Turkey's Incirlik military base, used to launch anti-terrorist missions in the region, will reportedly be revamped with the help of a €58 million ($65 million) investment from Germany. That's despite Ankara recently banning German authorities from visiting the site.

The German Defense Ministry has decided to renovate the facilities used by 250 German troops stationed at the base, according to information obtained by Spiegel Online.

Funding of €26 million ($29 million) is to be provided for the construction of a private airfield for six German Tornado reconnaissance jets stationed at the base and on soldiers' accommodation, the report says, citing the budget drafted by German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyens and State Secretary Gerd Hoofe. Spiegel states that currently soldiers at the base are forced to station their aircraft in an area used by American troops and use their allies' technical support. They are also presently living in makeshift tents.

A further €30 million ($33 million) will go on obtaining a modern mobile command post for the soldiers, according to the report.

The Defense Ministry sees the renovations as urgently needed, and the warplanes stationed at the base regularly fly combat missions to support the US-led coalition's air campaign against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in neighboring Iraq and Syria.

Even as Official Washington gears up for a lucrative New Cold War with Russia, America's close "ally" Israel is finding common ground with Moscow that complicates U.S. hostility, as Zach Battat explains.

Israel can be criticized for many things, such as its lackadaisical attempts at negotiating for a two-state solution along the 1967 borders and its questionable policies towards its minorities (Arabs and others). But some in the news media have criticized the Jewish state for its recent rapprochement with Moscow, which is one position that doesn't deserve criticism.

Given that Moscow has an interest for stability in the Middle East, this diplomatic contact shouldn't be taken as a "bad idea" by the skeptics simply because the United States has entered a New Cold War with Russia. After all, there are reasons why Russia has an interest in Middle East stability, a goal shared by much of the world.

First, while the Caucasus region is not Russia proper, it is on its border and it's a "zone of vulnerability." Given the recent Middle East excursions or desires by the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Libya, Russia has gone on high alert given that many Muslim citizens in the Caucasus countries are joining the extremist organizations that are fighting in the Middle East (and Africa).

That is the main reason why Russia came to the aid of Bashar al-Assad's government last September in the Syrian civil war. It didn't want to see a chaotic "Libya outcome" (best case scenario) in Syria or see the Islamic State or Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (the jihadist group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate) in Damascus.

Second, Russia has a large Muslim population (estimated at 12-15 percent or 16 million to 20 million ethnic Muslims) that it also fears might get radicalized. Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia deems Islamic radicalization as one of its most serious challenges to ensure its own national integrity and stability.

A destabilized region will pose grave problems within Russia's borders. Thus, it has created a strong partnership with Israel to coordinate these stabilizing efforts. However, like all great powers, it understands that a two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians is also of grave importance for stability; with no deal, a potential civil war in Israel could break out, which could lead to unpredictable and detrimental results.

Headlines and analysis call for perpetual war, empowering terrorists and human misery — often indirectly, sometimes even directly.

US foreign policy regarding Syria publicly vacillates between seeking to defeat the Islamic State to achieving regime change in Damascus. Even at face value, these two objectives are contradictory, even paradoxical.

Overthrowing the government of Libya in 2011 thrust extremist groups (used by the US to overthrow Tripoli in the first place) into power across the nation, leaving it bitterly divided and in constant conflict since. The collapse of a unified Libya also allowed Al Qaeda and its spin-off, the Islamic State, to flourish unchecked. There is little evidence to suggest that anything else but precisely this scenario would also unfold should the government in Damascus likewise be overthrown.

The conflict in Syria, raging since it was triggered by US-backed armed groups in 2011, has in fact created the very conditions in which the Islamic State rose to prominence, springing forth from designated terrorist organisation, Jabhat Al Nusra, also known as Al Qaeda in Syria. In other words, it was the pursuit of regime change by the US that gave rise to the very extremism it now claims it is involved in Syria, Iraq and now also Libya to defeat.

With Iranians blocked from this month's hajj pilgrimage, their supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a furious rebuke Monday to rival Saudi Arabia, saying the Muslim world should challenge its management of Islam's holiest sites.

"Saudi rulers... who have blocked the proud and faithful Iranian pilgrims' path to the Beloved's House, are disgraced and misguided people who think their survival on the throne of oppression is dependent on defending the arrogant powers of the world, on alliances with Zionism and the US," Khamenei said.

He accused Saudi Arabia's ruling family, who are the custodians of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, of politicising the annual hajj pilgrimage, due to start at the end of the week, turning themselves into "small and puny Satans who tremble for fear of jeopardising the interests of the Great Satan (the United States)".

New intense battle footage from Libya shows an RT crew caught in the midst of heavy fighting between government forces and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants as the journalists venture to report, risking their lives from the frontline in Sirte.

After a vehicle with RT's William Whiteman drove past an intersection in one of Sirte's contested neighborhoods where sounds of gunfire are heard erupting every few seconds, the journalists managed to cheat death in an attempted suicide attack. An armored car rigged with explosives rapidly approaching their positions was spotted by the government fighters.

Before the terrorist was able to trigger a powerful blast, he was annihilated by a RPG fired by one of the government fighters. The remnants of the car engulfed by flames could be seen through a smashed shutter.

No Evidence, But Officials Continue to Hype 'Plot'

US intelligence officials are being quoted in the Washington Post today as confirming a major investigation ongoing "looking very closely at" allegations, which appear to primarily be driven by top Democratic Party officials, that Russia might be trying to "influence" the US election.

The allegations date back as far as the Democratic National Convention, during which party officials tried to change the focus on WikiLeaks releases of hacked emails by claiming the Russians did it as a plot to get Republican nominee Donald Trump elected.

This talking point has since been at the fore in the campaign ever since, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D - NV) asking the FBI for a formal investigation, claiming that there is "extensive" evidence of a Russian plot to falsify election results.

German online newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten has provided its own analysis on the developments in Syria, noting that the severest clashes occur only in places of major pipelines or where new routes are planned to run; hence it says, the conflict is nothing more than a fight for the best positions to start oil and gas supplies to Europe.

The newspaper has attentively examined the Syrian war map and noticed that the military actions are going on only in places where major oil and gas routes are either already running or are planned to go.

"Two of the most important oil markets are located in the Syrian cities of Manbij and al-Bab, both cities are located in the Governorate of Aleppo," the newspaper says.

"Through the territories of the two cities runs a major pipeline which transports oil from Iraq to Syria, up to Idlib Governorate," it says.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been accused of effectively handing Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) a "target list" since posting the names of 20,000 British soldiers and potential recruits online.

The Government website, as well as the sites of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, all contain various versions of the list, which was published on Monday night.The exposed information includes the details of regular officers, reservist officers, university trainees, and adult volunteers that were serving in the British military in 2015, many of whom still will be.

Former reservist Major Chris Green, who has left the force, but is detailed in the 2015 list, told The Times: "This is a serious security threat when ISIS and other groups are looking to target individuals.

"It is actually a pretty terrifying error. They are putting national security at risk in many ways."

One serviceman named on the list told the Express: "They've basically provided a target list for ISIS."

An unnamed senior officer added: "I think it is quite risky. I do not know why they have done it."

Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the meeting of 20 leading industrial nations a 'tremendous success' during his closing statement, an upbeat assessment that noticeably clashed with the Western media's version of events.

The Western mainstream media concentrated on "controversies" - from an incident with President Obama's security personnel to the tough negotiations between the Russian and American presidents on the margins of the summit. (Both leaders made a last-ditch attempt to iron out their differences on Syria and Ukraine, with Obama clearly missing his last chance to contribute to the settling of these two conflicts before departing office early next year - with both wars started under his tenure and not without his participation).

Symbolism of language

An inexperienced reader might conclude from this Western coverage that bickering between US and Chinese security guards over the intricacies of approaching the US president's plane was more important than the agreement of the G20 to modernize the regime of international trade and the actual discussions between Xi and Obama, Putin and Erdogan, Theresa May and Putin - which all took place during these two busy days in Hangzhou.

There may be a deeper symbolism in this contrast of the positive Russo-Chinese approach to the summit and the US/EU push for "concessions via confrontation." The two sides even used different language. For example, the chairman of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said that China "must" allow monitoring of its steel production, saying that losses for European job market due to China's "overcapacity" were "unacceptable."

It should be noted that Xi and Putin never used the word "must" when talking about problems with their Western partners.

Two of the City's biggest powerhouses have scrapped their predictions of a post-Brexit recession which would see the UK economy collapse following the EU referendum, and now envisage better-than-expected results in the third financial quarter.

Both Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley believe the latest growth figures suggest there is little chance of a so-called 'Brecession' in 2016 and 2017.

Surveys by the banks showed an upward tilt in three of the country's main industries - services, manufacturing and construction - in the month of August. But experts warned that Brexit might still mean slower growth than usual over the coming months.

"Given the resilience of the data, combined with some political stability and the fact that people do not know how much Brexit will affect them, we now expect subdued growth, but not a recession," said Credit Suisse economist Sonali Punhani.