A grotesque power-fest at the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia left me feeling about Hillary Clinton the way P. G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster felt about his Aunt Agatha - “the one who chews broken bottles and kills rats with her teeth.” There is something disquieting and secretively lascivious about her open-mouthed cackle. She doesn’t so much laugh as lusts. [...]

Economic experts from major international financials, academic circles, and government agencies say the US is facing mounting risks of a recession due to elevated uncertainty in international trade, a possible slowdown in domestic investment, and rising costs of doing business. [...]

Bolstering the call for universal coverage and undercutting a key Republican talking point, a new study finds that Medicaid expansion in Arkansas and Kentucky resulted in better healthcare and improved health outcomes among low-income Americans. [...]

Those pulling dollars out of Russia aren't shooting themselves in the foot, but a bit higher. Russia is moving away from the US dollar, but not to the detriment of its own interests, Russian President Vladimir Putin said while speaking at the global investment forum in Moscow on Wednesday. The Russian president called on the United States to abandon the policy of unilateral sanctions and seek [...]

Politicians lie; like her husband, Hillary Clinton lies more than most. Donald Trump lies too, of course; but most of the false claims and nonsense assertions he makes aren’t lies. Lying requires awareness and intent; Trump says whatever pops into his head. [...]

The volume of trade between Russia and Austria has been steadily growing, reaching $4.2 billion since January year-on-year, said Russia’s trade representative in Austria Aleksandr Potemkin. [...]

Austria believes that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project will be successfully implemented, Russian Ambassador in Vienna Dmitry Lyubinsky told Sputnik. "Nord Stream 2 is, of course, the most promising initiative of our energy partnership with Austria… They believe here that this project will be successfully implemented," Lyubinsky said. [...]

The Washington Post editorial board held a meeting with Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein on August 25. For a Republican or Democratic presidential nominee, this is standard. For a third-party candidate like Stein, the fact that the Post met with her is quite an accomplishment. However, the editorial board crassly attacked her immediately after the meeting. [...]

Rejecting the trade deal, which has been blasted for favoring big corporations, was an election campaign pledge by US President Donald Trump and he announced the projected move on his first day in office. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again "outmaneuvered" US President Barack Obama by refraining from slapping reciprocal sanctions on American government agencies and expelling US diplomats, Earl Rasmussen, Executive Vice President of the Eurasia Center, told RIA Novosti. [...]

Washington’s criticism of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project to deliver Russian gas to Europe bypassing transit countries has been strongly rejected by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. [...]

There’s no shortage of intrigue amidst the CIA’s newly released archive of nearly 13 million pages of declassified records. Some of the more peculiar revelations detail the handling of UFO sightings and the potential weaponization of psychic powers. [...]

The US economy is booming – but fewer and fewer are reaping the benefits. The Keiser Report crunched the numbers behind America’s dwindling middle class, and warned that the country’s young are in for a rough, debt-ridden future. [...]

Director of the Center for the South Pacific Institute of International Studies, Shen Shishun, spoke to Sputnik China about the South China Sea and US involvement in the region. “The US has no territorial jurisdiction in the South China Sea and moreover is not a part of this conflict. [...]

A leading activist on the issue of electromagnetic radiation and its negative impacts on public health has described the rollout of 5G as a “massive health experiment” which could “become a global catastrophe.” [...]

An online petition to prevent US President Donald Trump making an official state visit to the UK has generated enough signatures to warrant it being considered for debate in parliament. [...]

Israel, one of Washington's key allies in the Middle East, refused to impose anti-Russian sanctions and is seeking to sign a free trade agreement with the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Israeli publicist Avigdor Eskin told Sputnik, explaining how Iran's plans to ink a similar pact with the bloc may affect Tel Aviv. [...]

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was looking to 'drive a wedge' between Russia and Iran in its effort to improve relations with Moscow while confronting Tehran. Multiple observers, from Russian foreign policy analysts to American paleo-conservatives, warn that a US-Iran clash would be a catastrophic mistake. [...]

Brazil will not allow the United States to intervene military in Venezuela from its territory, Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourao said Monday in an interview with Globo News Broadcaster, cited by Reuters. Speaking at the Lima group meeting in Bogota, Mourao, a retired general, said that Brazil will do all it can to avoid a conflict with neighboring Venezuela. [...]

Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, paid a visit to Ankara during which she called on Turkish authorities to adhere to the principle of freedom of speech and stop their crackdown on opposition media. However, Bundestag MP from the German Die Linke Party Sevim Dagdelen believes that Merkel's speech was an attempt to improve her image in the eyes of the German public, rather than a r [...]

While the US has had a strategy to contain and isolate Iran, Iran continues to seek and build friendships with its regional neighbors. There are many indications that the US will not tolerate this for much longer. [...]

Nearly 150,000 Russian nationals returned to live in Russia in 2016, according to statistics obtained by the Izvestia newspaper from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the agency charged with monitoring migration trends. About 30,000 of them came from EU countries, marking a rising trend. [...]