Russia has made an apparent U-turn on its prior signaling that it would supply the advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Syria after this week's major escalation between Syria and Israel, which involved scores of surface-to-surface rockets being fired by both sides, primarily across the contested Golan border, and some 28 Israeli aircraft firing around 60 air-to-surface missiles at Syria during the exchange.

Is this the beginning of a Russian lack of commitment in Syria? Or is this the realization that Syria can stand on its own after creating new rules of engagement with Israel?

Russia is now indicating Syria has "everything it needs" to repel Israeli aggression.

Reuters reports that Putin's personal aide indicated the change in calculus:

The comments, by Vladimir Kozhin, an aide to President Vladimir Putin who oversees Russian military assistance to other countries, follow a visit to Moscow by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, who has been lobbying Putin hard not to transfer the missiles.

"For now, we're not talking about any deliveries of new modern (air defense) systems," Izvestia cited Kozhin as saying when asked about the possibility of supplying Syria with S-300s.

The Syrian military already had "everything it needed," Kozhin added.

The South African government is withdrawing its ambassador to Israel in response to the "violent aggression" by Israeli forces at the Gaza border, which saw 55, including six children, killed on Monday.

"The latest attack has resulted in scores of other Palestinian citizens reported injured, and the wanton destruction of property," the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said in a statement on Monday, as cited by Eyewitness News. "Given the indiscriminate and gravity of the latest Israeli attack, the South African government has taken a decision to recall Ambassador Sisa Ngombane with immediate effect until further notice."

South Africa also repeated its view that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) must withdraw from the Gaza border and "bring to an end the violent and destructive incursions into Palestinian territories."

Nearly everyone loses by President Donald Trump's decision on Tuesday to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) relating to Iran's nuclear energy program and to reinstate the "highest level" of sanctions while also threatening secondary sanctions on any country that "helps" the Iranians.

The whole world loses because nuclear proliferation is a disaster waiting to happen and Iran will now have a strong incentive to proceed with a weapons program to defend itself from Israel and the United States.

If Iran does so, it will trigger a regional nuclear arms race with Saudi Arabia and Egypt undoubtedly seeking weapons of their own.

Iran and the Iranian people will lose because their suffering economy will not now benefit from the lifting of sanctions and other economic inducements that convinced it to sign the agreement in the first place.

Morales explained that "the empire acts out of fear of the sovereign vote and knows that it will never again subject the free people."

Bolivian President Evo Morales said Sunday that the United States and the Organization of American States are implementing a plan with the purpose of defeating the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.

"Before the elections they will carry out violent actions supported by the media and after the elections they will try a military invasion with Armed Forces from neighboring countries," President Morales said on his official Twitter account.

First Lady Melania Trump underwent emergency kidney surgery Monday for a benign condition.

She will reportedly remain at the hospital for the remainder of the week, her office announced Monday.

The decision made by the Council of the European Union to sanction another five Crimean officials over the organization of Russian presidential election in Crimea takes effect on May 14, the Council said in a statement.

"The Council added five persons to the list of those subject to restrictive measures over actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. They are listed because of their involvement in the organization of the Russian presidential elections of March 18, 2018, in the illegally annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, thereby actively supporting and implementing policies that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," the statement reads.

Earlier this week President Trump withdrew from the sham Iranian nuclear deal. President Trump knew the deal with the Iranian mullahs was not working.

This was despite former Secretary of State John Kerry working against the Trump administration to salvage the weak deal with the Iranian regime.

On Saturday John Kerry was spotted at a meeting with Iranian officials in Paris, France.

"Whether the mask is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus-the bureaucracy, the police, the military. Not the one facing us across the frontier of the battle lines, which is not so much our enemy as our brothers' enemy, but the one that calls itself our protector and makes us its slaves. No matter what the circumstances, the worst betrayal will always be to subordinate ourselves to this apparatus and to trample underfoot, in its service, all human values in ourselves and in others."-Simone Weil, French philosopher and political activist

We labor today under the weight of countless tyrannies, large and small, carried out in the name of the national good by an elite class of government officials who are largely insulated from the ill effects of their actions.

We, the middling classes, are not so fortunate.

We find ourselves badgered, bullied and browbeaten into bearing the brunt of their arrogance, paying the price for their greed, suffering the backlash for their militarism, agonizing as a result of their inaction, feigning ignorance about their backroom dealings, overlooking their incompetence, turning a blind eye to their misdeeds, cowering from their heavy-handed tactics, and blindly hoping for change that never comes.

The overt signs of the despotism exercised by the increasingly authoritarian regime that passes itself off as the United States government are all around us: warrantless surveillance of Americans' private phone and email conversations by the NSA; SWAT team raids of Americans' homes; shootings of unarmed citizens by police; harsh punishments meted out to schoolchildren in the name of zero tolerance; drones taking to the skies domestically; endless wars; out-of-control spending; militarized police; roadside strip searches; roving TSA sweeps; privatized prisons with a profit incentive for jailing Americans; fusion centers that collect and disseminate data on Americans' private transactions; and militarized agencies with stockpiles of ammunition, to name some of the most appalling.

Yet as egregious as these incursions on our rights may be, it's the endless, petty tyrannies inflicted on an overtaxed, overregulated, and underrepresented populace that occasionally nudge a weary public out of their numb indifference and into a state of outrage.

Consider, for example, that federal and state governments now require on penalty of a fine that individuals apply for permission before they can grow exotic orchids, host elaborate dinner parties, gather friends in one's home for Bible studies, give coffee to the homeless, let their kids manage a lemonade stand, keep chickens as pets, or braid someone's hair, as ludicrous as that may seem.

Andrew Parker's visit to Berlin on Monday is being held up as historic, the first public speech outside Britain by a serving head of MI5. However, rather than a spy, Germany got a politician with a Brexit begging letter.

The basic message was that Russia and Muslim terrorists are coming to get you, and you need Britain to help, so please don't hold Brexit against us. The structure of the speech from Parker to other intelligence agencies was classic political theory. Introduce an enemy (Russians and Islamic terrorists), create fear (the Reds are in your Twitter feed), offer a solution (just be our friend after Brexit).

Some of the initial lessons we learned: Being the head of MI5 does not rely on charisma. Being Britain's chief domestic spy is very much a political position. Spies and politicians are being given the same talking points.

An MP comments on threats by US administration representatives to impose sanctions against European companies for cooperation with Iran

Threats by US administration representatives to impose sanctions against European companies for cooperation with Iran are nothing more than flagrant and unabashed blackmail, Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky said on Monday.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused European countries of rejecting the US demand to revise the Iran nuclear deal. He said the United Kingdom, Germany and France had 90 more days to reach an agreement on Iran's nuclear program. Trump's new national security adviser John Bolton did not rule out that sanctions might be slapped on EU firms for cooperating with Tehran.