A lawsuit filed against security giant DynCorp in a Washington DC federal court alleges that the company deliberately overcharged the US government and inflated costs while providing training for Iraqi police between 2004 and 2008. DynCorp International remains a Pentagon contractor despite the charges brought against the company by the US Justice Department.

"The United States filed a False Claims Act complaint against DynCorp International Inc. (DynCorp) alleging that it knowingly submitted inflated claims in connection with a State Department contract to train Iraqi police forces," says a statement released Tuesday.

Let's cut to the chase; as much as the Pentagon may have finally concluded that Russia holds undisputed conventional superiority in the European theater, the only possible rationale for NATO's existence is unchanged; the US must keep the military occupation of Western and Central Europe till the end of days. And the justification for the "project" must be anti-Russian hysteria.

Thus the perennial, bogus, "threat" narrative. The myth of imminent 'Russian aggression' against the poor Baltic nations. These recurrent NATO talk-fests staged as former Soviet - or Maoist - 'party conferences'. The impression/illusion sold by the lame duck Obama administration that they are benevolently 'concerned' about European security. And, of course, the Russian counterpoint; the suspicion that NATO is no less than engaged in fabricating serial declarations of war.

The whole show might be derided as a juvenile mind game. Still, it's taken seriously. 'NATO has begun preparations for escalating from a Cold War into a hot one', sentenced Mikhail Gorbachev. There are indeed elements pointing to how serious the current geopolitical juncture is. The Obama administration won't do anything - even as that hopeless nullity, deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes, states that, 'continued aggression by Russia would provoke a response by NATO and a greater alliance presence in Eastern Europe'. Western corporate media, meanwhile, predictably surfs the hysterical monster waves of Russia demonizing.

The real action in fact is that multiple industrial military security surveillance complex actors in the Beltway are frantically jockeying for position in the next 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue set up, which might as well translate into a Clintonesque Gotterdammerung. As I stressed before, there's been a frank admission by a US general in London that the Big Picture may spell out Hot War, as Putin, Professor Stephen Cohen and indeed Gorbachev have already warned.

So the strategic outlook by the Pentagon is clear; we have already entered Dr Strangelove 2.0 territory. Forget about that unmovable force, the Taliban; forget about elaborate counter-insurgency ops; forget about deranged jihadis of the Daesh kind. The real game ahead is all about the possibility of war against 'high-end enemies' - Russia and/or China.

Russia is worried over political turbulence in neighboring countries but is confident in due security level at its borders, Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"Naturally, turbulence at our borders is alarming and we have to keep a close eye on the situation, analyze it," he told journalists when asked whether Russia plans to enhance control at its borders following aggravation of the political situation in a number of neighboring countries, such as Turkey, Armenia and Kazakhstan.

"The country's security along its border perimeter is ensured at a proper level. However necessary measures are being taken in view of the latest reports," Peskov said.

At the same time, he noted that the situation in Turkey, Armenia and Kazakhstan cannot be considered in the same way. "Each concrete case should be analyzed individually," he added.

Commenting on the situation in Turkey, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko expressed concern over the situation in his state and called upon the head of the KGB to defend his country from a possible coup. This has been reported by local media.

Lukashenko stated that the conflict in Donbass, NATO's expansion to the East, the coup attempt in Turkey, and attacks on police in Armenia and Kazakhstan are worrying him.

"I cannot but be disturbed by the situation surrounding Belarus. Thank God that we have so far managed to contain all sorts of negative manifestations...."

Lukashenko accordingly instructed the head of the KGB to more attentively follow the situation in Belarus in order to defend the state when need be.

"The situation is very difficult. We should therefore maintain peace and calm in the country no matter what it takes," the Belarusian president added.

The tension over territorial disputes in the South China Sea have seems to overcome even the issue before of Senkaku/Diayu Islands. Vietnam and the Giant country are also involved in their worst political conflicts which are already decades over a platform of oil drilling near the Paracel Islands.

And because of the anti-China protests in Vietnam, this brought the relation of both countries' to a temporary freeze. Moreover, the Philippines' detention of Chinese fishermen has increased the discord between the China and the country.

And will all these conflicts occurring at the same time, the issue in the South China sea becomes even more serious.

Behind this picture of the issue, we have seen the United States criticizing China, expressing support for Vietnam and guarded the Philippine Military. But we haven't heard Russia, China's "strategic partner," take a stand on this big issue, who now think that the relationship between Russia and China are not as good as before. Even on the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute between Vietnam and China, Russia has kept a cryptic position.

In a report by Mu Chunshan, a Beijing-based journalist on The Diplomat he said, "In my eyes, however, this does not mean that Russia's is of two minds in its relationship with China."

Turkey is ready to work towards restoration of peace and stability in the region together with Russia and Iran, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a telephone conversation with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Monday.

"Today, we are determined more than ever before to contribute to the solution of regional problems hand in hand with Iran and Russia and in cooperation with them," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Erdogan as saying. The Turkish president informed Rouhani about the situation in Turkey. "At present, the situation is getting back to normal but it is too early to say that everything is over," Erdogan said.

For his part, Hassan Rouhani gave credit to the courage and political maturity of the Turkish people who stood up to defend the legitimate authorities.

"Stability and tranquility in Turkey have a positive impact on the atmosphere in the whole region. We have no doubt that tranquility in the Islamic world countries does not suit terrorists and some superpowers," the Iranian president stressed. He said that the past few days had shown who was Turkey's friend or enemy both at home and abroad.

A group of insurgents took an abortive coup attempt in Turkey late on July 16. The main confrontation took place in Ankara and Istanbul. The country's leaders announced later that the coup attempt had been thwarted. According to the latest reports, 208 Turkish nationals died, 100 insurgents were killed and about 1,500 people were injured.

Who would have imagined that the people who helped bring you the 2014 Kiev Maidan coup are now apparently opposed to the removal of elected leaders by force?

If they've somehow seen the light after those efforts contributed to the destruction of Ukraine, that'd be fair enough, but it doesn't appear to be the case.

In reality, if you'll excuse the allusion to Damascus, there hasn't been a bunch of Pauline conversions. Instead it's all about 'interests' and it doesn't seem to matter how shameless or brazen they are in pursuing them.

Pro-NATO politicians in Europe and North America have long used the pretence of "democracy promotion" to justify the club's relentless expansion eastwards. For all that, their reaction to last weekend's events in Turkey has finally blown that cover. Because, let's be frank, sensible folk have long insisted that their real ambition has always been to install or maintain western-friendly regimes in strategically important countries. At this time, the response to the Ankara turmoil seems to confirm those suspicions.

The tyrannical corporate trade deal, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), is increasingly facing a multitude of challenges that threaten to derail the entire agreement. With negotiations officially beginning in 2013, US trade officials were arrogantly forecasting that a deal would have been reached by the end of 2014. Today in 2016, 14 rounds of intense negotiations later, there is a serious potential that a deal will not be reached by the end of this year, if at all.

There are, and will continue to be, many implications of the momentous Brexit vote; but one implication that has got less media coverage than it deserves is how it further impedes and complicates TTIP negotiations. In an article for one of the most influential organisations in the UK, the Royal Institute for International Affairs (or Chatham House), Geo-Economics Fellow, Marianne Schneider-Petsinger, admits that the Brexit vote is a "serious blow" to the chances of TTIP being concluded in the immediate future. Petsinger argues that as Britain was one of greatest advocates for TTIP within the EU, the US has lost an important partner who shares Washington's fervour for corporate fascism. Petsinger adds that even though a British exit from the EU will severely delay negotiations, TTIP will still survive the vote.

Moscow has countered the statements made by new British PM Theresa May on Monday. She addressed lawmakers saying that there is a "real" danger from Russia as she pushed for the renewal of the UK's nuclear deterrent.

"The Kremlin regrets the statement of the Prime Minister," said Dmitry Peskov, the presidential spokesperson, as cited by TASS. "Russia is one of the main guarantees of international stability as well as nuclear and strategic security, it is an absolutely indisputable fact," he added.

Peskov also recalled that Moscow "very actively participates" in the process of nuclear non-proliferation.

Russia, along with the US, is part of a Treaty for Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START), signed in 2010 between US President Barack Obama and then-Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev. The treaty expires in 2021.

Federal agents surprised an HSBC Holdings Plc executive as he prepared to fly out of New York's Kennedy airport late Tuesday, arresting him for an alleged front-running scheme involving a $3.5 billion currency transaction, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Mark Johnson, HSBC's global head of foreign exchange cash trading in London, was held in a Brooklyn jail overnight and will appear in court Wednesday, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the details of his arrest aren't public. The U.S. unsealed charges against him and Stuart Scott, the bank's former head of currency trading in Europe, making them the first individuals to be charged in the long-running probe.

The arrest and charges are a coup for the Justice Department, which has struggled to build cases against individuals in its investigation into foreign-exchange trading at global banks. U.S. prosecutors once had so much confidence in the quality of evidence they were gathering thanks to undercover cooperators that in September 2014, then-Attorney General Eric Holder said he expected charges against individuals within months. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority also found it difficult to make cases against currency traders and announced in March that it was dropping its efforts.