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 [...]

Allseas, a Swiss-Dutch company laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline off the Danish coast, has announced it is suspending its work and will pull out of the project after being faced with an avalanche of sanctions by the US. The company, which operates two vessels installing deep-sea pipes for Nord Stream 2 on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, released its statement just before US President Donald Trump si [...]

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close a vital airbase used by American forces, he wasn’t bluffing, and Washington should take his threats at face value, or risk losing a NATO ally, analysts say. [...]

The Chinese tech giant has made strides to replace American-made hardware, software and technology in its 5G internet and smartphone divisions after being placed on a US Commerce Department blacklist earlier this year. Huawei has begun manufacturing 5G base stations – the towers facilitating wireless communication between mobile devices and internet networks, without the use of parts made in the [...]

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will not abandon the Russian S-400 air defence systems in order to buy American Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a statement that Ankara may insist that the US leave Incirlik air base if Washington goes ahead with the sanctions it has threatened in response to Turkey's purchase [...]

President Donald Trump has approved legislation backing Hong Kong’s ‘pro-democracy’ protest movement, disregarding Beijing’s repeated warnings for Washington to mind its own business and stop meddling in China's internal affairs. Dubbed the 'Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,' the bill blazed through both houses of Congress earlier this month with virtually unanimous consent from la [...]

The White House has long sought to take counter-measures against the Turkish-Russian deal and now it is reportedly clinging to a new chance to put a spoke in the wheel. US President Trump has offered his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan a set of economic inducements for better US-Turkey relations, according to The Washington Post. [...]

President Trump has applauded the latest jobs report and its positive effect on stock markets as critics unleashed on him for his failed promise to tame the US government spending spree that pushed the national debt over $23tn. [...]

Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden – who, back in the good old Obama administration days, lobbied for the arming of ‘moderate’ rebels in Syria – slammed Trump for downgrading the US military to an oilfield occupation force. “Leaving troops behind like [Trump’s] doing now – he says that what he wants to do is we’re going to occupy the oil fields and we’re going to take [...]

This comes amid US President Trump's announcement that the signing site of the 'phase one' trade deal with China would be announced 'soon'. A World Trade Organization’s arbitrator ruled Friday that China could impose $3.6 billion worth of tariffs on US goods over its unfair anti-dumping practices. [...]

The yet-unconfirmed move would mark yet another blow to the framework of confidence building measures that were put in place in the immediate aftermath of the cold war. US President Donald Trump has moved to pull the United States out of the 1992 Treaty on Open Skies, one of the most comprehensive international agreements on transparency of military activities, according to the Wall Street Journal [...]

President Trump has been defending his purported withdrawal of US troops from Syria as a triumphant move to “bring our soldiers home”. He says it’s about delivering on his 2016 election promise to “end endless wars”. This is just trite electioneering from Trump. Already it is being admitted this week that the Pentagon is not actually bringing US troops home from Syria. Most of them are b [...]

US President Donald Trump has authorized $4.5 million in aid to the so-called Syrian Civil Defense (SCD), aka “White Helmets,” calling their work “important and highly valued.” The group’s critics point to its terrorist ties. “Over the course of the 8-year conflict in Syria, the SCD has rescued more than 115,000 people, including many ethnic and religious minorities,” the White House [...]

President Trump’s decision to pull troops out of northern Syria sent the mainstream media into a full-blown meltdown, Redacted Tonight’s Lee Camp said, slamming their hawkish coverage as mindless and deceitful. [...]

Accusing Turkey of endangering civilians and threatening peace and security with its Syrian operation, US President Donald Trump has announced upcoming tariffs and sanctions against Turkish officials and economy. [...]

It’s time for the US to “get out of ridiculous endless wars,” President Donald Trump said ahead of a withdrawal of US troops from border areas in northeastern Syrian as the Turkish military prepares for an anti-Kurdish incursion. [...]

The president went on the offensive against Beijing at the General Assembly on Tuesday, saying he wouldn’t accept a “bad deal” on trade, and accusing China of using “massive market barriers, heavy state subsidies, currency manipulation,” and other malign tactics, while urging the country to “honour” its commitment to “protect Hong Kong’s freedom.” [...]

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. [...]