Mapping the War Machine! When it comes to understanding wars, for some people, a picture of the dead or of the injured or of the traumatized or of those made refugees can be worth ten million words. An event to mark 100 years since the United States entered World War I, and 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous speech against war. A new movement to end all war is growing. [...]

Moscow will continue to support Syrian Army troops in their anti-terrorism effort, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, after being asked whether Russian policy had changed following a reported chemical attack in the Idlib province.   [...]

In democracies, the demos, the people, rule; not social or economic elites. This was the understanding of philosophers in Athens twenty-five centuries ago, and it remained the consensus view well into the modern era. The received wisdom was that, like anarchy, democracy is a theoretical possibility that can be instructive to reflect upon, but not an ideal that anyone of sound mind would actuall [...]

To wage the global war on terrorism, the leaders of the United States have settled on one basic strategy. Taking advantage of their extraordinary military power, they have tried to kill their way to victory. Many in Washington believe the strategy is correct. They argue the terrorists are inherently evil and must be vanquished from the planet. In the case of the Islamic State, both President Ba [...]

Powerful forces are arrayed against any significant changes that President Trump may try to make in foreign policy, a dilemma made worse by his own ineptness and staffing troubles, writes Robert Parry. President Trump’s emerging foreign policy is one of contradictions and chaos, caught up in a combination of old establishment orthodoxies and some fresh recognition of reality but without any s [...]

Russians responded with relative calm to the lethal terror attack on St. Petersburg’s metro but stressed that the incident underscored the need for counter-terror cooperation despite other disagreements, writes Gilbert Doctorow. Russia’s reaction to Monday’s terror attacks on St. Petersburg’s subway system stands in stark contrast to what we have seen in public behavior in Paris, Berlin [...]

An angry mainstream U.S. media is shaking its fist at anyone who won’t clamber onboard the Russia-gate groupthink bandwagon, reports Robert Parry. The mainstream U.S. media is never more unctuous and unprofessional as when it asserts that it alone must be the arbiter of what is true and what is not, regardless of what the evidence shows or doesn’t show [...]

Russia's air defense systems have improved significantly over the past few years, Russian TV host Dmitry Kiselev said in his program on Russia's Rossiya 1 news network. n his program Vesti Nedeli (News of the Week), broadcast by Russia's Rossiya 1 news network, TV host Dmitry Kiselev specifically focused on Russia's air and missile defense systems, which he said have been bolstered considera [...]

In contrast to their reaction to other attacks, the local authorities of Berlin and Paris didn't light up city landmarks in a show of solidarity with the victims, a decision which was greeted with disapproval by French and German citizens. Their reaction came only 24 hours after the tragedy and seems to have been forced by the public indignation. On Wednesday night, Parisian authorities turned [...]

The United States was quick to lay the blame for what is claimed to have been a chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun, a town in the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib, on President Bashar al-Assad despite the fact that Washington is fully aware that Damascus has long since destroyed its chemical arsenal, Russian economist Said Gafurov told Sputnik. "The Americans know that Syria simply does not ha [...]

The surge in right-wing and anti-establishment sentiments as a result of failed neo-liberal policies in Europe is likely to lead to collapse of the EU in “a tragic development,” prominent American linguist, scholar and activist Noam Chomsky told RT. [...]

The number of investors predicting the eurozone will lose at least one member this year has increased, according to the Frankfurt-based Sentix research group. The risk of contagion is regarded to be even bigger than during the debt crisis in 2012/13. [...]

Marine Le Pen’s loss of EU Parliament immunity is going to help her get elected: French people and other Europeans see it as a plot by the establishment to silence her, it shows the EU Parliament is undemocratic, says David Coburn, UKIP MEP. [...]

The European Parliament has passed a non-binding resolution calling on Brussels to force Americans to apply for visas before visiting Europe unless Washington adheres to a visa reciprocity policy and stops discriminating against eastern EU citizens. [...]

Ankara has partially blocked its participation in some NATO projects, including political events and military drills, amid a diplomatic row over the cancelation of Turkish rallies in several European countries. A spokeswoman for Ankara's mission to the military alliance said on Thursday that Turkey's withdrawal is only aimed at Austria. [...]

Deep and immediate cuts to National Institutes of Health and other agencies would amount to "throwing progress out the window" Lawmakers, scientists, and advocacy groups are decrying President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), saying they represent another broken campaign promise and a "heartless" attack on critical medical research. [...]

On March 25, the leaders of the 27 EU member-states signed a declaration to “restart” the badly divided European Union. In an interview with Sputnik, Gian Micalessin, a military reporter with the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, spoke about the political crisis facing the EU and its future relations with Russia. [...]

Maine resident Garry Godfrey spent nine years on a transplant list, waiting for a new kidney. Then he was abruptly bumped off because of a hospital policy that forbids transplants for smokers of medical marijuana. [...]

The Russian military outlined the threats coming from a new missile defense system the United States is building across the world, explaining that Russia has to deliver an adequate response. Military expert Andrey Golovatyuk pointed out that Russia has reasons to be concerned. [...]

NATO is offering jobs to Russian-speaking actors ready to play civilians in the alliance’s military drills, according to a job advertisement on the official website for the city of Berlin. NATO is offering jobs to Russian-speaking actors ready to play civilians in the alliance’s military drills, according to a job advertisement on the official website for the city of Berlin. [...]

The ruble continues its seemingly unstoppable rally boosted by foreign investors seeking high yield returns. The currency has gained over 30 percent against the US dollar in just over a year. On Thursday, the ruble rose 0.4 percent versus the greenback and was trading at 56.35 at 7:35am GMT, and gained 0.6 percent to 60.60 against the euro.   [...]

The humanitarian plight of war-torn Mosul has “escalated to the limit,” with the Iraqi president comparing it to a “full-on catastrophe,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. “It’s time to toll the alarm bells,” the official added.   [...]