WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Trump administration’s unlawful execution of Iranian Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani is a strategic blunder of mammoth proportions that has now turned every American military official into a target, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman told Sputnik. [...]

General Qassem Soleimani was one of the most responsible for defeating Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, and his killing is a “great tragedy” that could result in a “vast war” with Iran, a Virginia senator and Marine veteran told RT. In a statement to RT on Friday, retired Virginia Senator Richard Black said that the assassination “may presage a new war of aggression—this time, against the [...]

On September 27, 2018, Yale's Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, and the Poynter Fellowship for Journalism hosted Vladimir Pozner, the acclaimed Russian-American journalist and broadcaster. Vladimir Pozner: How the United States Created Vladimir Putin Vladimir Pozner at Ideas For Tomorrow Vladimir Pozner on Ukraine, Crimea, Putin and Journalism /* */ [...]

President Donald Trump brought a surprise guest—Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaidó--to his 2020 State of the Union address. Trump criticized Guaidó’s rival Nicolas Maduro before recognizing Guaidó in the House Chambers. “Mr. President, please take this message back to your homeland. All Americans are united with the Venezuelan people in their righteous struggle for freedom,” Trum [...]

The US government spent more money on defense and implements of war in 2019 than in any other year in the history of the country as part of its massive war machine against innocent people, Lee Camp, a writer, comedian, activist, journalist and host of the television show “Redacted Tonight” on RT America, told Radio Sputnik. Earlier this month, Congress agreed on a $738 billion National Defens [...]

During the 19 December end-of-the-year press conference, President Vladimir Putin specifically underscored Moscow’s assertiveness in the face of the West’s ongoing sanctions pressure against Russia, saying that the country’s “economy has adapted to foreign shocks”. Summing up the results of Vladimir Putin’s presidency over the past twenty years, Bloomberg claimed that “one of the mos [...]

A first-of-its-kind combined naval exercise by Iran, China and Russia has wrapped up in the Gulf of Oman. The US has been watching closely, as it could be the beginning of a security coalition to counter American influence. The Iranian Navy had announced that the December 27-30 exercise, codenamed Marine Security Belt, was aimed at enhancing maritime security in the region, which has witnessed a s [...]

Chelsea Manning is being subjected to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, constituting torture by the US government over her refusal to testify against whistleblower website WikiLeaks, a top United Nations official has said. UN special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer accused the government of torturing Manning in a November letter, which was just released on Tuesday. In the letter, Melzer [...]

Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo has added a new string to his bow: film critic. Though Pompeo dismisses ‘The Report’ as fiction, the torture chronicled in the movie was real, and had deadly consequences. Released last month, ‘The Report’ follows the story of Senate staffer Daniel Jones, working to compile a damning 6,700-page report on the CIA’s detention and inter [...]

US tariffs meant to boost the US economy by eliminating “unfair” trade practices, primarily by China, actually took a toll on manufacturing sector jobs and hiked prices, a study by the US Federal Reserve Board has concluded. The Fed has become the latest body to stress the damaging consequences of “unprecedented” punitive tariffs unleashed by US President Donald Trump on China and other tr [...]

The refusal of almost every Western media outlet to cover the leaks implicating the chemical weapons watchdog of doctoring its Syria report has become ridiculous, says a journalist who was barred from reporting it by Newsweek. [...]

Chinese giants Huawei and Oppo plan to create an alternative to Google mobile services and seek cooperation with Indian developers. Their success may spell an end to Android’s market domination in Asia, and possibly beyond. [...]

Investigative journalist Mark Curtis and Matt Kennard have detailed extensive undisclosed links between the Cheif Magistrate Emma Arbthnot, her husband, and her son and the British national security state. Niki Konstantinidis, a barrister and supporter of Julian Assange, has filed a complaint with the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman (“the Ombudsman”) against England’s top magistr [...]

The Tu-22 strategic and maritime strike bomber is one of the mainstays of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ strategic bomber fleet, capable of fielding a broad range of standoff weapons including the Kinzhal, an air-launched, nuclear-capable hypersonic, maneuverable cruise missile unveiled by President Putin in a speech to lawmakers in 2018. [...]

Those who lobbied to have George W. Bush and Tony Blair tried for their role in the Iraq War have finally got their wish. Though the verdict of the court carries no legal weight, its supporters believe its symbolic value is beyond doubt. The court in Malaysia where the trial took place may not have the power to convict, but the verdict against the former British and American leaders was unanimous. [...]

Europe’s total dependence on Washington would lead it nowhere other than to its own demise, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has alleged, calling on Europeans to break free from America’s grip. Europe is a major political force on the international arena, yet it prefers to “quietly follow the policy imposed” by Washington, Ali Akbar Velayati told RT Arabic. [...]

The advanced Russian nuclear hypersonic glider entered combat service on Friday with the first regiment of Avangard-armed missiles now operational, the defense minister reported. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who reported the development to President Putin on Friday, said Avangard deployment was “a signatory event for the country and the armed forces.” [...]

The leadership of the chemical weapons watchdog took efforts to remove the paper trail of a dissenting report from Douma, Syria which pointed to a possible false flag operation there, leaked documents indicate.  In an internal email published by the transparency website WikiLeaks on Friday, a senior official from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) ordered that the doc [...]

On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed the FY2020 National Defence Authorisation Act into law, with its provisions including sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. A day later, the Treasury confirmed that the restrictions had snapped into place. [...]

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is going to be completed despite the latest US sanctions, former US diplomat Jim Jatras told RT, adding that the last-ditch attempt to derail its launch is a gesture of despair by Washington. [...]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to close US and NATO military bases in Turkey after the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday, approved a bill imposing sanctions on Ankara after its offensive in Syria and purchase of Russian S-400 missile systems. 'If necessary, we can close Incirlik, and we can close Kurecik", Erdogan told Turkish channel Haber TV on Sunday. [...]

Earlier US President Donald Trump enacted the $738 billion National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA), a military budget package for the coming year that includes sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on new US sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 and Turkish Stream pipelines, saying that the state, with its historically unpr [...]