The perennial American lack of foresight and the chaos its Middle Eastern wars have wreaked means Osama bin Laden and forces for extremism have essentially won the war on terror, a former CIA analyst tells Radio Sputnik’s Loud and Clear program. Loud and Clear host Brian Becker was joined by John Kiriakou, a former CIA analyst who gained celebrity for confirming to the press that the Cent [...]

US President Donald Trump reportedly proposed that North Korea transfer all its nuclear weapons to the US, a denuclearization template borrowed from Libya before the NATO intervention and brutal murder of its leader. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin lamented the poor level of diplomatic competence demonstrated by Washington lately, saying Moscow found it difficult to work with people who cannot tell Austria and Australia apart. [...]

Our children’s generation is going to have to reduce their carbon emissions by 90 percent if we want to avoid being the first species in history to document its own extinction. [...]

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Spain to observe the rights of Catalans amid reports on detentions and searches in numerous public agencies, including the local government ahead of the region's independence referendum. [...]

US cyber officials are attempting to put the squeeze on their European allies, saying they will have to reassess their ability to share information with them if they use Huawei in their 5G networks. [...]

Austria's 31-year old Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz is expected to become one of the youngest world leaders in modern history. In an interview with Sputnik, political analysts have described him as a very hard-working and charismatic person and shared their opinion on his personality. [...]

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. [...]

After threatening Pyongyang with a military option US President Donald Trump turned to Russia and China calling upon them to join his efforts to solve the North Korean dilemma, analysts told Sputnik, explaining what is behind the new US sanction policy targeting the world's financial institutions that work with North Korea. [...]

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. [...]

NATO's expansion eastwards in the wake of the Soviet Union's demise is the West's original sin, reflective of an agenda of domination and intimidation rather than peace and stability, much less democracy. It is proof that for Western ideologues the Cold War never ended. [...]

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. [...]

The Trump administration’s insistence on improving border security has led to more travelers having their electronic devices snatched by Custom and Border Protection agents in 2017 than ever before in history. [...]

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. [...]

US President Donald Trump has signed into law $700 billion in funding to the Pentagon, which includes a pay raise for troops and funding for a number of pet projects. It also breaks the ceiling set by the 2011 law on budget caps. Congress sent the final version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to Trump at the end of November, and he ceremonially signed the bill Tuesday. T [...]

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. [...]

The same US intelligence agencies that fed mainstream media the narrative about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction should be trusted when they say RT’s critical reporting is propaganda, according to a BBC-hosted panel on fake news. The four-person panel discussed the phenomenon of fake news on the sidelines of the Davos Economic Forum on Wednesday. Moderating the event was BBC host Zeinab Badawi. [...]

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. [...]

Even when temperatures drop below -60 degrees Celsius (-76 degrees Fahrenheit), life in Yakutia doesn’t stop. Check out these life hacks, that help local people continue their lives as normal during the notoriously severe Siberian winters. [...]

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. [...]

The group is calling for a rational drug policy based on promoting responsible cannabis use, rather than repression and arrest. The Confederation of German Criminal Officers (BDK) has called for the legalization of cannabis, saying that its ban makes no sense. "The prohibition of cannabis has historically been arbitrary and until today it has been neither intelligent, nor purposeful," [...]

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. [...]