Libya should be called a ‘destroyed state’ instead of a ‘failed state’ because it didn’t fail on its own but was destroyed by US and NATO bombing, says Sara Flounders, Co-Director of the International Action Center.  John Kerry has warned that Libya is on the way to becoming a failed state. What prompted him to say this now, do you think? [...]

As Donald Trump cozies up to the hardline Israeli right-wingers, it seems that support for a sensible Middle East policy is in decline. But a number of the US’ European allies seem to be beginning to break ranks with Washington. [...]

Jean Bricmont, the author of 'Humanitarian Imperialism', a study of how the idea of human rights has been used to justify Western imperialism, finds it troubling that the Western powers engaged in 'humanitarian interventions' abroad have the gall to tell their own populations to 'welcome the refugees' when things go awry. [...]

The US has called an emergency meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog after Iran’s uranium stockpile exceeded the 2015 nuclear deal’s limits. That’s the same body whose reports of Iran’s compliance Washington has ignored for years. [...]

Loyalty to political parties that stand for something, or that stood for something once upon a time, something worth caring about, would be understandable. But Democrats and Republicans stand for nothing except getting in each other’s way. If they ever stood for anything loftier than that, no one still living remembers. [...]

New Delhi (Sputnik): India is likely to be subjected to US sanctions under the CAATSA (Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) legislation by the "extremely frustrated" Donald Trump administration for continuing to purchase Russian defence equipment ignoring US concerns, a top American government official has said. [...]

The Washington and Moscow-sponsored truce in Syria may be the last chance for the country to stop the bloodshed, opposition groups said in a joint statement after a meeting at the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation. The leaders of several Syrian opposition groups as well as public and religious figures voiced support for the ongoing peace conference in Geneva [...]

The Russian capital's main air hub – Sheremetyevo International Airport – has been voted world’s best in a rating by UK-based luggage service provider Stasher, beating London’s Heathrow, Amsterdam’s Schiphol, and New York’s JFK. [...]

A four-year-old Asian boy who mispronounced “cucumber” as “cooker bomb” was recommended for a de-radicalisation programme by staff at a UK nursery, the boy’s family has said. According to the child’s mother, who has not been named, workers at the [...]

‘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.” [...]

With every passing Trump ragefest, it gets harder and harder to treat his supporters like actual adults—but Samantha gives it a shot. Watch Full Frontal with Samantha Bee all new Mondays at 10:30/ 9:30c on TBS! We're guessing Samantha and her team needed a long hot shower after this one, and probably various recreational drugs. /* */ [...]

Imagine flying a plane so high that the world looks spherical and the sky is pitch-black. The Mikoyan Mig-31 fighter is the only jet plane in the world to make it possible to fly on the very edge of space. With an incredible speed of 3,000 km/h, the Soviet-designed interceptor is the world’s fastest serving aircraft, and it can fly twice as high as a commercial flight. Traveling at more than [...]

Politically and symbolically any attack on Belgium – the state where the political and administrative center of NATO is located – is by implication an attack on the US and its global dominance, French journalist and founder of Agora Erasmus political organization Karel Vereycken told Sputnik. [...]

Turkey’s operation in northeast Syria has “undermined” the US-led campaign against Islamic State terrorists, the Pentagon has claimed, warning that Washington will be “pressing” their NATO allies to sanction Ankara. [...]

Rachel Maddow points out that contrary to his criticism of Donald Trump's remarks on punishing women for abortion, Ted Cruz and his close advisers hold even more extreme views, and all Donald Trump is really guilty of is saying out loud the truth about the aims of the anti-abortion movement in the United States. /* */ [...]

BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Lebanese banks resumed operations after a two-week break amid mass anti-government protests that broke out all over the country, a Sputnik correspondent reported from Beirut on Friday. The reopening of the banks was accompanied by long lines of people who wanted to get cash and make transactions and transfers. [...]

A quadcopter-like contraption, but for humans, the "Volocopter" hopes to change urban transportation by transforming low altitudes into highways. A new vehicle, called the Volocopter, could make flying cars a reality for many people, as the design includes such ideas as creating virtual highways with speed limits for the vehicles. [...]

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl was left impressed with Russian President Vladimir Putin's gallant behavior after the two waltzed at Kneissl's headline-grabbing wedding last year. "President Putin is an old-school gentleman. He has a special kind of manners that we don't see enough today, including in Central Europe," the diplomat told TASS on Monday. [...]

The Obama administration protects its “credibility” by refusing to budge on its claims about the 2013 Syria-sarin case or the 2014 plane shoot-down in eastern Ukraine even as the evidence shifts, writes Robert Parry. What surprised me most about the Iraq War wasn’t how wrong the expectation of happy Iraqis showering American troops with flowers was or even how badly the war would turn out [...]

Very ‘disturbing’ documents have been submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration by Boeing on the same day the company fired its CEO Dennis Muilenburg. They contained a new batch of messages between Boeing employees on the development of the troubled 737 MAX, showing concerns about the aircraft. [...]

Panama was basically carved off from Colombia in order to have a canal. It was created very much like Liberia. It’s not really a country in the sense that a country has its own currency and its own tax system. Panama uses U.S. dollars. So does Liberia. [...]

The TurkStream pipeline, supplying Russian gas to Turkey under the Black Sea, will boost energy security of entire southern Europe and the US won’t interfere with it, said Sakir Arikan, managing director of TurkAkim Gas. The much-anticipated 930km pipeline was launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a special ceremony on Wednesday. [...]