The Greek parliament has voted in favor of a bill enacting the reforms required by its European creditors as part of a new bailout plan. This paves the way for the controversial 85-billion-euro bailout deal defended by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. An overwhelming majority of Greek MPs voted in favor of the reform package, with 229 voting ‘Yes,’ 64 voting ‘No’ and 6 abstaining. [...]

European leaders know that the US wants to get them to spend money on military equipment which will be purchased from the US, says Brian Becker of the anti-war Answer Coalition. But Europe knows the dangers from the experience of two world wars, he added. Several senior American officials say Russia is the greatest threat to their country's national security. [...]

As ISIS and ISIS-style terror erupts across the globe, Western governments are busy making plans to establish a rapid reaction force in Eastern Europe to ‘contain Russia’, thus qualifying them for an annual ‘you couldn’t make it up’ award. It calls to mind one of Britain’s worst military defeats, suffered at the hands of the Japanese, when 100,000 troops and sailors were marched int [...]

The Europgroup is now focusing on Plan B over Greece's default and possible exit from the euro, as Athens has rejected the latest creditors' proposals and is going for a referendum on the issue. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ decision to hold a referendum caused a wave of criticism and discontent from the eurozone finance ministers, who now see no sense in further bailout talks and plan to fo [...]

The right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) continues to receive the highest levels of support in Switzerland, according to the latest survey released ahead of autumn elections. The party is popular for its immigration restriction proposals. The SVP is the most widely-backed political force in Switzerland, with the support of over 26 percent of the voters, a survey conducted by the gfs.bern resea [...]

We all remember how, in early June, President Putin announced that Russia would deploy more than 40 new ICBMs "able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems." Oh dear; the Pentagon and their European minions have been freaking out on overdrive ever since. [...]

Washington plans to station hardware, including tanks and armored vehicles, in a number of European countries, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Tuesday. Nukes withdrawn in the 1980s will not return to Europe. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania will be hosting the new hardware, and it will be possible to move it around for exercises, Carter said as he stood with h [...]

The Ukrainian crisis is about Ukraine, but not about Central or Western Europe, says Jonathan Steele, Guardian international affairs columnist. But NATO needs to justify its existence and sell arms, that's why a demonetization of Russia is taking place. On Monday, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter claimed America will provide more aircraft, weapons and soldiers to NATO’s rapid reaction force [...]

Never has a leader so catastrophically misjudged the character of an enemy as Hitler misjudged the Soviet Union and its people prior to launching his invasion of the country on June 22, 1941. Hitler and other top Nazis were convinced that the Soviet Union would crumble under the weight of the largest military operation ever mounted, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. [...]

The situation with the sanctions won't escalate as Russia wants to keep a way open for political dialogue with the EU, said Alexander Mercouris, International Affairs Editor at Russia Insider, adding that Brussels' policy is "wrong" and "failing". The EU is officially extending sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. The restrictions will remain in place for at least another six mo [...]

By slavishly following Washington's line on Russia, Europe's leaders are essentially sticking pins into voodoo dolls of themselves. It's as pointless as it is ridiculous. If America were hand-picking European leaders, it’s doubtful that they could select as subservient a crew as now dominate the EU. [...]

Russia has no binding obligations limiting its armed forces in its western region, which means if the US deploys heavy weapons in Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, there will be an equivalent response from Moscow, Russia's top general said. “If America’s heavy arms, be it tanks, artillery systems or other heavy military hardware are deployed to Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, it w [...]

A fundamental problem for Greece is that at the end of the day it wants to be in Europe but doesn’t want to have austerity policies, Mark Blyth, professor of political economy at Brown University, told RT’s “In the Now.” Greece has delayed its IMF debt payment until the end of June. [...]

It's unlikely that Snowden will ever be removed from the US wanted list, as he told the truth about the "bastion of freedom" that lectures other states while spying on its own citizens, said Matteo Bergamini, director of Shout Out UK. It’s been two years since the publications of the NSA documents by Edward Snowden. What is the biggest achievement that came out of the revelations? [...]

Let's consider for a moment what the response would be from Washington if Russia announced the start of international war games near American borders. Impossible you say? Yet that is almost exactly what the Pentagon has announced near Russia. “The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that over 350 Russian soldiers and 80 armored vehicles with Air Force cover will begin a 300-mile march a [...]

The majority of Europeans - UK, French, German and Greek residents among them - distrust mainstream media coverage of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, a recent poll targeting over 4,000 people, reveals. Greeks appear to have showed the least faith in their domestic media, with a total of 76 percent saying they were ‘fairly’ or ‘totally distrustful’ of mainstream reports on Ukraine. [...]

Russia’s permanent mission to NATO has prepared a report summing up complicated relations between the alliance and Moscow over the last 25 years, which differs substantially from what the report calls NATO’s simplified “black and white” picture. The ‘Russia-NATO: facts and myths’ report investigates in detail the difference between NATO’s declared efforts to maintain peace and sec [...]

The US still supports the Kosovo project even though it has failed and brought great instability to the region making many Kosovan extremists join ISIS and come back now to destabilize nearby Macedonia, says International affairs commentator Marko Gasic. Anti-government protests are back on the streets of Macedonia’s capital, Skopje. [...]

Ukraine as a new nation has to create a useable past, Arch Getty, Professor of Russian and Soviet history at UCLA told RT's In the Now show. War criminals like Bandera, who killed a lot of civilians, are being praised by Kiev government now, he added. Mikhail Gorbachev said that snubbing the Victory parade is disrespect for the people who suffered enormous losses fighting Nazism. [...]

As little as 13 percent of Europeans think the Soviet Army played the leading role in liberating Europe from Nazism during WW2, a recent poll targeting over 3,000 people in France, Germany and the UK reveals. The majority of respondents – 43 percent – said the US Army played the main role in liberating Europe. The survey, carried out from March 20 to April 9, 2015, was conducted by the Brit [...]

The question many people ask: How come hundreds of West Europeans came to fight for the self-proclaimed republics in Eastern Ukraine? In fact, the defense of Donbass became the first major volunteer war in Europe since the Spanish Civil War. Then the internationalist brigades (briogadistas) composed of the British, French and Polish leftists, coupled with military professionals from the Soviet [...]

European aviation consortium Airbus said it would file criminal charges over industrial espionage, following reports that US and German foreign intelligence spied on the industry giant. "We are aware that as a large company in the sector, we are a target and subject of espionage," the company said in a statement to AFP on Thursday. [...]