More than US$30 billion were illegally diverted from Venezuela in two months, the country’s communications and information minister has revealed, accusing the US of orchestrating the operation. [...]

"What Has America Become" was the title of a letter to the editor written by Ken Huber of Tawas City, Michigan. It contains a series of comparisons and contrasts which causes one to think about the double-standards and conditions under which we now live here in America. Sadly America is in decline. [...]

The Pentagon’s claims that Russia and China are among the top challenges for the US is a justification to continue the flow of taxpayer’s money into major weapon systems and their corporate sponsors, Karen Kwiatkowski, retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel told RT. US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced Tuesday that the Pentagon will request a $582.7 billion defense budget in o [...]

A growing number of former Apple devotees in China have started switching from iPhones to domestic Huawei smartphones as trade and technology tensions escalate between Washington and Beijing. The South China Morning Post reported that consumers were spurred by a rising “nationalist sentiment” to support the Chinese tech giant which has been blacklisted by the US. [...]

Cohen is director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, founder of media watch group FAIR and co-founder of the online activism organization RootsAction.org, which just released the statement “Thousands Ask Clinton to ‘Stop Lying’ About Iraq Vote.” At last night’s debate in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton again described herself as a “progressive who gets things [...]

Iran’s envoy to the United Nations has called on the international community to end “unlawful destabilizing measures” by the US, declaring that while Iran does not seek war, it “reserves the right to counter any hostile act. [...]

Kiev risks returning the country to an uncontrolled economic crisis if reforms and tight fiscal policy are not continued, Ukraine’s Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said on Wednesday. Last year Ukraine's GDP contracted 10.5 percent while inflation hit more than 45 percent, the second-worst after Venezuela. [...]

Turkey has blasted the US decision to kick it out of the F-35 fighter jet program, in response to Ankara buying Russian S-400 air defense systems, as a mistake that will cause permanent damage to the US-Turkish relations. [...]

American society is morally bankrupt and politically broken, and its vision of the future appears utterly dystopian. As the United States descends into the dark abyss of an updated form of totalitarianism, the unimaginable has become imaginable in that it has become possible not only to foresee the death of the essential principles of constitutional democracy, but also the birth of what Hannah Are [...]

The US has advised Turkey not to deploy Russian S-400 systems under the threat of more sanctions, even though the White House has been cautious about punishing its NATO ally which could respond by closing its bases to US troops. [...]

Libya should be called a ‘destroyed state’ instead of a ‘failed state’ because it didn’t fail on its own but was destroyed by US and NATO bombing, says Sara Flounders, Co-Director of the International Action Center.  John Kerry has warned that Libya is on the way to becoming a failed state. What prompted him to say this now, do you think? [...]

The United States has a habit of involving itself in political unrest all over the world, Ron Paul said, noting that Washington lacks the moral authority to lecture China about the unrest in Hong Kong. [...]

Jean Bricmont, the author of 'Humanitarian Imperialism', a study of how the idea of human rights has been used to justify Western imperialism, finds it troubling that the Western powers engaged in 'humanitarian interventions' abroad have the gall to tell their own populations to 'welcome the refugees' when things go awry. [...]

It is alleged that the phone call, in which Chinese officials invited their US counterparts to resume trade talks, didn’t happen the way Donald Trump described it did. The POTUS has yet to comment on the speculation. [...]

Loyalty to political parties that stand for something, or that stood for something once upon a time, something worth caring about, would be understandable. But Democrats and Republicans stand for nothing except getting in each other’s way. If they ever stood for anything loftier than that, no one still living remembers. [...]

Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard has doubled down on her attacks on President Donald Trump’s ‘disgraceful’ allegiance to Saudi Arabia, eviscerating his ‘betrayal’ of her fellow soldiers and the US Constitution. [...]

The Washington and Moscow-sponsored truce in Syria may be the last chance for the country to stop the bloodshed, opposition groups said in a joint statement after a meeting at the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation. The leaders of several Syrian opposition groups as well as public and religious figures voiced support for the ongoing peace conference in Geneva [...]

The Russian-built Pantsir S-1 system (NATO designation, SA-22 Greyhound) is a daunting combination of radar, cannons, and missiles. It can detect and take out any target, even while on the move. Armed with 12 surface-to-air guided missiles and two dual 30mm guns, the Pantsir can strike enemies both in the air and on the ground, and it can take them both out simultaneously. Its missiles are fast [...]

A four-year-old Asian boy who mispronounced “cucumber” as “cooker bomb” was recommended for a de-radicalisation programme by staff at a UK nursery, the boy’s family has said. According to the child’s mother, who has not been named, workers at the [...]

Last month, WikiLeaks published the evidence and testimony provided by an Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) whistleblower who revealed that the watchdog appeared to have wilfully ignored data that the Syrian government did not stage a chemical attack in Douma, Syria in April 2018 in order to fit a convenient narrative. [...]

With every passing Trump ragefest, it gets harder and harder to treat his supporters like actual adults—but Samantha gives it a shot. Watch Full Frontal with Samantha Bee all new Mondays at 10:30/ 9:30c on TBS! We're guessing Samantha and her team needed a long hot shower after this one, and probably various recreational drugs. /* */ [...]

The US government has dropped all charges against Max Blumenthal, after arresting the journalist over a dubious 5-month-old warrant. But the Grayzone editor says the case is far from closed. Blumenthal was detained for nearly two days after police raided his Washington, DC home in October. The month-old warrant for his arrest listed the journalist as “armed and dangerous,” and police carrying [...]