💭"So we see the US had invested in Japanese military and now they have so many military bases there that they've sustained and now they're kind of taking the gloves off. They've encouraged Japan's rearmament and basically doing away with this pacifist constitution and really ramping up military spending. And then there are these new agreements for US military troops to take an even more active role." Jeremy Kuzmarov, managing editor of the magazine CovertAction and author of four books on US foreign policy, said.

🎧Listen to more of Jeremy's views in our podcast "Political Misfits"

Stress at Middle Age Raises Risk of Dementia Later in Life for Men, Study Claims

The study, published by the American Medical Association's journal JAMA Network Open, found that "through careful modelling, we established a connection between symptoms associated with mental distress and an organic brain disease."

"As the population ages, memory disorders are becoming more common. Naturally, this makes understanding their risk factors important," the authors wrote.

Data from the study showed that "psychological distress symptoms were significantly associated with increased risk of all-cause dementia."

Read more

Republicans Preparing to Move Forward With Ukraine Aid Audit, US Congresswoman Greene Says

US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said on Friday that she and other House Republican lawmakers are preparing to move forward with an audit of US aid to Ukraine, an idea first proposed late last year before the House Republican majority took effect.

"We don’t even have committees filled yet but [Congressman Michael McCaul] and I are already preparing to move forward with the audit of Ukraine. No more blank checks to Ukraine," Greene said via Twitter.

Read more

'Their Blood, Our Bullets': How US Training of Ukrainians Exposes Washington's Grim Global Strategy

The United States has allocated over $125 million to train more than 26,000 Ukrainian troops since the 2014 coup in Kiev, with Washington's allies providing instruction to tens of thousands more. What challenges does this assistance pose? What are its risks and benefits? And why are some US officials speaking out in opposition? Sputnik explores.

Read more

Russia, China Enjoy Record 29% Bump in Trade, Signaling Failure of Western Sanctions

Russia and China ramped up diplomatic and economic cooperation on a number of fronts in 2022. Earlier this month, in a New Year’s telegram to President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed Beijing's readiness to continue to deepen “comprehensive strategic cooperation and practical collaboration” with Moscow.

According to new data put out by China’s Customs Administration , Russia imported some $114.149 billion in goods and services from China over the year, with China importing $76.122 billion from Russia in return. Russia's total imports from China increased by some 43.4 percent in 2022, while China’s jumped upward by 12.8 percent.

Read more

Brazilian Supreme Court Greenlights Probe Into Bolsonaro Over Nation's Jan 8 Capital Riot

On January 8, supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the National Congress building in Brasilia as well as the Supreme Federal Court and the Planalto Presidential Palace in an effort to keep Bolsonaro in power. The riot took place just a week after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s inauguration.

Brazil’s Supreme Court agreed on Friday to include former President Jair Bolsonaro in an investigation into the incitement of the January 8 riot that saw demonstrators temporarily break into various government buildings in the nation's capital.

Read more

Filipino designer Patrick Isorena, who made a costume for Miss USA R’Bonney Gabriel, thanked people for their positive responses to his product:

🗣️ "It's time to show the world and even the universe that Filipinos can be as wonderful creators as others," he said.

😃 However, netizens mocked the Miss USA outfit, saying that she “looked like an 80-year-old person walking with arthritis”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Ukrainian troops could be preparing an attack against Russian soldiers involving chemical weapons, the Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom warns.

The embassy posted a video on Twitter on Friday, showing drones and gas cylinders laid out on a table. Some of the gas cylinders appear to be attached to the drones, and a man shows a number of boxes filled with the same gas cylinders being stored in a fridge.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🛰 Russia plans to add two Glonass-K satellites and one Glonass-K2 (radio-based satellite navigation system) to the constellation this year, Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, informed.

The exact dates of the launches have not been announced yet.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has commented on statements made by US President Biden and Japanese PM Kishida, who said that "any possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine would be a crime against humanity."

💬 "It is such a shame that I would not even comment on this paranoic speculation about our country's plans to use nuclear weapons", Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

💬 “Just think of it. The head of the Japanese government is betraying the memory of hundreds of thousands of Japanese who were burned in the nuclear bonfire of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kishida absolutely does not care that the only country that fully used nuclear weapons was the United States. And its only victim was his own Homeland," he added.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

'Top Secret' Docs Among Cache of Reportedly 20 ‘Classified’ Files Found at Biden Locations

US President Joe Biden has found himself drawn into a legal and political quagmire over his handling of classified government records hailing back to his time as US vice president, with Attorney General Merrick Garland appointing veteran prosecutor Robert Hur as a special counsel on Thursday to handle the investigation.

To date, the total cache of documents known to be marked classified and discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware, private residence of President Joe Biden numbers roughly 20, according to a source cited by US media. Some of the recovered papers were marked "top secret."

Read more

📹 Footage of high-precision, new generation ordnance used by Russian forces within the special military operation (video by Russian MoD)

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇬🇨🇳 Uganda has terminated a deal with a Chinese firm to construct a $2.3 billion railroad to the Kenyan border and is now seeking to sign a contract with a Turkish company, according to officials

▪️The East African country started negotiations with China in 2017 for a $2.3 billion loan to build a railway between its capital Kampala and the town of Mabala on the border with Kenya. China Harbour Engineering was chosen to build the 273 km line, which would have become one section of a 1,700 km railway to the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa.

▪️However, China has been concerned about the financial viability of the project, as a connection to the Indian Ocean coastline in Kenya may not be completed within the same timeframe.

🇹🇷Now Uganda is considering a deal with urkish firm Yapi Merkezi, which is building Tanzania’s railway, expecting that it will help find financing for the project.

Subscribe to @sputnik_africa

Intruding on Real Writing Jobs? Internet Fumes as Media Portal Churns Out AI-Generated Articles

A news outlet embarked on the experiment of publishing articles written by artificial intelligence (AI) in November, but has kept it low key, without any formal announcement, and with content seemingly optimized for search traffic – but this has not gone unnoticed.

News that a tech media site has been publishing articles generated "using automation technology" since November 2022, keeping the experiment "under the radar," has set off a storm of indignation among Internet users. Many went on social media to remark that while they were having difficulty finding employment, writing jobs appeared to have been taken over by artificial intelligence (AI).

Read more

Russia Dominates Arctic Region With Icebreaking Capabilities, Polar Guide Says

Russia's dominance in the Arctic is indisputable with its icebreaking, military and research capabilities that are superior to those of other countries operating in the region such as the United States, Russian traveler, athlete and polar guide Viktor Simonov told Sputnik.

Simonov met with a Sputnik correspondent to provide updates on preparations for a major expedition he has planned for March together with another famous Russian explorer, Fyodor Konyukhov. The travelers are set to cover 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) between Russia and Canada on dog sleds. They are expected to reach their destination within three months, as they must carefully choose their route through frozen lakes, hummocks, ice, cracks and tricky weather conditions.

Read more

❗️Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️The Russian Army eliminated two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the Kharkov region;

▪️Russian troops eliminated two Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the DPR;

▪️Russian forces eliminated more than 30 Ukrainian servicemen in the Kupyansk direction;

▪️The Russian Army eliminated more than 30 Ukrainian servicemen in the South Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian forces eliminated more than 70 Ukrainian servicemen in the Donetsk direction;

▪️Russian air defense systems destroyed 4 Ukrainian UAVs and intercepted 7 HIMARS and Olkha rockets;

▪️Russian troops destroyed two Ukrainian ammunition depots in the DPR and Zaporozhye region;

▪️Russian forces destroyed an M777 artillery system, as well as an AN/TPQ-36 and an AN/TPQ-50 radar system in the Kharkov region.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt