France and Germany seem to have a servile attitude towards the US and its foreign policy which has to do with their "anti-terrorism" collection capabilities. They felt they had not to upset the collection arrangements says former CIA officer Ray McGovern. The latest documents published by WikiLeaks suggest that America's snooping activities in France are far more extensive than previously thoug [...]

Washington has resumed military aid to the Bahraini government. The move was criticized by human rights groups, which say it takes place "in the absence of any real or meaningful political reforms" and amid numerous human rights abuses. “The administration has decided to lift the holds on security assistance to the Bahrain Defense Force and National Guard that were implemented following Bahra [...]

As ISIS and ISIS-style terror erupts across the globe, Western governments are busy making plans to establish a rapid reaction force in Eastern Europe to ‘contain Russia’, thus qualifying them for an annual ‘you couldn’t make it up’ award. It calls to mind one of Britain’s worst military defeats, suffered at the hands of the Japanese, when 100,000 troops and sailors were marched int [...]

A number of pro-Western NGOs in Armenia perform various functions, including the support of political processes and even overseeing foreign elections. Now, as protests against an electricity rate hike drag on, these groups are getting a second look. Protesters, demanding the cancellation of a 17 percent electricity price hike that is set to take effect on August 1, have spent another night on t [...]

The political standoff between the West and Russia has put many through difficult times. Russia is living through a severe crisis, exacerbated by EU sanctions – but that’s as business in Europe also is in trouble, as the loss of a major partner has dealt a blow to prosperity. Can the European Union afford the confrontation, given the state some of its economies are in, and the dissent that [...]

From Patriot Act to the USA Freedom Act, America's debate on government surveillance of citizens - thanks to Edward Snowden - has created some heat but hardly any light in American politics. NSA backers claim the new law is reform, but isn't it only a distinction without a difference? CrossTalking with Fred Fleitz, Ken O'Keefe, and Ivan Eland. [...]

The dialogue between Russia and the United States can only be equal and must not amount to lectures on democracy-building, says the Foreign Ministry's envoy for human rights. “If they want to lecture us on how we should build our democracy, I suggest they rather deliver such lectures in some US university,” Konstantin Dolgov told reporters on Tuesday. [...]

Russia held US Treasury bills worth $66.5 billion as of April this year, according to the latest monthly report from the US Treasury. That compares with the $116.4 billion held a year ago. From March to April 2015, Russia sold $3.4 billion in US Treasury bonds,reported US Department of the Treasury Monday. [...]

Glenn Greenwald, a US journalist who published the first reports on documents leaked by Edward Snowden, says allegations in the British press that Russian and Chinese spies accessed Snowden's documents are lies aimed at smearing the whistleblower. Greenwald, writing in the Intercept, said that reports by the BBC and the Sunday Times that claimed Chinese and Russian intelligence services had acc [...]

Some 17 million elderly Americans are in need of government-funded meal services, but 90 percent of them don't receive it, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. About 83 percent of those adults in need are food insecure. “An estimated 90 percent of low-income older adults do not receive meals services like those funded by Title III programs, according to our analy [...]

More than a dozen minor earthquakes have struck western Alabama's Greene County since November. The area is near the Black Warrior Basin, where thousands of hydraulic fracturing natural gas wells have been operating in recent years. The Associated Press reported Sunday that Greene County has had 14 notable yet inexplicable seismic events since November 20, starting with a magnitude 3.8 quake 10 [...]

The CIA's torture program had explicit guidelines on human experimentation from 1987, according to a report. But their regular practices, including participation of medical staff in torture sessions, may have violated those guidelines. A document obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and published on Monday by the Guardian reveals the Central Intelligence Agency was prohibited f [...]

The crisis and chaos engulfing the Middle East and Ukraine is evidence of US imperial decline, as Washington learns the harsh lesson that no empire lasts forever. In the wake of the Vietnam War - the end of which was marked by news footage of US personnel and a select few Vietnamese collaborators being evacuated from the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon in 1975 - the United States entered a pro [...]

It's unlikely that Snowden will ever be removed from the US wanted list, as he told the truth about the "bastion of freedom" that lectures other states while spying on its own citizens, said Matteo Bergamini, director of Shout Out UK. It’s been two years since the publications of the NSA documents by Edward Snowden. What is the biggest achievement that came out of the revelations? [...]

A lot has changed in the two years since Edward Snowden decided to let the world know about the NSA's illegal activities, ranging from the mass collection of surveillance data, to tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phones. Despite having his world turned upside down, Snowden says he has no regrets about the life changing decision he made on June 5, 2013. [...]

Two police officers who shot and killed 17-year-old Jessica Hernandez in January, were "legally justified," Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey found. There will be no criminal charges in the case, ruled a defensive shooting. Hernandez was killed on January 26, while attempting to drive away from an alley in a green Honda Civic that was reported stolen the night before. [...]

The US 6th Fleet has made public a video which is described as showing the Russian jet interaction with the USS Ross warship in the Black Sea on May 30. The video was shot aboard the sea vessel. “[USS] Ross continued on her mission after observing the aircraft return to base. [...]

The United States Senate on Tuesday will decide which direction to go next with regard to the USA Freedom Act, the supposed surveillance reform bill that already has passed the House and been endorsed by the president. According to its backers, passage of the Freedom Act would ensure that critical counterterrorism tools remain at the disposal of federal investigators but also rein in the Nation [...]

The death of Sergeant James Brown in a Texas jail was an outrageous "torture operation," author and US Army veteran Rory Fanning told RT. But the odds that police officers involved get indicted are very low, unless there are massive protests, he added. A video obtained by KFOX14 has revealed aggressive force being used by officers during Brown’s time in custody in 2012. [...]

RT’s Anissa Naouai has launched a crowdfunding campaign urging viewers to send a symbolic message to the US State Department and Washington’s media empire, donating money to fight autism. The GoFundMe project was launched by the host of RT’s 'In the Now' program, Anissa Naouai, after the US Secretary of State asked for more money from the government for propaganda and “democracy promoti [...]

A new Texas law signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott prohibits cities and towns from imposing local ordinances to prevent fracking and other potentially environmentally harmful oil and natural gas activities. In debating the law, Texas lawmakers emphasized the state’s successful development of oil and gas for more than 100 years. [...]

Decades of letting neocons dictate a hawkish foreign policy have put the American Republic in profound danger, just as presidents from George Washington to Dwight Eisenhower predicted, warnings that Americans must finally take to heart, says ex-U.S. diplomat William R. Polk. In The Financial Times of April 23, Philip Stephens begins a perceptive article with the obvious statement that “It is [...]