The Trump administration does not view relations with the North Atlantic Alliance or Europe as a priority as evidenced by the fact that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will not attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers scheduled for April 5-6, political analyst Vladimir Batyuk told RIA Novosti. [...]

The Wall Street Journal has dialed up the paranoia over former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn's so-called 'Russia ties' over his failure to disclose an 'interaction' he had with a Russian-British national at a security conference in 2014. But as social media users, including a Russian senator, point out, WSJ's case is extremely weak. [...]

The United States suffers from a chronic trust deficit, to put it mildly. Anything that its leaders say must be weighed against years of deception and relentless criminal conduct by US governments. Only a fool would trust anything that comes out of Washington. [...]

The neocon royalty Kagans are counting on Democrats and liberals to be the foot soldiers in the new neocon campaign to push Republicans and President Trump into more “regime change” wars, reports Robert Parry. The Kagan family, America’s neoconservative aristocracy, has reemerged having recovered from the letdown over not gaining its expected influence from the election of Hillary Clinton [...]

Exclusive: President Trump’s foreign policy is falling into line behind continuing wars in the Middle East, a disappointment to supporters who hoped for a change in course, writes James W Carden. There was, during the course of the 2016 campaign, a small but vocal group of antiwar libertarians and conservatives who had convinced themselves that Donald Trump was preferable to Hillary Clinton b [...]

There were discernible slights and insults for German Chancellor Angela Merkel at her first meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. For Donald Trump, it was just another day, full of outrageous behavior and controversy. The grave consequences of rudeness at this rarefied diplomatic level should not be underestimated. [...]

Conflicting reports on an alleged airstrike on an Aleppo mosque won’t change the Pentagon’s attitude towards the various shady “activist” groups they cite as “reliable” sources when it suits them, says retired US AF Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski. [...]

The obsessive condemnation of still unconfirmed Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election is a classic case of “do as I say, not as I do,” where the US politicians and media seem to have developed both long and short-term memory loss when it comes to American meddling in foreign elections. [...]

The Syrian people, who have demonstrated remarkable courage and perseverance in the face of formidable challenges that would have crushed a lesser people, are forced to observe yet another bloodstained milestone they neither want nor deserve. [...]

The successful liberation of Aleppo enraged western media, but noted filmmaker and activist Elizabeth Kucinich says the narrative needs to be refocused. She traveled to Syria with Dennis Kucinich and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and joins RT America’s Anya Parampil to offer her crucial perspective on the broader humanitarian crisis and greater geopolitical context of the conflict.  The [...]

The Obama administration granted less than a quarter of public requests for government files in its last year in office and spent $36.2 million on legal battles to keep its files secret, according to a new transparency report compiled for “Sunshine Week.” [...]

Speaking at Washington & Lee University, Michael Hayden admitted he didn't care about the Constitution, the Patriot Act or any other law... ------------------------------------------ ...he had a "direct order from the President". FLASHBACK from Feb 2015 Michael Hayden Admits US is Dictatorship /* */ [...]

The Democrats won’t admit that they lost to Donald Trump because they ran a deeply flawed, corporate-oriented candidate, so they blame Russia instead, a very dangerous diversion, says Nicolas J S Davies. The current debate over “fake news” has reminded me of a conversation I had several years ago with a former citizen of East Germany, now living in the United States. He explained that, [...]

People living in the United States have entered into one of the most dangerous periods of the 21st century. Donald Trump, the president, is not only a twisted caricature of every variation of economic, political, educational, and social fundamentalism, he is the apogee of an increasingly intolerant and authoritarian culture committed to destroying free speech, civil rights, women’s reproductive [...]

On Monday, a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis announced that the US military has "carved out a new role in Syria" with small numbers of troops positioned not with an offensive or defensive role, but to "reassure and deter." Commenting on the announcement, Russian media suggested that it just "reflects the limits of the US capacity." [...]

A Democratic Texas State Representative filed a bill on Friday seeking to fine men $100 for masturbating, in a protest of current state abortion laws. Democratic Representative Jessica Farrar, the author of House Bill 4260, or the “Man’s Right To Know Act,” includes "proposed satirical regulations" on men masturbating, seeking a prescription for Viagra, and for vasectomies. [...]

On Monday, US President Donald Trump gave the CIA the green light to conduct drone strikes against suspected militants, according to the Wall Street Journal. This new authority is a shift from a policy under former President Barack Obama that limited the CIA’s ability to engage in paramilitary activity, and may very well strain relations between the agency and the Pentagon.   [...]

The Republican plan to overhaul the US healthcare system is “far worse” than Obamacare, according to Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, and represents a disgraceful effort to “give massive tax breaks” to the wealthy. Last week, the Republican Party released new healthcare legislation aimed at dismantling the “skyrocketing costs” of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law by B [...]

Washington has boosted its military presence in Syria to ostensibly help local forces fight against Daesh, but former US diplomat and Senate adviser James Jatras told Radio Sputnik that the Pentagon's latest deployment could see the United States get bogged down in Syria. "Frankly, I don't like it. I don't think it's a good idea. As much as anybody else I would like to see Daesh and other te [...]

When the global military empire takes money from programs that poor people depend on and gives it to rich military contractors - it is a theft and looting of the national budget, says Brian Becker, the National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition. [...]

Beijing has called on the US to stop its hacking practices against China and other countries, following a WikiLeaks release which reportedly exposes the CIA’s extensive hacking capabilities and lists Chinese routers as targets. [...]

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has promised to press Washington loosen its economic restrictions on Iran, as it promised to do as part of last year’s nuclear deal. During a public speech during a landmark two-day economic cooperation visit to Tehran, Gabriel said Germany intends to "remind the United States of the commitment to get to an effective dismantling of sanctions." [...]