MPs from the German parliamentary party "The Left" have positively assessed the recent visit to Crimea by French lawmakers and said that they'd also consider the possibility of personal trip to the republic and assessment of the situation there. “I think that the French parliamentarian’s trip was a right thing to do. Being elected by the people it was their duty to tell and show the officia [...]

The West should not wait for Russia to solve the Ukraine crisis, but should instead try to influence the extreme policies of its "clients" in Kiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Hubert Seipel of the German channel ARD ahead of the G20 summit. Hubert Seipel: Good afternoon, Mr President. You are the only Russian President who has ever given a speech at the Bundestag. [...]

France's intelligence chief has questioned NATO's claims of Russia preparing to attack Ukraine as their agents failed to spot any activities signaling this - either before or after the crisis began. A statement by the chief of France’s military intelligence, General Christophe Gomart, was published on the National Assembly’s website. [...]

After it was revealed that Bill and Hillary Clinton have earned $30 million in the last 16 months, the House Oversight panel backed a measure that would limit taxpayer dollars on expenses incurred by ex-presidents earning more than $400,000 a year. The measure, passed by a voice vote, would set presidential pensions at $200,000 a year, with another $200,000 set aside for office space and other [...]

Thousands of people in Ukraine, Russia and around the world took to the streets to mark the first anniversary of the Odessa massacre. Last year, 48 activists were killed and over 200 injured as radicals set the local trade unions house on fire. The commemoration ceremonies for those who died in the fire on May 2, 2014 proceeded without serious incident in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. & [...]

The number of Americans "extremely proud" to be citizens of the US continues to fall, with a new Gallup poll revealing a three percent drop from the previous year. Of those surveyed, 54 per cent said they’re “extremely proud” to be Americans. In 2013 and 2014 that figure stood at 57. [...]

The Russian Lower House speaker wants to instigate an international investigation into the 1945 nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US military - a possible crime against humanity with no statute of limitation. “Next year we will have the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trial and also the same anniversary of the first and only nuclear bombings of two civilian cities – Hiroshi [...]

Again Athens finds itself at loggerheads with its creditors, particularly the IMF. The Greeks appear to be willing to do only enough to stay in the Eurozone, while the rest of Europe is willing to offer it just enough support to stay afloat – all awhile making the Greek economy almost impossible to grow. Is the Euro a failure? CrossTalking with Mitch Feierstein, Stephen Haseler, and Scheheraz [...]

The OSCE has warned that a growing presence of heavy weaponry on the government controlled side of Donbass territory has put Ukrainian security forces in violation of the terms of the demarcation line, according to OSCE Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug. “We can highlight that the security situation has gotten worse in the Donbass over the past few weeks,” Hug said at a briefing in Mariupo [...]

The eurozone has huge problems and is holding back the global economy from growing, however the world in general is doing ok, Jim O'Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, told RT. Europe's had a hard time economically in the last few years, with 2014 seeing an especially sharp slowdown in growth. What's behind this poor performance? [...]

China is going to build a $242 billion (1.5 trillion yuan) high-speed rail link between Beijing and Moscow. The line will cut the journey time from five to 'two days', say Chinese authorities. The railway will be 7,000 kilometers long and go through Kazakhstan, reports Bloomberg citing Beijing’s city government on the social networking site Weibo, China’s alternative to Twitter. [...]

As ISIS and ISIS-style terror erupts across the globe, Western governments are busy making plans to establish a rapid reaction force in Eastern Europe to ‘contain Russia’, thus qualifying them for an annual ‘you couldn’t make it up’ award. It calls to mind one of Britain’s worst military defeats, suffered at the hands of the Japanese, when 100,000 troops and sailors were marched int [...]

Two Chinese missile frigates will enter the Russian Black Sea naval base of Novorossiysk for the first time in history. They will then conduct joint exercises with Russia in the Mediterranean. The Linyi and the Weifang will enter the port of Novorossiysk on May 8 to take part in Victory Day celebrations, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. [...]

Chancellor Angela Merkel was not the only NSA target in the German government, as WikiLeaks has released a new tranche of documents containing a list of the phone numbers of German ministers and officials whose privacy was breached by the US spy agency. Sixty-nine high-ranking members of the German government, including the economy and finance ministers, as well as Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabrie [...]

Armed people in uniform speaking fluent English with no accent have been spotted in Mariupol in the aftermath of the rocket hit, fuelling allegations that foreign private military contractors are serving among Ukrainian troops. [...]

A secret memo prepared by a Congressional think tank and seen by the Daily Mail says that the US may need a "reassessment of the special relationship" with its key economic partner, Britain, "because its geopolitical setting has been changing." Winston Churchill's 1946 speech to Westminster College, in Fulton, coined the phrase "special relationship" to describe the exceptionally friendly polit [...]

In a dramatic shift for the US military, the army is considering the use of bullets that can expand and break up when striking a target to make new pistols more lethal, raising concern that doing so would violate international law. According to the Army Times, the Pentagon recently reviewed the use of “special purpose ammunition” and determined the army could look into enabling its next-gen [...]

Let’s start with some classic Russian politics. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov is drawing up Russia's economic strategy for 2016, including the government budget. Siluanov – essentially a liberal, in favor of foreign investment - will present his proposals to the Kremlin by the end of this month. [...]

Deputy head of the Federation Council’s committee for foreign affairs has said an international court must look into all US wars, in particular the Vietnam campaign that killed thousands of civilians and caused significant damage to many innocent people. Russian senator urges international tribunal into US-Vietnam war Deputy head of the Federation Council’s committee for foreign affairs ha [...]

Around 30 percent of the world's population is now obese, while 50 percent is expected to fall into the category by 2030. Meanwhile, 5 percent of global deaths each year are linked to the condition, creating a drag on the global economy. A new report by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) revealed the not-so-hidden cost of an increasingly sedentary population that has acquired a bad taste for f [...]

The evidence is mounting... While broadly-speaking, both 'hard' and 'soft' macro data has disappointed, as we noted previously, the scale of those 'missed expectations' is stunning - worst since Lehman. While this is blamed on weather, the fact is that America had 30% less snow this year than last and still, as the following charts strongly suggest, the YoY drops are on a scale that screams "reces [...]

Cul-de-sacs and fault lines: There is no shortage of either in today’s Ukraine. The government in Kiev appears to be losing its ability to rule as international creditors grimly await the conditions of Ukraine's financial default. As rumored, is Washington now looking for a way out? CrossTalking with Patrick Smith, Marcus Papadopoulos, and Nebojsa Malic. [...]