The Arabic-language al-Mayadeen quoted well-informed sources as saying that a US navy's P-8A Poseidon spy plane has been spotted flying over Syria's coastal line along Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The sources told al-Mayadeen that the US aerial operation to gather information along Syria's coastal regions has unusually increased in recent days, adding that unusual operation of the US reconnaissance flights show that the US army is paving the ground for carrying out a new move in the region.

The Spokesperson for the United States administration accused Syria of preparing to stage a chemical attack in the Arab country, threatening that Washington would make Damascus pay “a heavy price.”

Moscow has warned the US against taking unilateral action in Syria, as there is no threat from the Syrian military, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said. The statement comes after the US accused Syria of preparing for a chemical attack, without giving any evidence.

Asked if Russia had warned the US administration against any unilateral action in Syria, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Gennady Gatilov, replied that Russian officials have “always spoken about that, including in relation to their [US] latest strikes on Syrian armed forces.”

“We believe that it’s unacceptable and breaches Syria’s sovereignty, isn’t caused by any military need, and there is no threat to the US specialists from the Syrian Army. So it’s incendiary, provocative action,” Gatilov said, as cited by RIA Novosti.

The Malyshev Factory in Kharkiv, Ukraine rolled out an Oplot main battle tank (MBT) and conducted a mobility test of it on Friday, June 23 with Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Secretary of the National Security Defence Council Oleksandr Turchynov in attendance.

Ukrainian news outlets, such as Depo Harkiv, claim – citing Malyshev Factory employees – that this specific Oplot MBT – dubbed “Oplot-P – will be sent to Pakistan.

This week, during his visit to France, President Poroshenko sat down for an interview with Le Figaro, which probed him on the origins of the rampant corruption which plagues his country. According to Poroshenko, the roots of this problem can actually be traced to Ukraine's Soviet past.

Analysts at several cybersecurity firms have confirmed that the Petya assault used a powerful and dangerous cyberweapon created by the US National Security Agency that was leaked in April by the hacker group Shadow Brokers.

Though it's too soon to be certain, experts say it seems as though a confluence of factors may be pointing to Russian state involvement in carrying out the attack.

Video of a CNN producer describing the network’s coverage of the alleged Russia scandal as “bullsh*t” peddled for ratings is genuine, an official at Project Veritas told RT, adding that the undercover filmmakers are just getting started.
“We weren’t specifically looking for this angle,” Project Veritas communications director Steven Gordon told RT. “We didn’t know exactly what we’d catch.”

The sting video published Tuesday shows CNN producer John Bonifield admitting the network has no evidence of claims that President Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia to subvert the 2016 presidential election.

“I think the president is probably right to say, like, look, you are witch-hunting me,” Bonifield can be heard saying.

U.S. President Donald Trump is playing a game of nuclear “chicken” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, regarding Putin’s threat on June 19th to go to war against the United States if the U.S. again shoots down, inside Syria — in the sovereign territory of the internationally-recognized-as-legal sovereign Syrian government — Syrian aircraft, or the aircraft of any of the foreign governments that have allied with Syria: Russia, Iran, and China.
After the U.S. had shot down a Syrian government plane on June 19th, which was bombing jihadists whom the U.S. government backs in order to overthrow the Syrian government, Russia announced:

“In areas where Russian aviation is conducting combat missions in the Syrian skies, any flying objects, including jets and unmanned aerial vehicles of the international coalition discovered west of the Euphrates River, will be followed by Russian air and ground defenses as air targets” — meaning ordered out, or else immediately shot down.

The facts are clear in the public domain that the Democratic National Committee [DNC] may well have rigged the primary for Hillary, Charles Ortel, private investor and writer, told RT.

CIA chief Mike Pompeo claims that Russian meddling in the US presidential elections was just a part of a decades-long effort to “undermine American democracy”.

Pompeo made the comments in his first TV interview since taking up the post of CIA director in January.

Yet, Russia has been denying any kind of interference, while evidence for such meddling has been nonexistent.

Last night, the White House issued a surprise statement accusing the Syrian government of preparing a chemical weapons attack and threatening to make them pay “a heavy price” for doing so. This immediately suggested another US attack on Syria was imminent. No one saw this coming, including the Pentagon and the State Department.

Pentagon officials say they were totally unaware if this putative evidence of a chemical attack until the moment the White House issued the statement, something they completely didn’t see coming. The State Department, which would normally be involved in coordinating such an important press release, also wasn’t consulted.

President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to pursue a "common response" to the Assad regime in Syria in the event of another chemical weapons attack, the French government said Tuesday after the two leaders spoke.

"The purpose of the meeting was to prepare for the bilateral meeting of the two presidents during the G20 meeting in Hamburg on 7 and 8 July," the Elysee Palace said in a statement about the phone call between Trump and Macron.

"They also took stock of the Syrian issue and the need to work towards a common response to a chemical attack in Syria," the statement continued. "The two presidents spoke about the situation in the Gulf and the need to avoid any escalation in the region. Both stressed that the fight against terrorism and its financing is a common challenge for all the countries of the region."

Russian oil giant Rosneft has said its servers came under a massive hacking attack, according to a statement on Twitter. The company has asked Russia’s security services to look into the issue.

“We hope that it isn’t connected to the current legal proceedings in any way,” the company’s statement said.

The United States might be preparing for a "preemptive" attack on Syrian government troops as the White House warned of a possible chemical attack allegedly planned by Damascus, senior Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev said Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the White House claimed that Washington had identified "potential preparations" for a chemical attack by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

The Kremlin commented on the claims and said that it considers US' threats against Syrian legitimate leadership to be "unacceptable." Damascus also denied the information.

Ukraine's government, National Bank and biggest power companies all warned of cyberattacks Tuesday. Airports and metro services in the country were also reportedly affected, though it appears they're victims of another massive ransomware outbreak that's spreading across the world fast and hitting a significant number of critical infrastructure providers.

Whispers of WannaCry abound, though security experts said a different breed, named Petya, was to blame. "[We're seeing] several thousands of infection attempts at the moment, comparable in size to WannaCry's first hours," said Kaspersky Lab's Costin Raiu. "We are seeing infections from many different countries." One firm, BitDefender, said it believed a similar strain called GoldenEye was actually responsible. Later, security firms, including Kaspersky and Avast, said the malware responsible was actually an entirely new ransomware that had borrowed Petya code.

Paradoxically, over the past decade, as social media has created a more democratic platform for information dissemination, the corporate media has grown ever more fearful of a truly independent figure like Hersh. The potential reach of his stories could now be enormously magnified by social media. As a result, he has been increasingly marginalised and his work denigrated. By denying him the credibility of a “respectable” mainstream platform, he can be dismissed for the first time in his career as a crank and charlatan. A purveyor of fake news.

Tensions between the US and Russia touch a lot of fronts, including the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. The treaty forbids the development of intermediate range conventional and nuclear missiles, and there have been allegations one of the missiles tested by Russia is in violation of this treaty.

Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty signed in 1987
Russia has denied this is the case, but the House of Representatives appears uninterested in arguing the point, instead adding multiple lines to the nearly $700 billion military spending bill that was advanced in committee today, threatening to withdraw the US from the treaty, and funding US development of missiles that would deliberately violate it.

Raising speculation that the US is about to attack Syria again, the White House has issued a statement late this evening accusing the Assad government in Syria of conducting “potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack,” claiming that such an attack would involve the “mass murder of civilians, including innocent children.”

The late night report was extremely light on details, but threatened to make Syria’s government and military “pay a heavy price,” suggesting that the statement was only issued to lay the groundwork for a new round of US attacks on Syrian government targets.

The US last attacked Syria in earnest in early April, firing 49 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. The attack was carried out despite reports ultimately showing that the US intelligence community found no evidence a chemical weapon attack took place.

No specific decisions have been made yet concerning the upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump due in Hamburg, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Three CNN employees have handed in their resignations over a retracted story linking President Trump to Russia, the network announced Monday.

The article was removed from CNN.com on Friday after the network decided it could no longer stand by its reporting.

“In the aftermath of the retraction of a story published on CNN.com, CNN has accepted the resignation of the employees involved in the story’s publication,” a network spokesperson told TheWrap in a statement.

A warning from the White House to Syrian President Bashar Assad about another possible chemical weapons attack was also aimed at two of Assad's key backers, Russia and Iran, the U.S ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday.

During testimony before the House panel on foreign operations, Nikki Haley also called Assad "barbaric" and said she can't envision a "healthy Syria" if he remains in power.

"The goal is at this point not just to send Assad a message, but to send Russia and Iran a message," Haley said. "That if this happens again, we are putting you on notice. My hope is that the president's warning will certainly get Iran and Russia to take a second look, and I hope that it will caution Assad."

Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has accused the US-led anti-terrorist coalition of being reluctant to bomb positions of the former Al-Nusra Front in Syria, and has urged them to ditch "double standards" for the sake of an “uncompromising” fight against terrorism.

"There is a strong impression, based on our fight with terrorism in Syria, that the so-called Al-Nusra [Front], or whatever it is called now, is every time spared by the coalition forces headed by the United States and its allies," Lavrov said, speaking at a press conference in Moscow.

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FILE PHOTO: An F/A-18E Super Hornet © U.S. Navy / Seaman Weston A. MohrUS-led coalition’s downing of Syrian plane ‘act of aggression’ & ‘support for terrorists’ – Moscow
The foreign minister went on to say that "new evidence has emerged in the past few days" indicating that the US-led international forces continue "to take the heat off" the former Al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria.

While US defense executives discussed how to solve air flow regulators aboard US jets like the F-35 at the Paris Air Show, MiG general director Ilya Tarasenko quietly confirmed that plans are moving along swiftly with the MiG-35. Testing of the aircraft will be complete by late 2017 or early 2018.

Russia’s Yuri Dolgoruky nuclear-powered submarine launched a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Monday from a submerged position in the Barents Sea. The missile's mock warheads successfully hit their designated targets thousands of kilometers away, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

A serviceman killed by a car bomb in the center of Kiev on Tuesday was a colonel for Ukrainian military intelligence, the Defense Ministry revealed.

Ukraine has appealed the ruling of London’s High Court of Justice on its $3 billion debt to Russia. In a statement on Friday, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said that it was confident that it would win the case in the Court of Appeal.

The people involved in perpetuating RussiaGate are guilty of things far worse than anything Russia is accused of doing. They are knowingly inciting a civil war even as their narrative continues to fall apart.

According to secret documents obtained by a Russian intelligence service, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO planned to split Russia into several smaller parts, a former secret agent told Russia's Rossiya 1 broadcaster.

Syrian army issues statement following IDF response to Syrian missile spillover, calling Israeli actions motivated 'a desperate attempt to boost morale' and warning 'Israeli enemy' of consequences.

The Syrian army warned Israel on Sunday of the "dangerous repercussions" of its "aggressive activities" after the IDF retaliated against spillover fire in the Golan Heights for the second day in a row.

After the Syrian army forces managed to thwart the wide-scale attack of terrorist al-Nusra … the Israeli enemy continued today to attack one of our military stations, in a desperate attempt to support terrorist organizations and boost their low morale," read a statement from the army of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A new report from the Washington Post today quoted a series of Obama Administration officials reiterating their official narrative on Russia’s accused hacking of the 2016 election. While most of the article is simply rehashes and calls for sanctions, they also revealed a secret order by President Obama in the course of “retaliation” for the alleged hacking.

Barack Obama was either very secretively cunning, or someone in his administration was. Before there was an investigation into “Russian hacking,” which we’ve seen no shred of proof even happened, the former president ordered a retaliation against our Cold War foe, which could lead to war.

Before the tears of the saddened liberals dried after Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president, Obama was at it with his “pen and phone,” determined to destroy any chance Trump had at being a success. Obama, who was upset that Hillary Clinton would watch Donald Trump inaugurated as president, decided to shift blame to Russia. He authorized a covert cyber operation to deploy “implants” in Russian networks that could be triggered remotely in retaliation to any future cyber aggression by Moscow, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Newly appointed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a war criminal of highest magnitude.

The new future king, is also suffering from delusions of grandeur, stating yesterday that he “won’t ‘go soft’ on Russia anymore,” noting that Saudi Arabia’s “military capabilities will be enough to destroy Russian forces in Syria in 3 days.”

Moscow has told Oslo that the extension of a US military deployment in the country will deteriorate diplomatic relations between the two neighbors.

The victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential elections last November raised the Russian leadership' hopes of improving Russian-US relations in general and reaching a compromise on Syria, in particular. Now, five months after Trump took power, the chances of this happening seem meagre.

Recent events in Syria, especially the incidents that took place in the Raqqa area and near the city of Tanf at the Syrian-Iraqi border, make Russian-US cooperation increasingly illusory. This, in turn, makes the Russian exit from Syria that much more difficult.

The Kremlin's gamble to use the conflict in Syria to normalise relations with the West after the disaster in Ukraine is not paying off. Moscow is appearing to be stuck in Syria, entangled in Damascus and Tehran's desperate plots.

Russia will take retaliatory measures in case of the United States withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the defense and security committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, told Sputnik Sunday.

On Sunday, a U.S. F/A-18E "Super Hornet" fighter aircraft shot down a Syrian SU-22, a Russian-made fighter-bomber. On Monday, Russia issued an unprecedented warning to the United States: "Any aircraft, including planes and drones belonging to the international coalition, operating west of the River Euphrates, will be tracked by Russian anti-aircraft forces in the sky and on the ground and treated as targets."

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The Anarchists vs. the Islamic State
On the front lines of Syria with the young American radicals fighting ISIS
The Russian warning threatened to turn the skies over Syria into a shooting gallery, with American planes the targets. It seems inconceivable that Russia and the United States might go to war over one Syrian aircraft, but the world thought the same thing after the assassination of one middle-aged Austrian named Franz, yet World War One still killed 15 million people.

President Donald Trump has accused former President Barack Obama of “colluding” with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

In a series of Monday morning tweets, Trump accused Obama of doing “NOTHING” about Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, and suggested that he’s the one who should be investigated for collusion.

President Donald Trump is eager to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin with full diplomatic bells and whistles when the two are in Germany for a multinational summit next month. But the idea is exposing deep divisions within the administration on the best way to approach Moscow in the midst of an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. elections.

Many administration officials believe the U.S. needs to maintain its distance from Russia at such a sensitive time — and interact only with great caution.

Kiev, Ukraine. In remarkable events, that now look strangely related, the Ukrainian speaker of Parliament, the Rada-has announced Ukraine has an agreement with the United States of America to deploy combat troops to “assist” their martial law operation or reintegration of Donbass plan.

A security agreement with the United States has been signed that provides for the deployment of US military forces on the territory of Ukraine, as stated by the head of the Verkhovna Rada, Andriy Parubiy, on the air during a broadcast of the program “Freedom of Speech” on Kiev television.

Among major powers, Russia is the world’s leading peace and stability champion – America just the opposite.

It’s recklessly waging wars in multiple theaters, threatening conflicts against North Korea, Iran, and perhaps Russia the way things are going.

Madness defines US policy, state terror on a global scale, naked aggression its main expression, controlling planet earth, its resources and people its objective – risking potentially life-destroying nuclear war.

Instead of fulfilling a campaign promise to improve bilateral relations, Trump so far continues acting provocatively.

He’s pursuing the same reckless agenda as Obama, pushing the envelope toward possible direct confrontation with Russia.

Despite neither country wanting war, unfolding events may cause the unthinkable to happen by accident or design.

Among major powers, Russia is the world’s leading peace and stability champion – America just the opposite.

It’s recklessly waging wars in multiple theaters, threatening conflicts against North Korea, Iran, and perhaps Russia the way things are going.
Madness defines US policy, state terror on a global scale, naked aggression its main expression, controlling planet earth, its resources and people its objective – risking potentially life-destroying nuclear war.
Last week, Senate members near unanimously imposed new illegal sanctions on Russia, including on its energy sector. House action awaits.

Early last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried “eyes only” instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides.

Inside was an intelligence bombshell, a report drawn from sourcing deep inside the Russian government that detailed Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race.

Russia's jets have intercepted 14 foreign spy planes near its national borders in a week, a newspaper linked to the Russian Defense Ministry reported Thursday.

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has lashed out against the EU, saying that the bloc's policies had brought Ukraine "to its knees," and turned it into a raw material colony. Speaking to Sputnik, Ukrainian political analyst Alexander Okhrimenko said that it was surprising that Kiev expected anything different from the Europeans.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that attempts to exert pressure on Moscow through sanctions were pointless, the Russian Foreign Minister said in a statement on Thursday.

Russia considers no counter-demands to US in response to Tillerson's plan
"While assessing the prospects for bilateral dialogue, Sergey Lavrov pointed out that attempts to exert pressure on Russia through sanctions were pointless, though Washington once again used this tool on June 20," the statement reads. "Such steps put Russian-US ties at serious risk, while bilateral relations are already going through a tough period," the Russian Foreign Ministry added.

The Russian top diplomat also stressed that Moscow expected Washington to respond to its proposals aimed at normalizing bilateral relations.

A leak of the "secret" document on developing US-Russian relations, which was supposedly prepared by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, has prompted a heated debate. Speaking to Sputnik, political analyst Viktor Olevich and Russian academic Andrei Sidorov shed light on what could lie behind "the Tillerson plan."

By most accounts, the young crown prince was, just three years earlier, an entirely obscure figure whose short period as defense minister was marred by several unfortunate setbacks, including billions of dollars lost in Yemen. Then there was the time he threw his weight behind an oil scheme that resulted in an oil price crash, which has left the Saudi economy decimated.

The new crown prince really does have an awful lot to prove. But that’s not a good thing.

Ruthlessly ambitious and an outsider, this makes him dangerous and unpredictable, yet for Donald Trump’s purposes the perfect partner to spearhead his ill-conceived campaign against Iran. Slowly, Trump’s pieces are falling into place in the Middle East, and it is no surprise that the first media in the region to praise Mohammed’s swift takeover of the cherished post was that of Israel.

Russia said on Monday it would treat U.S.-led coalition aircraft flying west of the River Euphrates in Syria as potential targets and track them with missile systems and military aircraft, but stopped short of saying it would shoot them down.

As a result of the threat, Australia said on Tuesday it would suspend its military campaign.

On Thursday, a decision was made to resume the air strikes in Syria after an assessment of the Russian statement, although it did not say when they would begin again.

In backing the rebels in the early part of the Syrian Civil War, the US was rather cynically engaging in a proxy war against Russia, angling for regime change in Russia’s main Mediterranean ally, and the host of their lone Mediterranean base.

Syria’s been a source of tension ever since between the two countries, but as America’s direct ground involvement in Syria increasingly involves attacking government targets, the risk of direct military conflict between the US and Russia, with Syria as the backdrop, is growing precipitously.

US military involvement in Syria long was limited to attacks against ISIS targets, with the occasional attack against al-Qaeda forces in the Syrian northwest. Despite US assurances that strikes a few months ago against a Shi’ite militia in the country’s southeast were a one-time deal, those strikes have grown increasingly common.

The national Democratic Party and many liberals have bet heavily on the Russia-gate investigation as a way to oust President Trump from office and to catapult Democrats to victories this year and in 2018, but the gamble appears not to be paying off.

The Democrats’ disappointing loss in a special election to fill a congressional seat in an affluent Atlanta suburb is just the latest indication that the strategy of demonizing Trump and blaming Russia for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 defeat may not be the golden ticket that some Democrats had hoped.

Paris sweet-talks Russia's veteran FM, confirming again that Macron harbors ambition of resetting French-Russian relations

Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexey Gruzdev said Wednesday that Moscow renewed intergovernmental cooperation with two-thirds of European Union's member states, despite tensions with Brussels.

Russia views the downing of the Syrian Air Force Su-22 warplane on June 18 by the US-led coalition as disrespect for the United Nations Charter, calling for a thorough investigation, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday.

"The Russian side considers these steps as a flagrant violation of the international law, principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and disrespect for the UN Charter," Zakharova said.

Shortly after Russia's deputy foreign minister Ryabkov snubbed the US, cancelling a meeting with the Under Secretary of State Thomas A. Shannon, Jr., in retaliation to the Trump administration's announcement on Tuesday that it has imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals while a parallel bill of Russian sanctions is making its way through Congress, the US State Department issued a statement on US-Russian relations.

We regret that Russia has decided to turn away from an opportunity to discuss bilateral obstacles which hinder US-Russian relations.

Finally, for any reporters who are still confused how Russia could possibly slam the door of diplomacy in the US' face after an American F-18 shot down a Syrian fighter jet flying over Syria, and proceeded with two separate sanctions, the State Department has some advice: "we would refer you to the Russian government to explain their decision to cancel this meeting. "

On Tuesday, for the fifth time in recent weeks, US warplanes attacked Syrian military targets, flagrant acts of aggression.

They’re part of Washington’s diabolical regime change plan – at the same time, testing Russia’s resolve in the wake of its announced halt in cooperating with America in Syrian airspace, following the downing of one of its Su-22 planes.

The latest incident involved a US F-15 warplane, downing a Syrian drone near its border with Iraq and Jordan.

A US-led coalition statement lied, claiming the UAV “displaced hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces.” Calling naked aggression self-defense is the last refuge of a rogue state. America and Israel are Exhibits A and B.
On June 8, a US warplane downed another Syrian UAV in the same southern part of the country.

Washington claiming it doesn’t seek to fight Syria and allied forces is a bald-faced lie. Actions in the air and on the ground speak for themselves.

Little doubt that Putin is a moral leader who is opposed to war and wants the best for all countries. However, by sacrificing the advantage every time he gains it to the nonsensical idea of making an agreement with Washington simply conveys to Washington weakness. Washington thinks Putin is just another person who Washington can walk over. This is a miscalculation, and it will result in war. It would be much better if Putin layed down the gauntlet and made it completely clear that “if you want war, it will be there in 30 minutes.” Suddenly, Russia would be taken seriously.

I admire Putin. But he is playing the wrong game. Instead of parrying Washington’s aggression, he should be aggressive and force Europe and Washington to come to him for a solution.

Putin, the leader of the free world, should not be on the defensive from a bankrupt, two-bit punk, washed up government in Washington that wallows in evil.

The downing of a Syrian fighter jet by the United States – and, more recently, of an Iranian drone – augurs a confrontation that could take us down the road to World War III. The US media is echoing the Pentagon’s explanation, which is that the Syrian jet bombed (or was threatening to bomb) units of the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) around the town of Tanf. The Syrians say they were attacking forces aligned with ISIS, which both the US and the Syrian government are supposedly fighting.

Stuck in the midst of this four-sided civil war is the United States, with no real policy, and with its military strategy ceded to commanders on the ground – who are pursuing the same course set by the previous administration, i.e. canoodling with radical Islamists bent on regime change in Damascus. In alliance with the Saudis, the British, the Israelis, and the Jordanians, Washington is seemingly still determined to oust Assad and establish a Sunni regime in Damascus.

Over the past several weeks, US military actions within Syria have been less and less ISIS-centric, with a handful of operations targeting Shi’ite militias in southern Syria, and even shooting down a Syrian government aircraft over the weekend.

This isn’t just the US idly getting into one-off fights in the course of a war they’re already fighting in Syria, but rather is reflective of a push by White House officials, with multiple National Security Council members looking at the Syrian War less as a fight against ISIS and more as a chance to pick a fight with Iran.

The Pentagon has made clear they object, with Defense Secretary James Mattis personally rejecting multiple proposals related to this. Still, attacks on Shi’ite militias whenever they got sort of close to a US-backed rebel base, and a public narrative presenting the militias as necessarily in league with Iran, have found the US heading down that path anyhow.

The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Russia on Tuesday, unveiling sanctions on more than three dozen additional individuals and organizations that have participated in the country’s incursion in Ukraine.

The Treasury Department made the announcement on the same day that President Trump hosted his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro O. Poroshenko, at the White House to discuss a peaceful resolution to the conflict with Russia. The sanctions also came as Mr. Trump continues to face questions about whether his campaign colluded with Russia to help him defeat Hillary Clinton.

Two days ago, when reporting on the surprising "terrorist attempt" by Iran's National Guard on a major Saudi offshore oilfiled (at least according to Saudi media), we said that "if the Saudi account of events is accurate, and if Iran is indeed preparing to take out Saudi oil infrastructure in retaliation or otherwise, the simmering cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is about to get very hot." This in turn followed an earlier analysis on the ongoing Syrian war in which we said that "the next major regional conflict appears set to be between Saudi Arabia and Iran. All it needs is a catalyst."

That catalyst, according to energy consultancy Petromatrix, may have been revealed overnight with the stunning Saudi royal shakeup in which the King announced he was stripping the current Crown Prince, his nephew Mohamed bin Nayef (MBF), of all titles and obligations, and replacing him with his son Mohamed bin Salman (MBS).

IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND AS RECOGNIZED BY THE U.N., SYRIA HAS BEEN INVADED BY THE UNITED STATES, WAS NEVER INVITED INTO THE COUNTRY BUT IS INSTEAD THERE AS AN INVADER. RUSSIA WAS INVITED IN; IRAN WAS INVITED IN; BUT THE U.S. ARE ONLY INVADERS. AND, NOW, RUSSIA AND SYRIA WILL START TREATING THE U.S. AS SUCH.

If the U.S. fails to apologize and to find some way to save face, but instead persists in its invasion, even after this warning, then either the U.S. or Russia will win that traditional war in Syria.

A US senator has warned against the United States' measures in Syria, which is pushing Washington "closer and closer" to a military conflict with Iran and Russia, describing the move as “another mistake on the scope of the Iraq War."

Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy made the comments in an interview with CNN on Tuesday.

"I think we're getting closer and closer to open conflict with Iran and Russia, and the American public needs to know that we're moving very fast toward what could be another war inside the Middle East," Murphy said. "Something by the way that Donald Trump promised he wouldn't do when he ran for office."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko claimed he had "very effective negotiations" with US President Donald Trump on supplying Ukraine with defensive weapons.

After recruiting Trump, the KGB and Moscow have clearly also managed to make all House Republicans their puppets, because the Senate bill that passed last week and slapped new sanctions on Russia (but really was meant to block the production on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia and which Germany, Austria and France all said is a provocation by the US and would prompt retaliation) just hit a major stumbling block in the House.

At least that's our interpretation of tomorrow's CNN "hot take."

Shortly after House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady of Texas said that House leaders concluded that the legislation, S. 722, violated the origination clause of the Constitution, which requires legislation that raises revenue to originate in the House, and would require amendments, Democrats immediately accused the GOP of delaying tactics and "covering" for the Russian agent in the White House.

Commenting on new US sanctions against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that "Russophobic obsession" in the United States has gone "beyond all bounds," adding that they will not "improve the atmosphere" in the relations between the powers.

Earlier in the day, a Sputnik correspondent reported that the NATO aircraft attempted to get close to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's plane over neutral Baltic waters but was chased away by the Su-27.

Shoigu was en route to the westernmost Russian city of Kaliningrad when the F-16 attempted to make an approach.

Russia's Sukhoi Su-27 fighter, one of the aircraft escorting Shoigu's plane, then displayed its weapons, prompting the F-16 to retreat.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) activities in Eastern Europe are deteriorating the situation near western Russia, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a ministerial board meeting Wednesday.

"The situation developing near our western borders tends toward deterioration. This is due to the increased military activity of NATO countries in Eastern Europe," Shoigu said.

He pointed to the western alliance's build-up in the Baltics and "the improving infrastructure of their seaports, airfields and other military facilities."

The downing of a Syrian military plane by a US fighter jet is the latest - and perhaps most serious - sign of a stepped-up US military role in the war. That could put the United States on a collision course with Russia.

On the occasion of approaching Russian fighter US reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Russian agents for the control of airspace over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea recorded a goal that is sent to the Russian state border.

Therefore, as stated, flew fighter Su-27 air defense of the Baltic Fleet, which is the target identified as RC-135th

The crew of the US plane attempted to approach the Russian fighter aircraft turning to the Su-27, which the Russian side assessed as a provocation.

The ministry said that all flights over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea are conducted in accordance with international rules.

"As to the alleged (Russian) provocations, we want to emphasize that it is literally 10 minutes later in the zone entered another RC-135 which is also intercepted a Russian Su-27," said the Ministry of Defense.

In an interview with Sputnik, Syrian MP Ammar al-Asad said that his country's army will not respond in kind to the US recently shooting down a Syrian military jet over Syrian territory, near the city of Tabqa.

US Navy F-18E Super Hornet

Additionally, the Syrian-Iraqi border will be strengthened and the logistics routes of terrorists from Deir ez-Zor to Jordan will be blocked, according to al-Asad.

He also said that the pilot of the Syrian fighter jet downed by a US aircraft is currency safe and sound.

"Using modern technology, the exact location of the plane crash was tracked to territory controlled by terrorists. The special units of the Syrian Army carried out a successful rescue operation and the pilot's health is out of harm's way now," al-Asad said.

U.S.-backed Syrian militias accused the Syrian government on Monday of bombing their positions southwest of Raqqa city in recent days and threatened to retaliate if the attacks continue.

"The regime's forces have mounted large-scale attacks using planes, artillery, and tanks since June 17," Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Talal Selo said in a statement.

Selo said the attacks targeted SDF areas near the town of Tabqa and the adjacent dam, Syria's largest, which the alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias captured from Islamic State militants in May.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian army.

The Kurdish-led SDF began this month to push into Raqqa, Islamic State's base of operations in Syria. With air strikes and special forces from the U.S.-led coalition, they had been encircling the city since November.

The European Union on Monday extended for another year its trade sanctions on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, and diplomats said they expected the bloc to do the same for its sanctions on Moscow soon.

Moscow's annexation of Crimea is not internationally recognized. Along with Moscow's subsequent backing of an armed separatist rebellion in Ukraine's industrial east, it has prompted the bloc to impose sanctions on the peninsula and on Moscow, in sync with the United States.

Washington says the Syrian plane was bombing U.S.-backed rebels. Damascus says its plane was attacking ISIS.

Vladimir Putin’s defense ministry was direct and blunt:

"Repeated combat actions by U.S. aviation under the cover of counterterrorism against lawful armed forces of a country that is a member of the U.N. are a massive violation of international law and de facto a military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic."

An ABC report appears to back up Moscow’s claims:

"Over the last four weeks, the U.S. has conducted three air strikes on pro-regime forces backed by Iran that have moved into a deconfliction zone around the town of Tanf in southwestern Syria, where there is a coalition training base for local forces fighting ISIS."

Russia has now declared an end to cooperation to prevent air clashes over Syria and asserted an intent to track and target aerial intruders in its area of operations west of the Euphrates.

In a move that appears to have been directly precipitated by Russia’s warning about US warplanes being treated as “targets” earlier in the day, Central Command (Centcom) has announced that they are repositioning US aircraft that are deployed inside Syria.

With the US increasingly shifting its aerial focus to attacking pro-government forces in Syria, instead of just ISIS, the risk is also growing substantially, as Russia’s comments today make it clear they don’t intend to let the US attack Syrian government targets with impunity.

A growing number of US attacks targeting the Syrian government and militias aligned with the Syrian government are a sign that the US involvement in the Syrian Civil War is widening, and nothing was so indicative of this than yesterday’s US downing of a Syrian Su-22 bomber.

The sudden US military involvement in attacking Syrian government forces doesn’t make the US agenda any simpler, and rather leaves the Pentagon fighting against a growing array of rivals, with danger of a direct military conflict against Russia growing all the time.

Australia has suspended air combat missions over Syria after Russia threatened that it would treat any plane from the US-led coalition flying west of the Euphrates river as a potential target.

Russia said it was responding to US planes shooting down a Syrian air force jet on Sunday. The US said its planes had acted to defend US-backed forces seeking to capture Raqqa, the Islamic State (Isis) stronghold in north-east Syria.

“As a precautionary measure, Australian defence force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased,” the Australian Department of Defence said on Tuesday.

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

An Iranian-made drone was shot down by a US F-15 fighter jet in southern Syria, near At Tanf, the US-led coalition said. It is the fifth time in the past month the US has struck at forces allied with the Syrian government in the area.
An armed Shaheed-129 UAV “displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces” at 12:30 am local time on Tuesday, the coalition said in a statement. The drone was observed in the same area where another UAV was shot down on June 8.

Yet, Democrats are obsessed about Russia. It’s got to the point where some of them think that any meeting with the Russians is inappropriate. And yes, Democrats have lied about their own meetings with Sergey Kislyak. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have said they did not meet with Kislyak, only to have pictures or past tweets confirm that they did meet him. During the Obama presidency, Sergey Kislyak met with the then-president 22 times. Are we going to have an investigation over that? Probably not—and I’m sure in both Sessions and Obama’s cases, nothing occurred. It was a typical interaction between a foreign official and a member of Congress that occurs daily. In Obama’s case, it was a meeting that comes with the job description.

An armed Russian fighter jet buzzed a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in the Baltic Sea on Monday, two U.S. officials told Fox News.

The Russian Su-27 jet had air-to-air missiles under its wings and approached the U.S. Air Force RC-135 recon jet "rapidly," coming within 5 feet of the American aircraft, the officials said.

Once alongside, the Russian jet was “provocative” in its flight maneuvers and flying “erratically,” according to another official.

Since June 2 there have been more than 35 interactions in the Baltic Sea region between U.S. and Russian jets and warships, but the incident Monday morning is notable because the U.S. military considered it “unsafe,” according to one official.

The US version of the incident goes like this (courtesy of The Hill)…

A statement from the U.S. military said it shot down the Syrian SU-22 in self-defense and after contacting Russian counterparts through the established deconfliction zone. The Syrian aircraft was bombing U.S.-backed forces fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) south of Tabqa. It was the first time the United States has shot down a Syrian plane, and the first time a U.S. military jet has shot down any manned aircraft since 1999.
The reality is much more complex, yet simpler. Syria was flying its jets over Syrian sovereign territory, moving to attack Al Qaeda jihadists (aka “moderate rebels”) operating illegally in Syrian territory, and backed up by US forces, which have set up operations illegally within Syrian sovereign territory.

Israel is secretly supporting Syrian rebels operating near its occupied Golan Heights territory, providing money, food, fuel and medical supplies, according to fighters who claim to receive the aid.

Israel has previously treated wounded Syrian rebels in its hospitals but interviews with rebels conducted by the Wall Street Journal suggest that Israel is directly supporting opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year-long civil war.

Israel is opposed to the rule of Assad and his forces. It also sees militants belonging to Lebanese militia Hezbollah who support Assad’s regime forces as posing a threat to its security on the Golan Heights border.

Washington said the jet had dropped bombs near US-backed forces but Damascus said the plane was downed while flying a mission against Isis militants.

Russia’s defence ministry said the suspension of its communication line with the Americans would begin immediately.

The US did not use its hotline with Russia ahead of the downing of the Syrian government warplane, said the ministry, which accused the US of a “deliberate failure to make good on its commitments” under the deconfliction deal.

At the same time, Russia and Saudi continue to give indications of a possible OPEC 2.0 scenario, in which a possible Russian membership is on the table. This would confront the market with a renewed and stronger oil cartel, although the overall strategies need to be adjusted. At the same time, Saudi Arabia, via its oil giant Aramco has openly stated to be interested in global gas investment opportunities, starting in Russia’s Siberian region. While the media still looks at the current discussions as a pure crude oil cooperation strategy, some see another development on the horizon. The real power of OPEC, non-OPEC cooperation would increase if they would not only include a crude oil production cut, but also integrate the other (hidden) cartel, the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). An OPEC 2.1, including gas exporters, would really block any negative developments in the market, even shale oil and gas.

Speaking during his visit to Canada, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel confirmed that Belgium has extended the Belgian Air Force’ mandate for missions in Syria until the end of 2017.

Michel said the decision would be formally confirmed during the next session of the Council of Ministers in Brussels. The small European country has earmarked another 17 million euro for the operation.

The current mission mandate was coming to a close in June, but it will be extended for another six months. Under the new mandate, some 100 personnel and four fighter jets will be stationed in Jordan.

Michel said this would show that Belgium is

“a reliable partner in the fight against terrorism”. He added: “This is a strong signal towards our partners. Belgium is a reliable partner in an international coalition. We also want to show we are operational. After the NATO summit, this proves we are taking up our responsibility within Europe.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin has deployed a new, state-of-the-art missile defense system in eastern Siberia in show of strength in response to repeated missile tests carried out by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

According to the U.K. Daily Mail, the Buk-M3 defense system can counter cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, military planes and helicopters. This is the first time its been deployed in Russia’s vast east.

With the Kurdish YPG advancing into the ISIS capital of Raqqa, and US officials already designating Mayadin the “next ISIS capital,” there’s clearly a lot more US-backed invasions for the Kurds to take part in, and the US is looking to make the backing of those invasions more convenient, setting up airbases in Kurdish territory.

That’s not sitting well with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who expressed particular outrage at the US having an air base in the Kurdish town of Kobani, along the Turkish border and reiterating his long-standing opposition to the US having ties with the YPG at all.

“I find the US approach to the YPG in no way chic,” Erdogan insisted, saying that US soldiers and military officers are “hand in hand, arm in arm” with a group that Turkey considers a terrorist group. He conceded that he understands the US doesn’t consider the Kurds terrorists.

The US-led coalition conducting operations against the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia - TASS) will not tolerate the hostile actions of pro-regime forces toward its own and partner forces in Syria, the coalition’s headquarters said in a statement provided to TASS.

The statement confirmed that on June 18, a US F/A-18 E aircraft had shot down a Syrian Su-22 bomber jet which, according to the coalition, had "dropped bombs near SDF (the Syrian Democratic Forces - TASS) fighters south of Tabqah." Before the incident, the coalition’s aircraft "conducted a show of force and stopped the initial pro-regime advance toward the SDF-controlled town."

"The Coalition presence in Syria addresses the imminent threat ISIS in Syria poses globally. The demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward Coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated," the statement adds.

NATO officials are growing increasingly nervous about the possibility of an invasion of the Baltic states ahead of Russian wargames planned this fall on the border of Belarus and Poland that could involve as many as 100,000 troops. That "anxiety" was on display this week, when US and British troops carried out the first NATO military exercise that involved a simulated defense of the Suwalki Gap, an area in northern Poland on the border with Lithuania that serves as the gateway to the Baltic region.

In other words, a drill against a Russian invasion of the Baltics states, and by extension, Europe.

And while the Syrian conflict has taken a back seat in recent weeks to the latest crisis to grip the Gulf region, namely the economic and territorial blockade of Qatar by its Arab neighbors, overnight China made an unexpected appearance, not surprisingly perhaps siding with the biggest supporter of the Assad regime, when as AP reported Iran's navy conducted a joint exercise with a Chinese fleet near the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. It was only the second time the Chinese flotilla has visited the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas since 2014, and comes at a tense moment as the Senate last week passed a new round of sanctions against Tehran.

According to Iran's official IRNA news agency, Sunday's drill included an Iranian warship as well as two Chinese warships, a logistics ship and a Chinese helicopter that arrived in Iran's port of Bandar Abbas last week, and adds that the scheduled exercise "came before the departure of the Chinese fleet for Muscat, Oman."

Germany’s Foreign Ministry published a sharply-worded press release Thursday from Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (Social Democrats, SPD) and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern (Social Democrats, SPÖ) denouncing the United States’ foreign and economic policies.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday the suspension of the flight safety in Syria memorandum signed between Moscow and Washington, and that Russian aerial defense will treat any flying object as a target.

Germany threatened on Friday to retaliate against the United States if new sanctions on Russia being proposed by the US Senate end up penalizing German firms.