Responding to NATO’s muscle flexing in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, which Moscow sees as a threat, Russia is upgrading its missile defenses with new and more accurate interceptors. The Russian military has successfully tested a new interceptor missile of for its A-135 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) system at a testing range in in Kazakhstan. [...]

On his five-day Mideast trip US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is travelling through states dissatisfied with Donald Trump's foreign policy which makes his tour a "mission impossible," Joseph Camilleri, Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne, and fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, has told Radio Sputnik. [...]

Syrian government forces discovered warehouses stocked with weapons and ammunition, including arms produced in Israel, in Deir Ez-Zor, which had been liberated from the terrorist group Daesh (ISIS) on February 14. A day later, the Syrian state news agency released footage of the weapons. [...]

Lori Robinson, head of US North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), said during Senate testimony that the US military is concerned about the new generation of Russian cruise missiles. Russia has prioritized the development of advanced cruise missiles capable of holding targets within North America at risk from distances not previously seen," Robinson said before the Senate Armed Serv [...]

The director of national intelligence warned Congress that climate change could cause "upheaval" this year. The top US intelligence official warned Congress this week about the threat of “abrupt” climate change, contradicting the Trump administration’s efforts to drive climate out of national security discussions. [...]

Controversial former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik has accused the FBI of “wasting resources chasing Russian collusion,” instead of pursuing tips about potential criminals, such as the Florida school shooter. [...]

The battle against Islamic State in Syria may be nearing its end, but the conflict in this war-torn country seems far from over. Competing factions and old rivalries have created a complicated, uncertain future for Syria. With so many different warring parties wrestling for control of Syria’s fate, it seems prudent to review the conflict’s major actors – and where their allegiances lie. [...]

During a press conference, Fayssal Mikdad, Syria's Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister, asserted that the USA aimed to prolong the war in the country. The diplomat called on Arabs and Kurds in northern Syria to “unite and fight back at Turkish forces,” warning the Western countries against carrying out airstrikes on Syria. [...]

It is an age-old statecraft technique to seek unity within a state by depicting an external enemy or threat. Russia is the bête noire again, as it was during the Cold War as part of the Soviet Union. But the truth is Western states are challenged by internal problems. Ironically, by denying their own internal democratic challenges, Western authorities are only hastening their institutional demis [...]

With Qatar now getting in line to buy Russian S-400 missile systems, the list interested customers keeps growing. The system’s superior capabilities have been catching eyes even in markets that traditionally look Westward. Five nations have now been confirmed to be in various stages of negotiation to buy the S-400 Triumf, or the SA-21 Growler as it is known by NATO. [...]

Europeans are becoming increasingly discontent over the issue of anti-Russian sanctions and distorted Crimea narrative, Vadim Kolesnichenko, the chairman of the presidium of the Internal Council of Russian Compatriots, has told Sputnik, commenting on the ongoing visit of German delegation to the peninsula. [...]

On February 20, 2014, unknown snipers shot at people gathered on Kiev’s central Maidan square killing 49 protesters and four police officers. Local opposition leaders, as well as US and EU representatives, were quick to point a finger at the "regime of Viktor Yanukovych." [...]

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump released his “efficient, effective and accountable” budget for fiscal year 2019 and, to no surprise, social programs are on the chopping block. Aside from wanting to privatize the International Space Station and eliminate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, Trump is also looking to cut food assistance programs by $214 billion. [...]

Russian financial institutions and firms are ready to work without SWIFT's interbank cash transfer services, according to Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. “Certainly, it is unpleasant, as it will prove a stumbling block for companies and banks, and will slow down work. It will be inevitable to deploy some aged technologies for information transfer and calculations. [...]

As Iraq recovers from a long series of horrific wars, starting with the US invasion of 2003, the US has to take on the responsibility for destroying the Iraqi nation, analysts have told RT. The government of Iraq needs $88 billion in reconstruction funds for areas devastated by war, Iraqi officials claimed at the international donors’ conference in Kuwait on Monday. [...]

As the wealthy continue sucking the country dry, the question isn’t if the US will cease to provide a decent standard of living for its people. Rather it is how many people will be sacrificed on the way down. In America, the richest nation in the world when measured by raw GDP, children are getting sick from living by open pools of raw sewage.. [...]

At a time of unprecedented goodwill between Seoul and Pyongyang over the Winter Olympics, the US has decided to double down on its inflammatory rhetoric, undermining a fragile thaw on the Korean Peninsula. On the eve of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, one would be forgiven for temporarily forgetting history’s bitter divisions on the Korean Peninsula. [...]

ABBY MARTIN: While many talk about the growth of the Alt-Right movement under Trump, there's a much less discussed and much better organized sector of the far right that has obtained significant power. The Christian Right.DONALD TRUMP: I brought my bible. Okay? Part of the way the U.S. Empire's elections are rigged is the corporate media's censorship of third-party candidates, despite their nat [...]

A full-blown war with North Korea wouldn’t be as bad as you think. It would be much, much worse. Late last September, I moderated a discussion about North Korea with retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, whose 37-year military career included a stint running NATO, and Michèle Flournoy, the No. 3 official at the Pentagon during the Obama administration, who has helped shape US policy toward North K [...]

The group is calling for a rational drug policy based on promoting responsible cannabis use, rather than repression and arrest. The Confederation of German Criminal Officers (BDK) has called for the legalization of cannabis, saying that its ban makes no sense. "The prohibition of cannabis has historically been arbitrary and until today it has been neither intelligent, nor purposeful," [...]

Stephen Hawking is backing a group of campaigners in bringing Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to the High Court over a new policy which they claim will lead to the privatization of the NHS. The acclaimed physicist is joining campaigners in challenging the health secretary over his introduction of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), partnership organizations between hospitals, care organizations an [...]

US President Donald Trump attacked Britain’s “broke” National Health Service (NHS) in a tweet that came just minutes after Brexiteer Nigel Farage appeared on Fox News to blame immigrants for stretched UK health services. [...]