Keen as ever on the idea of having a fighting force in space, US President Donald Trump says it's a necessity for Washington because its perceived top adversaries - Russia and China - are beating it to the punch.

Trump was speaking at one of his Make America Great Again rallies, this time in Richmond, Kentucky. He boasted about his record $700bn+ military budget that would "fully rebuild the American military," and decided to top it off with a promotional line for the Space Force, whose creation is already underway.

"It's very popular," he said. "One of the biggest applause I get wherever I go is when I talk about the Space Force." He then proceeded to explain why it's so necessary: because those nations the US defense establishment calls its 'main adversaries' have a head start.

"Russia has already started, China has already started. They've got a start, but we have the greatest people in the world, we make the greatest equipment in the world, we make the greatest rockets, and missiles, and tanks, and ships in the world."

Reports coming after a Friday meeting in Doha, Qatar, between US diplomats and top Afghan Taliban officials suggest that Washington has agreed to discuss bringing its troops home and end America's 17-year war in Afghanistan.

During Friday's preliminary talks, US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad discussed with the Taliban conditions to bring about the end of the US's 17-year war in Afghanistan, according to two ranking Taliban officials speaking on condition of anonymity, as reported by Al Jazeera.

"Six US delegates arrived in Doha to have a meeting with our [Taliban] leaders [and] agreed to discuss all issues, including the pullout of foreign troops," an unnamed Afghan Taliban official stated. "But it was a preliminary meeting and all issues were discussed in general, not in detail," the anonymous Taliban official asserted, adding that additional talks are expected in upcoming months, cited by Al Jazeera.

Taliban demands for a peaceful resolution of almost two decades of conflict in Afghanistan at the hands of the US include the complete pullout of all American military personnel, including contract mercenaries, as well as the lifting of sanctions against its leaders, freedom for imprisoned Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, and the creation and recognition of its official political party.

As Russian spies are seen behind every corner, Dutch defense minister now claims her country is in cyberwar with Russia. The official says Amsterdam needs to react to the supposed danger and "take measures."

Speaking during a talk show on NPO 1 on Sunday, Ank Bijleveld was asked if the relations with Moscow could be described as a kind of cyberwar. "Yes, this is the case," she replied. Claiming that Russia is interfering "with our democracy in various ways," - the Netherlands have "to get rid of naivety" and "take measures," she stressed.

'Russians did it' is not something new for the 56-year-old politician. In October Bijleveld rolled out with accusations that four agents from Russia's military intelligence (GRU) allegedly tried to hack the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). They were expelled in April, but the information was revealed only six months later.

The allegations seemingly fell on a fertile soil as Canada, UK, US and Germany did not wait for long to also report alleged interference from Moscow. That included the alleged hacking of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Notably, any sufficient evidence has not been delivered as well to back up the tough claims.

With the end of the Syrian conflict getting closer and closer, what will the future of the country and the balance of forces in the region be like? American analyst presents his vision and this is not at all favorable to the White House.

After spending a week in Syria, Doug Bandow, a former adviser to US President Ronald Reagan and a contributor to The National Interest magazine, came to the conclusion that his country's policy toward Syria was "a disastrous failure."

Nowadays, the author is a senior investigator at the Cato Institute, reflects on the significant support that Syrian President Bashar Assad enjoys, despite all charges against him, including allegedly heading "a dictatorship."

"They saw the U.S.-inspired revolution in Iraq and didn't like the ending. After all, even an American occupation didn't prevent sectarian cleansing and slaughter, and many of the survivors fled to Syria," the columnist writes.

"S-300 is powerless on F35": "Ukraine is spreading secrets" Ivan Zhukovsky wrote in 'Gazeta Ru' about Ukraine providing the Israeli and US air force with the secrets of the Russian missile system.

In details: US-Israeli military delegation visited Ukraine secretly to study the characteristics of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems that in service of the Ukrainian forces. According to Soha News, Ukrainians gave information to the Americans and Israelis, plus the opportunity to test them on the ground.

"The tests were conducted with the participation of 18 US-made F-15C Eagle aircraft led by Israeli pilots. With these fourth-generation fighters, S-300 capabilities were identified."

Secret talks between the UN and Hezbollah, threats by the US establishment against Iraqi leaders and Hezbollah, exchanges of messages between Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the US representative, and a constant tug of war... All this and more has been registered - according to sources close to Soleimani - during the last four months in Iraq between Iran and the US, Hezbollah and the US, and US and Iraqi leaders, as part of the struggle to secure the next four years of leadership in Mesopotamia with its inevitable challenges. These challenges are related to who will govern the country, how Iraq will behave in relation to the US, and whether the US unilateral embargo on Iran will be respected.

Iraq is a substantial source of income for Iran and is essential to its foreign exchange, especially when Iran is under US sanctions. However, when President Donald Trump revoked the nuclear deal and imposed sanctions on Iran, the decision was not as hard on Iran as the previous sanctions imposed by the UN for decades, due to the refusal of many countries to follow the US against Iran. The US regime believed - and perhaps still does - that Iran would back down in the face of these newly imposed sanctions. This naïve view was transmitted to Iraqi leaders. A few of them were convinced that US global hegemony would grow significantly and that Iran was defeated.

In response to this, Iranian General Qassem Soleimani teamed up with Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah's representative in Iraq, Sheikh Mohammad Kawtharani. This is not the first time the two men have been directly involved in the formation of an Iraqi government. The Iraqis often find it difficult to communicate with Iranian envoys but are more at ease with Hezbollah, even if Iran's leverage is more substantial. It is a question of culture and style of communication. In Iraq, as in Lebanon, factional differences have obstructed compromise and prevented the formation of a national governments. External regional and international powers play essential roles in both countries and thus limit their sovereignty.

October 11, 2018 will be remembered in history as the day the tech giants attempted to wipe out independent, liberty-minded, antiwar media from the airwaves. On Thursday, in a coordinated effort, hundreds of pages devoted to peace and liberty were memory holed by social media giants.

I read the Saudi statement in response to the American proposals regarding sanctions on Saudi Arabia. The information circulating within decision-making circles within the kingdom have gone beyond the language used in the statement and discuss more than 30 potential measures to be taken against the imposition of sanctions on Riyadh. They present catastrophic scenarios that would hit the US economy much harder than Saudi Arabia's economic climate.

If US sanctions are imposed on Saudi Arabia, we will be facing an economic disaster that would rock the entire world. Riyadh is the capital of its oil, and touching this would affect oil production before any other vital commodity. It would lead to Saudi Arabia's failure to commit to producing 7.5 million barrels. If the price of oil reaching $80 angered President Trump, no one should rule out the price jumping to $100, or $200, or even double that figure.

Amnesty International has condemned what it calls the U.S.-led coalition's "ongoing failure" to admit or adequately investigate its role in the deaths of civilians in Raqqa as it battled to oust Islamic State (IS) extremists from the Syrian city.

In a report released on October 15, Amnesty said the coalition's actions represent a "slap in the face" for survivors in the city who are trying to rebuild their lives

"Disturbingly, the Pentagon does not even seem willing to offer an apology for the hundreds of civilians killed in its 'war of annihilation' on Raqqa," said Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty's secretary-general.


"It is completely reprehensible that the coalition refuses to acknowledge its role in most of the civilian casualties it caused, and abhorrent that even where it has admitted responsibility, it accepts no obligation toward its victims."

The Pentagon, which has criticized Amnesty's research methodology, in September issued a statement saying, "We continue to employ thorough and deliberate targeting and strike processes to minimize the impact of our operations on civilian populations and infrastructure."

Sputnik has obtained amateur footage of the suspected movement of US military convoys along Czech and Slovak roads, with the quiet transfers receiving no coverage from local or foreign media.

The videos, one made in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava on October 6, and the other in Stara Boleslav, a small town in the Czech Republic 25 km northeast of Prague on October 7, show police blocking highway traffic to allow for the passage of columns of what appears to be US military equipment, including Humvees and armored personnel carriers.