India decided to proceed with the long-anticipated $5.5 bln deal to purchase Russia's S-400 surface-to-air missile units despite the US saying the purchase may affect the relations between Washington and New Dehli.

According to the Hindustan Times, India's Defense Ministry is to ask the apex Cabinet Committee to approve the purchase of the five S-400 Triumf systems, thus finalizing the agreement.

The deal is set to go through despite the fact that the Trump administration warning New Delhi of the possible ramifications of India's intention to cultivate military ties with Russia, that would imminently jeopardise its relations with the US.

Chairman of the U.S. Arms Service Committee Mac Thornberry has said that "the acquisition of this technology will limit, the degree with which the United States will feel comfortable in bringing additional technology into whatever country we are talking about."

In case the purchase officially goes through, the Trump administration's reaction might go as far as punishing India for violating the sanctions imposed against Russia.

If anyone needed proof as to the power of mainstream media they need look no further than Eastern Europe, where cash-strapped nations are militarizing over the phantom threat of 'Russian aggression.'

The Western media's ongoing campaign to demonize Russia appears to be paying dividends as Poland this week invited the US military into its house. And not for some overnight slumber party, mind you, but forever.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that the invitation, entitled 'Proposal for a U.S. Permanent Presence in Poland,' sounds as if it were written by a group of defense sector lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

'Echoing the Western media's delusional talking points on Russia - complete with "hybrid warfare through its annexation of Crimea, cyberattacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and...aggressive actions in Georgia" - the Polish Ministry of Defense said it would pay $2 billion for the pleasure of hosting US soldiers on its territory.

The Israeli Air Force conducted mock raids along the Syrian-Lebanese border last night, a military source told Al-Masdar from Damascus.

According to the source, the Israeli jet flew over the southern Lebanese town of Marjeyoun before making its way to the Beqa'a Valley near the Syrian border.

These mock raids by the Israeli Air Force mark the third time in the last 72 hours that they have conducted these flights over the Syrian-Lebanese border.

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker has said it's time for the EU to reconnect with Russia and stop "bashing" it, in surprising contrast to those in the West who have been piling blame and sanctions on Moscow.

Juncker spoke to an audience at a Brussels think tank event on EU reform. Though his statement had a few catches, the overall message was conciliatory.

"So we have to come back to, I wouldn't say normal relations with Russia, but there are so many areas, so many domains, where we can cooperate in a better way with research and innovation and others. Not forgetting what our differences and divergences are. But this Russia-bashing has to be brought to an end," he said.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has cost the US taxpayer a whopping $17 million to date and returned no evidence of collusion.

The investigation spent approximately $10 million between October 2017 and March this year, according to a Department of Justice report released Thursday. The department had previously spent $6.7 million between May 2017 and September 2017.

Of the latest $10 million reported, Mueller's office spent $2.7 million on salaries and benefits, just over $500,000 on travel expenses, and just under $30,000 on office supplies.

Hungary is a sovereign nation and will not allow the EU or George Soros to dictate who is allowed to come to the country, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told RT's Sophie Shevardnadze.

Speaking on RT's SophieCo program, Szijjarto said that billionaire philanthropist George Soros "and his network" are "totally against" the idea that "it is only us Hungarians who can make a decision whom we allow to come to Hungary." The Hungarian foreign minister said that Soros "wants to get rid of the phenomenon of nation-states."

Szijjarto told the program's host that Hungary is committed to building a "Christian democracy"and that it is Budapest's belief that "only strong member states can form a strong European Union."

Watch the full interview:

US neighbors Canada and Mexico have pledged to retaliate against new tariffs imposed by the White House on steel and aluminum. Officials from both countries accuse the US of protectionism.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Ottawa would take reprisals against the measure by imposing its own tariffs on US exports of steel, aluminum and other products.

According to the FM, the Canadian authorities are planning to slap dollar-for-dollar tariffs on the US with import taxes on steel, aluminum and such goods as whiskey, orange juice and other food products expected to be imposed.

Freeland added that the measures will cover some $13 billion in imports with the goods targeted being subject to tariffs of between 10 and 25 percent.

Julian Assange's right to asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London will only be honored if the WikiLeaks founder "respects the conditions" of political silence, President Lenin Moreno announced.

Ever since Lenin Moreno became the president of Ecuador last year, the liberties enjoyed by Julian Assange have been reduced due to the whistleblower's controversial "political activity." Over the last few months, Assange has seen bans on using the phone, the internet, and having visitors, after the 46-year-old spoke out against Britain's response to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, and following his repeated comments about Spain's dispute with Catalonia.

The Australian journalist, who has been holed up in the embassy since 2012, "continues being a problem," Moreno told DW Spanish. "But Ecuador will respect his right to asylum if Assange respects the margins."

Five votes from the minor Basque Nationalist Party are expected to swing a tightly-balanced no-confidence motion against Spain's center-right prime minister Mariano Rajoy, whose party has been caught up in a kickback scandal.

"Resign, Mr Rajoy. Your time is up," Pedro Sanchez, the leader of the opposition socialists PSOE, which initiated the motion, told Spain's parliament during a specially-scheduled debate on Thursday morning, before calling for "democratic renewal".

As Rajoy's People's Party (PP) holds only 134 out of 350 seats in the Congress of Deputies, the lower chamber of the Spanish parliament, the prime minister needs the support of others to survive Friday's vote, which requires a simple majority.

With the socialists, Catalan parties and upstart leftists Podemos on one side, and liberal Ciudadanos abstaining, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) is left as the kingmaker with its handful of representatives.

In part because my father was murdered by an Arab, I've made an effort to understand the impact of U.S. policy in the Mideast and particularly the factors that sometimes motivate bloodthirsty responses from the Islamic world against our country. As we focus on the rise of the Islamic State and search for the source of the savagery that took so many innocent lives in Paris and San Bernardino, we might want to look beyond the convenient explanations of religion and ideology. Instead we should examine the more complex rationales of history and oil - and how they often point the finger of blame back at our own shores.

America's unsavory record of violent interventions in Syria - little-known to the American people yet well-known to Syrians - sowed fertile ground for the violent Islamic jihadism that now complicates any effective response by our government to address the challenge of ISIL. So long as the American public and policymakers are unaware of this past, further interventions are likely only to compound the crisis. Secretary of State John Kerry this week announced a "provisional" ceasefire in Syria. But since U.S. leverage and prestige within Syria is minimal - and the ceasefire doesn't include key combatants such as Islamic State and al Nusra - it's bound to be a shaky truce at best. Similarly President Obama's stepped-up military intervention in Libya - U.S. airstrikes targeted an Islamic State training camp last week - is likely to strengthen rather than weaken the radicals. As the New York Times reported in a December 8, 2015, front-page story, Islamic State political leaders and strategic planners are working to provoke an American military intervention. They know from experience this will flood their ranks with volunteer fighters, drown the voices of moderation and unify the Islamic world against America.

To understand this dynamic, we need to look at history from the Syrians' perspective and particularly the seeds of the current conflict. Long before our 2003 occupation of Iraq triggered the Sunni uprising that has now morphed into the Islamic State, the CIA had nurtured violent jihadism as a Cold War weapon and freighted U.S./Syrian relationships with toxic baggage.