Although the latest US jobs report did indicate that 312,000 new non-farm jobs were added to the economy in December of 2018, it should by no means suggest that the US economy is functioning in a perfect manner, Richard Wolff, professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, told Sputnik. [...]

Despite all their differences, the West must respect Russia and look to compromise with it, Daniel Kawczynski, a Conservative British MP, told RT while on a visit to Moscow with a group of British parliamentarians. The British MPs arrived in the Russian capital to resume inter-parliamentary contacts that had been stalled for two years, [...]

Chinese investments in North America and Europe fell by 73 percent last year as a result of tightened US scrutiny of foreign takeover deals and Beijing’s restrictions on outbound investments. Data from law firm Baker & McKenzie showed that Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the United States have also turned negative, falling to the lowest in seven years. [...]

Returning to the United States in an election year, I am struck by the silence. I have covered four presidential campaigns, starting with 1968; I was with Robert Kennedy when he was shot and I saw his assassin, preparing to kill him. It was a baptism in the American way, along with the salivating violence of the Chicago police at the Democratic Party’s rigged convention. The great counter revolu [...]

The current attempt to depose the president of Venezuela is similar to the toppling of the Ukrainian leader in 2014. Or at least that’s the view of the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin. [...]

A lawyer's advice on how to assert your rights when it comes to drugs and the police. If you use pot you are a criminal. This is true [according to federal authorities] even in Colorado and Washington, where the feds continue to outlaw cannabis. This is also true in California and other states that provide medical protection. [...]

On Tuesday, senior Afghan officials, including former President Hamid Karzai, met with Taliban representatives in Moscow weeks after the insurgents met with US representatives to discuss an end to the war. However, no Afghan government officials were present at the meeting, and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani strongly criticized the talks as undermining his government. [...]

Former PM Tony Blair will respond to the Chilcot report on the legality of the 2003 Iraq invasion by arguing the Middle East state was devastated by Iran, Al-Qaeda and a powder keg of tribal animosity unleashed by Saddam’s removal, reports suggest. He is expected to defend the war while trying to externalize the continuing bloodshed, but not before the Chilcot Inquiry reports on July 6. [...]

Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to safeguard the United States from the purported evils of socialism – but critics note that the US president is fine with giving government subsidies to the rich and well-connected. [...]

As the U.S. and NATO mount provocative military maneuvers on Russia’s border, the West is oblivious to how these threatening gestures ratchet up prospects of thermonuclear war that could extinguish civilization, says Gilbert Doctorow. In his eulogy to Mohammed Ali at the Louisville memorial service, Rabbi Michael Lerner reminded us all of the distinguishing feature of “The Greatest,” that [...]

The National Security Agency has reportedly ended the intrusive spying program that combs through Americans’ calls and texts and won’t be seeking to renew it, begging the question – what are they doing now that’s more effective? [...]

Austria’s interior minister has rejected a proposal that would require EU member states to grant asylum seekers the right to work, calling the plan “unthinkable,” as the country’s job market could not absorb the flood of new workers. [...]

Earlier this week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the stopping of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which the document claimed boosts the EU's dependence on Russian gas supplies and threatens the bloc's energy security. [...]

President Obama threw his full support behind Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and reflected on his eight-year presidency. Here are the highlights in four minutes. Barack Obama’s mission on behalf of Hillary Clinton on Wednesday night was personal and political. He testified to her virtues as a would-be president in a way only a current president could. [...]

A lawsuit was filed against Boeing in a US federal court on Thursday in what appears to be the first litigation over the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash which killed 157 people. The lawsuit was filed in Chicago federal court by the family of Jackson Musoni, a citizen of Rwanda. [...]

Neocons are jumping off the Republican ship for Hillary Clinton even though Donald Trump has shifted their way on Israel and military spending. The big reason seems to be his resistance to a new Cold War with Russia, writes JP Sottile. Bill Kristol is downright despondent after his failed search for an alternative to Donald Trump. Max Boot is indignant about his “stupid” party’s willingne [...]

Hundreds of Yemenis have become victims of reckless arms sales by the US and its allies to Saudi Arabia, whose coalition has indiscriminately used Western weapons in its 3-year bombing campaign, Amnesty International has warned. [...]

Donald Trump has entered a political kill zone. And the American establishment is lining up to take him out. We are talking here in virtual terms - at least thus far. Nowadays, political assassination by US powers-that-be does not necessarily involve physical liquidation of the individual deemed to be an enemy of the state. [...]

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo face an uphill struggle to force other nations to abandon their oil trade with Iran, former European Union consultant Paolo von Schirach told Sputnik. [...]

You haven’t heard much from the Democrats lately about foreign policy or global agendas – indeed virtually nothing at the Philadelphia convention and little worthy of mention along the campaign trail. Hillary Clinton’s many liberal (and sadly, progressive) supporters routinely steer away from anything related to foreign policy, talk, talk, talking instead about the candidate’s “experienc [...]

Berlin’s failure to meet the alliance’s agreement to spend 2% of GDP on defence has been a source of tension between Germany and the US. Angela Merkel earlier pledged to boost military spending up to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2024. But the budget plan, introduced in Berlin, suggests that the expenditures will be decreasing after a rise next year. [...]

Finland's health and social affairs ministry wants to try out a basic income scheme to test the impact of unconditional cash payments on work incentives. The experiment aims to show if the measure can simplify the welfare benefits system and lower unemployment in the country. [...]