The rapid proliferation of nuclear and conventional weapons post-Cold War indicates that governments continue to think of ‘security’ largely in military terms – but Covid-19 has exposed the fallacies in this way of thinking. Evidently, for world leaders, military power is regarded as a vital instrument of state policy and many countries have amassed huge destructive arsenals in a bid to acqu [...]

DETROIT -- BMW topped Mercedes-Benz in U.S. luxury sales during November and widened its lead over its German rival for the year. Sales at BMW AG’s namesake brand in November rose 3.2 percent to 32,003, as deliveries of the X3 sport utility vehicle more than doubled. For the year, BMW's U.S. sales grew 4.4 percent to 311,398 vehicles. [...]

By announcing its intent to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, the Trump administration continues its war on legacy arms control agreements, endangering international security. The Trump administration has formally announced its intention to withdraw from the 2002 Open Skies Treaty (OST), a critical multilateral agreement involving 35 states which allows specially equipped reconnaissance aircraf [...]

Armed with a fresh win in Indiana and a platform that reflects a "bold agenda for change," Bernie Sanders is providing key lessons that the Democratic party would do well to heed, some analysts say. It was "a remarkable victory, a statement of the extent and scope of the Sanders surge," Robert Borosage, founder and president of the Institute for America's Future, wrote of the Vermont senator's [...]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is calling for “an alliance of democracies” to confront China. It amounts to a new Cold War in which nations are being forced to side either with Washington or Beijing. It’s a classic tyrannical power-play by Washington, yet ironically it is the Americans who are accusing Beijing of being the “new tyranny” in the world. [...]

In an extraordinary act of culture and courage, a Russian orchestra performed in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra recently liberated from the Islamic State, but Western media mocked the event, notes Gilbert Doctorow. Even those with a limited knowledge of Russia may be credited with having heard of St. Petersburg being called the Venice of the North. [...]

A federal appeals court has ruled that the telephone metadata collection program used by the National Security Agency to spy on Americans was illegal, just as NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said seven years ago. The metadata “bulk collection” program violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday. [...]

The EU is on the brink of collapse, as two of its main “pillars” are “crumbling” despite the billions of euros spent on keeping the structure from falling, far-right French leader Marine Le Pen told RT, adding that the union would fail if France left it. [...]

If Trump’s words about his dislike for war and US troops fighting ‘forever wars’ matched his actions, there would be no American soldiers in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Nor would he still be selling weapons to the region. Nearly two years ago, I asked Russian President Vladimir Putin at his annual press conference whether he thought that American troops would really withdraw from t [...]

Besides US special forces and advisers, American volunteers have also been seen fighting alongside the Kurdish militia in Syria. One US vigilante just outside Islamic State-controlled Raqqa said they are there to bring democracy to the war-torn country. [...]

It explains a lot about his actions. It’s starting to sink in. Something terrible is about to happen. We certainly could chalk up Donald Trump’s actions over the last week to the severe flaws in his character. He’s a reckless, narcissistic psychopath who has no sense of empathy or compassion for other people. That’s why he won’t wear a mask, and keeps endangering lives. But we already k [...]

In what supporters described as "a victory for accountability for corporate crimes," a U.S. judge ruled in favor of allowing Colombians to sue former Chiquita Brand International executives for the company's funding of a paramilitary group that murdered plaintiffs' family members. [...]

While President Donald Trump takes his oath of office today in the White House bunker, the capital remains subdued, quiet except for the shriek of sirens and the black unmarked SUVs rushing to pick up the bodies of the “Antifa rioters,” as Trump called them, shortly before Attorney General Bill Barr’s December invocation of the Insurrection Act. National Guard troops are refusing the Pres [...]

Over the past 10 years US companies have invested $5.8 billion in commercial real estate in Russia, the biggest among other foreign investors, according to consulting company Knight Frank. Overall foreign investments to Russian commercial real estate over the past 10 years have reached $15.9 billion. US companies account for 36.5 percent of the total sum. [...]

A notorious US naval destroyer sparked a diplomatic incident on Tuesday morning after Russia claimed that it had launched an incursion into its territorial waters. The USS John S McCain, a specialist combat ship designed to hunt submarines, was operating in the Sea of Japan (also called the East Sea), off the coast of the Russian Far Eastern capital, Vladivostok. Authorities say it was more than t [...]

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks interviews Green Party candidate for President, Dr. Jill Stein. Along with running for President Dr. Jill Stein. Along with running for President Dr. Jill Stein is an activist, medical doctor, and environmental health advocate. Learn more about Dr. Jill Stein here: http://www.jill2016.com/  Dr. Jill Stein Interview With The Young Turks Jill Stein Wants Free C [...]

Donald Trump handily won the state of Texas and its 38 electoral votes on 3 November, gathering about 631,000 more votes than his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. Trump, who trails Biden 232 electoral votes to 306 (with 270 needed to win) refuses to concede the race, claiming widespread fraud involving mail-in ballots across multiple states. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsu [...]

A report released in London earlier this month concluded that the 2003 decision by the US and Britain to invade Iraq was based on flawed intelligence data and assessments as Saddam Husseim posed no threat and did not possess any weapons of mass destruction. [...]

Moderna, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are currently reviewing the batch after around 10 people suffered "a possible severe allergic reaction". According to the California Department of Public Health, doses from Moderna Lot 041L20A are suspected of causing a "higher-than-usual number of adverse events", and should be p [...]

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has urged the EU to halt membership talks with Turkey following Ankara’s crackdown in the wake of the failed July coup. Turkey’s EU affairs minister said the statements were “disturbing” and “similar to the far right.” [...]

The Russian military is not as powerful as its Soviet predecessor, and Russia is only fourth or fifth in the world in terms of total military spending, but remains the only nation capable of challenging the United States in both conventional and nuclear forces, and subsequently is one of just two countries assuring global strategic stability. The US intelligence community sees Russia as t [...]

The enduring cliche of the 2016 election is a comment by Trump that provokes outrage, rebukes, and the declaration, “He’s gone too far.” This happened the moment Trump declared his presidential bid by denigrating Mexicans, then when he attacked veterans, women, the disabled, Muslims, and [...]