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 latest spat between Washington and Moscow over how reports of chemical weapon attacks in Syria should be investigated seems to be just an episode in which US political necessities trump transparency in policy-making. [...]

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.” [...]

The FBI agent who investigated the Trump-Russia collusion claim sent a “jaw-dropping” text message suggesting that there was nothing to it, according to a Wisconsin senator who chairs the Homeland Security Committee. Peter Strzok, formerly the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, sent a text to his mistress, FBI attorney Lisa Page, on May 19, 2017 – just two [...]

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. [...]

The United States and its NATO allies are facing an existential threat. But the threat has nothing to do with Russia, China, or any other external “enemy” for that matter. The West’s own worst enemy is itself. Or more precisely, the intellectual bankruptcy of its political and military leaders and their dominant public discourse. [...]

The UK Army chief is deploying one of Britain’s most well-tested military tactics – begging for money by using Russia to scare the public and government into action. To quote analyst Mark Galeotti, “Russia is being weaponised.” [...]

The newly-adopted Ukrainian law on ‘restoring sovereignty over the Donetsk and Lugansk regions’ shows that Kiev is determined to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine by force, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The law grants Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “unlimited powers to silence dissent, similar to those of a dictator,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. [...]

World’s richest 1% bagged 82% of global wealth in 2017, while poorest half got nothing – Oxfam The inequality crisis is worsening, according to a new study by global charity Oxfam, which found that the world’s richest 42 people own the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50 percent worldwide. [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump does not have the authority to keep military forces in Syria after Daesh is defeated, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ben Cardin said in a statement on Thursday in reaction to a speech given by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. [...]

George Soros has lamented that the European Union is on the verge of collapse while Russia is becoming “a resurgent nationalist power.” Hungarian-American tycoon George Soros, who runs the $26 billion Soros Fund Management and chairs the global board of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), made the remarks while speaking to the Financial Times. [...]

US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has revealed a National Defense Strategy (NDS) shifting the focus from international terrorism to America’s old geopolitical rivals, Russia and China. But should these really be its priorities? [...]

The US government shut down at midnight Friday, the 18th such event in modern US history. RT takes a look at previous instances of congressional stalemate that brought the country to a standstill. A shutdown occurs when Congress can’t agree on a spending bill. It results in the temporary suspension of “non-essential” civil services. [...]

America's global approval rating has plunged to its lowest point in a decade, according to a new Gallup poll, with Germany and China ahead on the world stage. A thousand adults, aged 15 years or older across more than 130 countries, were questioned between March and November 2017. [...]

Russia has accused the US of fueling the conflict in Ukraine after the ultra-nationalist Ukrainian Azov battalion was spotted wielding American-made TOW anti-tank weaponry, according to Moscow’s envoy to the OSCE. Russia is concerned that the US is encouraging Kiev to solve the Donbass conflict with force by supplying it with “defensive” heavy weaponry. [...]

Ukraine’s President Poroshenko has praised the US and Canada for approving lethal arms supplies, while Moscow says it subverts the peace process. By including Ukraine on the list of countries approved for lethal weapons sales, Canada has become a side in a bloody civil war, undermining a shaky peace process, a senior Russian senator said, as Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko applauded the m [...]

US President Donald Trump has signed into law $700 billion in funding to the Pentagon, which includes a pay raise for troops and funding for a number of pet projects. It also breaks the ceiling set by the 2011 law on budget caps. Congress sent the final version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to Trump at the end of November, and he ceremonially signed the bill Tuesday. T [...]

Rudyard Kipling once wrote that “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” The poet was referring to his experiences in India and Britain, but the line could increasingly apply to modern Europe. [...]