In broader European terms, it may be a niche, but overland travel to Russia and Belarus has long frustrated Western tourists. It has also kept both countries off the continent’s “inter-railing” circuit. The problem was that visitors needed two separate visas to enter both states. Even then, it wasn’t legally possible, for a third-country national, to cross from Belarus into Russia by train [...]

A dark secret behind the Hiroshima bomb is where the uranium came from, a spy-vs.-spy race to secure naturally enriched uranium from Congo to fuel the Manhattan Project and keep the rare mineral out of Nazi hands, reports Joe Lauria. Since the first use of a nuclear weapon in Hiroshima 71 years ago, on Aug. 6, 1945, the story of where the uranium for the bomb came from and the covert operation [...]

The Democratic convention featured senior never-Trump figures from the Republican Party, but Tulsi Gabbard, a primary contestant who won delegates, wasn’t invited. Was that due to her anti-war rhetoric or Hillary Clinton’s grudge? This week’s Democratic virtual gathering to nominate the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris ticket for the November election was a triumph of party centrism over the progress [...]

The Crimean Republic will remain a part of the Russian Federation “forever,” the head of the region, Sergey Aksyonov, said on Monday in talks with foreign officials. “There will be no return to Ukraine. This question has been completely solved and cannot be reversed. [...]

The world's first anti-COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V was registered in Russia on 11 August, following several rounds of clinical trials and has now been made available to the public across the country. More than a dozen countries have now expressed interest in obtaining the vaccine. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which funded the development of Sputnik V, announced on Wednesday [...]

As the United States and Europe embark on an increasingly hawkish policy towards China, Beijing has moved to welcome the formation of an alliance with Russia to counter NATO. Speaking at the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party last month, Xi Jinping delivered what Western analysts are calling an "incendiary speech" in which he called for a military union with Russia [...]

President Donald Trump denied a New York Times report suggesting he paid almost no federal income taxes over the past two decades, saying the truth will be revealed when an Internal Revenue Service audit of his returns is over. "It's totally fake news – made-up, fake," Trump told reporters Sunday in a White House briefing, noting that he had to deal with similar questions when the Times publish [...]

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry's is talking about filing a lawsuit against Russia over suspected violations of international maritime law in Crimea. In response, Crimean authorities suggest that maybe it's time they file charges of their own against Kiev from when the peninsula was part of Ukraine for what they say amounts to "20 years of plunder." [...]

In mid-September, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned against politicising the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which he said is profitable for both Russia and the EU. The statement came amid Berlin's threats to freeze the project due to Moscow's alleged role in the purported poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny.German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has told the media group Red [...]

As pressure again builds on President Obama to attack Syria and press a new Cold War with Russia, the extraordinary events of three years ago after a sarin attack near Damascus are worth revisiting, says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern. Three years ago, when a reluctant President Barack Obama was about to launch an attack on Syria, supposedly in retaliation for President Bashar al-Assad crossing a [...]

The US State Department has outlined a ‘Kennan-style’ China containment policy, which it hopes will help undercut its economic strength and maintain a Washington-led world order, a leaked paper has revealed. The 70-page document called “The Elements of the China Challenge” was prepared by the State Department's Office of Policy Planning and published by Axios on Tuesday. The plan goes [...]

Austria needs an “effective law banning political Islam,” said Heinz-Christian Strache, the head of the Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPO), adding that the Alpine country should also stop accepting new migrants and refugees. [...]

The continuing surge of coronavirus cases across the US along with the inevitable restrictions that are employed to stave off the spread of the pandemic are forecast to weigh heavily on economic recovery. The US economy is predicted as heading towards a potential contraction in economic growth early next year, marking the first "double dip" recession in the country’s history since the e [...]

The breakdown of relations with Russia is a key foreign policy blunder committed by the Obama administration and it will go down in history as such, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said. In fact “US-Russia relations completely fell apart by the end of the second term of the Obama administration,” Medvedev said in a Facebook post. [...]

Touting his administration's coronavirus pandemic response, outgoing US President Donald Trump has been particularly praising the amount of COVID-19 tests performed in the United States, claiming: "we test more than anybody". Donald Trump pointed a finger at his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, stating that it "would be his fault" if the 2020 presidential election did not go [...]

Royal Navy whistleblower William McNeilly leaked details about a number of serious test fire issues aboard Britain’s Trident nuclear submarine fleet a whole year before the June 2016 misfire that sent a missile careening towards the US. [...]

Holidays abroad might have been an early casualty of Covid-19 lockdowns, but Russia is betting that wanderlust has only grown, and plans to make it easier for tourists to take a long trip round the world’s largest country. Under the rule change, adopted by the national parliament in its first reading on Wednesday, visas for sightseers can be issued for up to six months, and can be granted s [...]

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has accused the US of building a “permanent” arms depot in his country, warning President Donald Trump that such moves jeopardizes the security treaty between them. [...]

Belief in the importance of democracy is high in 53 sampled countries but inequality and big tech companies are seen as the biggest threats.  The US faces an uphill task presenting itself as the chief guardian of global democracy, according to a new poll that shows the US is seen around the world as more of a threat to democracy than even Russia and China. The poll finds support for democracy [...]

NAPOLITANO: "Yes, Donald Trump has a very strong case. The best case the Democrats have is some people were disaffected to Mrs. Clinton when they read the snarky e-mails of her staff. But what Donald Trump is talking about is there is no evidence that the Russian government did something that affected the outcome of this election. He’s absolutely correct when he says that." [...]

The country’s economy is cratering, there are shortages of fuel and medicines, and people are going hungry on the streets. Yet what does the West worry most about? Hezbollah helping the starving get food. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab has warned the international community that the country could collapse in days, as even Israel offers aid fearing the expansion of Lebanese H [...]

A report published by leading consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) points to a significant tectonic shift in the global economy in the years leading up to 2050 - China will supplant the US as the world's largest, and Russia will rise to supremacy in Europe. The report, The Long View, ranks 32 countries based on their projected 2050 GDP by Purchasing Power Parity, finding China's GDP w [...]