A day after French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Ukraine is willing to implement the Minsk Agreements, Kiev went back to square one by refusing to hold direct dialogue with Donbass, which is the key provision of the UNSC-backed accords. Who is encouraging Kiev's political adventurism and making the conflict in eastern Ukrainian fester? [...]

A field commander of Syria’s Desert Falcons militia forces thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin on behalf of the Syrian people for supporting the country in the fight against terrorism. Earlier on Sunday, the Syrian Army alongside the Desert Falcons forces fully liberated the ancient city of Palmyra from Daesh militants. [...]

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was Brazil's left-wing president from 2003 to 2010, triumphantly returned to Brazilian big politics just over a year ago after the Latin American country's supreme court cleared him of corruption and money laundering charges, allowing him to run for president once again. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky really did want a war with Russia, otherwise he would have [...]

The key of demagogic politics is to realize that the people who are really backing you are your campaign funders. Your job as a politician is to say, “I can deliver this constituency.” Obama was a genius at doing what Donald Trump is trying to do today: taking a constituency. That’s his column A: a focus group listing everything the constituency wants. They want debt relief. They want bet [...]

Ten years ago, the crew of Shuttle Atlantis was in the final phase of their Servicing Mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. STS-125 was proceeding to plan and their vehicle was deemed to be in excellent condition for the return trip. However, had Atlantis suffered major damage during her launch to the telescope, Endeavour was sat on Pad 39B, ready to launch at short notice on an ambitious rescue [...]

Mainstream U.S. journalism has completely lost its way, especially in dealing with foreign policy issues where bias now overwhelms any commitment to facts, a dangerous development, writes Robert Parry. Several weeks ago, I received a phone call from legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh who had seen one of my recent stories about Syria and wanted to commiserate over the state of modern [...]

Sergey Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation briefed reporters on the statement made at the General Assembly, the situation in Ukraine, and other topics. Talking to reporters in New York, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today (24 Sep) said there is an open document outlining Russia’s “doctrine for nuclear security,” and invited journalists “to take anothe [...]

Despite Western media dominance, the U.S. government wants to stop the world from hearing the “other side” on foreign disputes by “countering” or discrediting those voices, explains Jonathan Marshall.  By Jonathan Marshall  “[Russia] is conducting an intensive propaganda campaign [...]

Chief of the General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Othmar Commenda said that Russia for Austria is much closer than other great powers. The Austrian Armed Forces are ready to develop cooperation with Russia, despite recommendations of other world powers, the Chief of the General Staff of the Austrian Armed Forces, Lt. Gen. Othmar Commenda said Wednesday. [...]

When Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s president, invaded Iran on September 22, 1980, he was a “good” dictator. His invasion of the neighboring country was not only approved by the United States and its Western satellites, but also universally supported by them. Unlike secular Iraq, Iran was led by so-called vicious Islamic clerics. [...]

Europe has to make concessions to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan because Brussels has no other option in the light of the ongoing migrant crisis, a French journalist said in an interview with Atlantico. After German comedian Jan Boehmermann in his show mocked Turkish President Recep [...]

There is no doubt, war is ugly. Atrocities are committed by all belligerents involved in conflict. Propaganda is heightened and intensified not only by the major participants, but also by countries, governments, organisations, corporations, and individuals who aren’t directly involved in the conflict. Each has their own motivations, reasons, and self-serving interests for doing so. Fog of [...]

Germany, the fourth-largest economy in the world and a leader in renewable energy, produced so much energy this weekend from its solar, wind, hydro, and biomass plants that power prices went into negative territory for several hours. Consumers were being paid to use energy. [...]

Liberal Democratic Hillary Clinton supporters get defensive when they hear that Mrs. Clinton is favored over Donald Trump by right-wing billionaires like Charles Koch and (with much more enthusiasm) by leading arch-imperial foreign policy Neoconservatives like Robert Kagan, Max Boot, and Eliot Cohen. But an honest look at Hillary’s record should make the support she is getting from such noxious, [...]

Current Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, who helped initiate the Ukrainian government’s overthrow in 2014, is now encouraging Ukraine to escalate the war against Russia by attacking Russian bases in Crimea. She acknowledges this move could push Russia closer to the brink of a nuclear attack, but feels that’s a small price to pay for sending a powerful message tha [...]

I wrote last August about what I felt was an overly optimistic assumption that Trump and Putin would be great working partners if Trump were to become president. This idea has been promoted primarily by Trump himself who thinks the pair would get along very well. [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for President Vladimir Putin and his Children’s Rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the alleged “unlawful kidnapping of Ukrainian children’. According to the I.C.C: “there are reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of un [...]

America may lag behind the developed world in many categories, but it is No. 1 in the “merchant of death” business, experiencing a boom in the commerce of boom, especially in areas destabilized by U.S. invasions, notes JP Sottile. Who says nothing is made in the USA anymore? Certainly not the well-heeled denizens of the State Department’s diplomatic corps. And they should know. That’s b [...]

Ukraine has blamed the U.S. for the conflict with Russia after failing to defeat them. The Ukrainian President's adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, has said that the U.S. seeks to make amends for a 'historical mistake' by admitting Kyiv into NATO. Ukraine has insisted that the U.S. is obligated to 'protect it' because it agreed to return atomic weapons to Russia in exchange for guarantees of territorial [...]

The Austrian and Hungarian Governments are in a diplomatic row over thousands of migrants in Austria that Vienna says should be returned to Hungary under EU rules, which the Budapest administration is refusing to accept. Under the Dublin agreement, migrants arriving within the Schengen area — the zone in Europe where all countries remove internal borders — must be processed in the country o [...]

Southeast Asia has become the hot spot for China and its Belt and Road Initiative. But why has Southeast Asia chosen China? Does the US stand a chance to overtake China in the region? Let's break it down. [...]

Environmentalists oppose it. So do labor unions, medical professionals, and major religious groups, as well as every leading presidential candidate. So why hasn't the Democratic Party gone on record opposing the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)?That's what Bernie Sanders wants to know.Noting that the deal "is opposed by virtually the entire grassroots base of the Democratic Party," Sanders said Su [...]