Sustaining America's state of post-9/11 perpetual war requires skillful manipulation of the public at home. The key tool used for this purpose is the bloodless narrative, a combination of policy, falsehoods and media manipulation that creates the impression that America's wars have few consequences, at least for Americans.

How can the American government sustain its wars in the face of dead soldiers coming home? Why is there no outcry among the American people over these losses? The answer is the narrative of bloodless war.

Ever since the tragic and stupid launch of 59 Tomahawk missiles into Syria by the United States took place in April, the entire incident has been represented as a one-man show by the corporate and even by the alternative media. The corporate press, which virtually never gives Trump a break on any issue real or imagined, was strangely approving of The Donald after his war crime while his detractors in the alternative media were presenting the act as that of a madman who is frighteningly close to the red button.

On June 25, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh released a bombshell article revealing a number of facets regarding the alleged chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria and the resulting volley of Tomahawk missiles fired by the United States at the al-Sha'aryat airbase in response. Hersh's article provides the reader with what many of us already knew and wrote about at the time; i.e. that the Syrian military did not conduct a chemical weapons attack and that the United States was fully aware of that fact. Still, the U.S. government opted to use the attack as a justification for launching 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airbase that resulted in the deaths of Syrian soldiers, civilians, and children from the nearby village.

Washington's conditions for the return of Russia's diplomatic property in the US are nothing but blackmail, according to Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy chairman of the Russian Upper House's International Affairs Committee.

In an interview with the Russian news network Zvezda, Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy chairman of the Russian Upper House's International Affairs Committee, slammed the White House's conditions for the return of Russia's diplomatic property in the US as blackmail.

On Thursday, Deputy Assistant to the US President Sebastian Gorka said that the US may return two diplomatic compounds confiscated by the Obama administration to Moscow, if it sees "acts of good faith" from the Kremlin, similar to the recently brokered ceasefire in Syria. By considering a release of the Russian diplomatic compounds that have remained sealed since December, Washington wants to leave the door open for rapprochement with Russia, Gorka said in an interview with CNN.

Commenting on the matter, Dzabarov stressed that the situation in Syria has nothing to do with diplomatic property, and that Washington should return it to Russia "without any preconditions."

"Talking about certain conditions to be made in exchange for having access to diplomatic property looks like trading and even blackmail," Dzabarov said.

If Washington sets conditions for the return of Russian diplomatic property it seized it would be "daylight robbery," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Lavrov was referring to a RIA Novosti report on Monday which cited a high-ranking unnamed White House official as saying that the US is not planning to return the diplomatic property to Russia without asking for "something in return."

"Is that source [the high-ranking official] anonymous?" Lavrov asked, while speaking to journalists on Monday. "So, I believe that their conscience is unclear. As for the issue [not returning the Russian diplomatic property without any preconditions], I consider it daylight robbery," he said.

"It looks like some highway thieves are commenting on this situation," Lavrov added. "How is that: to seize property which was assigned by a bilateral intergovernmental ratified document, and to give it back they follow the principle, 'Mine is mine, and yours will be shared,'" Lavrov said.

The foreign minister added he hopes that the Trump administration has people with logic who understand that their predecessors in the Obama administration decided to seize the Russian property, as well as expel 35 Russian diplomats, in "a state of agony."

Commenting on the refusal of the US to issue visas to Russian diplomats slated to replace the embassy employees who were expelled from the US in December, Russian political analyst Pavel Svyatenkov called it an offence at the diplomatic level.

The United States refuses to issue visas to Russian diplomats slated to replace embassy staff expelled in December, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman said on Friday.

"Washington not only did not rescind the decision to expel our employees, but also refuses to issue visas to those who must travel as replacements," Zakharova said at her weekly press briefing,

At the same time, she also expressed hope that the US will adopt a more constructive approach to resolving the diplomatic property dispute after Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump met face-to-face for the first time last week.

"We expect that now, after the summit in Hamburg on July 7, the US side will show a more constructive approach," Zakharova surmised.

Commenting on the issue, Russian political analyst Pavel Svyatenkov called the position of the US administration a means of pressuring Russia.

"The ongoing diplomatic conflict between Russia and the US is a form of pressure on Russia and Russia's Foreign Ministry. Why is it happening? Because President Trump is being forced to make excuses for his alleged "ties" with Russia, which is being constantly speculated about in the US media," he told Sputnik. Trump and his administration are being forced to demonstrate a tough position to be able to prove that these accusations are baseless, he added.

This is getting old. Israel has once again arrested a United Nations official based in Gaza as he attempted to cross into Israel to attend a work meeting there. An Israeli security source has confirmed to me the linked story above and the Shin Bet arrest. The news is under gag order in Israel and no media there may report the story. This conveniently insulates the Israeli public from the news that their supposedly democratic nation has arrested human rights personnel from the most reputable NGO in the world. It also allows the Shin Bet time to build yet another fraudulent case against yet another Palestinian official doing international humanitarian relief work in Gaza.

Since Israelis can't know this information, I'm going to tell them here. The arrested man is Hamdan Temraz, 61, who is the deputy director of the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) in Gaza. He was arrested at the Erez crossing on July 12th despite having a valid entry permit.

The Palestinian human rights group, al Mezan released this statement to the Palestine Information Center, protesting the latest Israeli outrage:

The Center explained that such Israeli practices are aimed at blocking the work of the international organizations in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that 8 employees working in these organizations have been arrested since the beginning of 2014.

It affirmed that hundreds of employees are denied the permits required to enter or exit Gaza to be able to follow up their organizations' work, not to mention the Israeli incitement campaigns they are exposed to.

I find it odd that a UN employee has been in an Israeli prison for four days and there has been no statement from the international body. Is this how they come to the defense of their staff when it's under threat in a police state? I left a phone message with the UN press office seeking a statement, but have not heard from them so far.

The Syrian government troops have found a storage with over 30 US heavy anti-tank missile systems in the Latakia Province during a demining operation, the commander of the engineering service of the Latakia's garrison, said.

The Syrian government forces have defused 800 high-powered explosive devices in 11 settlements in the Latakia province since the beginning of July, Gen. Rafi Muhammad Magdi, according to the commander.

"From the beginning of the month we have cleared 11 settlements in the mountain area of Latakia ... Over 800 high-powered explosive devices have been defused since the militants left the territory," Magdi told reporters, adding that the settlements are ready for the return of residents.

During the mine clearing operation, storage with over 30 US heavy anti-tank missile systems was found, the official added.

French President Emmanuel Macron denounced anti-Zionism, saying any failure to recognize Israel is the modern manifestation of anti-Semitism.

The Frenchman was speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at an event Sunday marking the 75th anniversary of the deportation of 13,000 Jews from Paris to Nazi death camps.

"We will never surrender to the messages of hate," said Macron. "We will not surrender to anti-Zionism, because it is a reinvention of anti-Semitism."

The pair were speaking near the former site of the Velodrome d'Hiver, the indoor cycle track from which Jews were deported in July 1942. Fewer than 100 of the 13,152 Jews detained are reported to have survived.

New meta-analysis has emerged from a document published today by an independent researcher known as The Forensicator, which suggests that files eventually published by the Guccifer 2.0 persona were likely initially downloaded by a person with physical access to a computer possibly connected to the internal DNC network. The individual most likely used a USB drive to copy the information. The groundbreaking new analysis irrevocably destroys the Russian hacking narrative, and calls the actions of Crowdstrike and the DNC into question.

The document supplied to Disobedient Media via Adam Carter was authored by an individual known as The Forensicator. The full document referenced here has been published on their blog. Their analysis indicates the data was almost certainly not accessed initially by a remote hacker, much less one in Russia. If true, this analysis obliterates the Russian hacking narrative completely.

The Forensicator specifically discusses the data that was eventually published by Guccifer 2.0 under the title "NGP-VAN." This should not be confused with the separate publication of the DNC emails by Wikileaks. This article focuses solely on evidence stemming from the files published by Guccifer 2.0, which were previously discussed in depth by Adam Carter.

The saga of the Saudi-Qatar dispute continues. This week saw some important developments, which might provide pointers to what is likely to happen in the coming weeks and months, and possibly years.

As expected, the US stepped in to ensure that the Saudis, UAE, and Bahrain did not escalate their actions against Qatar. In particular, it was necessary to prevent any military adventure, which the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Sultan (MbS), was perfectly capable of launching, going by his record in Yemen.

This had to be done urgently if the Americans wanted to continue their operations at the Al Udeid air base in Qatar, the forward headquarters of CENTCOM.

In the event, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson undertook a visit to Qatar and Saudi Arabia, during which he signed an agreement with the Qatari foreign minister on June 11 to combat "terrorism financing." He said he was trying, along with the Emir of Kuwait, to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.