(2021-01-02). US govt-sponsored website Bellingcat disrupts MH17 trial in Netherlands. thegrayzone.com Bellingcat has attacked defense attorneys and smeared witnesses in the trial over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Is it being used by Western intelligence services to steer the case in a particular direction? (This report was originally published at Eric van de Beek's personal website.) For six years the British website Bellingcat has promoted Ukraine's narrative that Russia shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). With the start of the MH17 trial in March 2020, the self-proclaimed "collective …
(2021-01-02). Iran says it will enrich uranium up to 20 percent. laprensalatina.com Vienna, Jan 2 (efe-epa).- Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it plans to enrich uranium to up to 20 percent purity, a level it reached before the historic 2015 nuclear agreement it signed with six world powers. "Iran has informed the agency that in order to comply with a legal act …
(2021-01-02). Syrian army launches extensive operations against ISIL. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 02 (MNA) — The Syrian army, with support of Russian air force, has launched a large-scale operation in country's deserts against remnants of ISIL.
(2021-01-02). Iran's plan to start 20% uranium enrichment predictable. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 02 (MNA) — Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna said that Iran's decision to initiate 20% uranium enrichment was predictable.
(2021-01-01). Colombia Ends the Year 2020 with 91st Massacre. telesurenglish.net Seven people were killed and one person was injured in the Colombian city of Buenaventura, the Valle del Cauca department, on the night of the 30th/morning of the 31st of December, in the 91st massacre of the year 2020. | RELATED: | According to authorities, this was a case of settling of accounts by criminal gangs that are disputing the territory. The mayor of Buenaventura, Mauricio Aguirre Obando, stated that…
(2021-01-01). Russia's Asian path may benefit stability in Europe by forcing declining EU to deal with Moscow as it is not as it wants it to be. rt.com 
After the fall of communism, the NATO powers expected Russia to fall into line and Westernize, but without the prospect of Western integration. But that plan has blown up in their faces. | It has pushed Moscow towards Asia, just as the global balance of power flipped. The historical shift of economic power from the West to the East is a catalyst for a revolutionary change in EU-Russian relations. While Asia continues its rise, economic stagnation and relative decline has seemingly destined Europe to growing irrelevance in the world. | For the first time in its history, Russia does not need to look towards Euro…
(2021-01-01). It can't get any worse! Russians say 2021 will be a better year in new poll, although one in four anxious about future. rt.com 
Pandemics, wars and rampaging wildfires. The news from 2020 read more like a script for a Hollywood disaster film. But, now it's over, the majority of Russians think that things can only get better, according to a new poll. | A study of more than 1,600 people in the world's largest country However, one in four of those surveyed said they were looking to the new year with a…
(2021-01-01). Crimean senator tells Zelensky – return Ukraine to Moscow Time to recall days before it became 'Europe's most backward country'. rt.com 
As the last few hours of 2020 ticked away, Ukraine's president urged Crimeans to "turn back the clock" and return to rule by Kiev. But one local leader says the troubled country would be better off adopting Russian time instead. | In his address to citizens in the Eastern European country on Thursday, Volodymyr Zelensky bemoaned the fact that those living in the disputed Crimea and Donbass regions would be celebrating the new year an hour earlier than Kiev. | Breaking into Russian, the dominant language of the breakaway former territories, he acknowledged that "Donetsk, Lugansk and Crimea now live in every sen…
(2021-01-01). Court Orders Veterans Affairs Department to Replace Flawed Science in Plutonium Disaster Case. counterpunch.org In a major class action ruling issued December 17, the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in Washington, DC has ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to re-examine how it evaluates disability claims from veterans exposed to deadly alpha radiation during cleanup operations following a disastrous nuclear weapons accident at Palomares, Spain. The
(2021-01-01). Russia: Putin Voices Confidence in Overcoming 2020 Challenges. telesurenglish.net Russia's President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual New Year speech on Thursday, during which he expressed the belief that his nation will be able to overcome existing challenges and restore normalcy. | RELATED: | "I am convinced that together we will overcome everything, establish and restore normal life and with renewed vigor continue to solve the tasks facing Russia in the coming third decade of the 21st centu…
(2021-01-01). US maximum pressure policy against Iran 'failed': Ulyanov. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Jan. 01 (MNA) — Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna said that maximum pressure policy exerted by the United States against Iran did not produce any positive result and failed.
(2020-12-31). Putin Highlights Strategic Partnership with Venezuela in 2020. telesurenglish.net The Foreign Ministry of the Eurasian country highlighted the Russian-Venezuelan strategic partnership, thanks to the interest of Presidents Nicolas Maduro and Vladimir Putin. | The Russian Head of State expressed his hope to continue the joint work, the development of bilateral relations and to coordinate efforts in the international arena. | RELATED: | In early December 2020, President Nicolas Maduro…
(2020-12-31). President Arce Encourages Use of Traditional Indigenous Medicine. telesurenglish.net Bolivia's government is encouraging the use of traditional medicine, in addition to more orthodox approaches, as a means to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as the country prepares for the arrival of the Sputnik V vaccine acquired from Russia. | RELATED: | President Luis Arce noted the benefits reported by Bolivians in rural areas, many of which experienced no major COVID-19 outbreak, in contrast with the city of Santa…
(2020-12-31). NRC considers extending nuclear power plant operating licenses to 100 years. nationofchange.org The nuclear industry and nuclear power advocates in government are "desperately trying to hold on."
(2020-12-30). Legislator Nicolas Maduro Guerra Receives Second Sputnik V Dose. telesurenglish.net Deputy-elect to the National Assembly, and legislator of the National Constituent Assembly Nicolas Ernesto Maduro Guerra, received his second dose of the Russian vaccine against COVID-19, Sputnik V on Wednesday. | RELATED: | The son of the Venezuelan President was one of the first citizens in his country to be administered the initial doses of Sputnik V as part of the third phase of the clinical trial, which has hundreds of vol…
(2020-12-30). Stephen F. Cohen on Russia's democratization and how US meddling undermines it. thegrayzone.com Pushback rounds out 2020 by airing an unpublished interview with Stephen F. Cohen, the eminent Russia historian and scholar who passed away in September at the age of 81. In an interview recorded one year before his death, Stephen F. Cohen discusses local elections and protests in Russia; opposition leader Alexei Navalny; as well as the state of Russia's post-Soviet democratization and how US meddling undermines it. Guest: Stephen F. Cohen. Professor emeritus of Russian studies at New York University …
(2020-12-30). Excess deaths in Russia spike. wsws.org While Russia's official death toll from coronavirus stands at just over 55,000, the real number of COVID-19 victims is likely at least double or triple those officially reported.
(2020-12-30). Bolivia signs contract to purchase 2.6mn doses of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine. rt.com 
Bolivia has become the third Latin American nation to strike an agreement with Russia's Direct Investment Fund for supplies of its Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19. Under the deal, Bolivia will receive 2.6 million doses. | The contract between the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Bolivia's Health Supply Center (CEASS) was signed during a videoconference, which was also attended by Bolivian President Luis Arce. | The president praised Sputnik V in a Twitter
(2020-12-30). Coronavirus vaccination gets under way in Argentina. laprensalatina.com Buenos Aires, Dec 29 (efe-epa).- Health care workers were at the head of the line Tuesday as Argentina began Covid-19 vaccination using Sputnik V, developed by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute, amid concerns about a second wave of infections in the South American country that has already lost nearly 43,000 lives to Covid-19. "It is a …
(2020-12-30). Biden blasts Trump for delays on vaccine distribution. laprensalatina.com Washington, Dec 29 (efe-epa).- President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday lambasted President Donald Trump for delays in the distribution of the vaccine against Covid-19 and promised that, when he takes office on Jan. 20, 2021, he will use a law dating back to the Cold War to force the private sector to accelerate the process. "The …
(2020-12-30). Inviting Nuclear Disaster. counterpunch.org 
Nuclear power plants when they began being constructed were not seen as running for more than 40 years because of radioactivity embrittling metal parts and otherwise causing safety problems. But in recent decades, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the operating licenses of nuclear power plants from 40 years to 60 years and then 80 years, and is now considering 100 years.
(2020-12-30). Siberian Instagram model who performed cosmetic procedures without qualifications banned from leaving city after botching lip job. rt.com 
A Russian Instagram model, who moonlighted as a cosmetologist, has been banned from leaving her city for two and a half years after she was found to be performing lip jobs without a license, leaving one of her clients disfigured. | Anastasia Fokina, known to her followers as Anastasia Boyarskaya, ran a beauty clinic in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, 3,000km east of Moscow. The fake beautician turned her apartment into a medical practice, performing lip injections on her clients — all without medical education and without a license. | Following a lip procedure gone wrong, in which a woman had to visit h…
(2020-12-30). Video: Russia Suffers Casualties in Greater Idlib. Israeli Air Force Strikes Damascus Countryside. globalresearch.ca On the morning of December 30th, warplanes of the Israeli Air Force once again carried out strikes on alleged Iranian targets in the countryside of Damascus. According to reports one person was killed and 3 others injured in the attack….
(2020-12-30). Russia-China Civilian Aviation Production Challenges Boeing-Airbus Dominance. globalresearch.ca For decades US-based Boeing and European aerospace giant, Airbus, have dominated global civilian aviation in what many in the industry describe as a duopoly. But as is the case in so many other industries as of late, China's economic and …
(2020-12-30). US has a lot to do to remedy its reputation of foreign policy. en.mehrnews.com TEHRAN, Dec. 30 (MNA) — Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna says the US has a lot to do to remedy to a certain extent the reputation of US foreign policy.
(2020-12-30). Bolivia Will Acquire 5.2 Million Doses of the Sputnik V Vaccine. telesurenglish.net Bolivia becomes the third country in the region to acquire the Russian vaccine Sputnik V for free in its population. | The Government of Bolivia signed this Wednesday an agreement with Russia to acquire 5.2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus. | RELATED: | During the signing ceremony of the agreement, carried out via videoconference, President Luis Arce stated that the acquisition of the…