Offering a dramatic window into the fractious and complex geopolitics that are now swirling around the war against the Islamic State inside Syria and Iraq, the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey on Tuesday was also followed by the release of footage showing a Russian military helicopter being destroyed by Syrian rebel forces armed with U.S.-supplied anti-tank missiles. [...]

€œWe Are On The Verge Of A Recession Making 2008 Look Like Nothing How will Russia's new hypersonic missile affect global arms race? Wind of change? Putin's visit to Austria may show major shift in EU-Russia relations How will Russia's new hypersonic missile affect global arms race? /* */ /* */ /* */ [...]

US State Secretary Mike Pompeo's quest to scare Hungary away from dealing with Russia and China appears to have turned sour, as Budapest said it's fed up with lectures about its foreign policy. [...]

The downing of the Russian Su-24 by Turkish fighter jets and NATO's reaction to the incident have demonstrated clearly the misuse and misquotation of international law by apologists for the US and its allies, Australian-based Barrister at Law James O'Neill stresses. [...]

Donald Trump has unleashed a tsunami of internet snark after tweeting out praise for his self-declared writing abilities. The tweet, which included a rather untimely typo, even caught the eye of Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The US president, who has revolutionized the Art of the Tweet, took aim at the “Fake News” media and its preoccupation with “pouring over” his tweets in search of gramma [...]

Ratings agency S&P Global said governments are continuing to run up huge debt levels and will borrow an equivalent of $7.78 trillion this year, which would be up 3.2 percent on 2018. That will come as another jump in borrowing to take the global mountain of sovereign debt to $50 trillion in 2019. [...]

Under the radar of corporate media and general public, a "dangerous proposal" is bubbling up in state legislatures throughout the country—one that could trigger "political chaos that would make past upheavals like the Watergate scandal and the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton seem tame by comparison." "We're sounding an alarm. This is a national train wreck that must be stopped."—Mi [...]

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic cemented her status as a World Cup superstar by receiving 25 percent more attention than any Croatia player despite record online interest in the country at the final. The tiny Balkan nation’s unlikely march to the final saw general online interest in Croatia soar, beginning after their dramatic quarter-final penalty shootout win over hosts Russia in S [...]

The US aviation regulator is hoping the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max series airliners is as “short as possible” but says it will take “months” for the necessary software updates. [...]

Major defense contractors Raytheon, Oshkosh, and Lockheed Martin assured investors at a Credit Suisse conference in West Palm Beach this week that they stand to gain from the escalating conflicts in the Middle East. Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Bruce Tanner told the conference his company will see “indirect benefits” from the war in Syria, citing the Turkish military’s rece [...]

Deutsche Bank’s problems in the US continue as this time around, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has found the bank’s subsidiaries were likely involved in questionable trading schemes over a period of at least five years. Kristian Rouz — The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has moved to slap a hefty fine on Deutsche Bank as a settlement payment in a probe into  [...]

Italy’s endorsement of China’s global integration model – the Belt and Road Initiative – has caused ructions in the transatlantic alliance and also between members of the European Union delineating the bloc’s North-South divide. [...]

Wearing white lab coats, workers with the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders and their supporters on Wednesday delivered boxes and boxes of petitions to the White House gates bearing the signatures of more than half a million people who are reiterating the call: "Even war has rules." [...]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lamented the adversarial style of the current US policy towards Moscow, saying Washington shows no intent of seeking compromise contrary to what diplomacy is supposed to be about. [...]

Turkey’s two neighbors and historical adversaries Greece and Bulgaria have witnessed sporadic protests denouncing Ankara’s remorseless in the shooting down of the Russian Su-24 plane, as well as NATO warmongering in general. Several dozen [...]

Retirees are heading out of state to these spots. It’s the land of enchantment — for retirees. Data released by United Van Lines — which tracked customers’ state-to-state migration patterns in 2018 — found that New Mexico was the No. 1 state where retirees moved. More than four in 10 (43%) moves to New Mexico were related to retirement, the moving company found, and nearly six in 10 p [...]

Though Hillary Clinton has repeatedly confessed that her vote to approve the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq was a "mistake," rival presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is now highlighting how influential role in the decision to overthrow Libya's government in 2011 is strong evidence she learned little about the chaos sowed by western military interventions in foreign lands. [...]

The US has fueled the rise of terrorist groups around the world, and even provides support to jihadists when their interests align, journalist Max Blumenthal, who wrote a book on the explosive topic, told RT’s Lee Camp. [...]

François Hollande and Recep Tayyip Erdogan have recently recognized that betting on Obama's administration is like betting on Don Quixote's giants. Hollande, who recently visited the White House seeking Obama's support in fighting ISIL after Paris attacks, has returned empty-handed. [...]

Susan Sarandon, Pamela Anderson and Roger Waters are leading questions over why the MSM is ignoring a leaked OPCW report contradicting the claim that Syrian President Bashar Assad carried out a chemical weapons attack in Douma. [...]

As the year draws to a close, it's worth noting a handful of progressive gains that people-power made possible: Feelin' the Bern Despite the lack of coverage in corporate media about the Vermont Independent and his presidential bit, Sen. Bernie Sanders and his call for a political revolution have resonated nationwide. [...]

Malaysia has accepted the Dutch report that a ‘Russian-made’ missile shot down its civilian airliner MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014, but has yet to see evidence it was fired by Russia, said Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. [...]