The Russian Glonass-M navigation satellite launched into orbit in late May will go into operation on 22 June, the GLONASS information centre said Wednesday, adding that a previous device has been transferred to an orbital reserve.

"According to GLONASS System Control Centre, the Glonass-M 758 (orbital slot 12) is set to enter the orbital constellation on 22 June 2019", the centre said in a statement.

The Glonass-M 758 satellite will replace Glonass-M satellite 723, which has exceeded its expected service life by some 50 percent.

Russia called regrettable the “absolutely baseless” accusations made by the international investigation into the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which said the Russian military was involved in the incident.

On Wednesday, the Dutch-led Joint Investigations Team (JIT) accused three Russians nationals and a Ukrainian of playing a significant role in the downing of MH17 over Ukraine in 2014. All 298 people onboard died back then.

The JIT said the individuals, who were fighting on the side of the rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, received a Buk surface-to-air missile from Russia, possibly provided by the Russian military. The Russian foreign ministry said such accusations “deserve only regret.”

On top of that, the allegations were not backed up by reliable evidence and followed a “not quite coherent” line of argument. At the same time, the ministry maintains, JIT still opts to ignore information provided by Moscow.

Iran and Russia have signed a dozen cooperation agreements covering energy, railway, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and tourism, with senior officials stressing the political will of the two countries to reinforce ties in the face of US sanctions.

The agreements were signed as Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak visited Iran with a delegation of 120 businesspeople, including representatives of private and public companies.

The two sides held their 15th meeting of the joint commission for economic and trade cooperation in Isfahan Tuesday, which was also attended by governors of several Iranian provinces and ministers of several Russian republics.

“Both Iran and Russia are affected by illegal sanctions. It is hoped that the sanctions can be used as an opportunity to expand ties and increase cooperation,” Iranian energy minister Reza Ardekanian said, stressing that there is “political will” on both sides to do that.

A German Air Force military transport plane, the A400M-100 Airbus, landed at the airport in the Russian city of Kemerovo, media reports said.

According to the Sibdepo portal, the aircraft flew from Asia to Europe with refueling provided at the Siberian airport of Novosibirsk, but due to bad weather, the Airbus ended up making an emergency landing in Kemerovo, Siberia.

"I want to get along with Russia, and I think we will. I want to get along with China, and I think we will," he said

The creation and possible deployment by the United States of low-yield nuclear weapons in order to ‘contain’ Russia may actually result in using nuclear weapons, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters.

The senior diplomat expressed concerns over the growing trend in the US, where the term "strategic stability" is used in a very loose way. He pointed out that strategic stability means that the emergence of preconditions for becoming the first to use nuclear weapons is unacceptable.

Russia will welcome Switzerland acting as a mediator in lifting the trade and economic blockade imposed on the Donbass Region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference following talks with his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis.

"Speaking of practical participation in the Ukrainian settlement, then, firstly, Switzerland takes part in the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission," Lavrov pointed out, answering a TASS question on the Swiss mediation on Ukraine. "Bern, as Minister Cassis underlined, believes that it is vital to fully implement the Minsk Agreements, including the humanitarian provisions."

The is the moment Moscow claims two Su-27s fighter jets intercepted a US B-52 bomber as it flew towards Crimea.

Russia released footage of its warplanes allegedly heading off the USAF jet, claiming there were two incidents on Monday over the Black and Baltic Seas.

Non-Russian accounts said that one of the B-52s subsequently made an emergency landing at RAF Mildenhall in Britain following an unrelated in-flight emergency.

One of the US strategic bombers was reportedly flying direct for the Crimean peninsula over the Black Sea.

One of Russia's newest warships, the first-in-class Project 22350 frigate Admiral Gorshkov, is sailing in the Caribbean and may be headed toward Cuba. The ship's presence in the region might incite the ire of the United States, especially if it also makes a visit to a port in Venezuela, where the U.S. government and Russia continue to support competing political factions. Wherever it sails, its impact might be somewhat muted by the fact that the rest of its flotilla consists of three support ships, including a heavy tug that often shadowed the Russian Navy's accident-prone and now indefinitely out of commission aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.

Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin’s early June 2019 summit in Moscow with People’s Republic of China (PRC) Pres. Xi Jinping seems likely to have a disproportionate influence on the next phases of the crises unfolding in the greater Middle East, and therefore on the future of the region.

The escalating confrontation between Iran and the US is both influencing and influenced by the mega-trends set by Russia and the PRC.

There is so much disinformation that it is difficult to judge the Israeli news report below that the US is planning a military attack on Iran. Israel wants the US to attack Iran and the report could be an attempt to push events in that direction.

There is no valid reason for Washington to serve Israeli interests.

It would be extremely irresponsible for Washington to risk starting another war.

Russia and the US are engaging in tit-for-tat hacking of each others’ power grid, the New York Times is reporting, in what is really a kind of cyber “cold war” where the hackers from each country’s military and intelligence services load electronic “explosives” in the computer systems of critical infrastructure of the other, that in a crisis or war could be “detonated” to create chaos or bring down electric grids.

The Times article, the publication of which President Trump decried in a tweet as “close to treason,” was disturbing for a number or reasons. One was that sources told the Times the hacking by the US Cyber Command of Russia’s power grid had been conducted without the president’s knowledge, for fear that he might act to prevent it or might disclose it.

Expanding on weekend reports that the US had been carrying out cyberattacks against Russia’s electricity grid and other infrastructure, Russian news agencies are quoting unnamed security sources who say that the US attacks were thwarted.

Kremlin officials said they consider the reports “worrying,” and that a major cyber war was possible. Security officials said that so far they remain able to neutralize all of the US attempts to infiltrate and plant malware in the systems.

Iran and Russia have signed a memorandum of understanding over cooperation in the energy sector, the Iranian oil ministry’s SHANA news agency reported on Monday.

The preliminary agreement covering oil, gas, petrochemicals, electricity and nuclear power was signed in Tehran by Iran’s deputy oil minister, Amir Hossein Zamaninia, and his Russian counterpart, SHANA said.

In June of 1933, at the height of the Holodomor, 28,000 men, women and children in Ukraine were dying of starvation each day. The land that was known worldwide as the breadbasket of Europe was being ravaged by a man-made famine of unprecedented scale.

Stalin and his followers were determined to teach Ukraine’s farmers “a lesson they would not forget” for resisting collectivization, which meant giving up their own land to work on government controlled farms. Moreover, the famine was meant to deal “a crushing blow” to any aspirations for independence from the Soviet Union by the Ukrainians, 80 percent of whom worked the land.

While millions of people in Ukraine and in the mostly ethnically Ukrainian areas of the northern Caucasus were dying, the Soviet Union was denying the famine and exporting enough grain from Ukraine to have fed the entire population. For 50 years, surviving generations were forbidden to speak of it, until the Soviet Union was near collapse.

SOURCE: CONSORTIUMNEWS.COM

The FBI relied on CrowdStrike’s “conclusion” to blame Russia for hacking DNC servers, though the private firm never produced a final report and the FBI never asked them to, as Ray McGovern explains.

By Ray McGovern

The revelation came in a court filing by the government in the pre-trial phase of Roger Stone, a long-time Republican operative who had an unofficial role in the campaign of candidate Donald Trump. Stone has been charged with misleading Congress, obstructing justice and intimidating a witness.

The filing was in response to a motion by Stone’s lawyers asking for “unredacted reports” from CrowdStrike in an effort to get the government to prove that Russia hacked the DNC server. “The government … does not possess the information the defendant seeks,” the filing says.

KYIV -- The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented more than 500 cases of ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, and torture by both Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists since the conflict erupted in April 2014, the mission’s head said in Kyiv on June 13.

“We believe, however, that this is the tip of the iceberg, as torture is a systemic issue in Ukraine that was exacerbated by the armed conflict,” Fiona Frazer told reporters at a press conference where she presented a new UN report.

In many instances, Frazer said, “the alleged perpetrators are the state security services and the so-called ‘ministries of state security’ of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic.”

Vladimir Putin had a lot to say about the US at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, warning that Washington's policies may turn global economy into battle royal and suggesting that dollar's role should be revised.

Even though the Russian president didn't always identify the US or the Donald Trump administration by name, he didn't mince words about America's aggressive economic policies either.

'US hegemony contradicts aims of humanity's future'

Ahead of a visit by German lawmakers to Russia, one of them, Gregor Gysi from the left-wing party Die Linke, has accused Angela Merkel of failing to steer relations between the two countries out of the impasse in which they’ve been mired for years.

The number 2 in the Bundestag’s German-Russian group, Gregor Gysi, from Die Linke has told Sputnik that lifting tit-for-tat sanctions would help to solve international conflicts.

“The sanctions, imposed by the West, further aggravated the situation [in relations with Russia]. Russia responded with sanctions, too. That is why lifting them bilaterally would be a condition for renewing active dynamics in the dialogue between Germany and Russia”, Gysi stated, noting this demands that the German government take a corresponding stance.

The Russian embassy in Syria has slammed CBS News for sending its reporters into Idlib province, which is controlled by the al-Qaeda group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), at a moment of a stepped up joint Russian-Syrian aerial assault campaign over the northwestern territory.

Over the weekend the embassy tweeted of the CBS team's reporting from Idlib: CBS News crew + a "white helmet" (not wearing one, apparently) = another act of media warfare in the making.

Following a bombastic report that US government hackers are targeting Russia’s power grid, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to accuse the NY Times of spreading fake news detrimental to US credibility and national security.
“This is a virtual act of Treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our Country…” Trump tweeted on Saturday evening, before realizing that he forgot to actually dismiss the report of Washington increasingly targeting Moscow in a cyber-warfare campaign as “fake news.”

“.....ALSO, NOT TRUE!” he added in a follow-up tweet, without specifying whether the report was untrue in its entirety – or just the specifics like the targets of US cyber-offenses or their gravity.

SOURCE: ZERO HEDGE

The Army expects to procure its Multi-Mission High Energy Laser (MMHEL) by 2022 and a hypersonic weapon prototype by 2023, said Lt. Gen L. Neil Thurgood, director of hypersonics, directed energy, space, and rapid acquisition, reported Army News Service.

The MMHEL is a 50-kilowatt laser through a precision pointing, high-velocity target tracking beam control system. The new design will be mounted onto an IAV (Interim Armored Vehicle) Stryker, an eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicle, to increase the Army's short-range air defense capabilities, according to officials with the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office.

It’s been well over a year since the then-United States Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis accused Russia and China of being “revisionist powers” each working its way toward making a power grab on the world stage and announced that the U.S. would be shifting its international relations focus away from fighting terrorism and instead prioritize what Mattis referred to as a "great power competition." Now, 17 months later, it looks like Mattis’ nightmares are coming true as Russia and China have increasingly worked together in defiance of the Trump administration in a kind of diplomatic ‘marriage of convenience’.

Generally, when discussing air-defense systems here, we are referring to Russian devices that have become famous in recent years, in particular the S-300 (and its variants) and the S-400. Their deployment in Syria has slowed down the ability of such advanced air forces as those of the United States and Israel to target the country, increasing as it does the embarrassing possibility of having their fourth- or fifth-generation fighters shot down.

Air-defense systems capable of bringing down fifth-generation aircraft would have a devastating effect on the marketability and sales of US military hardware, while simultaneously boosting the desirability and sales of Russian military hardware. As I have often pointed out in other analyses, Hollywood’s role in marketing to enemies and allies alike the belief that US military hardware is unbeatable (with allies being obliged to buy said hardware) is central to Washington’s strategies for war and power projection.

The best defense is a good offense: the US seems to have taken this maxim to its logical conclusion, and has “aggressively” hacked Russia’s power grid, according to a new report. God forbid the shoe were on the other foot.

An in-depth report in the New York Times on Saturday lays out an alleged ongoing US operation to penetrate and implant malware in Russia’s power grid, partly as “a warning” to Moscow, and partly to stake out the high ground should competition between the two powers one day spill over into outright cyber warfare.

The Pentagon is intensifying its attacks on Russia’s power grid in the latest sign of a growing cyber war between the U.S. and the Kremlin.

The U.S. has infiltrated Russia’s electric power grid among other unnamed targets, inserting American malware into the systems in response to heightened Russian cyber aggression and political meddling, including efforts to influence recent U.S. elections, according to the New York Times.

Although the Times provided few specific details on the attacks, officials said U.S. malware has the potential to cripple Russia’s electric infrastructure and is unprecedented in terms of its reach and aggressiveness.

Authored by Leonid Salvin via Oriental Review,

The RAND Corporation recently published a document entitled Overextending and Unbalancing Russia. Assessing the Impact of Cost-Imposing Options. The study is the collective effort of experienced diplomats, including former Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and US Ambassador to the European Union James Dobbins; a professor (Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute, National Defence University) and military intelligence branched lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, Raphael Cohen; and seven other RAND researchers who specialise in international relations, the military industry, intelligence, politics, and technology.

It is a practical recommendation for how the US can use Russia’s weakness and vulnerability to further limit its political and economic potential.

Given nothing more than a grainy video that doesn’t show much of anything, and a couple of tankers burning at sea, the Trump Administration has proven themselves united in a way rarely seen, declaring Iran wholly and directly to blame.

That’s where the unity appears to end, however. Officials are always keen to blame Iran for anything that might stick, and as for what to do after that, they all seem deeply divided, and their talking points vary wildly.

President Trump was quick to blame Iran, citing the dubious Centcom video as proof, and declaring that they are “in deep, deep trouble.” Beyond that, however, he reiterated that he wants to negotiate with Iran, and that he’s “in no rush” to actually have the talks. He also continues to say he’s not interested in a war.

SOURCE: TECH DIRT
Back in 2016 Russia introduced a new surveillance bill promising to deliver greater security to the country. Of course, as with so many similar efforts around the world the bill actually did the exact opposite -- not only mandating new encryption backdoors, but also imposing harsh new data-retention requirements on ISPs and VPN providers. As a result, some VPN providers like Private Internet Access wound up leaving the country after finding their entire function eroded and having some of their servers seized.
Last March Russia upped the ante, demanding that VPN providers like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, IPVanish, and HideMyAss help block forbidden websites that have been added to Russia's censorship watchlist. Not surprisingly those companies balked at the request, and now Russia's moving on to what was the goal from the start: banning these companies from doing business entirely.

Turkey is determined to acquire Russian-made S-400 SAMs despite US threats, says Erdogan Karakus, a retired Turkish Air Force lieutenant-general, explaining why Ankara does not consider the US' MIM-104 Patriot system to be a substitute for the S-400.

The US and NATO are continuing to exert pressure on Turkey over its planned acquisition of S-400 Triumf anti-aircraft missile systems, arguing that the weapon is incompatible with the NATO missile defence system and poses a security threat to the bloc.

The decision comes a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the US dollar as a tool of pressure while speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of the European Commission for the Energy Union, have agreed to set up a working group that will deal with a transition to using the rouble and euro in bilateral payments, Russian media outlets reported, citing Siluanov’s spokesman, Andrei Lavrov.

Both sides have reportedly emphasised that the use of national currencies will be mutually beneficial, as it reduces certain risks for entrepreneurs in Russia and the EU.

The Russia-China strategic partnership, consolidated last week in Russia, has thrown U.S. elites into Supreme Paranoia mode, which is holding the whole world hostage.

Russian TV regularly reports on the whole array of cutting edge weapons announced by Russia last year which have rendered much of the US arsenal irrelevant. An interesting report.

Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "If the United States takes any negative actions towards us, we will also take reciprocal steps.

"We are determined on the S-400 issue. No matter what the results will be, we will not take a step back.”

The minister added that it is impossible to cancel the order from Russia.

Russia on Thursday called for normalization with Iran and warned against accusing Tehran of attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

In a news conference in the capital Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the situation should not be used to escalate tensions with Iran.

"We need measures to normalize the situation around Iran, we need to calmly and impartially deal with what happened, not to make hasty conclusions. [...] We have recently seen a growing campaign of political, psychological and military pressure on Iran," he said.

"I would take the opportunity to warn against hasty conclusions, against attempts to lay the blame at the door of those we don't like," Ryabkov added.

Facing growing opposition from Congress on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the Trump Administration’s officials are lining up to dismiss concerns about whether Saudi war crimes and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi might warrant ending those sales.

The go-to administration argument was expressed by Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Wednesday, when he insisted the US must sell the Saudis all the arms they want or risk losing those sales to Russia and China.

The decision comes a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the US dollar as a tool of pressure while speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Maros Sefcovic, vice-president of the European Commission for the Energy Union, have agreed to set up a working group that will deal with a transition to using the rouble and euro in bilateral payments, Russian media outlets reported, citing Siluanov’s spokesman, Andrei Lavrov.

Both sides have reportedly emphasised that the use of national currencies will be mutually beneficial, as it reduces certain risks for entrepreneurs in Russia and the EU.

Global Research Editor’s Note:

First published in May 2015, this article reveals not only that the ISIS is a creation of US intelligence, it also confirms that the Caliphate Project was designed in Washington.

The newly-declassified document continues:

Yes, you read that correctly:

… there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist Principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime ….

In other words, the powers supporting the Syrian opposition – the West, our Gulf allies, and Turkey wanted an Islamic caliphate in order to challenge Syrian president Assad.

Sure, top U.S. generals – and vice president Vice President Joe Biden – have said that America’s closest allies support ISIS. And mainstream American media have called for direct support of ISIS.

By trying to isolate Russia and Iran, the US is only isolating itself.

President Donald Trump won’t go to war with Iran. That was the prediction of Russian experts I interviewed in Moscow during the height of the US-Iran crisis in May. They were right.

To date, Trump has threatened military action against North Korea, Venezuela, and Iran. But, while he has caused tremendous damage to ordinary people with tariffs and economic sanctions, he hasn’t started any new wars. Countries around the world can now, after two years of Trump, distinguish between genuine military aggression and bluster.

But Ivan Konovalov, head of the Center for Studies of Strategic Trends, notes that each country has its own political, military, and economic interests in the region.

Following Syrian reports that they’d foiled an Israeli attack near the Golan Heights, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to launch even more preemptive attacks against Syria into the future.

Netanyahu said Israel was facing “unending” tests, and that they would continue to attack in a “systematic and consistent manner” to ensure that Syria never establishes any capability to threaten Israel.

In practice Israel has been attacking targets in Syria on a regular basis for months now, and indeed has spent much of the Syrian War feigning neutrality while backing rebel groups, and attacking pro-government forces on every pretext, and often with no pretext at all.

It’s difficult not to see signs of this same trajectory in the U.S. since the fall of the Soviet Empire in 1990.

A recent comment by my friend and colleague, Dave Fairtex, on the Roman Empire’s self-destructive civil wars that precipitated the Western Empire’s decline and fall made me rethink what I’ve learned about the Roman Empire in the past few years of reading.

Dave’s comment (my paraphrase) described the amazement of neighboring nations that Rome would squander its strength on needless, inconclusive, self-inflicted civil conflicts over which political faction would gain control of the Imperial central state.

UPDATE: It appears earlier reports that the Front Altair had sunk were, in fact, incorrect. The ship’s captain has said that it is still afloat. VHF radio traffic confirmed that it is damaged but still afloat.

Hours have passed since the suspected attacks, and still, nobody has claimed responsibility. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has noted how suspicious it is that a Japanese owned vessel would be attacked while Iranian leaders were meeting with the Japanese prime minister in Tehran.

And as one BBG analyst pointed out: “Fingers will certainly be pointed at Iran as the mastermind behind these events. But the potential benefits to the Persian Gulf nation are outweighed by the risks. And even if Tehran isn’t responsible, it will still suffer the consequences.”

Update: The Front Altair, the Marshall Islands flag tanker damaged in Thursday’s attacks, has now sunk, according to Iranian television. Later, others denied these reports.

he SAS and other UK Special Forces (UKSF) are poised to receive a new mission countering Russian and other forces around the world.

The plan is called 'Special Operations Concept' and has been drawn up by the senior officer in charge of the special forces, the Director Special Forces (DSF).

According to people familiar with what's in it, part of the concept involves changing both the structure of the military's secretive units and what they do.

The plan is currently being considered by military chiefs, Whitehall insiders tell me, and will soon be sent to ministers and is likely to be approved.

The Pentagon’s military posture based on post-Cold War dominance will not work against new Russian and Chinese strategies and must be urgently updated, or the US risks losing a war against either power, a new report warns.

America needs a “new way of war,” according to a report authored by Chris Dougherty of the Center for New American Security (CNAS) and published on Wednesday.

“For the first time in decades, it is possible to imagine the United States fighting—and possibly losing—a large-scale war with a great power,” Dougherty warns.

While the US remains stuck in the “implicit and explicit mental framework” for military strategy and operations that emerged during the 1991 Gulf War, he adds, China and Russia have been devising new strategies and weapons to defeat the US in war should that become necessary.

US president Donald Trump says he is considering slapping sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project, insisting that the US has a much “better” alternative for Europe.

“[It’s] something that I’ve been looking at and I’m thinking about,” the US president said, answering a reporter’s question about using sanctions to block the project.

He added that he was the one who’d brought up “the pipeline problem,” referring to his earlier attacks against Russia’s energy supplies to Europe, and Germany in particular, as it is the entry point of the new export gas pipeline.

This month of June, the National Security Advisors of Russia, the US, and Israel, Nikolay Patrushev, John Bolton and Meir Ben-Shabbat, respectively, are expected to meet in Jerusalem to talk about Iran and Syria and what Israel considers the “threat to its security” in the Levant.

High-ranking sources among decision-makers say this:

“Netanyahu runs to his allies to cry on their shoulders when he is the aggressor, as in every single problem in the Levant, particularly when the Israeli military exceeds the limits and crosses red lines. Last year, Russia agreed with Iran to create a kind of safety perimeter for the Russian military to take control along the Quneitra-Golan Heights front. That would have made it possible to ease the situation on the borders and allow President Assad and his allies to concentrate on other fronts. Iran responded positively to the Russian request, following the approval of President Assad”.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA.COM
At least 25 people have been killed in aerial bombardment carried out by Russian jet fighters in Idlib region, with schools and medical centres knocked down during a continued Syrian military offensive.

The rebel stronghold of northwestern Syria despite being part of a buffer-zone deal has come under deadly regime bombardment in recent weeks, sparking fears for its roughly three million residents.

At least 13 people were killed, including women and children, after Russian Sukhoi jets dropped bombs on the village of Jabala in southern Idlib province, residents and civil rescuers told Reuters news agency.

Russian jets were also behind several raids that hit the town of Khan Sheikhoun, Kafr Battikh and several other villages that left at least another 12 civilians dead, according to another local rescuer.

The US Treasury Department has announced a hardening of measures against Venezuela’s oil industry.

In an amendment to the Venezuela sanctions published on Thursday, Washington stated that the existing licenses, which allow certain companies to continue dealing with Venezuela state oil company PDVSA for a given period, “do not authorize transactions or dealings related to the exportation or reexportation of diluents, directly or indirectly, to Venezuela.”

Venezuela relies on imports of diluents to blend its heavy crude into exportable grades, as well as produce gasoline and diesel for internal consumption.

Venezuela’s declining oil production was significantly worsened by the impact of US economic sanctions, with crude output dropping by 30 percent, from an average of 1.911 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2017 to 1.354 million in 2018, following the August 2017 financial sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department.

SOURCE: MOONOFALABAMA.ORG
Western media currently publish glorifying obituaries for a Syrian 'rebel' who is know for extreme sectarianism and for being a member of a Jihadi group that is aligned with al-Qaeda.

The Associated Press, the BBC, the Guardian and analysts all write of Abdul Baset al-Sarout who yesterday died of wounds he received two days earlier when his group attacked Syrian government forces.

AP:

Abdul Baset al-Sarout, 27, rose to fame as a goalkeeper for his home city of Homs and won international titles representing his country. When peaceful protests broke out against Mr. al-Assad in 2011, Mr. al-Sarout led rallies and became known as the “singer of the revolution” for his ballads.
When Syria slid into civil war, Mr. al-Sarout took up arms. He led a unit of fighters against government forces and survived the government siege of Homs.

The Guardian:

It is evident from the picture that the U.S. navy cruiser had the Russian destroyer on its starboard side and that both ships were on a collision course. It was therefore the U.S. ship that had the duty to 'take early and substantial action' to keep out of the way and that it had to avoid crossing ahead of the Russian vessel. The Russian ship correctly kept its speed and course until the situation required a last-minute maneuver to avoid an imminent collision.

In the breathless video report of the incident the CNN Pentagon reporter explicitly says that Russian ship was on starboard of the U.S. ship, but repeats the nonsense claim by the U.S. navy spokesperson that the U.S. ship was in the right and that the Russian ship made an "unsafe maneuver".

The crew of the Chancellorsville should call itself lucky. Russian ships are build with a strong bow to travel in icy waters. Had the Admiral Vinogradov not made the emergency turn to its right, its bow would have cut their ship in half.

Provocations between US and Russians warships, similar to the incident that occurred Friday in the East China Sea, are extremely dangerous but all too common ? and any one could lead to disaster, Mark Sleboda, an international affairs and security analyst, told Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear.

On Friday, the US Navy released a video of the near-collision between Russian destroyer Admiral Vinogradov and US Navy cruiser USS Chancellorsville in the East China Sea. The Russian Pacific Fleet responded with a statement that the US ship had suddenly changed course and crossed the path of the Russian destroyer “just 50 meters away from the ship.” The US Seventh Fleet denied Russia’s version of events, blaming the Russian vessel for nearly causing a collision.

June 8. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet’s warships will keep track of NATO’s Baltops-2019 maneuvers to begin in the Baltic Sea waters on June 9, a law enforcement source in Russia’s westernmost Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad told TASS on Saturday.

"The Stoikiy and the Boikiy corvettes, as well as the Liven small missile ship, will keep the NATO maneuvers under observation. Besides, reconnaissance assets will also be deployed," the source said.

TASS has been unable to officially confirm the information at the time of the publication.

The Baltops-2019 exercise will be held on June 9-21. It will involve up to 40 surface ships and submarines and 40 aircraft from 18 countries. For the first time, the US Second Fleet, re-established in 2018, will take part in the maneuvers. Staff members will run Baltops-2019 from the USS Mount Whitney command ship, which arrived to the Baltic Sea on May 30.

More:
http://tass.com/defense/1062814

June 8. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet’s warships will keep track of NATO’s Baltops-2019 maneuvers to begin in the Baltic Sea waters on June 9, a law enforcement source in Russia’s westernmost Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad told TASS on Saturday.

"The Stoikiy and the Boikiy corvettes, as well as the Liven small missile ship, will keep the NATO maneuvers under observation. Besides, reconnaissance assets will also be deployed," the source said.

TASS has been unable to officially confirm the information at the time of the publication.

The Baltops-2019 exercise will be held on June 9-21. It will involve up to 40 surface ships and submarines and 40 aircraft from 18 countries. For the first time, the US Second Fleet, re-established in 2018, will take part in the maneuvers. Staff members will run Baltops-2019 from the USS Mount Whitney command ship, which arrived to the Baltic Sea on May 30.

More:
http://tass.com/defense/1062814

June 8. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet’s warships will keep track of NATO’s Baltops-2019 maneuvers to begin in the Baltic Sea waters on June 9, a law enforcement source in Russia’s westernmost Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad told TASS on Saturday.

"The Stoikiy and the Boikiy corvettes, as well as the Liven small missile ship, will keep the NATO maneuvers under observation. Besides, reconnaissance assets will also be deployed," the source said.

TASS has been unable to officially confirm the information at the time of the publication.

The Baltops-2019 exercise will be held on June 9-21. It will involve up to 40 surface ships and submarines and 40 aircraft from 18 countries. For the first time, the US Second Fleet, re-established in 2018, will take part in the maneuvers. Staff members will run Baltops-2019 from the USS Mount Whitney command ship, which arrived to the Baltic Sea on May 30.

More:
http://tass.com/defense/1062814

SOURCE: RT
Tehran’s military displayed a brand-new indigenous air defense missile system, capable of tracking and shooting down six targets at the same time. The weapon was rolled out amid growing tensions around the Persian Gulf.
Iran unveiled its new domestically-designed air defense missile system Khordad 15 on Sunday. Equipped with long-range Sayyad 3 missiles, it can shoot down enemy jets and combat drones at a range of 120 kilometers, Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said.

Full video of 15 khordad air defence system ( ?? ?????)pic.twitter.com/izgZKfBIBl

— ???s??? ????? (@persianintel) June 9, 2019
The complex can also track “stealth targets,” intercepting them 45 km away. Overall, the weapon can destroy six targets simultaneously, according to military officials.

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA

When US President Donald Trump bypassed Congress last month to approve a multibillion-dollar arms deal to Saudi Arabia, he also allowed the kingdom to develop complex precision-bomb parts, according to the New York Times.

Trump's emergency declaration allows American arms firm Raytheon to share technology with Riyadh that could allow Saudi Arabia to develop its own laser-guided bombs, the newspaper reported on Friday.

Among the components which the Saudis are now allowed to work on with the firm are the control systems and vital electronics for Raytheon's Paveway series of smart bombs. That technology was previously closely guarded by Washington.

The technology sharing is just one part of a sweeping arms package Trump bypassed Congress to push through by declaring a national emergency, citing tensions with Iran.

Outrage on Capitol Hill

SOURCE: RT
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry showed off a new device which intercepts and ‘grounds’ menacing drones that disrupt rescue operations in disaster areas.
The portable device was shown at a large-scale exercise during an international disaster response expo near Moscow on Saturday, local media reported.

The technology allows responders to intercept any “unauthorized” UAVs operating in disaster areas and bring them into “forced landings.” The presence of civilian drones during disasters has long been a problem for response teams since they risk disrupting the work of relief aircraft, like air tankers water-bombing or medevac helicopters.

The reports did not specify how exactly the new devices make drones land. Companies in different states provide various ways to combat UAVs, such as jamming their signal and taking control over the vehicles mid-flight. Others offer more ‘violent’ solutions, like shooting the drones down with nets and lasers.

In a key finding of the Mueller report, Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is tied to Russian intelligence.

But hundreds of pages of government documents — which special counsel Robert Mueller possessed since 2018 — describe Kilimnik as a “sensitive” intelligence source for the U.S. State Department who informed on Ukrainian and Russian matters.

Why Mueller’s team omitted that part of the Kilimnik narrative from its report and related court filings is not known. But the revelation of it comes as the accuracy of Mueller’s Russia conclusions face increased scrutiny.

The incomplete portrayal of Kilimnik is so important to Mueller’s overall narrative that it is raised in the opening of his report. “The FBI assesses” Kilimnik “to have ties to Russian intelligence,” Mueller’s team wrote on Page 6, putting a sinister light on every contact Kilimnik had with Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman.

The U.S. expected China to integrate into global capitalism as a subordinate power, but recent deals with Russia show China is moving towards equality in economic and military power

Moscow has no intention to change its ways at the United Kingdom’s demand, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"No, we won’t change our ways," he said.

Peskov pointed out that Russia sought mutually beneficial relations with Great Britain that would be based on respect for each other’s interests. "There is nothing wrong in this pattern of behavior," he said. "At the same time, there are some other things that damage bilateral relations, and we can see the consequence, including the state Russia-UK relations are in at the moment," the Kremlin spokesman emphasized.

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the current model of world economic relations is in crisis, although the global economy has been growing in recent years.

"Formally, the recent growth of the global economy is marked by positive values: in 2011-2018, the annual growth averaged 2.8%, in recent years it was slightly more than 3%. But, in our opinion, the leaders of states, we all need to frankly admit: despite this growth, the existing model of international economic relations, unfortunately, is still in crisis," the head of state said at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

Russian President Vladimir Putin said US efforts to push Chinese tech giant Huawei out of the global market might be a sign that a new technological war is coming.

“Take the situation around the company Huawei, for example. There are attempts not even to challenge it, but to brazenly force it out of the global market,” Putin told the audience at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday. “In some circles it is even called the first technological war of the coming digital era.”

Two serious incidents on the on the Golan Heights put an end to any hope that the Israeli-Syrian border will be return to the calm of the pre-civil war days, now that Bashar Assad's army has cemented its control, with the help of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The United States proposed a path to recognize Crimea as Russia by way of holding a U.S supervised or managed second referendum in the Crimea, even after the region has already been reunited with Russia. This, in particular, was offered to Moscow by ex-head of the State Department, John Kerry , but was refused, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov .

A contact group for Donbass met in Minsk and worked to prepare a new agreement on the establishment of a new ceasefire agreement on the contact line of the warring parties. Russia hopes that Kiev will fulfill its obligations.

The US Seventh Fleet, which is headquartered in Japan, refuted on Friday the accusations made by the Russian Pacific Fleet regarding a dangerous manoeuvre carried out by a US Navy cruiser near a Russian destroyer in the East China Sea, saying that it was the Russian vessel that nearly caused a collision between the ships.

"While USS Chancellorsville was recovering its helicopter on a steady course and speed when the Russian ship DD572 manoeuvred from behind and to the right of Chancellorsville accelerated and closed to an unsafe distance of approximately 50-100 feet. This unsafe action forced USS Chancellorsville to execute all engines back full and to manoeuvre to avoid collision", the Seventh Fleet said in a statement.

Denmark puts at risk timely completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline for delivering Russian gas to Europe, and Danish policy contradicts European laws, Gerhard Schroeder, the former German chancellor and the head of Nord Stream 2 operator's board of directors, said on Friday.

"Nord Stream 2 could be put into operation in the end of the year already in order to ensure safe deliveries of natural gas to Europe. However, there is a problem. For many months already, Danish policy has been putting at risk timely completion of the project", Schroeder said at a business breakfast dedicated to Nord Stream 2, held at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

SOURCE: DW
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy intends to keep Ukraine "on the path of European and Euro-Atlantic integration." He also said he is ready to negotiate with Russia to end the war in Eastern Ukraine.

'Ukraine's strategic course remains unchanged'

During his visit to Brussels on Tuesday, newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country still aspires to being a member of both the European Union and the NATO military alliance and that he is open to peace talks with Russia.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had been waiting to hear the foreign policy aims of the former comedian, who was sworn in as Ukraine's president last month.

What Zelenskiy said:

His government intends to keep Ukraine "on its strategic course ... to achieve fully-fledged membership in the EU and NATO." Membership of both entities "is the priority of our foreign policy."

Permanent representatives of EU member states have approved the prolongations of sanctions against Moscow over Crimea’s reunification with Russia, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing its sources.

If the decision is finally approved by the EU, the sanctions will be effective till June 23, 2020. The sanctions were initially imposed on Russia in 2014.

The most important “personalities” participating this year, as usual, were those of the USA;

Clubs, Cartels and Bilderberg
Henry Kissinger, “historical figure” of the Group, closely linked to the late David Rockefeller (image right, died in 2017) who was founder of The Bilderberg and the Trilateral Commission:

Mike Pompeo, ex-head of the CIA and currently US Secretary of State[2];

General David Petraeus, ex-head of the CIA[3];

Jared Kushner, advisor (and son-in-law) of President Trump for the Middle East, and intimate friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Following on, Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, who received a second mandate for services rendered to the USA.

SOURCE: RT

Russia has accused the US Navy of “unacceptable” and dangerous maneuvering, after a US warship almost caused a catastrophic collision with a Russian destroyer in the East China Sea.

The Russian Navy said that the USS Chancellorsville, a guided-missile cruiser, unexplainedly changed direction and came within just 50 meters of the Admiral Vinogradov on Friday at 6:35 Moscow time. It added that a collision was only prevented after the Russian crew implemented emergency maneuvers and changed course.

A statement from Russia’s Pacific Fleet added that a complaint had been lodged with the command of the American cruiser.

We made our protest to the command of the American ship on an international wavelength and pointed out that such actions are unacceptable.

The US Navy denied responsibility for the near-collision. Instead, it blamed the Admiral Vinogradov for accelerating at Chancellorsville while it was waiting for its helicopter to land onboard.

The public enthusiasm for the trade war by elites within the Trump Administration cabinet, including Rothschild banking agent Wilber Ross, Council On Foreign Relations member Robert E. Lighthizer, Goldman Sachs member Steve Mnuchin, and Bilderberg attendee Mike Pompeo showcases a desire based on globalization to perpetuate an escalation in tensions.

Whether or not you agree with the rationalizations behind the trade war, the point is, the only people who will ultimately benefit from it are those striving for globalization.

Russia-24 has published a video from the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation that shows a successful test launch of a new hypersonic interceptor missile with capabilities that are so advanced; no other country has a similar weapon.

The reported launch was held at Sary Shagan testing range in Kazakhstan. A statement from the Ministry of Defense didn't specify the name or specifications of the new missile, only indicating the weapon successfully struck test targets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Russian-Chinese partnership was producing a positive effect on the international scale, adding he was pleased with the current level of economic cooperation between the two states.

"Now we are seeking to closely cooperate on the international arena in the interests of stability, global and regional security. Through a joint effort, our countries make an important contribution into solving the world’s most pressing problems, countering new challenges and threats, speak out jointly in favor of forming a new, fair world order, based on multipolarity, strict compliance with the international law, the UN Charter, equality and mutually beneficial cooperation," the Russian leader said at a celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of Russian-Chinese diplomatic relations.

Just one month after conducting joint military exercises, Russia and China are set to sign an agreement which would boost the use of their national currencies in bilateral and international trade in an attempt to mmove away from the current dollar-denominated financial system, according to Russian state-owned news outlet TASS.

It is planned that Russia and China will be developing bilateral payments in national currencies, encourage and expand the use of national currencies, particularly through promotion of their use when signing international trade contracts. According to the draft agreement, the sides will also assume required measures to lift barriers for payments in national currencies. –TASS

While US and NATO warplanes intercept Russian planes in international airspace on a very regular basis, Russia’s own interceptions are fairly rare, and the US is always furious when it happens. That was the case on Tuesday, when a US Navy spy plane started hanging around the Syrian coast.

Russia is very protective of the Syrian coast, and for good reason, as it hosts Russia’s lone Mediterranean naval base. Having US military aircraft hanging around that area, even if it is just a spy plane, was always going to provoke a response.

Russia sent up a fighter jet to intercept the plane. This apparently didn’t take this first couple of times, because the fighter had to intercept the same spy plane three different times in the same area before it finally went away.

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Saker blog.

The great Bilderberg secret of 2019 had to do with why, suddenly, the Trump administration has decided that it wants to talk to Iran “with no preconditions”.

It all has to do with the Strait of Hormuz. Blocking the Strait could cut off oil and gas from Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Iran – 20% of the world’s oil. There has been some debate on whether this could occur – whether the US Fifth Fleet, which is stationed nearby, could stop Tehran doing this and if Iran, which has anti-ship missiles on its territory along the northern border of the Persian Gulf, would go that far.

An American source said a series of studies hit President Trump’s desk and caused panic in Washington. These showed that in the case of the Strait of Hormuz being shut down, whatever the reason, Iran has the power to hammer the world financial system, by causing global trade in derivatives to be blown apart.

China's Huawei, considered a security threat in the US, on Wednesday signed a deal with Russian telecoms company MTS to develop a 5G network in the country over the next year,

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The deal will see "the development of 5G technologies and the pilot launch of fifth generation networks in 2019-2020", MTS said in a statement.

The Kremlin says Russian specialists are operating in Venezuela as usual, after US President Donald Trump claimed in a tweet that Moscow has pulled its people out of the crisis-hit nation.

Just one month after conducting joint military exercises, Russia and China are set to sign an agreement which would boost the use of their national currencies in bilateral and international trade in an attempt to mmove away from the current dollar-denominated financial system, according to Russian state-owned news outlet TASS.

It is planned that Russia and China will be developing bilateral payments in national currencies, encourage and expand the use of national currencies, particularly through promotion of their use when signing international trade contracts. According to the draft agreement, the sides will also assume required measures to lift barriers for payments in national currencies. -TASS

For one, the Middle East already has a regional hegemon – the United States. Even the wildest accusations against Iran regarding state sponsored terrorism pale in comparison to Al Qaeda and the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) whose terrorism spans the globe, including standing armies operating in Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan – several of which Iran itself is specifically fighting.

The US also supports terrorist organizations within Iran including the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). MEK enjoys the support of National Security Adviser John Bolton – who lobbied for them for years while they were listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department itself.

Thus, Iran finds itself involved in Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon precisely to stave off openly declared intentions by the US to include Iran next under its already expansive hegemony over the Middle East.

Despite the Robert Mueller report’s conclusion that Donald Trump and his campaign did not collude with Russia during the 2016 presidential race, the new Cold War with Moscow shows little sign of abating. It is used to justify the expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders, a move that has made billions in profits for U.S. arms manufacturers. It is used to demonize domestic critics and alternative media outlets as agents of a foreign power. It is used to paper over the Democratic Party’s betrayal of the working class and the party’s subservience to corporate power. It is used to discredit détente between the world’s two largest nuclear powers. It is used to justify both the curtailment of civil liberties in the United States and U.S. interventions overseas—including in countries such as Syria and Venezuela. This new Cold War predates the Trump presidential campaign.

New Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday he was ready to negotiate with Russia to end the war in eastern Ukraine while sticking to Ukraine’s goal of one day joining the European Union and the NATO alliance.

Speaking at NATO headquarters, Zelenskiy, a former comic actor with no prior political experience who took over as president on May 20, said he would keep Ukraine “on the path of European and Euro Atlantic integration”.

“The strategic course of Ukraine to achieve fully-fledged membership in the EU and NATO ... remains unchanged,” Zelenskiy told reporters alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “This is the priority of our foreign policy.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that Tehran would not be “deceived” by U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer of negotiations and would not give up its missile programme.

Iran and the United States have been drawn into starker confrontation in the past month, a year after Washington pulled out of a deal between Iran and global powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme in return for lifting international sanctions.

Trump has condemned the nuclear deal, signed by his predecessor Barack Obama, as flawed for not being permanent and for not covering Iran’s ballistic missile programme and its role in conflicts around the Middle East. He has called on Iran to come to negotiating table to reach a new deal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping speak to the press following their meeting in Moscow.

It was reported the leaders would focus on financial issues, the conflict in Syria and US posturing towards Iran. The Venezuela crisis – still not resolved after a coup attempt by US backed opposition leader Juan Guaido – and denuclearizing on the Korean Peninsula were also expected to be discussed on Wednesday.

President Trump's efforts to force China to 'fair' trade (along with sanctions and/or tariff threats against many other nations in the world) appears more likely to destabilize the unipolar US hegemon than support it.

Many multipolar-supporting nations are hording gold, seeking alternative payment systems, and creating bilateral trade agreements between themselves in an effort to skirt US threats (or merely to defend their own sovereignty in the long-run).

While we have seen China pushing the petro-yuan (rather anti-climactically for now) and Europe pushing INSTEX to enable trade with Iran (still unused for now), RT reports the latest shift away from the US 'system' and towards multi-polar collaboration is coming from China, where small and medium-sized enterprises, under pressure from Washington’s trade war, are studying the possibility of moving production to Russia.

Just three and a half years ago, on January 20, 2016, the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan had good reason to congratulate himself. He had successfully arranged a scheme of payoffs for two men who were intimate advisors to the presidents of the United States and Russia — at the very same time. They were Lieutenant-General Michael Flynn, the National Security Advisor to Donald Trump; and Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Vladimir Putin.