(2020-05-04). Russia-China entente deepens in the shadow of the pandemic. mronline.org 
The Russian-Chinese entente emerged as one of the most significant templates of international politics in the recent period since the hugely consequential developments in Ukraine in 2014 that led to western sanctions against Moscow, which in turn galvanised the latter's 'pivot to Asia'.
(2020-05-04). Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot warns air travel may not resume until mid-summer. rt.com 
As the coronavirus pandemic has halted almost all travel around the globe, Russian's biggest airline said that in the best-case scenario, international flights could be resumed in July. | "It is difficult to indicate the exact timing of flights so far but when looking at the best-case forecasts… international traffic may start recovering in the middle of summer," Aeroflot spokesperson Yulia Spivakova told Rossiya 24 TV. | Read more | | Even when most of the danger…
(2020-05-04). As number of recorded Covid-19 cases skyrocket, Russian official declares complete victory impossible. rt.com 
With Russia seeing another day of more than 10,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, it seems like Covid-19 will never end. According to one official, that fear might be exactly right. | Speaking to TV channel Russia 24, Anna Popova, the head of Russia's consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, revealed that it is impossible to completely end the circulation of Covid-19. "No matter what, there will always be some kind of communication," she explained. "There are risks of renewal, even if the virus is no longer in the country." | Popova also announced that anti-coronavirus measures would have to be gradually removed, and…
(2020-05-04). Buzzing where corona can't get you: Watch Russian warplanes train for V-Day air show. rt.com 
Russia may have suspended most public events marking the upcoming Victory Day, but demonstrations by military aircraft are still expected to take place. With less than a week to go, the crews are busy training. | Footage released by Russia's Southern Military District on Monday shows fighter jets training solo and in formations for next Saturday's demonstrations, held to celebrate the defeat of Nazi Germany. | May 9 is one of the biggest national holidays in Russia, with military parades and commemorative ceremonies held throughout the country. This year the coronavirus pandemic threw a spanner in the works…
(2020-05-04). Iran promises 'appropriate and decisive' response as US calls for arms embargo to be prolonged. rt.com 
Tehran's Foreign Ministry spokesman accused Washington of acting "illegally" in their efforts to influence the UN Security Council, adding Iran would not be "seeking to exit the 2015 nuclear deal" the US pulled out of in 2018. | Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Iran's response would be "proportionate" after the US said last week it was "hopeful" the UN Security Council would extend the arms embargo on Iran before it expires in October. | The Trump administration has taken a harder line against the Islamic Republic after withdrawing from the deal, which relaxed economic sanctions in exchange for Te…
(2020-05-04). Netanyahu pushed US towards war with Iran. zcomm.org An investigation of supposed Iranian nuclear documents presented in a dramatically staged Netanyahu press conference indicates they were an Israeli fabrication designed to trigger US military conflict with Iran…
(2020-05-04). Russia slams US for obstructing Iran's loan request from IMF. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 4 (MNA) — Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin on Monday lashed out at US's attempt for obstructing a loan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to the Islamic Republic of Iran and Syria amid the pandemic.
(2020-05-04). US Push for "Low-yield Nukes" Makes Nuclear War More Likely as Russia Will Retaliate with Full Force, Moscow Says. globalresearch.ca The US State Department's case for tactical nuclear weapons is a case study in psychological projection not seen since the darkest days of the Cold War and its ever-present threat of world-ending atomic holocaust. | Back in February, the Pentagon announced …
(2020-05-04). China Calls for Closing All U.S. Deep-State Bioweapons Laboratories in Former USSR Countries. globalresearch.ca As countries have openly begun to utilize their military structures in fighting the coronavirus in programs intended to guard against biological warfare, Chinese authorities have come out in support the official position of Russia and considers it dangerous that there …
(2020-05-04). The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster and Civil Actions as a Social Movement. globalresearch.ca Like the many industrial disasters that have marked the history of modern and contemporary Japan, the nuclear disaster of March 2011 resulted in much litigation. By the ninth anniversary of the catastrophe in 2020, nearly four hundred individual civil actions, …
(2020-05-03). Over 10,000 for the 1st time: Russia hits new daily record for fresh coronavirus cases. rt.com 
With 10,633 cases registered in a single day, Russia has seen its largest daily increase in reported Covid-19 infections. While the Moscow area remains the worst affected, the disease is spreading across the country. | The number of people confirmed to have contracted coronavirus nationwide rose to 134,687 on Sunday, disease response officials said. Fifty-eight more patients have died, bringing the overall national death toll from Covid-19 to 1,280. | With over 82,700 infections recorded in Moscow and its surrounding eponymous region, the capital remains the centre of Russia's outbreak. It's followed by the se…
(2020-05-03). Nuclear deal will 'die forever' if US extends conventional arms embargo — Iran's security council chief. rt.com 
A top Iranian official has warned that the US extending the ban on conventional arms sales to Iran would be the last nail in the coffin for the 2015 nuclear deal. He called on the EU to choose between "dignity" and "humiliation."
(2020-05-03). Russia names US efforts for extension of Iran's arms embargo fruitless. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 03 (MNA) — Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations said on Sunday that "in case the US cannot persuade the UN Security Council to extend arms embargo against Iran, it will try other options. But we do believe that Americans will not reach their set targets."
(2020-05-03). New START and the China Diversion. strategic-culture.org The effort to bring China into an arms reduction treaty certainly is futile. Not only is China not going to participate in arms control negotiations with the U.S. anytime soon, but even if China were persuaded to participate the limits set by New START would allow China to increase its nuclear arsenal many times over while still remaining in compliance.
(2020-05-03). Illegal extension of arms embargo to kill JCPOA forever. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, May 03 (MNA) — Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Rear Admiral Shamkhani warned that the illegal extension of Iran's arms embargo will result in the destruction of the 2015 nuclear deal — also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — forever.
(2020-05-02). Bosnian Croats Ask the Russian Military for Anti-Virus Help, Bosnian Muslims Block It. anti-empire.com 
The political leader of the Bosnian Croats, Dragan Čović
(2020-05-02). German Lawyer Sent to Psychiatric Ward for Organizing Protest Against COVID-19 Lockdown. globalresearch.ca First published on April 16, 2020 | In the Soviet Union, activists were sent to state psychiatric wards. According to the state, any and all opposition to government policy was considered a form of mental illness. |
(2020-05-02). Russia: Two ministers, one deputy test positive for COVID as workers' protests grow. wsws.org Just one day after Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was hospitalized for COVID-19, the minister for construction, housing and communal services and his deputy also tested positive.
(2020-05-02). The deeper roots of Chinese demonization. thealtworld.com Fasten your seat belts: the US The US strategy remains, essentially, full spectrum dominance, with the National Security Strategy obsessed by the three top "threats" of China, Russia and Iran. China, in contrast, proposes…
(2020-05-02). To impose further sanctions on Iran, the US rewrites history and engages in semantic gymnastics. thealtworld.com On May 8, 2018, President Trump withdrew from the Iran Nuclear deal. In an effort to enact crippling "snap-back" sanctions, his administration is now pretending it did no such thing. | "All our words", the American-Lebanese poet-philosopher Kahlil Gibran observed, "are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind." If words are judged by their intellectual weight and adherence to integrity, the statements issued by the Trump administration in relation to its standing as a "participating nation" in the context of the agreement (known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA,) is more famine than…
(2020-05-01). Video: Prospects of Turkish-Russian Military Conflict in Syria. globalresearch.ca The region of Greater Idlib remains the main source of tensions in Syria. | The March 5th ceasefire deal reached by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow allowed an end to be made to the …
(2020-05-01). Experts Warn of New Nuclear Arms Race After Trump Signals US Withdrawal from START Treaty. mintpressnews.com While much of the corporate press has blamed Russia and China for the sudden failure of multiple longstanding nuclear treaties, experts put the blame on squarely on the Trump administration.
(2020-05-04). China, Russia take advantage of virus emergency, US defense secretary says. yenisafak.com Russia and China are taking advantage of the coronavirus emergency to put their interests forward in Europe, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday, describing Chinese efforts to promote Huawei mobile phone network equipment as malign."(The United States) is aware that some (countries) will try to use the pandemic as a way to invest in critical industry and infrastructure, with effect on security in the long term," Esper told newspaper La Stampa, when asked whether China and Russia were trying to gain influence in Italy by sending aid."Potential opponents will almost certainly try to use their interest…
(2020-05-04). Russian Embassy in Bosnia Expresses Dismay Over Entry Ban for Russian Humanitarian Convoy. sputniknews.com BELGRADE (Sputnik) – The Russian embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed on Monday its perplexity due to the entry ban for a humanitarian convoy of the Russian Defense Ministry to assist in the fight against the coronavirus.
(2020-05-04). Russian-German Board Chair Calls for Reconsidering Sanctions Against Russia Amid COVID-19. sputniknews.com BERLIN (Sputnik) – The COVID-19 pandemic could be the basis for considering the issue of lifting European sanctions against Russia, Matthias Platzeck, the board chairman of the German-Russian Forum and a former minister-president of Germany's Brandenburg, said on Monday during a video conference in Berlin.
(2020-05-04). Iran to Drop Four Zeros From National Currency Rial, Rename It as the Toman. sputniknews.com Iran's central bank has been planning to overhaul its currency since 2008, but the idea began to materialise only after the rial lost more than half of its value due to the US withdrawal from the landmark nuclear deal in May 2018.
(2020-05-03). Russian, Italian Military Disinfect 3 Medical Facilities in Lombardy – Russian Ministry. sputniknews.com BERGAMO (Sputnik) – Russian servicemen and their Italian counterparts have disinfected three medical facilities in Italy's northern region of Lombardy, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday.
(2020-05-03). Ex-German Chancellor Urges Lifting 'Senseless' Anti-Russian Sanctions Amid COVID-19 Pandemic. sputniknews.com Crimea rejoined Russia in March 2014 as a result of a referendum which saw over 96 per cent of the peninsula's residents backing the option. However, the move was opposed by Ukraine and a majority of Western countries, including EU members, with several rounds of sanctions slapped on Moscow.
(2020-05-03). Women at War: Female Soldiers of the Soviet Red Army in the 1940s. sputniknews.com Russia is preparing to mark the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 against Nazi Germany.
(2020-05-03). Iran Nuclear Deal Will 'Die Forever' If US Uses 'Sanctions Virus' to Extend Arms Embargo — Tehran. sputniknews.com The Trump administration has been searching for options to try to extend the United Nations ban on the sale of conventional weapons to Iran beyond October, proposing sanctions and even considering making the argument that the US is still effectively a party to the Iran nuclear deal, despite its decision to walk out of the agreement in 2018.
(2020-05-01). Cold War of Trump/Navarro v. China: More Dangerous than COVID-19. dissidentvoice.org It is getting ugly, extremely ugly. It is increasingly looking like a war — at least a new 'cold', ideological war. But in the shadow of COVID-19, it goes almost unnoticed. The blind horseman, who hates China intuitively, without knowing hardly anything about it, is leading the pack, pushing his president into a confrontation with …
(2020-05-01). Farewell to the god of plague. mronline.org 
The Communists were determined to eradicate disease. In the 1930s, Mao joined the Chinese Communist Party's Public Health Commission; in 1934, when he was in the Jiangxi Soviet, Mao placed public health at the top of the list for party work.
(2020-05-01). Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Rules Out Extension of UN Arms Embargo on Iran. iranian.com Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said renewing a UN arms embargo against Iran which is to expire in October 2020 is out of the question. "For us, the case of the existing ban on arms deliveries to and from Iran was closed with the adoption of Resolution 2231. The embargo regime expires in October …
(2020-04-30). With apparently fabricated nuclear documents, Netanyahu pushed the US towards war with Iran. thegrayzone.com An investigation of supposed Iranian nuclear documents presented in a dramatically staged Netanyahu press conference indicates they were an Israeli…
(2020-04-30). European classical music in the U.S. and its foreign policy impact. peoplesworld.org 
Scholar Jonathan Rosenberg's new book Dangerous Melodies: Classical Music in America from the Great War through the Cold War has a misleading title. He focuses on controversies during three major episodes in global history—the Great War (World War I), World War II, and the Cold War of the 1940s-1960s (he only sketchily carries the story …
(2020-04-30). BRICS Members Ask for Removal of US Sanctions on Iran. iranian.com Members of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) stressed the need for Washington to lift sanctions that have impeded the targeted countries' efforts to fight against the coronavirus epidemic, including Iran. "Such restrictive measures violate international law, interfere with the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and cause significant damage to the …
(2020-04-29). Russia Calls on US and Iran to Exercise 'Maximum Restraint' Amid Escalating Tensions. iranian.com Tensions between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf grew after American troops conducted drills in the region, despite complaining that Iranian boats had "harassed" their vessels. The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on the US and Iran to exercise "maximum restraint' in the Persian Gulf region and not fall for provocations. "Moscow has …