Islamic State responded in a video to US President Barack Obama's vow to "ultimately destroy" it, promising to kill any American ground forces deployed. The extremist group has gained recruits since Obama's declaration, according to observers in Syria. The 52-second clip, released late Tuesday as a preview for a longer video, uses quick edits and high-resolution images to depict besieged Americ [...]

Official Washington honors international law when it’s politically useful, such as in condemning a global adversary, but then dismisses it as useless if it gets in the way of some desired U.S. action. This “international law a la carte” undermines the concept’s fundamental value, says Lawrence Davidson. International law is vital to the welfare of every man, woman and child on this plan [...]

The United States launched at least one airstrike against Islamic State militants near Baghdad on Monday, marking the expansion of the US military campaign against the extremist group. The airstrike was reportedly requested by Iraqi forces under attack. According to US officials cited by the Associated Press, the airstrike was authorized after Iraqi security forces requested air power support a [...]

US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has voiced concerns that, without sufficient protections, the age of unmanned drones and ubiquitous surveillance will usher in an "Orwellian world." Sotomayor told faculty and students at Oklahoma City University last week that technological capabilities allow devices to monitor "your conversations from miles away and through your walls." [...]

Iran has refused an offer from the United States to join a global alliance preparing to combat Islamic State militants, according to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei said Monday that the US offered to discuss a coordinated effort with Iran against Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL), a common foe in the region, in the midst of an escalating campaign of violence [...]

Russia considers the latest round of Western sanctions illegal and is ready to appeal against them to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russian Economy Minister Aleksey Ulyukaev told reporters on Friday. “The latest round of sanctions provides grounds to appeal to the WTO. And we will appeal,” Ulyukaev said. [...]

The US has no real plan for tackling the Islamic State in Syria, with airstrikes and arms supplies to the unreliable opposition announced “just to do something,” Matthew Hoh, former US marine and analyst at the Center for International Policy, told RT. Damascus has warned that unauthorized US airstrikes in Syria would be tantamount to an act of war, with Moscow stressing that such action ca [...]

Failure by the US to investigate Saudi Arabia’s connection to the 9/11 attacks is among the factors that led to the rise of ISIS, Bob Graham, a former senator and co-chairman of the official inquiry into 9/11, told The Independent in an interview. Graham has expressed doubts about the US’s reliance on Saudi Arabia as an ally in fight against Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL). [...]

Sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and the EU are a part of a larger military agenda agreed by NATO in a summit 2014, Michel Chossudovsky, of the Centre for Research and Globalisation, told RT, calling such a strategy economic and financial warfare. Despite the truce in Ukraine, the EU and the US went ahead with fresh rounds of sanctions – why was the de-escalation of the conflict in the e [...]

"We need the money," said Emilio T. Gonzales, director of Citizenship and Immigration Services in a May 30, 2007 article in the LA Times. Citizenship Renunciation Fee up more than 400% as of as of Sept. 12, 2014! [...]

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the NSA denies that its former NSA contractor-turned whistleblower Edward Snowden ever raised concerns in emails to colleagues to his colleagues over the agency's surveillance work. Interest in Edward Snowden’s past email communications with his former NSA colleagues arose following an interview Snowden gave to NBC News in May, when he said he [...]

The family of US journalist James Foley – who was kidnapped and killed by the Islamic State – had been “threatened” by the US government with charges of aiding terrorists if they tried to raise funds to pay ransom for him, Foley’s mother told the media. Obama administration officials repeatedly warned the family of murdered journalist James Foley that they might face criminal charges [...]

Russia has been put into an impossible situation, meaning they are responsible not only for what has been done in Lugansk and Donetsk, but also for what has been done on the side of Kiev, political analyst Alexander Pavic told RT. Apparently, the truce in Ukraine is not enough for the EU to hold back on yet more sanctions. [...]

The US has introduced new sanctions against Russia’s biggest lenders – Sberbank, Gazprombank and Rosselkhozbank – and added some of the country’s state-owned technology firms and five energy companies, the Treasury said on Friday. Another Russian lender, Bank of Moscow is also on the blacklist. [...]

Key US allies, Turkey and Jordan, are thought to backing away from US calls for a 'bomb ISIS' coalition. Ankara is a notable absentee among the nations that signed a joint communiqué at a Thursday meeting in Saudi Arabia, where US Secretary of State John Kerry was drumming up support for the US anti-Islamist effort. Turkey refused to join 10 Arab nations, who vowed to contribute “as appropri [...]

A federal judge ruled that the General Services Administration (GSA) wrongly infringed on the First Amendment rights of Occupy Eugene protesters by severely restricting the hours and days they were allowed to demonstrate. The group, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, sued the GSA for denying a permit so its members could protest in a public plaza in Eugene, Oregon in 2012. [...]

When Yahoo didn’t comply with a National Security Agency request to hand over user data under the PRISM surveillance program, the US government threatened it with daily fines of $250K, the company has revealed. Ron Bell, Yahoo’s general counsel, said in a blog post, that the company “refused to comply with what we viewed as unconstitutional and overbroad surveillance and challenged the US [...]

Prime Minister David Cameron is supportive of President Obama'€™s decision to authorize US airstrikes against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, Downing Street has confirmed. While UK government officials claim there are currently no plans for Britain to engage in airstrikes in Syria, such military action has not been ruled out in the future. [...]

France may take part in the US bombing campaign in Iraq aimed at crippling the Islamic State militant group if it would be called upon. "In Iraq... we support the formation of an inclusive government. We will participate if necessary in an aerial military action," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday in a speech in Paris. [...]

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht wants to see oil and natural gas exports from the US to Europe included in the forthcoming transatlantic trade deal which will create the world's largest free trade zone. Europe wants US oil and gas to help offset its dependence on Russian energy. About 30 percent of Europe’s total gas requirement comes from Russia, approximately half of that is vulnerable [...]

USA Today reports: “President Obama spends Tuesday soliciting congressional support for expanded military action against the insurgent group known as the Islamic State.” The Jacksonville Journal-Courier in Illinois reports today: “President Barack Obama’s plans to expand the U.S. military role against Islamic extremist groups could overstep his authority, according to a longtime Jackson [...]

America – its government, businesses, and people – are nearly $60 trillion in debt, according to the latest economic data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. And private debt – not government borrowing – is the biggest reason for the huge deficit. Total US debt at the end of the first quarter of 2014, on March 31 totaled almost $59.4 trillion – up nearly $500 billion from the end of t [...]