The embattled USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), flagship of the new Ford class of carriers which the US Navy plans to eventually replace its Enterprise- and Nimitz-class warships with, is currently years behind schedule, and facing a slew of issues which US lawmakers have complained seem to have no “end in sight.” A new report by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT& [...]

The famed Rothschild family’s descendants have lashed out at the Austrian capital and local authorities over what they say amounts to expropriation of severely undervalued assets, as well as public trust in the private fund which was initially set up over 100 years ago to serve people by financing medical care projects. The great-grandson of the Rothschild family’s Austrian branch has launched [...]

On 31 January, the United Kingdom became the first country to leave the European Union after more than four decades in the bloc and its preceding organizations, marking the start of a new era as well as potentially spelling the beginning of new challenges for the political and economic entity comprised of 27 remaining states. The president of France’s National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, said th [...]

The budget changes follow after London and Brussels managed to sign off on the Brexit deal and avoid a further delay, withdrawing the United Kingdom from the bloc after 47 years. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has stated that his country would veto the European Union's long-term budget plan for post-Brexit Europe, stressing it should be lowered. [...]

This week, in defiance of the Trump administration, London formally granted Chinese tech giant Huawei the right to build part of the UK’s 5G mobile internet network, albeit capping its UK market share at 35 percent and restricting involvement to “non-core” infrastructure. The US, which lobbied intensely to block Huawei, expressed disappointment. [...]

A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has accused the US of covering up deaths at a base in Iraq after a ballistic missile attack. The US insists nobody was killed, and that its troops suffered brain injuries. [...]

The long list of problems plaguing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter continues to grow, with a Pentagon review finding over 800 software flaws in the costly aircraft, as well as defects that prevent its guns from hitting targets. The annual assessment by the Pentagon’s director of operational testing and evaluation, Robert Behler, revealed that the program that has cost over $400 billion so far has [...]

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that 50 - not 34 - US troops sustained various levels of brain injury from Tehran’s strike on Iraqi bases earlier this month. One expert explained to Sputnik that the Trump administration’s decision to trickle out this information is just a continuation of a series of lies from the White House regarding Iran. Ben Norton, a journalist with The Grayzone and co-host [...]

Islamic State terrorists rejoiced at the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at the hands of his American ‘allies,’ according to a weekly newspaper affiliated with the group that once controlled much of Syria and Iraq. Soleimani was killed by a US drone strike on January 3, as he was being driven, with others, near Baghdad international airport. [...]

During self-congratulatory remarks about his “deal of the century” to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict, Donald Trump threw in another boast; he claimed US forces defeated “100 percent” of the Islamic State caliphate. Have they? “Thanks to the courage of US forces, the ISIS territorial caliphate — 100 percent — not 95 percent, not 99 or any other percent — 100 percent of their ca [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Thirty-four US service members have been diagnosed with concussions and traumatic brain injuries after Iran conducted ballistic missile strikes on two bases in Iraq with half of them still undergoing medical treatment, Department of Defence spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a press briefing on 24 January. "With regard to the number of recent injuries here is the latest upda [...]

For some time now, London has been deciding on whether to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to participate in a national fifth-generation technology rollout, following calls from Washington to ban the company amid security and intelligence sharing concerns. A final decision is expected to be made soon. The United Kingdom will allow Huawei to supply 5G equipment for its national superfast next-genera [...]

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal quoted Karim Elaiwi, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defence Committee, as saying that Baghdad was considering purchasing Russian S-400 systems amid concerns that the US may stop supporting the country. According to Joey Hood, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, Iraq’s possible acquisition of S-4 [...]

The Russian nuclear-capable hypersonic missile was first revealed to the public by the country's President Vladimir Putin in March 2018 and has since undergone numerous tests with the Russian Air Force – which have only confirmed its operational capabilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended war games between the Russian Northern and Black Sea fleets on 9 January and had a chance to see [...]

Nazi Germany carried out its human eradication programme on an industrial scale, inspired by Hitler’s wicked views about race and people. That genocidal effort relied heavily on a net of extermination camps, responsible for the deaths of millions of people. Of those death factories, Auschwitz was the most “efficient”. 23 January 2020, Jerusalem. More than 45 heads of state and other politici [...]

President Vladimir Putin has introduced changes which could dramatically affect Russia's international image and respond to decades-long criticism of the country's political path from the global mainstream media, say international observers discussing the president's historic decision. Addressing lawmakers, ministers and other high-ranking officials on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin o [...]

The gloves came off this week in the United States as Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard announced she would sue Hillary Clinton for suggesting she was a 'Russian asset.' Clinton’s conspiracy theory that Gabbard was in the employ of the Russians went something like this: somewhere deep behind the walls of the Kremlin, the Russians, trembling at the prospect of having to play 4D ches [...]

The Russian president made a small but noticeable contribution to keeping the Palestinian Authority in order when he put a fallen peaked cap back where it belonged – on the head of a member of an honor guard. The amusing interlude happened on Friday as Vladimir Putin was visiting the Palestinian city of Bethlehem to meet PA chief Mahmoud Abbas. [...]

Speaking to RT, firebrand President Rodrigo Duterte spewed vitriol at the US for seeing the Philippines as "a vassal state," revealing that he has sets his hopes on reaching out to Moscow and Beijing instead. "America is not the Philippines and the Philippines is not America. It ain't that way anymore, and I refuse to dovetail under American foreign policy," Duterte proclaimed in a candid intervie [...]

Although Western media has a shoddy track record of lying on Syria (and Libya, Iraq...), the US State Department will pump $35 million more into future war propaganda on Syria, under the guise of promoting honest reporting. A US State Department grant, “Support for Independent Media in Syria,” is unabashed in stating one of its main goals is “to advance U.S. Government policy objectives in S [...]

A massive demonstration –called for by a prominent Shia cleric– has flooded the streets of the Iraq's capital Baghdad, with thousands voicing their anger at the US military presence there.  Early on Friday morning, throngs of protesters – men and women, young and old – began amassing at al-Hurriya Square in central Baghdad, near the city's main university. [...]

As many heads of state skipped WEF-2020, most discussions focused on business and the economy. But Wednesday’s panel meeting on Russia turned into a heated debate, with its participants arguing about bias and outdated stereotypes. Relations between Moscow and the West dominated the agenda at the “Strategic Outlook on Russia” – a World Economic Forum panel discussion, which also focused on [...]