Russia's Federation Council is looking to adopt counter-sanctions against the US, under which the country may ban exports of titanium components to aircraft giant Boeing, according to Russian Senator Sergey Ryabukhin. "Among the rare earth metals that Russia supplies to the United States is titanium, which is necessary for the technological cycle of production of Boeing," Ryabukhin told RIA Novost [...]

It's hard to view the US at this point as anything other than a cautionary tale. It is remarkable how the effects of Covid on the international system mirrors its impact on individuals. Its lethality, in the acute phase, may be lower than we feared, yet there is a risk of sudden catastrophic relapse after a seeming period of recovery, and the long-term effects are of a gravity we can only dread. [...]

In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy discuss the profits of war and ask why defense contractors’ shares have turned decidedly more ‘dotcom-like’ since 2011. They also look at ‘healthcare as the new oil’ and Obamacare, as the F-35 cost-plus program, in which profits are limitless. The two note the enormous government budgets devoted to defense and healthcare programs follow [...]

Americans are ditching their US citizenship in droves thanks to an unbearable political atmosphere and the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, new research shows, indicating that both residents and expats are cutting ties in record numbers. More than 5,800 Americans [...]

Israel’s military has brutalized—and even kiIIed—peaceful Palestinian protesters, and this behavior has continued for weeks with no response from the United States. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has been the sole vote on the UN Security Council against an investigation into Israel’s actions, and when confronted about this, she refused to give a straight answer in spite of her previously sta [...]

As soon as Russia’s 'Sputnik V' coronavirus vaccine arrives in Venezuela for clinical trials, it may be used to immunize around 14,400 candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election, the country’s president said on Tuesday. A batch of the world's first registered Covid-19 vaccine will arrive in the Latin American nation later this month, Nicolas Maduro stated in a televised address. He [...]

The European Union has moved to protect the interests of its companies that do business in Iran, following the United States decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US was withdrawing from the landmark pact unleashed a wave of criticism from the international community. Now the EU has threatened to take the US to the World Trade Organizatio [...]

Prime Minister Designate Mustapha Adib announced that he would be stepping down on Saturday, saying Lebanon’s political factions “failed to refuse to politicize the process of forming a government.” Adib was appointed in August, after Prime Minister Hassan Diab resigned in the turmoil following the Beirut explosion, which killed nearly 200 people. Prime Minister designate Adib’s s [...]

As American officials smiled and clapped at the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, Palestinian protesters were gunned down by Israeli bullets at the Gaza border. Twitter users were quick to point out the competing visuals and bad optics on a day when US officials were touting the opening of the new embassy as a “magnificent tribute to peace.” [...]

The US government’s efforts to punish truth-tellers like Chelsea Manning is in part vengeance, but the ultimate goal is to terrify, to ensure there will never be another Manning or Julian Assange. The woman who, as Bradley Manning, revealed some of the stark truths about the high crimes and misdemeanours of the US government which now persecutes her, has attempted to end her life. [...]

Israel wants to quash an arrest warrant prepared by a Spanish judge for Benjamin Netanyahu over the deadly 2010 IDF attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla that killed ten people. The Israeli PM and six other former ministers would be arrested if they set foot on Spanish soil. [...]

Since at least 1945, the United States has only fought stupid wars.  Some have been stupider than others, but, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, Democrats and Republicans have supported them all.  If Trump does get an Iran War going, count on bipartisan support for it too, though, for sheer stupidity, it would rival and perhaps even exceed the Kennedy-Johnson-Nixon war against Vietnam. More [...]

Given the continued disruptions caused by the pandemic and uncertainty about a vaccine, it would behoove the countries of the world to dial down tensions and expand collaborations, writes Vijay Prashad. In mid-October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its World Economic Outlook report, which offered some dizzying data. For 2020, the IMF estimates that the global Gross Domestic P [...]

Situation in Syria has improved after Russia had started its air campiagn, president Assad told SANA. "The situation in Syria has improved since the beginning of the Russian operation against terrorists," Bashar al-Assad said. "And now I can say that the [Syrian] army is making advancement on every front." [...]

David Icke, a former footballer and sports broadcaster, Icke has been known since the 1990s as a professional conspiracy theorist, calling himself a "full time investigator into who and what is really controlling the world." He is the author of over 20 books and numerous DVDs, and has lectured in over 25 countries, speaking for up to 10 hours to audiences that cut across the political spectrum. [...]

The current administration actively supported the Venezuelan opposition figure, who orchestrated an unsuccessful coup attempt in 2018 and reportedly organised another one in 2019. Washington recognises Guaido as Venezuela's interim president and is pressuring the country with sanctions to force elected president, Nicolas Maduro to resign. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has stated tha [...]

Doctors Without Borders is challenging the Pentagon over the findings of internal probes into the bombing of a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz on October 3, saying the military's conclusions offer "more questions than answers" and that claims of "human error" simply don't correspond to the available facts. [...]

Moscow and Delhi are seeking to bypass US sanctions by using the rupee and the ruble in facilitating military deals, according to Indian daily, the Economic Times. The paper reports that US sanctions are hampering $2 billion in defense deals between Russia and India, as payments are getting stuck. [...]

The narcissistic businessman has never seen politics as a vocation, and he’s incapable of engaging in the hard slog of politics for the next four years. But can Biden fix the mess that Trump leaves behind? I doubt it. As the US Congress prepares to formally endorse Joe Biden as president on January 6, there is speculation about what the future may hold for Donald Trump, as well as about his [...]

Turkey’s leadership, including President Erdogan and his family, is involved in illegal oil trade with Islamic State militants, says the Russian Defense Ministry, stressing that Turkey is the final destination for oil smuggled from Syria and Iraq. The Russian Defense Ministry held a major briefing on new findings concerning IS funding in Moscow on Wednesday. [...]

Scores of corpses are still being dug up from the ruins of Raqqa, one year after its US-backed liberation from IS, but the West is seemingly in no rush to help the community recover. RT takes a look at the city’s plight. Once a prosperous and vibrant place, Raqqa emerged from the 2017 liberation operation with 90 percent of its buildings blasted into ruin. [...]

A tacit admission by the US Air Force that the F-35 has failed its main mission has triggered an outpouring of outrage from Americans who think the stealth fighter’s gargantuan budget could have been better spent on other things. Frustration with Lockheed Martin’s fifth-generation stealth jet flooded Twitter on Wednesday, after Forbes magazine published a story about how USAF commissionin [...]