In an age when stealth is the game-changing capability everyone aspires to achieve, Russia's top-of-the-line air defense systems, the S-400 and the S-500, will receive an upgrade that will allow them to hide from enemy satellites, spy planes and radars, Izvestiya newspaper reported, citing an anonymous source in the Russian Defense Ministry.

The S-400 Triumf with the NATO designation SA-21 Growler and the S-500 Prometey, also known as the 55R6M Triumfator-M, will become undetectable thanks to a special container that will also be used to shield mobile command centers, air defense systems, radar stations and other hardware with complex electronic equipment.

"We plan to receive containers designed for the S-500 and other cutting-edge air- and missile-defense systems among other things this year," the source, who is involved in creating electronic warfare systems, said.

The surprise combat readiness inspection of the command and control organizations and arsenals of the Russian Armed Forces that was announced on Tuesday by the decision of the Russian president will affect all the military districts of the country, the Russian Defense Ministry press service reported.

"Officers of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces at 07:00 am on June 14, 2016, informed the commanders of the Eastern, Central, Southern and Western military districts of the order of the General Staff Chief to start an inspection of the military districts' command and control organizations with deployment of the field command posts, as well as of a number of military units and certain military equipment storage bases," the report says.

In the wake of yet another terrorist attack, a former CIA counterterrorism agent has shared her insight into what causes such tragic, intentional carnage. Amaryllis Fox spoke for the first time publicly with Al Jazeera Plus (AJ+) about terrorism, misguided narratives on why it happens, and the underlying motivators driving it — ultimately urging Americans and those in power to adopt a different approach in comabating the ongoing violence.

"If I learned one lesson from my time with the CIA, it is this: everybody believes they are the good guy," says Fox, who is currently "in the process of getting her CIA cover rolled back," AJ+ reports. She is now a peace activist and runs Mulu, "an e-commerce company supporting at-risk communities around the world."

Kurdish fighters allegedly backed by the US, have crossed the Euphrates River in Syria and have moved against fighters from the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (ISIS) holding the city of Manbij. The city is about 20 miles from Jarabulus, another Syrian city located right on the Syrian-Turkish border. Jarabulus too is held by ISIS.

The initial push toward Manbij came from the Tishrin Dam in the south, however, another front was opened up and is hooking around the city's north - successfully cutting off the city and its ISIS defenders from roads leading to the Turkish border - including Route 216 running between Manbij and Jarabulus.

Planning an assault on an urban center requires that an attacking force cut off city defenders from their logistical routes. Doing so prevents the enemy from fleeing and regrouping, but also diminishes the enemy's fighting capacity during the assault. It is clear that the fighters moving in on ISIS in Manbij have determined that Jarabulus and Turkey just beyond the border, constitutes the source of ISIS' fighting capacity.

An FBI report shows that only a small percentage of terrorist attacks carried out on U.S. soil between 1980 and 2005 were perpetrated by Muslims.

Princeton University's Loon Watch compiled the following chart from the FBI's data:
Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Soil by Group, From 1980 to 2005, According to FBI Database

According to this data, there were more Jewish acts of terrorism within the United States than Islamic (7% vs 6%). These radical Jews committed acts of terrorism in the name of their religion. These were not terrorists who happened to be Jews; rather, they were extremist Jews who committed acts of terrorism based on their religious passions, just like Al-Qaeda and company.

(Loon Watch also notes thatless than 1% of terror attacks in Europe were carried out by Muslims.)

It is now confirmed that in addition to two investigations and two interviews, Florida terror suspect Omar Mateen was also approached by "informants" working for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over a period of 10 months.

New York Daily News in their article, "FBI spied on Orlando gay club terrorist Omar Mateen for 10 months in 2013: FBI Director James Comey," would admit (emphasis added):

Mateen first appeared on authorities' radar in 2013 after the security guard's colleagues alerted the FBI to inflammatory statements he made to colleagues claiming "family connections to Al Qaeda," according to Comey.

Mateen also told coworkers he had a family member who belonged to Hezbollah, a Shia network that is a bitter enemy of ISIS — the network he pledged allegiance to the night of the carnage, Comey noted.

The FBI's Miami office opened an inquiry into Mateen.

"He said he hoped that law enforcement would raid his apartment and assault his wife and child so he could martyr himself," Comey said.

Nevertheless, FBI investigators investigated Mateen, who was born in New York, for 10 months. They introduced him to confidential informants, spied on his communications and followed him. They also interviewed him twice.

Here are some newsbites I think may be relevant when analyzing the recent shooting in Orlando, culled from RT's live coverage. First, the FBI is saying the suspect, Mateen, made a total of three calls to 911, but Orlando PD is refusing to release the calls:

The Orlando attacker made two 911 calls and the dispatcher then called him back, for a total of three calls, FBI director James Comey told reporters Monday.

In the course of the calls, the attacker said he was doing this for Islamic State, but also mentioned the Boston Marathon bombers and a US citizen who became a suicide bomber for the Al-Nusra Front in Syria, leaving "some confusion about the motives," Comey said.
...
Orlando Police Department has declined to release the recordings or transcripts of the 911 calls involving the attacker, citing the ongoing criminal investigation. Several news outlets have reported on three 911 calls between Omar Mateen and a dispatcher, in which he pledged allegiance to Islamic State and brought up the Boston Marathon bombers, and a US suicide bomber for the Al-Nusra Front in Syria. The reports cited unnamed law enforcement sources, and have received no official confirmation.

So, not only was what he alleged to have said inconclusive when it comes to a clear motive, we can't even verify for ourselves that he said any of these things, that it was really his voice, or anything else. Was Comey's statement a valid verification of the content of the calls (in which case, why should we even trust him?), or him simply rolling with the "anonymous source" propaganda? Don't hold your breath, because you'll likely never know. That's American transparency and openness for you.

The attitude of NATO countries toward the planned deployment of troops in the Baltic States is far from united. There is a fierce debate going on in the alliance, with the United States literally struggling to coerce European states to strengthen military presence in the east, German magazine Focus Online wrote.

NATO is currently carrying out one of the biggest military maneuvers since the Cold War. The Anaconda War Games, viewed as a response to alleged "Russian aggression," are taking place in Poland and involve over 30,000 NATO troops.

Estonian activist Dmitry Linter is confident that the purpose of the statements about "possible Russian aggression" against the Baltic States is to create hysteria against Russia.

"This pressure is aimed at obtaining military budgets, creating a zone of instability around Russia and undermining the relations between Russia and the European Union," Linter told Russian newspaper Vzglyad.

In fact, there are very few people who believe that Russia is planning to attack the Baltics, Linter continued.

"Basically it is a political move, driven by the need to create a simulation that Russia constitutes a threat and that the Baltic countries could be forced to give up their independence," he stressed.

Senator Elizabeth Warren did not have a good weekend. After endorsing Hillary Clinton for President on Thursday, Warren was ridiculed by columnist Maureen Dowd in the New York Times on Sunday for previously portraying Clinton as a shill for big money interests while now vowing to jump into the ring to get Clinton elected to the highest office in the land. In a 2003 book, The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke, co-authored by Warren and her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, the pair wrote that "Clinton had taken $140,000 in campaign contributions from the banking industry" and then sold out single mothers by voting in favor of a bankruptcy bill that Clinton had previously called "that awful bill." Warren also addressed Clinton's claim that she had worked to improve the bill by 2001 when she voted in favor of it. In a footnote in the book, Warren wrote:

"...the bill would permit credit card companies to compete with women after bankruptcy for their ex-husbands' limited income, and this provision remained unchanged in the 1998 and 2001 versions of the bill. Senator Clinton claimed that the bill improved circumstances for single mothers, but her view was not shared by any women's groups or consumer groups."

Warren was also roundly thrashed by Seth Mandel in the New York Post. Mandel wrote:

"What's so ironic about this is that if Goldman Sachs, as an institution, were to somehow take human form and run for political office, it would be — hell, it is — Hillary Clinton...Warren can back whomever she pleases. But let's not pretend Hillary Clinton is anything other than the manifestation of everything Warren claims to be fighting against."

Recent bloodbath looks almost identical to FBI-staged entrapment cases in 2015.

A horrific mass shooting unfolded in Florida claiming the lives of at least 52 with scores more injured. The British Independent would report in its article, "Omar Mateen: Orlando gay club gunman identified by police," that:

Police have identified the gunman in the mass shooting at a gay club in Florida as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, an American citizen whose parents are from Afghanistan.

Authorities in Orlando said they were investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism, as the death toll rose to 50 with a further 53 wounded.

At face value - it appears to be another senseless tragedy perpetrated by a "terrorist" inspired by militant groups the US claims to have been fighting for now nearly two decades. However the Independent reports another fact further down in the body of its article, claiming that:

ABC News reported he had been on police's "radar", though not subject to an investigation.

If this sounds like a familiar narrative, that's because virtually every high-profile "terrorist attack" carried out in North America and Europe in recent years has been done so by suspects long under investigation by US, Canadian, and European law enforcement and intelligence agencies.