The US government has dropped all charges against Max Blumenthal, after arresting the journalist over a dubious 5-month-old warrant. But the Grayzone editor says the case is far from closed. Blumenthal was detained for nearly two days after police raided his Washington, DC home in October. The month-old warrant for his arrest listed the journalist as “armed and dangerous,” and police carrying [...]

Russia’s leading aircraft manufacturer has said it is developing a new type of an aircraft complex based on high-speed drones that can be used in concert with advanced MiG-35 lightweight fighter jets and other warplanes. Russia's MiG Aircraft Corporation, which marks its 80th anniversary on Sunday, said that it has been working on a brand new type of unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) that ca [...]

Russian military forces have delivered food and provided medical assistance to the residents of Raqqa in the first such humanitarian mission aimed at helping civilians who are struggling to survive in the city scarred by war. The first column of Russian military trucks loaded with food and medical supplies entered the capital of Syria's northern province on Monday. [...]

The Paris talks on Ukraine have enabled Putin and Zelensky to meet for the first time. But they have agreed only to kick the can down the road, to agree to disagree, while seeking progress on issues other than the war in Donbass. It would be difficult to exaggerate the weakness of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s position. He is a political novice facing perhaps the most experienced and [...]

The Russian stock market has delivered the biggest returns to investors around the world this year. Global rate cuts and increased dividend payouts have been driving investor interest in Russia. The MSCI Russia Index which tracks the 23 largest Russian publicly-listed companies has surged 44 percent since the start of the year, according to Sberbank analyst Cole Akeson. [...]

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Seventy is normally considered a ripe old age at which people should be enjoying retirement. The NATO alliance, which meets to celebrate its anniversary in London, should have been pensioned off long ago. The French president, who told the Economist in early November that NATO was “brain dead”, seems determined to jolt the alliance and its members out of their collective coma. [...]

The Australian taxpayer will foot the bill for a $85 million (AUS$125 mn) Growler fighter jet that burst into flames on the runway due to an engine fault. The US Navy will not reimburse Australia for the “dud” warplane. [...]

Hong Kong’s violent anti-government movement continues to rage. It has won the world’s attention and the support from politicians in the West. But what’s really fueling the chaos? Through exclusive interviews and copious research, RT America’s Michele Greenstein, who was an eyewitness to the violence, paints a comprehensive picture of the protests. [...]

President Donald Trump has approved legislation backing Hong Kong’s ‘pro-democracy’ protest movement, disregarding Beijing’s repeated warnings for Washington to mind its own business and stop meddling in China's internal affairs. Dubbed the 'Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act,' the bill blazed through both houses of Congress earlier this month with virtually unanimous consent from la [...]

Washington officials are reportedly demanding that Turkey “destroy or return” its Russian-made S-400 air defense systems to get back in the good books and rejoin the F-35 fighter program – but Ankara has no intention of complying. [...]

Professional journalists are losing touch with the moral code that once galvanized the profession, a new study shows. But what truth-slinger wouldn’t be having an existential crisis in an industry where facts no longer matter? Ideology, speed, and novelty have nudged veracity and honor out of the way at the ethical core of the journalist’s trade. ​ [...]

Ousted Bolivian President Evo Morales said he has “zero doubt” that a mechanical failure that occurred on a helicopter he was traveling on last month was an “assassination attempt” and no accident. [...]

WhatsApp is a “Trojan horse” exploited to snoop on millions of users naive enough to believe that the Facebook-owned messenger differs from its parent company, long beset by privacy scandals, Telegram founder Pavel Durov said. [...]

When Italy asked the world to help restore Venice after the worst flood in decades, some Russians didn’t waste time – donating one million euros in less than a day, the Italian ambassador to Russia has revealed. Italy's Pasquale Terracciano said that donations were made by “wealthy” individuals whose identities were not named. [...]

Thousands of supporters of deposed Bolivian President Evo Morales gathered in La Paz to demand the resignation of self-declared “interim” leader Jeanine Anez, where they squared off with riot police in hectic street clashes. Flying national and indigenous flags and chanting pro-Morales slogans, the protest march met a forceful police response in Bolivia's administrative capital on Wednesday, f [...]

The White House has long sought to take counter-measures against the Turkish-Russian deal and now it is reportedly clinging to a new chance to put a spoke in the wheel. US President Trump has offered his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan a set of economic inducements for better US-Turkey relations, according to The Washington Post. [...]

A disturbing video shows a woman being surrounded and beaten by masked protesters in Hong Kong. The unsettling footage comes as authorities struggle to clamp down on worsening violence in the semi-autonomous city. The assault was reportedly sparked by a political disagreement between the woman and a group of armed demonstrators. Video of the attack shows the woman trying to walk away, only to be t [...]

Swedish eco-activist Greta Thunberg has managed to find a ride across the Atlantic with a pair of sailing YouTubers. Once again, the activist will make her journey on a yacht far beyond the means of the ordinary working Joe. After hitching a ride from Europe to New York aboard a €4 million racing yacht in August, Thunberg embarked on a whirlwind tour of climate change summits and street-level pr [...]

Bolivian President Evo Morales was “ripped away from his people by greed,” former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters said in a message of support to the exiled leader, ousted in a coup and forced to seek asylum in Mexico. [...]

The exit of Lebanon PM Saad Hariri brings more unrest in a turbulent region, a loss of an ally to the US, as troops withdraw from Syria, there’s conflict with Iran and issues with Saudi Arabia. Trump needs a new pal in the region. [...]

On 29 September, General Nick Carter, chief of UK Defence Staff made an incendiary speech to the Cliveden Literary Festival. A number of his comments sparked widespread outcry – not least his suggestion the distinction between conflict and peace no longer existed, and Britain was effectively “at war”. [...]