Wall Street’s control of Washington and the related imperial agenda of the “Pentagon System” were advanced more effectively by the nation’s first Black president than they could have been by stiff and wealthy white Republicans like John McCain or Mitt Romney. The reigning U.S. system of corporate and imperial “inverted totalitarianism” was given a deadly, fake-democratic re-branding.  [...]

Turkey didn’t acquire the Russian-built S-400 air defense systems for them to collect dust and may use them, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, adding the purchase was to reduce Ankara’s dependency on US arms supplies. “We will not just buy the S-400s and place them in a storehouse. We will use them if need be,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday, as quoted by Hurr [...]

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) commonly factors in all kinds of risks when allocating the country's reserves, said the CBR chief, commenting on a major sell-off of US Treasury bonds. “We pursue the policy of safe and diversified holdings,” CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina said while answering questions before Russia's lower house of parliament. [...]

As many as eight civilians were killed in the northeastern Syrian province of Hasakah in an airstrike carried out by the US-led international coalition, local media reported citing a local source. "The 'international coalition’ has committed another massacre, which killed eight members of a family in Dib-Haddadj village on the south-east of the Hasakah province," the source said, as quoted by th [...]

The US government is slated to receive one of two batches of Russian-made rocket engines in the second quarter of 2018, according to a leading Russian rocket designer, at nearly the same point when the newly created US Space Force is being established as a new branch of the US armed forces. [...]

It is an epic paradox that President Donald Trump, like previous US presidents, boasts of America’s military supremacy and its vital role as defender of the nation. The Trump administration in its first year in office boosted the annual military budget to $700 billion, up from an already gargantuan average figure of some $600 billion a year. [...]

Turkey will find alternatives after the US Senate's decision to suspend Ankara's participation in the F-35 fighter jet production program, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, after the US Senate decided to stop the jet deliveries over Ankara's intention to buy S-400s. [...]

These measures will only affect products that have analogues in Russia, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Maxim Oreshkin said. "Because the US continues to apply protective measures in the form of additional import duties on steel and aluminum and refuses to provide compensation for Russia's losses, Russia is using its WTO rights and introducing balancing measures with re [...]

Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert look into whether the United States has entered the vicious ‘Medici cycle’, where money is used to get political power and political power is used to make money. Max and Stacy refer to the work of finance professor at the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business, Luigi Zingales. [...]

A serious breakup between the US and Canada is unlikely, Canadian journalist and political consultant John Bosnitch told Sputnik, explaining the Trump-Trudeau row and the US president's fight against left-wing globalist clique ruling in Europe and NATO. [...]

Despite facing years of sanctions from the US and EU, the Russian economy is growing again thanks to a winning formula of low debt and high reserves. The sovereign debt of Russia is a fraction of that in developed countries like the UK or US. Russia’s foreign debt now stands at $525 billion, compared to $7.5 trillion in Britain, $5 trillion in France, $4.8 trillion in Germany, and an eye-waterin [...]

Beijing’s retaliatory measures against US tariffs can include penalties on oil coming to China from America. A cut in Chinese purchases of US oil may benefit Iran’s sales and anger Washington. “The Chinese may just replace some of the American oil with Iranian crude,” said John Driscoll, director of consultancy JTD Energy Services, as quoted by Reuters. [...]

Moscow and Delhi are seeking to bypass US sanctions by using the rupee and the ruble in facilitating military deals, according to Indian daily, the Economic Times. The paper reports that US sanctions are hampering $2 billion in defense deals between Russia and India, as payments are getting stuck. [...]

Scores of local and foreign activists have called on Washington to end its “colonial occupation” of Puerto Rico, bashing the US President for his lackluster and “insulting” response to last year’s deadly Maria and Irma hurricanes. [...]

US Senators have voted to block the sale of F-35s to Turkey, slamming their NATO ally for plans to buy Russian S-400 missile batteries. Ankara warned of “an alternative” should the deal be called off. The first of the 100 US-made F-35 fighter jets were to be delivered to Turkey on June 21 but now the whole deal might be off as the US Senators voted to kill the sale. [...]

It was the dogs what done it. The picture of the "pile of canine corpses on the streets of Russia killed in the name of the world cup," I mean. Or at least the thousands of people who had retweeted the image thought so, before it turned out the dead dogs were Pakistani, killed for public health reasons in Karachi five years before. [...]

Thousands of naked women descended on an Irish beach to break the world’s record for the biggest group skinny dip. The ‘Strip and Dip’ event took place at the Maghermore Beach in Wicklow on Friday. Women from across Ireland and beyond gathered in an attempt to create biggest ever mass naked swim. [...]

US President Donald Trump's introduction of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the EU will force them to build new trade ties, professor at Aalto University and CUHK, Carl F. Fey, told RT. “US actions will surely push the EU to strengthen trade relationships with other countries such as China. Russia, being a near neighbor could also benefit,” he told RT, adding � [...]

John Wight: The story of history is the story of the roads not taken, and never more so than when it comes to the life and legacy of John F Kennedy. The 55th anniversary of Kennedy’s ‘Peace Speech’, delivered in the form a commencement address to students and faculty at the American University in Washington on June 10, 1963, is a time to lament the loss of a leader who, by the time of his as [...]

An anti-terrorism probe has been opened into death threats Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz received on social media after his government announced a crackdown on hate preaching and “political Islam.” The Austrian government’s decision to close seven mosques and expel as many as 60 imams as part of their campaign against radicalization has provoked a wave of outrage online. [...]

German carmakers may be pushed out of the United States as President Donald Trump wants to stop them from cruising through New York, according to German magazine Wirtschaftswoche. It cited several unnamed European and US diplomats claiming that Trump told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in April he would stick to his trade policy for long enough until no Mercedes-Benz models were rolling do [...]

Russia is crucial in bringing peace to Syria and Ukraine, Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, adding he hopes Moscow helps secure peace in Donbass, paving the way to lifting EU sanctions. “Russia, as a superpower, has an important role in Syria and eastern Ukraine, and Russia has great responsibility,” Chancellor Kurz said after talks with Russian Presid [...]