Moscow doubts the viability of the new peace plan for the Middle East recently unveiled by Donald Trump, as it is incompatible with UN decisions on the matter and does not sit well with the Arab world. Among other things, it cements Israel's sovereignty over the occupied West Bank; the Jewish state would also annex vast swathes of fertile Palestinian lands. Whereas the plan calls for establishing [...]

Riding on the coattails of far-right victories in the U.S. and U.K., France's Marine Le Pen officially launched her bid for president on Sunday with a speech and manifesto full of populist talking points and anti-immigrant fervor."The impossible has suddenly become possible...Other countries have shown us the way," the head of the Front National (NF) party declared in Lyon, pointing to the surpris [...]

The development comes weeks after a camera at the International Space Station spotted an unknown cone-like object that was flying upward. NASA’s STEREO observation mission has spotted what fans of conspiracy theories said is a gigantic UFO flying past the Sun. The incident itself occurred on 29 February, but the footage of it was posted just recently on the channel “Hidden Underbelly 2.0” de [...]

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly took the blame for the poor rollout of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning nationals from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US, but said there was a need for speed in doing so. [...]

As the coronavirus epidemic monopolizes the attention of the American people, government is taking the opportunity to sneak through all manner of restrictive legislation, including a law that could end the internet as we know it. Killing the internet… to save the children? The ominously-named EARN IT Act (short for “Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act”) [...]

Watching Washington attack one sovereign state after another since the collapse of the Soviet Union prompts the question: Are we Americans behaving out of some inherent aggression, or is this just old-fashioned empire building by a global superpower? [...]

✅ In a historically unprecedented measure, the Russian military has sent well over a dozen strategic lift aircraft packed with medics and medical equipment to help the Mediterranean nation battle COVID-19. Russian military medics sent to Italy to assist that country in its fight against coronavirus have been spotted on route to Bergamo, the Lombardy region city which has become on [...]

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.” [...]

Coronavirus has taken lives of more than 100,000 people around the world so far, penetrating into almost every corner of our planet. However, some parts of the world have managed to prevent the active spread of the virus with the help of strict quarantine measures. On 11 April, there was no active cases of coronavirus recorded in Greenland, an autonomous territory under the Danish crown which Dona [...]

On March 23, the GMHC, an AIDS service organization, is due to honor former President Bill Clinton, the founder of the Clinton Foundation, for his 15-year effort to battle HIV/AIDS. Speaking to Sputnik, Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel disclosed what really lay behind the charity's HIV/AIDS initiative. Do the Clintons deserve so much praise? [...]

Media outlets have omitted aspects about the US assassination of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani that don’t fit Washington’s narrative, comedian Lee Camp has argued. He’s debunked the Pentagon spin so you don’t have to. The host of Redacted Tonight has listed six things about the highly controversial killing that the media has either ignored completely or under-reported, including the n [...]

At a news conference in the Turkish capital, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to suggest the end of Bashar Assad’s presidency was no longer a prerequisite for a way out of the Syrian crisis, in a U-turn from Washington’s long-held policy. “I think the ... longer term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people,” said Tillerson at a joint conference with Tu [...]

The staggering increase in wealth inequality comes despite, or perhaps in part because of, several rounds of cash injections by the federal government to corporations, big banks and to a lesser extent, ordinary Americans which have added trillions of dollars to the US national debt. The wealthiest 600+ Americans saw their total wealth increase by $434 billion between March 18, when the go [...]

The circumstances of the alleged chemical attack against the Khan Sheikhun settlement remain unknown, with many experts preferring not to hurry with a final verdict. However, it didn't prevent the US from launching missile attacks on Syria "in response." Funnily enough, at that same moment when US President Donald Trump violated the "Western values," he received a standing ovation from Europe [...]

America is not based on hard work. Get it out of your head that this society is set up to be fair. Fair would be everyone with a roof over their head. Congress’s inability to actually represent the real-live human beings of America, combined with an economic system that rewards lack of empathy and an excess of greed, has brought us to a dark time when an oncoming tsunami of financial ruin, desti [...]

After his election, Donald Trump had a narrow path to a transformational presidency, but it required breaking the neocon grip on U.S. foreign policy and telling truth to U.S. citizens. Already, Trump has failed, says Robert Parry. The 100-day mark may be an artificial measuring stick for a U.S. president. Obviously much can happen in the remaining 1,361 days of a four-year term. But Donald Trum [...]

Trump’s corporate giveaways and failure to improve the lives of ordinary working Americans are becoming clearer by the day. Trump is remaking the Republican party into … what? For a century the GOP has been bankrolled by big business and Wall Street. Trump wants to keep the money rolling in. His signature tax cut, two years old last Sunday, has helped US corporations score record profi [...]

As concern surrounds Donald Trump’s decision on a key climate deal, one Republican Congressman believes God will “take care of” the global rise in temperature attributed to emissions. [...]

The EU has a stated goal of promoting prosperity and stability in the Middle East and North Africa. However, its efforts to secure Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements with its southern neighbours have so far had limited success. Luigi Scazzieri writes that with Covid-19 likely to generate a significant economic fallout in the region, it is time for the EU to make a more ambitious offer. [...]

A brief trip to Crimea in June 2017 made me understand: Crimea wants to be a part of the "bigger world," but only together with Russia. The theme of economic sanctions against Russia and especially against its region of Crimea is becoming a real bonanza for lawyers. [...]

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has downgraded engine maker Rolls-Royce’s credit rating to junk, citing the disruption caused to global air travel from the coronavirus pandemic. The British company’s rating has been lowered to “BB” from “BBB”, (below investment grade) in response to Rolls-Royce’s worsening near-term prospects as whole fleets of planes remain gro [...]

China and Russia have already ditched the US dollar in their vast energy trade. Now China is leveraging Saudi Arabia to also abandon the greenback for oil sales. No wonder, it seems, that US policies are increasingly lashing out. US global power depends on its presumed economic prowess and military force. With its economy in long-term decline, precipitated by the teetering dollar, the US rulers [...]