Tensions between Washington and Beijing have escalated in recent months amid a growing number of US Navy "freedom of navigation" missions in the South China Sea and Chinese efforts to beef up its military presence in territories over which several Asian powers have overlapping claims. [...]

Bolivian filmmaker, actress and activist Carla Ortiz, who has traveled across most of Syria, told Sputnik Mundo how the White Helmets operate in the country and why the intervention by certain Western countries is preventing Syria from reaching peace. Carla Ortiz has visited most parts of the Arab country for the making of her film "Voice of Syria" in order to show the conflict from the point of v [...]

The Trump administration quietly downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Union’s mission to the US late last year, without informing the diplomats themselves, a German report has revealed. The European Union’s delegation to the US, which had previously enjoyed nation-state ambassador status, was reduced to “international organization” sometime in late October or early November 201 [...]

In 2016 the United States established a training program for Free Syrian Army militants at its military base in al-Tanf to fight Daesh terrorists in the region. According to The Washington Post, the United States has been concerned over the possibility of Iranian forces, fighting in support of the Syrian government, seizing the US outpost in al-Tanf. [...]

The Russian military has launched airstrikes against the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in Syria with cruise missiles from their ships in the Mediterranean Sea, France’s Le Monde newspaper said, citing a French official. The information that Russia has struck Islamic State positions in Raqqa has been also reported by a senior French government source, cited by Reuters. [...]

The Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said he would like to see Google, Facebook and other major social media behemoths broken up like the federal government did to Standard Oil more than a century ago. [...]

The US has cleared the sale of 3,200 bombs valued at about $45 million, including powerful bunker busters, to Bahrain. The Persian Gulf monarchy is hosting the US 5th Fleet and has been involved in the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen. The order would consist of 1,500 Mark-82 general purpose bombs; 600 Mark-83 bombs; 600 Mark-84 bombs; and 500 BLU-109 “bunker busters,” bombs armed with special warhe [...]

As the world gets hotter, climate activists are turning up the heat on ExxonMobil, the big oil giant they say bears responsibility not only for the ever-worsening climate crisis, but for perpetuating the "most consequential lie in human history." Amid a growing push for the corporation to be held accountable for its climate crimes, a coalition of activists was in Washington, D.C. on Thursday t [...]

President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is halting its participation in the Cold War-era INF nuclear agreement after Washington’s decision to suspend it. Russia will start developing a new type of mid-range missile as it suspends the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The decision comes in response to the US halting its participation in the agreement. [...]

The US dollar is becoming less appealing for investors as American debt continues to soar and the greenback is printed to cover it, investor Jim Rogers said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). The American currency will lose the status of main reserve currency much sooner than 2030, Rogers said at the Valdai Club’s discussion session, held as part of SPIEF. [...]

After 14 years, trillions of dollars spent and hundreds of thousands of people dead – with violence expanding, not abating – perhaps it’s finally time to admit that the Bush-Obama “War on Terror” has been lost and that a new strategy addressing root causes is required, as Nat Parry describes. [...]

As the US tries to impede Berlin from a joint energy project with Russia – Nord Stream 2 – the German economy minister says that his country will stick to the enterprise, backing Moscow as a reliable partner. [...]

John Wight: The story of history is the story of the roads not taken, and never more so than when it comes to the life and legacy of John F Kennedy. The 55th anniversary of Kennedy’s ‘Peace Speech’, delivered in the form a commencement address to students and faculty at the American University in Washington on June 10, 1963, is a time to lament the loss of a leader who, by the time of his as [...]

A Russian warplane recently entered Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told local media. The brief intrusion was resolved quietly, with Yaalon noting “we must not automatically react and shoot them down when an error occurs." "There was a slight intrusion a mile (1.6 kilometers) deep by a Russian plane from Syria into our airspace, but it was immedia [...]

The government of Nicolas Maduro is doing far more for the people of Venezuela than the US administration by providing free services for its population, anti-war activist Sara Flounders told RT, condemning the US-led intervention. [...]

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party is continuing its efforts to repatriate Syrian refugees, formally urging the German federal government and the EU to lift their debilitating economic sanctions against the Arab Republic. [...]

So why did Washington take virtually forever to not really acknowledge ISIS/ISIL/Daesh is selling stolen Syrian oil that will eventually find is way to Turkey? Because the priority all along was to allow the CIA – in the shadows – to run a “rat line” weaponizing a gaggle of invisible “moderate rebels”. [...]

Military wargames carried out by RAND Corporation show that the US’ advantage is slipping. In a simulated ‘World War 3’ scenario, the world’s greatest military power loses decisively to Russia and China. [...]

US special forces have already deployed to 133 nations in the first half of 2018, signaling a sharp increase in the Pentagon’s shadowy operations when compared to previous years, according to a new report. America’s Special Operations forces (SOF) are stationed all around the world, where they participate in a wide range of missions, including special reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, co [...]

"According to information we've received, the senior political leadership of the country—President Erdoğan and his family—are involved in this criminal business." Upping the tensions between Ankara and Moscow following the downing of a Russian military jet by Turkey last week that left two Russian pilots dead, the Kremlin on Wednesday claimed it has "proof" that the president of Turkey and [...]

Almost any economist will tell you that fighting several trade wars simultaneously is a bad idea. Any diplomat will tell you that alienating your closest ally is ill-advised. However, the trade hawks in Washington seem to think they can bully both Europe and China at the same time. [...]

A not inconsiderable flaw of modern Western civilization is that it has never fully absorbed Article IV of France’s 1789 Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen, that we all have the same natural rights, and that our rights end where others’ begin. Too often we neither acknowledge nor observe these rights, even though they are a cornerstone of democratic life, insofar as they are “inali [...]