The Trump administration has shot itself in the foot by tightening the screws in the US-China tariff war: Beijing is turning its back on American liquefied natural gas (LNG) in response to Washington's third round of tariffs. The move is especially painful for the US, as it had projected to jump on the bandwagon of the booming Asian gas market. [...]

After revelations that the CIA "mistakenly" destroyed its only copy of a controversial Senate torture report, US officials and human rights organizations have increased calls to make the study public. Radio Sputnik’s Loud and Clear speaks with former CIA official John Kiriakou about the potentially explosive information contained in the report. "It’s virtually impossible to 'accidentally' d [...]

Washington’s aggressive policy against Moscow could be a sufficient reason behind the recent fall of the dollar’s share of global central-bank reserves, according to economist at US multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs.  Russia’s Central Bank has sold some $85 billion of its $150 billion holding of the US assets from April through June after the US Treasury Department announced new s [...]

So foreign ministers from the 28 NATO member-nations met in Brussels for a two-day summit, while mighty military power Montenegro was inducted as a new member. Global Robocop NATO predictably discussed Afghanistan (a war NATO ignominiously lost); Iraq (a war the Pentagon ignominiously lost); Libya (a nation NATO turned into a failed state devastated by militia hell); Syria (a nation NATO, via T [...]

The new European Right are likely to bring an end to EU expansionism towards Russia's borders and finally seal a post-Cold War settlement between Moscow and the West, Glenn Diesen, professor at the Higher School of Economics, has told Sputnik. [...]

Distraught over the likely choice of Trump or Clinton, many Americans are thinking about third parties or write-ins, but the process is harder than one might expect, like much else about the U.S. electoral system, notes William John Cox. With the increasingly likelihood of a presidential contest between the generally despised Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, millions of angry voters are consid [...]

Russia is preparing to defend itself against aggression while Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the INF Treaty signals that the US is readying for a war, according to Andrei Belousov, a top Russian Foreign Ministry official. Sputnik talked this over with Tony Kevin, a former Australian diplomat and author of the book "Return to Moscow." [...]

The Syrian Army launched on June 3 a large-scale offensive to liberate the city of Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the Daesh caliphate. Retired Syrian Major General Sabet Muhammad told the Russian newspaper Izvestia that the operation started from the town of Isriya, in Hama province, nearly 140 km to the west from Raqqa. [...]

US Republicans, their staffers and offices have seen at least eight attacks this year, the Daily Caller reported. Sputnik has discussed the reports of growing violence against politicians in the US with Daniel Kovalik, Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh. [...]

Everybody knew that the awful day would come when the Queen of Chaos, the Empress of Ineptitude, would become the Democratic Party’s “presumptive” nominee. It did last Tuesday. Wall Streeters, Cold Warriors, “humanitarian” interveners, Zionist settler supporters, and other assorted miscreants can now rejoice! [...]

Austria has announced that it would back out of a UN pact on international cooperation on migration, arguing that the document is inadequate for managing global migration flows and could undermine Austria's sovereignty. [...]

The legislative assembly of the Italian province of Tuscany has unanimously backed a resolution urging the lifting of the EU’s sanctions against Russia, following in the footsteps of several of the country’s other regions. The vote at Tuscany’s Regional Council, where the majority is held by the ruling Democratic party, took place on Wednesday. [...]

The recordings that could reveal the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Turkey in shocking detail have been shared with France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and the US, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. [...]

After releasing nearly 20,000 emails from the US Democratic National Committee, WikiLeaks has dumped audio recordings from the organization. The new release includes 29 voice messages pulled from the emails of high-ranking DNC officials, totaling 14 minutes. What's in the WikiLeaks DNC Recording hey have a history of corruption’: Clinton Cash documentary author Peter Schwei [...]

The blacklisting of Iran from international financial messaging system SWIFT serves as a warning to Washington’s enemies, but will hasten the demise of the dollar, stockbroker-turned broadcaster Max Keiser told RT. SWIFT, a system that facilitates cross-border payments between 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries worldwide cut several Iranian banks, including the country’s [...]

The 9/11 attacks opened a bloody chapter of American history, “justifying” U.S. attacks on multiple countries but not on the one most connected to the terrorism, U.S. “ally,” Saudi Arabia. Why is that, asks Lawrence Davidson. On Nov. 27, 2002, a bipartisan commission was established by Congress to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. [...]

Costa Rica will become the first nation in the world to completely eliminate fossil fuels. In May, the country's new president, 38-year-old former journalist Carlos Alvarado announced the plan to ban fossil fuels during his inauguration speech. [...]

It all starts with a Wahhabi-Zionist lovefest. The Saudi Foreign Ministry was forced to go on a non-denial denial overdrive about a visit to Israel on July 22 by a delegation led by retired Gen. Anwar Eshki. Eshki happens to be close to Saudi intel superstar and onetime close Osama bin Laden pal Prince Turki bin Faisal, who recently met in the open with former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ge [...]

Syrian state media has repeatedly reported about the coalition’s airstrikes in the area of the Syrian city of Hajin leaving dozens of civilians dead, while the US-led coalition fiercely denies conducting strikes. [...]