As competition for the Arctic mineral wealth heats up and NATO continues to build up its military presence near Russia’s western borders, the Northern Fleet is becoming key to ensuring the country’s national security and economic interests. [...]

The boss of one of Israel’s largest hospitals has placed a huge order for Russia’s Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine, arguing that concerns over the formula are due to tensions between Moscow and Washington, rather than safety issues. Zeev Rotstein, director of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Centre believes Western objections are more political than scientific, telling Israeli newspaper Haare [...]

Another U.S. military strike inside Syria — this time, shooting down a Syrian bomber — has escalated tensions with Russia, even opening the possibility that Russian anti-aircraft missiles will target U.S. warplanes, reports Gilbert Doctorow. The Pentagon’s announcement that the U.S. military had shot down a Syrian warplane inside Syrian territory merited only inside-the-paper treatment at [...]

There is a battle in the halls of the European parliament to ensure that the latest report on fundamental rights references the US prosecution and attempted extradition of WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange. The EU's parliament will be voting on its latest report on fundamental rights, which also encompasses media freedom. The report on fundamental freedoms for 2018 - 2019 ori [...]

According to secret documents obtained by a Russian intelligence service, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO planned to split Russia into several smaller parts, a former secret agent told Russia's Rossiya 1 broadcaster. After the collapse of the USSR, NATO planned to divide Russia into small parts diminishing the state to the size of the medieval Moscow principality, a vetera [...]

The digital yuan cryptocurrency developed by China has the potential to be a gamechanger when it is rolled out fully. By ending the world’s reliance on the dollar, it will alter the geopolitical landscape forever. For several years now, China has been developing the digital yuan, the first cryptocurrency from a central bank and government in the world. And it’s nearing completion. [...]

The commander of the United States Pacific Fleet said Thursday that he would launch a nuclear strike on China if President Donald Trump ordered it. "The answer would be: Yes," Adm. Scott Swift said, responding to a hypothetical question at a security conference at the Australian National University, according to ABC News. [...]

Wuhan, where the Covid-19 pandemic began, has now returned to a life resembling that before the virus swept in, after China was able to control the outbreak of the disease with strict but necessary lockdown measures. Seeing Wuhan’s success ought to bring a ray of hope to those around the world facing the worst of their country’s outbreaks; yet, in their annual retrospectives, American med [...]

Previously obedient European allies of Washington have openly criticized Donald Trump's policy toward North Korea, political commentator Rostislav Ishchenko writes, adding that for the first time since the Second World War "the West" is split over the issue of war and peace. Washington's ramping up of the war of words with Pyongyang hasn't got the backing of the EU, RIA Novosti contributor [...]

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the mortal shooting of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. His accused killer was Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine who had embraced Marxism and defected for a time to the Soviet Union. Oswald never stood trial for murder, because, while being transferred after havin [...]

As tensions increase between Moscow and NATO over a buildup of troops near the Donbass, actually initiated by Ukraine, the West’s apparent position is that Russia has no right to self-defense. That's been the case for decades. Having grown up in middle America during the waning years of the Cold War, I possessed a not-so-healthy fear of an imminent Soviet invasion or attack. Bob Dylan would [...]

The burning projectile fired by Russia’s TOS-1A heavy thermobaric flamethrower system is capable of making life a living hell for anyone within its reach. Aptly dubbed “Solntsepyok” (Sunheat), the TOS-1A heavy flamethrower system is a 220 mm 24-barrel multiple rocket launcher and thermobaric weapon mounted on a T-72 tank chassis. [...]

Trinidad and Tobago, a country of more than 1.3 million people, recorded its first COVID infection in March last year. The island country has so far recorded more than 28,000 COVID cases, resulting in 670 deaths, as per official figures. China has emerged as the biggest donor of COVID vaccines to the country to date. The United States is being massively ridiculed for making a paltry donat [...]

Sam Sacks, in for Thom Hartmann, wonders whether a world without nuclear weapons is possible, and sits down with Susi Snyder, Nuclear Disarmament Program Manager at PAX to discuss it. The Graham-Cassidy bill is put under scrutiny by Sam and his guests Bryan Pruitt and Alex Lawson. [...]

The CDC has released a study backing up its decision to recommend indoor masking for both vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans. The study examined one outbreak and found three-quarters of people testing positive were vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its masking guidelines on Tuesday, urging all Americans in areas with high Covid-19 transmission to mask [...]

The US Intelligence Committee chief Richard Burr has said that the probe into alleged Russia's meddling into the 2016 US Presidential election has not come to a definitive conclusion, however no vote totals were affected. [...]

Journalists, political analysts, and press organizations expressed shock on Sunday over a report that claimed members of former president Donald Trump’s administration had plotted to assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Yahoo News interviewed more than 30 former Trump administration officials for its article revealing that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) under Trump’s th [...]

The US has a serious addiction problem. George W Bush previously warned about its “addiction to oil”. Current President Trump this week declared the nation’s addiction to opiate drugs an “emergency”. While his predecessor Barack Obama’s calls for firearms controls following numerous mass shootings fueled concerns of “gun addiction”. [...]

Four-star general Colin Powell has died at the age of 84, due to complications from Covid-19. The prominent Republican had been receiving treatment at the Walter Reed National Medical Center. Colin Powell, who was the first black individual to serve as US Secretary of State, has passed away, his family announced on Monday in a post on his Facebook page. “We have lost a remarkable and loving [...]

A Russian interceptor has been scrambled to stop a rogue US fighter jet from actively interfering with an anti-terrorist operation, the Russian Defense Ministry said. It also accused the US of provoking close encounters with the Russian jets in Syria. [...]

Some doctors are openly discussing refusal to treat patients who decline, for whatever reason, to get the jab. This would set a dangerous precedent and shatter fundamental tenets of medical practice. An insidious sentiment has begun metastasizing throughout the United States and Britain, expressed by politicians, pundits, and – most disturbingly – by physicians themselves: that the unvacc [...]

Baroness Cox, a member of the House of Lords, shared her views on the future of Syria, highlighting Russia’s success in “expelling” terrorist groups from the country and giving the Syrian people the right to choose their own future. At the same time in a revealing interview to Sputnik she expressed her concerns (and hopes) with UK policy in Syria. [...]