The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Nitze, armed with surface-to-air and Tomahawk cruise missiles, was redeployed off the northeast coast of Saudi Arabia, as part of the US effort to “plug the holes” in its ally’s air defenses. [...]

Chinese trade negotiators suddenly changed their plans on Friday, cancelling a visit to meet US farmers after they wrapped up trade talks in Washington this week. The Chinese delegation has changed its travel schedule heading back to China earlier than planned, according to Nicole Rolf, the Montana Farm Bureau Federation’s director of national affairs. [...]

Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard has doubled down on her attacks on President Donald Trump’s ‘disgraceful’ allegiance to Saudi Arabia, eviscerating his ‘betrayal’ of her fellow soldiers and the US Constitution. [...]

The US and Saudis are so intent on pointing the finger at Iran for the oil facility strikes because admitting the Houthis could hurt the kingdom so badly after five years of war in Yemen means facing the war’s complete failure, an expert told Sputnik. However, if they do attack Iran, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has promised it’ll be “all-out war.” [...]

The US and Israel are discussing a mutual defense treaty that would further cement the already “tremendous” alliance between the two countries, President Donald Trump has revealed. [...]

The devastating blitz on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry has led to a flurry of accusations from US officials blaming Iran. The reason for the finger-pointing is simple: Washington’s spectacular failure to protect its Saudi ally. [...]

It’s better not to be a “more normal country” if that means being as prone to invasions and coups as the United States, top Russian ministers have said, firing back at bizarre remarks by a new Pentagon chief. [...]

The psychological condition known as Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostages irrationally sympathize with their captors, could well be applied to European leaders when it comes to US bullying. [...]

Two massive update programs for bombs in the US nuclear arsenal will be delivered late. The weapons are just part of a huge arsenal overhaul that’s reaching maturity just as the US steps back from key arms limitation treaties and weighs the use of nuclear weapons in future wars. [...]

A chief author of US President Donald Trump’s still under-wraps Middle East peace plan, Jason Greenblatt, will leave his post in government after the contentious deal is unveiled – though it’s unclear why. [...]

Moscow offered Washington the chance to purchase Russian hypersonic weapons instead of developing its own, Vladimir Putin has revealed. The US, however, is seeking to create analogues. [...]

The US State Department is openly using organized crime tactics, including bribery and extortion, in an effort to bend Iran to its will after its usual allies refused to get sucked into a coalition to 'police' the Persian Gulf. [...]

The trade war between the world’s two largest economies entered a new phase on Sunday, as US tariffs targeting Chinese-made products and Beijing’s retaliatory hikes on American imports both kick in. [...]

US Citizenship and Immigration officers can now use fake social media accounts to surveil foreigners seeking visas and citizenship, even after years of US lawmakers blasting foreign rivals for supposedly doing the same. [...]

While Israeli officials have yet to directly confirm that Israel has carried out attacks against Iraq, Iraqi lawmakers claimed Tel Aviv was “absolutely” responsible for a spate of strikes against pro-government Popular Mobilisation Unit militia, adding that Baghdad was preparing to submit its evidence to the UN Security Council. [...]

It is alleged that the phone call, in which Chinese officials invited their US counterparts to resume trade talks, didn’t happen the way Donald Trump described it did. The POTUS has yet to comment on the speculation. [...]

The US-German friendship has taken a nosedive. A recent survey commissioned by Atlantik-Brücke and conducted by the polling firm Civey found that 85 percent of respondents rate relations between the two countries as poor to very poor. [...]

Is the American dream still alive? The deportation of a Palestinian teen and would-be Harvard freshman allegedly over anti-US comments posted by his friends online suggests that the question is not unreasonable. [...]

‘The End Times of Western Hegemony’, I wish this were written by Macron although it might as well have been. He said exactly this after the G7 gathering which could be summed up in Shakespeare's words as “much ado about nothing.” [...]

The US Congress has moved forward with legislation to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project in defiance of criticism from Washington's allies in Europe, as the joint venture brings together Russia’s Gazprom, Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall, Austria’s OMV, France’s Engie, and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell. [...]

Trump-bashing is nothing unusual at CNN, but when a guest told Brian Stelter that the president “may be responsible for many more million deaths” than the worst dictators of the 20th Century, even the host was left red-faced. [...]

Earlier, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described Donald Trump’s intent to buy Greenland an as “absurd discussion”. The US President responded by announcing that cancellation of his visit to Denmark, which had been slated for early September. [...]