Back in February, former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle received an advance payment of $65 million dollars from Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German multinational media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Obama, who has been on the receiving end of more Wall Street, Hollywood liberal and Silicon Valley technocrat support than any politician ever, is cashing in like Bill Clinton only dreamed he could. Last seen hugging and kissing Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel before he left office, Obama is in the limelight partying of late with Lord Richard Branson first, then on Marlon Brando's exotic island, and just recently on music mogul David Geffen's superyacht Rising Sun, along with superstars Bruce Springsteen and Tom Hanks. The rumor Obama's original super-fan Oprah Winfrey was onboard only serves to complicate what might otherwise be an alphabet soup of rich people in some tabloid. But Obama with Geffen strikes a resonant chord.

David Geffen is probably one of the two or three most powerful figures in media and entertainment. His estimated personal wealth exceeds $6 billion, but his being labeled as one of the "Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America" also bears on this report. Like so many of the key figures who influence our world today, Geffen came out of virtual nowhere in the mid-1970s, to leverage immense power in America. He is one of the reasons Barack Obama gained control of "the message", the reason the music industry bashed Donald Trump, and one of the reasons the so-called "gay mafia" came to prominence. Geffen is also interesting if we factor in the "Pizzagate" slimy assertions that came to light via WikiLeaks and Clinton campaign boss John Podesta. The telltale shadows of Geffen's sexual relations with teenage boys and the past testimonies of shamed Digital pioneer Marc Collins-Rector (Buzzfeed found the lost Hollywood's sex scandal fall guy) taint the billionaire's "genius boy" image. If you wanted to cast a movie star for a film about the global mafia, Geffen's sexual propensities would make a perfect sub plot. But the man who helped Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg found DreamWorks SKG exerts the force of a Hollywood propaganda gangster. Just look underneath a Tom Hanks film plot for your themes.

Iraq might descend into "chaotic violence"—or worse. The broader Middle East could "go to hell" all over again.

If the United States doesn't step up under President Donald Trump, Paul Wolfowitz warns in a new interview for The Global POLITICO, our weekly podcast on world affairs in the Trump era, it would represent an "opportunity" blown, a missed chance that would result in "lost American influence" and a win for "hostile actors."

Wolfowitz, a hawkish Republican known as the architect of the Iraq war for his role in advocating President George W. Bush's 2003 invasion, rarely wades back into the public fray these days over the troubled Middle East, and he insists he's well aware that the American political consensus—in both parties—is now very much against deepening involvement in the region. "I don't think we're up to heroic ventures in the Middle East," he tells me.

Russia has proven to be an effective force throughout the Syrian crisis while US pro-opposition stance is a recipe for chaos in the war-torn country, Philippines' National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told Sputnik on Thursday.

"The Russians are most effective in Syria. The Russians tried to side with the government of [President Bashar] Assad, when the Americans start to side with the rebels. Why do they have to side with the rebels? When they win, there will be chaos," Lorenzana said on the sidelines of the Moscow Conference on International Security.

The Philippines had no interest in being involved in operations of the US-led coalition in Syria, he added.

Britain could bomb the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad without first gaining the approval of MPs, says Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, adding it would be very hard to resist US pressure if the White House asked Britain to take part.

Johnson's comments on Thursday follow the recent US bombing of an Assad forces airbase in Syria in response to a deadly chemical incident which the UK and US are attributing to the Syrian government.

The British Parliament held a vote on whether to bomb Assad's forces in 2013 after an earlier alleged chemical attack.

The government of then-Prime Minister David Cameron lost on that occasion after being outflanked by then-Labour leader Ed Miliband.

India successfully test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile Agni-III on Thursday, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the national Defense Ministry agency responsible for military research and development, confirmed.

The launch took place at 9:12 a.m. local time (03:42 GMT) from Abdul Kalam Island, off of the Odisha coast.

The Agni-III, which was developed by the DRDO, has a strike range of more than 3,000 kilometers (over 1,860 miles) and is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads.

Africa is a huge continent with vast resources, most of whose countries have a weakly developed economy. This is a huge potential field of activity for more developed countries wishing to profitably invest money and technology. Recently, China has been the most active in the continent. The New Silk Road project, within which the PRC plans to connect all African countries by a network of railways, will ensure its influence on the continent for many years. In addition, China is investing in numerous African energy, oil and social projects.

However, not only the PRC intends to gain a foothold in Africa. Russia is also interested in developing the enormous potential of this region. The establishment of close economic ties between the Russian Federation and the countries of Africa is helped by tried and tested means - Russia's highly developed atomic technologies.

Religious freedom should not be used as an excuse to tolerate activities that violate the safety of Russia and its people

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has recently defined Jehovah's Witnesses as an extremist organization and ruled the operation of its churches as illegal.

Russia's Justice Ministry has ordered the Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses to be closed and the church's property turned over to the state in the entire area of the Russian Federation.

The resolution has raised widespread discussion on the issue and it can be seen that the openly anti-Russian western mainstream media use the opportunity to create an image of Russia as an enemy of freedom.

From the point of view of freedom of religion, Russia's decision and the ruling of the Supreme Court might at first impression seem totalitarian, but upon closer inspection of the Jehovah's Witnesses activities, it becomes apparent that the Supreme Court of Russia has ample reason to believe this group is in violation of Russian law.

Crimea considers Kiev's moves as an attempt to disturb the situation along the border.

Ukraine is increasing the military presence of government forces near its borders with Russia's Republic of Crimea, the head of Crimea's government committee for inter-ethnic relations, Zaur Smirnov told Sputnik Thursday.

"Kiev is building up military presence near our borders. Several drills, engaging different military groups, have taken place over the past month. We regard it as an attempt to disturb the situation along the border," Smirnov said.

The "incident" in the vicinity of Damascus International Airport is in line with Israel's policy to prevent Iran's advanced weapons from reaching Syria, Israeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said.

Katz told Israeli Army Radio that "the incident in Syria corresponds completely with Israel's policy to act to prevent Iran's smuggling of advanced weapons via Syria to Hezbollah in Iran," according to Reuters.

"Naturally, I don't want to elaborate on this," Katz said, adding that "the prime minister has said that whenever we receive intelligence that indicated an intention to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, we will act."

When contacted by RT to provide any details on the explosions near Damascus Airport, IDF press office repeatedly declined to comment on the incident and also refused to elaborate on Katz's statement. "He's not from the IDF," a representative of the Israeli military said on the phone.

US President Donald Trump has told the leaders of Canada and Mexico he won't withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) "at this time," but will begin renegotiating it with them.

"President Trump agreed not to terminate NAFTA at this time, and the leaders agreed to proceed swiftly, according to their required internal procedures, to enable the renegotiation of the NAFTA deal to the benefit of all three countries," the White House said in a statement.

The announcement followed reports Trump and his advisers had considered issuing an executive order to withdraw the United States from the 23-year-old trade pact with Canada and Mexico.