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.

Ecuador has partly restored Julian Assange's communications with the outside world from its London embassy where the WikiLeaks founder has been living for over six years, according to reports.

The Ecuadorian government suspended access in March because it said Assange had breached "a written commitment made to the government at the end of 2017 not to issue messages that might interfere with other states".

On Sunday, the Press Association reported that Ecuador had partly restored Assange's access to the internet, mobile phones and visits at the embassy, which had been restricted to members of his legal team.

The WikiLeaks founder has lived in the Ecuadorian embassy since June 2012 when he took refuge there to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of sex crimes, which he denies, and was granted political asylum.

The ICC (International Criminal Court) issued a warrant for the arrest of the son of CIA operative Khalifa Haftar (so called leader of the Libyan National Army).

Haftar's son's full name is Saddam Khalifa Belqasm Haftar Al-Farajani, Al-Farajani is his tribes name. This man, son of the criminal traitor, thief, murderer and terrorist, Khalifa Haftar, has stolen from Libyan banks more than once starting soon after the NATO destruction of Libya in 2011. One incident had people killed and injured. Saddam Haftar has had no reprisals from his corrupt father who appointed him to lead Brigade 106 of the Libyan army all the while aware of the theft and corruption of his son.

The theft from the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) in Benghazi took place in late 2017 when the 106 Brigade took over control of the bank and their vault. The vault contained over 630 million dinars, 159 million euros, 1.9 million dollars and 5,569 silver coins.

The cover story for the theft of the entire vault contents which were transferred out to unknown locations, came in July of 2018. In July, the governor of the CBL in Al-Bayda, Ali Al-Hibri, said the money that was in Benghazi's CBL was "damaged by sewage" that leaked into the vaults. The statement of Al-Hibri were immediately condemned as a lie to cover up the theft as any banker or CPA knows that it is virtually impossible for the contents of a vault to be damaged by sewage under any circumstances.

The UN has condemned the theft and put out a formal statement in September of this year.