The development of public diplomacy in world politics, the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are actively being discussed in public and political circles of various countries. According to some estimates, there are over 60 thousand international NGOs alone in the world today. Many NGOs are indeed non-political civil society institutions, structures of self-organisation of citizens in various spheres of life.

At the same time, a certain number of NGOs claim the role of umpire in matters of ideology in all of society and public policies, affecting the development of the political situation in a number of countries, interfering in the internal affairs of states, participating, as ordered by the West and especially US intelligence, in changing political powers in governments that are opponents of Washington. In the US intelligence community there are even special inter-agency groups responsible for coordinating the activities of a wide variety of non-governmental actors, particularly focused on Russia. For example, there is a National Intelligence for Russia and Eurasia in the National Intelligence Council (NIC).

These circumstances are objectively forcing many states, especially those seeking to pursue a policy independent from the US, to closely monitor the activities of NGOs, by opportunely identify their misuse of funds coming from abroad to support political parties and movements and affect the economic policy of the state, all the way to limiting NGOs activities.

And so, the Indian government, as part of the clean-up work in foreign financing of non-governmental organisations recently revoked the licenses of 8975 non-governmental organizations and charities for accounting violations. In the future, organisations deprived of licenses will not be able to receive funds from foreign or domestic sources until a special order of the Indian authorities. The well-known environmental organization Greenpeace (operated in India since 1971) is on this "black list", in regards to which the government has suspended their license for six months and has frozen the accounts of its Indian branch. In addition, India's Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched an investigation into the activities of the American charitable Ford Foundation and several other foreign NGOs in the country.

"A person under surveillance is no longer free; a society under surveillance is no longer a democracy."—Writers Against Mass Surveillance

THE GOOD NEWS: Americans have a right to freely express themselves on the Internet, including making threatening—even violent—statements on Facebook, provided that they don't intend to actually inflict harm.

The Supreme Court's ruling in Elonis v. United States threw out the conviction of a Pennsylvania man who was charged with making unlawful threats (it was never proven that he intended to threaten anyone) and sentenced to 44 months in jail after he posted allusions to popular rap lyrics and comedy routines on his Facebook page. It's a ruling that has First Amendment implications for where the government can draw the line when it comes to provocative and controversial speech that is protected and permissible versus speech that could be interpreted as connoting a criminal intent.

That same day, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, the legal justification allowing the National Security Agency (NSA) to carry out warrantless surveillance on Americans, officially expired. Over the course of nearly a decade, if not more, the NSA had covertly spied on millions of Americans, many of whom were guilty of nothing more than using a telephone, and stored their records in government databases. For those who have been fighting the uphill battle against the NSA's domestic spying program, it was a small but symbolic victory.

THE BAD NEWS: Congress' legislative "fix," intended to mollify critics of the NSA, will ensure that the agency is not in any way hindered in its ability to keep spying on Americans' communications.

The USA FREEDOM Act could do more damage than good by creating a false impression that Congress has taken steps to prevent the government from spying on the telephone calls of citizens, while in fact ensuring the NSA's ability to continue invading the privacy and security of Americans.

For instance, the USA FREEDOM Act not only reauthorizes Section 215 of the Patriot Act for a period of time, but it also delegates to telecommunications companies the responsibility of carrying out phone surveillance on American citizens.

AND NOW FOR THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY NEWS: Nothing is going to change.

Defense official's warning destroys media claims that only "conspiracy theorists" believe martial law could be declared in the near future.

In a stunning revelation published by a mainstream news outlet, an anonymous Department of Defense official has revealed their belief that a DoD Directive outlining military support to civilian authorities is the latest step towards President Obama eventually using military force against the American people.

The quote from the defense official was published in a now viral report that detailed the 2010 DoD Directive and how it could be used, under authority from the President, to unleash the might of the US military onto the civilian population.

"This appears to be the latest step in the administration's decision to use force within the United States against its citizens," a defense official told the Washington Times.

According to the report, another anonymous US Official also claimed that President Obama considered using the military during the Bundy Ranch standoff but eventually decided against it.

The United States has accused the Syrian military of carrying out air strikes to help Islamic State fighters advance around the northern city of Aleppo, messages posted on the U.S. Embassy Syria official Twitter feed said.

Islamic State fighters pushed back rival insurgents north of Aleppo on Sunday near the Turkish border, threatening their supply route to the city, fighters and a group monitoring the war said.

Fighters from Levant Front, a northern alliance which includes Western-backed rebels and Islamist fighters, said they were worried Islamic State was heading for the Bab al-Salam crossing between Aleppo and the Turkish province of Kilis.

The West has continually forced its "values" upon other sovereign nations. For Western "think-tanks", it is a foregone conclusion that Russia is the threat, and NATO is the "good guy" on the bloc. Russia has to "westernize" by becoming more "democratic". But, who is to say that the evasive terms like "western values" and "democracy" are the best for Russia, Iraq, or other areas of the world?

After all, the U.S. and NATO are not spreading "democracy" to Saudi Arabia. Why is that? What about South Korea, Israel, or any other nation that plays by U.S., British, and ultimately NATO's rules? All of these countries are guilty of massive human rights violations. Why is the MSM ignoring this reality? The truth regarding U.S. and Western "crimes against humanity" should also be exposed, because who makes the United States and the West arbitrators of morality?

The West also seems to forget that Russia is not considered a major aggressor in the eyes of the world; rather, the U.S. is the biggest threat to world peace, which is why U.S.-led NATO is a threat to Russia, and peace in Europe. One only needs to look at Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Egypt and now Ukraine. And that's just from the last 10 years. Let's not forget what happened to the Native Americans, South and Central America, and the Philippines. This is not to mention the multitude of other failed states, coups, and illegal invasions ignited by the United States since its inception. Russia does not need U.S. "democracy". Nobody does.

Legislative efforts intended to reform aspects of the United States Intelligence Community's surveillance operations have cleared Congress and are expected to be signed into law imminently by President Obama.

The Senate voted 67-32 on Tuesday in favor of the USA Freedom Act, adopting the same version of the bill that had overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives last month by 338-88.

Backers of the USA Freedom Act say the bill ends the bulk collection of telephone call records by the National Security Agency as revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, as well as brings reform to the secret court that oversees surveillance requests and increases transparency.

Passage of the bill signals "the first major overhaul of government surveillance laws in decades," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) said on the Senate floor following Tuesday's vote.

Lithuania is conducting its biggest military exercises since joining NATO in 2004. Meanwhile, 200 extra troops are set to arrive at the alliance's headquarters in Eastern Europe, located in Szczecin, Poland.

"The huge allied presence demonstrates solidarity with the countries of this region," Major General Almantas Leika, who is in charge of the country's land army, said as the annual Saber Strike military drills began.

Lithuania is one of 13 countries participating in the exercise, which will involve about 6,000 troops performing manoeuvers in three Baltic states and Poland until June 19. During the two-stage exercise, land and air forces will carry out joint operations in the field, and then commanders will conduct a separate computer simulation of a regional conflict.

"This exercise is an opportunity to give one more demonstration of both our armed forces' and our strategic partners' abilities to organize military drills of such scope together and to continue honing interoperability," said Leika.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have jointly asked for permanent NATO bases to be located on their territory, saying Russia has the capacity to invade them within four hours of ordering an attack. Moscow has lashed out at the move, saying it contravenes the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act.

At least 6,657 people, including at least 1,285 civilians, have been killed throughout Syria in May 2015, making it the bloodiest month of the year in the Arab country plagued by a foreign-backed militancy aimed at overthrowing the government of President Bashar al-Assad, according to a pro-opposition monitoring group based in the British capital city of London. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights further stated in its report on Monday that the civilian death toll includes 236 children and 186 women. The report further stated that "rebels and Kurdish fighters" made up 793 of those killed in May, while terrorists such as the ISIL and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front numbered 2,109.

Russia has the right to house nuclear weapons on its territory, if it deems this move to be necessary, while this also includes the option of stationing them in Crimea, a statement from the Foreign Ministry read.

"Russia obviously retains the right, if needed, to deploy its nuclear weapons anywhere on its national territory, including on the Crimean Peninsula," the Director of the Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms control at the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Ulyanov told the RIA Novosti news agency on Monday.

Ulyanov's statement comes in response to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin saying in May that the deployment of Russian arms in Crimea would violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"Any activity or even signals from Russia that they are even considering deploying nuclear weapons in Crimea will be considered a grave breach of the international code of conduct. If this happens, the international community will need to act decisively," Klimkin said.

China has rejected US criticism concerning construction work, which is taking place on a series of disputed islands in South China Sea. Beijing says its presence is a peaceful one and is merely "improving the functions of the relevant islands and reefs."

"The situation in the South China Sea is on the whole peaceful and stable, and there has never been an issue with the freedom of navigation," said Admiral Sun Jianguo, the deputy chief of the general staff department in the People's Liberation Army, during a summit in Singapore on Sunday.

He added that Chinese authorities have carried out construction on some of the islands in the South China Sea "mainly for the purpose of improving the functions of the relevant islands and reefs, and the working and living conditions of personnel stationed there."

The highly disputed Spratly Islands are a group of more than 750 reefs, islets and islands in the South China Sea. China claims the vast majority of the sea, despite being involved in territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.