Step-by-step Russia, China and other emerging economies are taking measures to reduce their dependence on the US dollar, F. William Engdahl notes, referring to Russia's crude oil benchmark initiative; the move could deal a dramatic blow to the "petrodollar's" dominance. [...]

As China develops cutting-edge deep-sea surveillance, the nation’s navy is concurrently designing a satellite-mounted laser to locate and destroy enemy submarines. The satellite, which will be able to spot targets 500 meters below the surface, would also be used to gather data on the world's oceans, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported Monday. [...]

The EU is having a full-blown existential crisis. Someone has really screwed up its economy, and the culprit is conspicuously absent from a new report outlining the carnage. Are there no mirrors in Brussels? Former European Central Bank president and Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, has published a new “economic competitiveness” report after a year of work at the request of unelected ‘ [...]

Assume that the hawks get their way -- that the United States does whatever it takes militarily to confront and destroy ISIS. Then what? Answering that question requires taking seriously the outcomes of other recent U.S. interventions in the Greater Middle East. In 1991, when the first President Bush ejected Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait, Americans rejoiced, believing that they had won a [...]

The most disaster-prone US fleet has suffered another incident after a MH-60 Seahawk helicopter crashed on the flight deck of the USS ‘Ronald Reagan’ shortly after takeoff at 9am, the Navy confirmed on Friday. According to the Navy, the injured personnel are “in stable conditions” and none of the injuries is life-threatening. Some of the servicemen were evacuated ashore. [...]

Now, nine countries are officially recognized as candidates for European Union (EU) membership. These include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye (formerly known as Turkey), and Ukraine. Each country is at different stages in the accession process, which requires comprehensive reforms and alignment with EU standards across various sector [...]

This week we’re here at MIT in Cambridge, MA to interview world renowned linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, someone who’s authored over 100 books on everything to war to propaganda. I wanted to get his take on democracy and elections in the context of American empire. [...]

Crimea's largest bank will write off loans taken out by the families of the victims who died in the bloodiest school shooting in Russia’s history last week in the city of Kerch. “Russian National Commercial Bank is ready to write off all the unpaid loans to families of those who died in a polytechnic college in Kerch if the relatives apply for the procedure,” the lender, which operates mo [...]

Ukraine has already begun using US-supplied long-range missiles in Russia, despite Putin’s warning that this exact sort of escalation will place NATO at war with Russia. This happens as Russia officially changes its nuclear doctrine to lower the threshold for when it’s permissible to use nuclear weapons in retaliation for attacks on its territory. So … [...]

American business magnate and investor George Soros no longer views Russia as an enemy of the EU and is now openly calling on Brussels to cooperate with Moscow, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) wrote. According to him, the European Union may soon collapse due [...]

The new European Right are likely to bring an end to EU expansionism towards Russia's borders and finally seal a post-Cold War settlement between Moscow and the West, Glenn Diesen, professor at the Higher School of Economics, has told Sputnik. The Bavarian 2018 landtag vote has yet again confirmed that right-wing conservatives and patriots are increasingly commanding support among the European pu [...]

When a crackdown on excessive dispensing of prescription painkillers took place in the U.S., an unexpected consequence took root: a new epidemic of heroin use. Betty Tully has firsthand experience with the devastating effects of prescription opiate addiction. [...]

Cuba's new president Miguel Diaz-Canel is starting his official three-day visit to Russia on November 1. Moscow and Havana have been re-establishing trade ties, a tradition going back to Soviet times. [...]

Anything about the Iowa caucus is strange for the US or any other modern elections; it is an arcane process for a modern democracy to have, said Andrew Joyce, contributor to the Fusion news website. How common is it to decide election results through a coin toss? Is it fair? [...]

Israel will do utmost to prevent such incidents like the downing of a Russian Il-20 plane near Syria from happening again, Yacov Livne, the director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Euro-Asia Department, said on Monday. [...]

Top ranking NATO officials are becoming concerned with technologically advanced Russian submarines operating in the North Atlantic. According to Vice Admiral Clive Johnstone, Commander of NATO's Maritime Command, his subordinates report "more activity from Russian submarines than we've seen since the days of the Cold War", HIS Jane’s points out. [...]

The Iranian Central Bank has been cut off the SWIFT financial messaging system, the US Treasury Department has said. Disconnection makes it more difficult for the Islamic Republic to settle import and export bills. [...]

When western media makes up stories about Russia, it's no big deal. When Russian media get things wrong, it's "hybrid war." Last week, British state-controlled TV created hysteria with a documentary about a putative Russian invasion of Latvia. [...]

The creation of a European army would be a boon for Russia-EU relations, various military experts have told RT. It would mean getting rid of the US political diktat – and that's why Washington will not allow it. Were the European Union to create an army of its own, as French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have recently suggested, the friction with NATO would be en [...]

The era of the US global sea dominance – ensured by its 10 giant aircraft carriers – may come to an end, a study by respected Washington-based think tank warns. Russia, China and Iran can make the mammoth vessels useless by new weapons, tech and tactics. Aircraft carriers are at the heart of the US Navy's global reach capabilities, and a symbol of American military might. [...]

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif slammed US President Donald Trump for announcing US intention to continue cooperating with Saudi Arabia despite the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey. [...]

The final Republican presidential debate before primary voters in 11 states cast their ballots on Super Tuesday dissolved into an unseemly brawl in which candidates competed with each other to be the loudest and sling the most insults at each other. With an avalanche of putdowns, zingers and crass insults, Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio tag-teamed on Donald Trump to question his conservative [...]