, dancing, white Christians, the city’s mayor says. [...]

A documentary about a Syrian refugee in Germany, who happily lives on state handouts with his two wives and six kids, has angered many in the country where polygamy is against the law. The Spiegel TV film was aired over the weekend, telling the story of 32-year-old Ahmad A. who fled the fighting in Syria’s Aleppo back in 2015 with his large family, and found a safe haven in Schleswig-Holstein, n [...]

Citing dozens of well-documented cases of direct US interference in foreign lands is just Russian whataboutism and also very unfair, because democracy promotion is a “stated US policy,” according to the sharp sticks at MSNBC. During a not-at-all predictable discussion on MSNBC’s ‘Deadline White House’, host Nicolle Wallace pressed her guests to weigh-in on former US ambassador to Russia [...]