Moscow is supporting both countries (Syria and Iraq) in their proxy war against the ISIL which is supported by the US and its allies.

Until recently, the ISIS was known as Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). In 2014, it was renamed the Islamic State (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant).

Russia is Now Involved in the War on Terrorism

A major turning point in the dynamics of the Syria-Iraq war is unfolding. Russia is now directly involved in the counter-terrorism campaign in coordination with the Syrian and Iraqi governments.

by Garikai Chengu

Much like Al Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS) is made-in-the-USA, an instrument of terror designed to divide and conquer the oil-rich Middle East and to counter Iran’s growing influence in the region.

The fact that the United States has a long and torrid history of backing terrorist groups will surprise only those who watch the news and ignore history.

Lest we forget, the CIA gave birth to Osama Bin Laden and breastfed his organization during the 1980?s. Former British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, told the House of Commons that Al Qaeda was unquestionably a product of Western intelligence agencies. Mr. Cook explained that Al Qaeda, which literally means an abbreviation of “the database” in Arabic, was originally the computer database of the thousands of Islamist extremists, who were trained by the CIA and funded by the Saudis, in order to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan.

So it is alright for the CIA to train anti- Assad terrorists, but not for Russia to fight them on behalf of a democratically elected leader of a sovereign country?

How dare the Syrians elect a President whom a foreign nation – the US of A– wants to remove by it’s traditional ‘regime change’ approach for reasons of (US) ‘national security’ – what an outright BS! – It is no longer a secret that the PNAC (Plan for A New American Century) needs Syria to fall into equal disarray and chaos as did Iraq and Libya – and Sudan, Somalia, Central Africa; Lebanon and of course Iran – and on goes the list – for the ultimate goal: America’s absolute hegemony.

The UN General Assembly is the United Nations Organisation’s main consultative body and examines the principles for cooperation in ensuring international peace and security.

?The 70th anniversary of the United Nations is a good occasion to both take stock of history and talk about our common future.

THE VIDEO AND COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT OF PRESIDENT PUTIN’S ADDRESS?:

http://mycatbirdseat.com/2015/10/vladimir-putins-address-to-the-united...

Perhaps it is time to climb down off our ideological high horse and start respecting the vital interests of other sovereign nations, even as we protect and defend our own.

If America’s elites continue to assert their right to intervene in the internal affairs of nations, to make them conform to a U.S. ideal of what is a good society and legitimate government, then we are headed for endless conflict. And, one day, this will inevitably result in war, as more and more nations resist America’s moral imperialism.

Nations have a right to be themselves, Putin is saying.

If there was any doubt that Washington has learned absolutely nothing since George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, then President Obama’s address to the United Nations has confirmed the world’s worst fears. It was an oration that combined the most egregious lies with the wooly-minded “idealism” that has been such a destructive force in world affairs since the days of Woodrow Wilson.

Question: Were these US-funded Good Guys (in Syria) always Bad Guys in an ill-fitting disguise?

...the compromised presidential candidates will never gain the guts to set into motion a true America First foreign policy.

In order to fully understand the primal betrayal of genuine American interests, our society has to face the hard reality that the NeoCons and Zionist Israel-First fifth column that controls the bureaucracy of selective orthodox government is the enemy of our own people.

Standing with Israel is a primary reason for the demise of the American Republic.

Illustrating this point, the debate statement from Carly Fiorina, Crackpot Warmonger, exposes the utter absurdity of subordinating our true interests to a rogue regime designed to cause chaos as the meanings to achieve regional dominance.

“On Day One in the Oval Office, I will make two phone calls, the first to my good friend Bibi Netanyahu to reassure him we will stand with the state of Israel.”

Ending Syria’s horrific civil war is possible, but the political will to do so remains elusive.

Over the years the facts on the ground have changed in Syria – with the rise of the Islamic State being the deadliest new reality. But Washington and its regional allies remain focused on an illegal regime change in Damascus. The west is fighting the wrong war and will surely lose the peace.

US President Barack Obama is someone to almost pity. For he has the unenviable task of standing before the nations of the world and smugly spout endless falsehoods — as he did, yet again, during his address to the UN General Assembly.

Clandestine American-led interventions have fuelled the explosion in terror networks across the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Yet amid this American legacy of international violence, Obama was charged with painting a rose-tinted view of the world that was breath-taking in its distortion and absurdity.

The Russian state agency TASS is not given to speculating on the Kremlin leader’s activities. It is a ground rule set by Joseph Stalin when the agency was created in 1925. Therefore, we must accept as ‘breaking news’ the TASS’ Washington dateline report quoting ‘an informed source’ to the effect that a meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and US resident Barack Obama will take place next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session.

Obama will do well to cut his way through the neocon shibboleth and comprehend that Russia has been largely reactive – be it in Ukraine, Syria or Afghanistan or on missile defence and the global strategic stability – whereas, the US has trampled on Russia’s vital and legitimate interests and core concerns like a rogue elephant. Amends need to be made. For far too long, Obama chose to tread the trodden path set by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in the direction of ‘containment’ of Russia.

Things were going splendidly for Israel until Russia arrived on the scene as the great ‘spoiler’.

The first detailed Iranian commentary on the Russian military build-up in Syria appeared in a Fars news agency piece.

The Iranian interpretation runs counter to the story being spread by Israel and right-wing American propagandists that the Russian forces intend to join the war in Syria.

The Israeli media even claimed that the Russian intervention in Syria is in active collaboration with the so-called Quds Force of the IRGC. The Israeli disinformation aims to put pressure on the Barack Obama administration not to coordinate with Russia over Syria.

Last week, journalists Josh Rogin and Eli Lake published a piece at Bloomberg Businessweek explaining how the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC came to be defeated in the biggest fight in a generation. The story holds important truths. It’s essentially about the tough spot AIPAC was put in by the Obama administration’s hardball tactics to protect the achievement of the nuclear deal with Iran, hardly a surprise given the stakes at hand.

Cut the frills, leave out the unnecessary. Keep it simple, honest and uncompromising...

Give us a new bare-bones, stripped-back, “Dark Custom” Christianity

It’s the journey, not the destination

A million bikers with attitude could tear up the tarmac and thunder through Westminster and Washington to express civil society’s disgust… if they had a mind to.

To quote Harley : “Let’s ride. Grab life by the throttle!”

France has agreed to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Egypt, which were originally ordered by Russia.

"They agreed on the principle and the terms of the acquisition by Egypt of the two [ships]," the French President Francois Hollande’s spokesman told reporters in a statement on Wednesday.

The deal was agreed at a high-profile meeting between French and Egyptian delegations in Paris. The final decision was announced by the president’s office on Wednesday, though the cost of the deal has not been released.

Benjamin Netanyahu is to hold talks in New york this September. Under international law he should be arrested for war crimes upon arrival in the U.S for the massacre of over 2000 civilians in 2014.

PETITION SIGNATURES NEEDED BY OCTOBER 08, 2015 TO REACH GOAL OF 100,000

94,758

TOTAL SIGNATURES ON THIS PETITION

5,242

Why the huge difference between US and the Brits?

Last summer, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, a bloody war against Gaza that killed about 2,300 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom were civilians, including over 500 children. The attack also devastated Gaza’s infrastructure, and left about 500,000 people displaced or homeless. These war crimes and others, like Israel’s recent attack on the Freedom Flotilla, which sought to bring medical aid and solar panels to the Port of Gaza, have given rise to increased calls for Israel to be tried before the International Criminal Court.

The election of veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn to lead the Labour Party in the UK is a revolution by all means. In a party grassroots election, the 66-year-old outsider defeated a line-up of traditional Labour candidates.

Corbyn’s victory was a rejection of Tony Blair’s wing as much as it was a swing to the left. Blair, who came back from hibernation to campaign against Corbyn, was rebuffed by the rank and file of the Labour Party. Party membership didn’t forgive Blair’s disgraceful servitude role to George Bush and his Israeli fabricated “dossier” to sell the invasion of Iraq.

There is not a peaceful person among the Republican candidates. Even the female is heartless.

Here is Carla Fiorina at the debate describing the way she will lead us to Armageddon. She won’t talk to Putin, but she will send him “the message” via military threats:

“Having met Vladimir Putin, I wouldn’t talk to him at all. We’ve talked way too much to him. What I would do, immediately, is begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet, I would begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland, I would conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states. I’d probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany. Vladimir Putin would get the message. . . . Russia is a bad actor, but Vladimir Putin is someone we should not talk to, because the only way he will stop is to sense strength and resolve on the other side, and we have all of that within our control. We could rebuild the Sixth Fleet. I will. We haven’t. We could rebuild the missile defense program. We haven’t. I will.”

Probably the Mexicans!
http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/09/16/shocker-egyptian-army-slaughter-...

The Egyptian Ministry reported that militants affiliated with ISIL shot and killed the country's Interior Ministry brigade general overnight into Sunday in the North Sinai governorate.

With the exception of Rand Paul, the GOP field remained in thrall to a bankrupt neoconservative ideology.

If the candidates’ positions on foreign policy were anything to go by, the neocon outlook—which is in essence a frightened, xenophobic, reflexive militarism—continues to have a stranglehold on a Grand Old Party, which cannot seem to shake some Very Bad Ideas.

Of the 11 candidates who made it to prime time, only Senator Rand Paul made the feeblest attempt to defy the GOP’s orthodox militarism

What else is new? The Empire of Chaos specializes in breaking, not fixing.

The plight of the refugees could become the perfect excuse to precipitate a new R2P (responsibility to protect) war; Libya remixed, with fighting ISIL barely disguising the real agenda: regime change in Damascus.

So Europe has suddenly, miraculously “discovered” that the civil war/proxy war raging in Syria since early 2011 has hemorrhaged into an extremely serious refugee crisis.

European Sturm und Drang on what to do about the refugee drama is unprecedented in modern times. Bitterness permeates the fault lines separating fear and intolerance from generosity and solidarity.

Among quite a few progressive circles, there are widespread fears that the current Western media campaign centered on the plight of refugees may be a catalyst to prepare European-wide public opinion for an all-out war in Syria before the end of 2015.

Will the U.S. accept responsibility for the humanitarian consequences of Washington-manufactured wars?

It is perhaps past time for Washington to begin to become accountable for what it does.

The world media is following the refugee crisis by focusing primarily on the inability of unprepared local governments to deal with the numbers of migrants, asking why someone somewhere can’t just “do something.” This means that somehow, as a result, the vast human tragedy has been reduced to a statistic and, inevitably, a political football.

Germany alongside Russia might indeed defend and help preserve the Assad government, together with Iran the two stabilizing factors in the Middle East.

As a parallel or backup plan, the unholy alliance between Washington, NATO and Turkey agreed to open Turkey’s flood gates for refugees, actually promoting the exodus to gain free reign in the safe heavens and to build up a mass of refugees – most of whom want to flee to Germany – which in the right moment could be let go and cause the right pressure or destabilization effects in Europe. Well, this is just happening.

By allowing US F-16s to patrol the skies over Syria, Washington will impose a de facto no-fly zone over the country severely limiting Assad’s ability to battle the US-backed militias that have seized large swaths of the countryside and are now descending on Damascus.

The Syrian war can be divided into two parts: The pre-Incirlik period and the post-Incirlik period. The pre-Incirlik period is roughly the four year stretch during which US-backed Islamic militias and al Qaida-linked groups fought the Syrian army with the intention of removing President Bashar al Assad from power. This first phase of the war ended in a draw.

The advantage of an official White House petition is the promise of official recognition and response if the goal is met.

Bibi will come to the U.N. in NYC in late September. There is now a US petition calling for his arrest. We would greatly appreciate if you can publicize.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/netanyahu-hold-talks-new-yor...

The advantage of an official White House petition is the promise of official recognition and response if the goal is met.

Benjamin Netanyahu is to hold talks in New york this September. Under international law he should be arrested for war crimes upon arrival in the U.S for the massacre of over 2000 civilians in 2014

SIGNATURES NEEDED BY OCTOBER 08, 2015 TO REACH GOAL OF 100,000

97,141

TOTAL SIGNATURES ON THIS PETITION

2,859

There are still only 2800 or so signatures. Why the huge difference between us and the Brits? Are American activists so jaded or discouraged?

Bibi will come to the U.N. in NYC in late September. There is now a US petition calling for his arrest. We would greatly appreciate if you can publicize.

The advantage of an official White House petition is the promise of official recognition and response if the goal is met.

We will be watching Stephen Colbert to see where his comedy takes him next.

While awaiting the final congressional vote that will confirm that President Obama has defeated the Zionist juggernaut which spent millions to block the Iran Nuclear deal, we must pause to consider a major moment in entertainment television.

The entertainment news has to do with the CBS network arrival of Stephen Colbert, who last week succeeded David Letterman as host of The Late Show (11:30 EST).

Even there, alas, the Zionist juggernaut lurks. You will have to look closely to see it, but there was a fly in the ointment of the otherwise successful launch of the next chapter of Colbert’s career.

Supporters of the BDS movement were quick to identify the fly.

Iran has not been and is not intending to build a nuclear arsenal; but who can admit that fact – Obama, Clinton, Kerry?

Could we expect President Obama to confess that Iran’s nuclear ambitions to develop a bomb has been a politically motivated fictional narrative serving other purposes? Could he advocate the idea that replacing Israel with Iran would be the most “advantageous” step to pursue America’s true strategic interests in the Middle East? No, not in this lifetime!

Therefore, the hardline, even sounding like a born again-neoconservative, rhetoric by Hillary Clinton that the United States under her presidency would take an extremely hawkish position against any Iranian intransigence is as genuine a threat as threatening to nuke Iran if the Supreme Leader jumps over the moon!! Iran has not been and is not intending to build a nuclear arsenal; but who can admit that fact – Obama, Clinton, Kerry?

No one dares confront the existential question of whether the United States and the world can continue to tolerate and accommodate the neoconservatives.

Despite a record of unprecedented error, American neocons remain the dominant foreign policy force in Official Washington, demanding more “regime change” in the Middle East and a new Cold War that could heat up and end all life on the planet.

Incinerating humans whether in a gas chamber, military attack, by injecting petrol into the mouth or throwing a torch through a window all have one thing in common: burning is how racists manifest hate.

Five years ago at a stop during my book signing tour in San Diego, I met an adorable toddler named Farah.

She was being treated in the US for severe burns she received at the age of two.

Farah was one of thousands of civilians who were either injured or killed when Israel rained white phosphorus bombs on Gaza in 2008-2009.

The phosphorus that burned through Farah’s angelic flesh was American made and paid for by US taxpayers. Ironically, so was Farah’s treatment.

Last Sunday, mother of two Reham Dewabsha died from burn injuries.

With the proliferation of radical religious voices in the Arab world following the so-called ''Arab Spring'', many young Arabs have begun to proclaim their non-belief in God and openly express their scorn for religious ideology and discourse.

New Labour leader is smeared by panic-stricken Tories

There are high hopes that Corbyn, who is a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, vice-chair of CND and national chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, will eventually break Britain out of the cycle of servitude to US neo-con and Zionist diktats.

As expected, the Tory Dirty Tricks Department were ready and waiting to put the boot in. No sooner had news of Jeremy Corbyn’s amazing leadership victory, with nearly 60% of first-choice votes, trickled through than Conservative Central Office began emailing all and sundry with their ludicrous smears.

Factual evidence and science do not support Washington’s conspiracy theory.

The Neoconservatives were overjoyed by the arrival of the “New Pearl Harbor,” the necessary catalyst for launching their pre-planned wars.

“Welcome to our party, welcome to our movement. And I say to those returning to the party, who were in it before and felt disillusioned and went away: welcome back, welcome home.”

Labour leadership: Jeremy Corbyn elected with huge mandate

Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the British Labour party, in a stunning first-round victory that dwarfed even the mandate for Tony Blair in 1994.

Having been catapulted from a little-known member of parliament to leader of the opposition, he will now set about apologizing for the Iraq war and strongly opposing cuts to public services and welfare. He will start off on Saturday with a speech to a rally in London in support of refugees.

Softly spoken schoolgirl Mariam Malak has become an unlikely symbol of the fight against corruption in Egypt after scoring the sum total of zero in her final exams.

Punch-ups and arrests ahead of Netanyahu's visit to London

Protest rallies held over Israeli Policies ahead of Israeli PM’s visit to London

It will not be easy to rid the world of the grave dangers created by neocon policies.

The neocon prescription of endless “regime change” is spreading chaos across the Middle East and now into Europe, yet the neocons still control the mainstream U.S. narrative and thus have diagnosed the problem as not enough “regime change.”

The refugee chaos that is now pushing deep into Europe – dramatized by gut-wrenching photos of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey – started with the cavalier ambitions of American neocons and their liberal-interventionist sidekicks who planned to remake the Middle East and other parts of the world through “regime change.”

It will not be easy to rid the world of the grave dangers created by neocon policies.

The neocon prescription of endless “regime change” is spreading chaos across the Middle East and now into Europe, yet the neocons still control the mainstream U.S. narrative and thus have diagnosed the problem as not enough “regime change,”

The refugee chaos that is now pushing deep into Europe – dramatized by gut-wrenching photos of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey – started with the cavalier ambitions of American neocons and their liberal-interventionist sidekicks who planned to remake the Middle East and other parts of the world through “regime change.”

The importance for China of this coming Thursday’s parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII in the Asia-Pacific cannot be overstated enough.

The parade rolling past Tiananmen Square officially celebrates the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. This is an extremely serious – and sensitive – business for 1.4 billion Chinese and the Chinese diaspora all across the world.

And once again, the West – displaying trademark cultural/historical insensitivity – has blown it. Beijing is carefully scrutinizing the diplomatic ramifications of shows and no-shows. Symbolically, absences speak volumes.

President Vladimir Putin will be in Beijing, as well as leaders of the four Central Asian ‘stans’ that are part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

…we must fight sanctioned terrorism today.

What is left unmentioned and unrecognized in our collective psyche is the kind of terrorism that has been deliberately obfuscated: sanctioned terrorism or terrorism with a license – sanctions.

Shamelessly, even after sanctioned terrorism took the life of one million Iraqis, the UNSC licensed terrorism against Iran – sanctions, without any remorse for the lost lives of 1 million Iraqi victims of sanctioned terrorism and untold numbers or other victims across the globe.

The overall failure to identify and deliberately obfuscate this act of terrorism has enabled this premeditated act of terrorism to continue with impunity.The success of this deception is owed to controlling the narrative with complicity from the media.This has been so effective that even the victims of sanctioned terrorism fail to grasp that they are being subjected to terrorism.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says the Israeli regime has been founded and continues to survive on terrorism.

President Rouhani made the remark at an international conference commemorating the Iranian victims of terrorism in the capital, Tehran, on Monday.

“This regime (Tel Aviv) began its work on the basis of intimidation, terror and occupation, and is continuing [to move on] the same anti-human path today,” Rouhani said.

In his keynote speech, the president also referred to Takfiri groups, including Daesh, Taliban and Boko Haram, as other sources of terrorism in the region.

We’ve had it coming from the beginning.

And when it came, virtually the whole planet reacted with stunned silence. Sometimes it takes just a photograph to put a noxiously complex version of hell in perspective.

We’ve had it coming when the “we’re the new OPEC” Bush administration invaded, occupied and destroyed Iraq – creating the set-up for the establishment of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

We’ve had it coming when the Petraeus surge bribed Sunnis to half-heartedly fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq – which then took its time to reorganize in the heart of the desert, change its name to Islamic State and plot a comeback.

We’ve had it coming when NATO, enthusiastically “led” by London and Paris, and allied with hardcore Salafi-jihadis, set out to duly “liberate” Libya into a failed state run by militias.

Hope the Russians will bring peace to Syria and the refugees will return home.

Despite doubts and denials, Russia is about to embark on an ambitious expansion of its Syrian presence, likely to change the game in the war-torn country. Russia’s small and dated naval repair facility in Tartous will be enlarged, while Jableh near Latakia (Laodicea of old) will become the Russian Air Force base and a full-blown Russian Navy base in the Eastern Mediterranean, beyond the narrow Bosphorus straits. The jihadi multitudes besetting Damascus are likely to be beaten into obedience and compliance, and the government of President Assad relieved from danger and siege. The war with Da’esh (ISIS) is to provide the cover for this operation. This is the first report of this fateful development, based on confidential and usually reliable Russian sources in Moscow

Benjamin Netanyahu’s AIPAC-controlled U.S. minions lost their battle to destroy President Obama’s nuclear accord with Iran and the P1-5 world powers.

A final, crucial vote was announced when Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md) became the 34th Democratic Senator to support the carefully constructed firewall needed to sustain a Barack Obama veto.

One day later, Senator Cory A. Booker (D-NJ) padded Obama’s veto-proof party vote with his support of the accord. With Mikulski and Booker on board, Obama now has 35 Senators who will vote to defeat a Republican-backed resolution of disapproval.

Although there is no firm evidence that Iran ever had a nuclear weapons program, the agreement puts that country under the toughest type of inspections in the history of nuclear non-proliferation.

American critics are going all out to derail President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which also involves the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, France, China, and Russia — plus Germany. (This group is referred to as the “P5 + 1,” in which the U.S. has taken the lead in negotiating with Iran.)

Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian telecommunications tycoon, has offered to buy an island from Greece or Italy in order to provide a refuge for families fleeing violence in Syria and elsewhere.

“You have dozens of islands which are deserted and could accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees,” he told AFP, adding that the tens of millions required to buy the land would need to be increased dramatically to provide infrastructure.

This document is meant for all those interested in the lead up and current events surrounding the war in Syria and the creation of the Islamic State (ISIS).

Below is a timeline ranging from 1992-2015 with related articles to the war in Syria, ISIS and geopolitical events that tie them all together. Purposely the author of this document provides No commentary.

You will notice that each citation is met with origin of the article, date published and key quotations. Also, the author attempted to find sources that many “Westerners” would consider “mainstream”, with the exception of a few. Lastly, at the end of the timeline, one can find longer articles and videos that the reader can dive into if interested.

In a blatant attempt to terrorize the media and the population of Egypt, the US-backed junta of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sentenced Al Jazeera journalists to three-year jail terms on trumped-up charges of aiding deposed President Mohamed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Sisi toppled Mursi in a bloody July 2013 coup, shooting thousands of unarmed people in the streets of Egypt.

Italian energy group Eni says it has found one of the world's largest natural gas fields off Egypt's coast.

The company said the area was 1,450m (4,757 feet) beneath the surface and covered 100 sq km (60 sq miles).

It could hold as much as 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, or 5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Eni said.

The company says that the Zohr field "could become one of the world's largest natural-gas finds" and help meet Egypt's gas needs for decades.

Russia and Egypt support the creation of a broad anti-terrorist coalition, which would include Syria, to fight Islamic State militants, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a joint media conference with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel el-Sisi.

“We underline the fundamental importance of the formation of a broad anti-terrorist front involving key international players and regional countries, including Syria,” Putin said on Wednesday.

He also announced plans to increase grain deliveries to Egypt. Plans for Russia to participate in the developing of Egypt’s grain infrastructure were also discussed by the heads of state.

Grain deliveries from Russia to Egypt amounted to 4 million tons in 2014, which is 40% of Egypt’s total demand, Putin noted. In 2014, there was an 86% increase in bilateral trade compared to 2013, reaching $5.5 billion.

Residents on social media reported hearing the blast from multiple locations.

Residents in Cairo reported early Thursday morning local time that a huge blast had echoed across the city’s neighborhoods.

Egyptian security officials said the explosion was heard near a state security building and courthouse and may have caused casualites, according to Reuters.

When the US embarks on perennial quantitative easing, that’s OK. When the EU does QE as well, that’s OK. But when the Bank of China decides it’s in the best interest of the nation to let the yuan go down a bit instead of infinitely up, that’s Armageddon.

An internationalized yuan established as a global reserve currency implies a "market-determined" exchange rate policy.

It took the Bank of China to devaluate the yuan on two consecutive days — moving within the 2 percent band that it’s allowed to — for the proverbial global financial banshees to go completely bonkers.

Forget the hysteria. The heart of the matter is that Beijing has stepped on the gas in a quite complex long game; to liberalize the yuan exchange rate; allow it to free float against the US dollar; and establish the yuan as a global reserve currency.

The petition, filed on the U.K. parliament petition website, was apparently inspired by an upcoming visit to London by Netanyahu for meetings with the government.

Thousands of U.K. residents have signed a petitiondemanding the arrest of Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu for his war crimes against Gaza during last summer’s brutal offensive.

Given the large scale of support and attention, the U.K. government may be forced to publicly respond in the near future.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday officially signed into law sweeping new "anti-terrorism" legislation that dramatically expands his powers to impose the death penalty, crack down on dissent, and stamp out journalism that the government deems to be "false."

Egyptian journalists and rights advocates are warning of "dark days" ahead for the country after President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi approved new counter-terrorism laws on 16 August. Others, however, have praised the laws, saying they will deter terrorism.

The legislation is aimed at cracking down on jihadist insurgency in the country, and includes fines of up to $64,000 (£41,000) for journalists who contradict official reports on terrorist attacks.

The laws also offer additional protection for police and military officers who use force.

Benjamin Netanyahu is laying siege to the Congress of the United States, not for the first time. He has thrown his voice and channeled his influence into the arena of American legislative politics, to abort the P5+1 nuclear settlement with Iran, which was signed on July 14 by the US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia. The Israeli strong man’s latest intervention is in keeping with the rest of his political career. Netanyahu owes all his importance and his success to actions that have been purely destructive.

President Obama's singular achievement is the effort he has pursued to break the stranglehold the Zionist and NeoCons have exerted over American policy.

“Top diplomats from Russia and China joined a rare meeting of world powers’ envoys on Capitol Hill this week with roughly 30 Senate Democrats to tamp down concerns over the nuclear agreement.

“The prospect of the rejection of a deal makes us nervous,” Philipp Ackermann, the acting German ambassador to the United States, said Thursday. “It would be a nightmare for every European country if this is rejected.”

MikisTheodorakis, the Greek world famous music composer and Resistance figure, called upon the Greek people – and the peoples of the world – to respect Democracy – the very Democracy, born in Greece some 2500 years ago and given to the world as a set of values for respect for each other, for humanity – for equal rights and for free expression.

He referred in particular to the Greek referendum in which the Greek people on 5 July 2015 voted with an overwhelming 61% against the continuation of the economic and financial strangulation of Greece by the infamous troika – the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Commission (EC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In the whole modern history of Europe, there was not such a shameful surrender, or even treason. ‘Alexis Tsipras’ is a Greek translation of ‘Vidkun Quisling’ or of ‘Maréchal Pétain’.

After the Syriza debacle of Greece, there is a very little trust for left-wing rhetoric. In the whole modern history of Europe, there was not such a shameful surrender, or even treason. ‘Alexis Tsipras’ is a Greek translation of ‘Vidkun Quisling’ or of ‘Maréchal Pétain’. The man received the full support of his people, and chickened out. (The first step of Syriza after the fiasco was to enter into military cooperation with Israel.) Now only the far-right Golden Dawn speaks loudly against surrender to the bankers, but this is a party in opposition, and it risks nothing by speaking out.

Once we defeat the Israeli-directed attempt to derail the Iran deal in Congress we can safely go out into the streets declaiming: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we’re free at last!

The Iran deal is a turning point in US foreign policy, and its approval by Congress will represent a sea change in American politics: it will mark nothing less than a day of liberation which future generations might dub “VI Day” – victory over Israel day.

The signing of the Iran deal, and its probable approval by Congress – it doesn’t look like the War Party has the votes to overturn it – heralds the victory of the countercoup, i.e. the overthrow of the Lobby’s stranglehold and the eventual restoration of a pro-American foreign policy. This was evident in practically every line of President Obama’s recent speech at American University, and the text deserves closer examination than it has so far gotten.

The Iran deal is a turning point in US foreign policy, and its approval by Congress will represent a sea change in American politics: it will mark nothing less than a day of liberation which future generations might dub “VI Day” – victory over Israel day.

The signing of the Iran deal, and its probable approval by Congress – it doesn’t look like the War Party has the votes to overturn it – heralds the victory of the countercoup, i.e. the overthrow of the Lobby’s stranglehold and the eventual restoration of a pro-American foreign policy. This was evident in practically every line of President Obama’s recent speech at American University, and the text deserves closer examination than it has so far gotten.

May a story like Mohammad Ali’s, of which there are surely countless others not known to the common citizen at large – bring back compassion, solidarity and consideration for our brothers and sisters at large into the mindset of peoples’ values of our western society --

Mohammad Ali’s destiny is not known, but he is on a positive track – and more importantly he is in good and caring hands. May he be testimony and symbol throughout Europe and the rest of the world for Greece’s compassion for refugees and their fate, for Greece’s generosity and thriving sense of solidarity – a sense of kindness that has been gravely devastated in the rest of the western world!

Should Congress prevail in undermining “this strong, principled policy diplomacy”, we would have reached a shameful moment in U.S. foreign policy.

While President Barack Obama was speaking about the people’s business, and his Kennedy-like preference for diplomacy over war, freshman members of the U.S. House of Representatives were either 5,000 plus miles away in Israel, or preparing to go there to be feted and educated by a foreign power which opposes the nuclear agreement the U.S. has reached with Iran and major European powers.

Democratic freshman congress members who may or may not have heard the Obama speech, are traveling in Israel (all expenses paid) courtesy of an educational nonprofit “affiliated with” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the American Israel Education Foundation, AIPAC’s charitable arm.

What “affiliated with” means is that AIPAC runs the trip while its “education foundation” pays the bills.

Speaking in Cairo on Sunday, Secretary of State John Kerry reassured Egyptian officials that the country's human rights abuses will not get in the way of further boosts to U.S. aid, arms, and military "cooperation." "Egypt remains vital ... to engagement and stability in the region as a whole," said Kerry at joint appearance with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri following a weekend of bilateral talks. "There are obviously circumstances where we have found reason to have grave concern and we have expressed it very publicly, but we have multiple issues that we need to work on simultaneously."

Russia and China finally caught on. It is amazing that the governments of the two countries that Washington regards as "threats" were so tolerant of foreign-financed NGOs for so long.

Americans need to understand that the biggest threat to them resides entirely in the crazed neoconservative ideology of Washington’s hegemony over the world and over the American people, Paul Craig Roberts believes.

It took two decades for Russia and China to understand that “pro-democracy” and “human rights” organizations operating within their countries were subversive organizations funded by the US Department of State and a collection of private American foundations organized by Washington. The real purpose of these non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is to advance Washington’s hegemony by destabilizing the two countries capable of resisting US hegemony.

Egypt has decided to extend its participation in the Saudi aggression against Yemen for another six months.

The retrial of three Al Jazeera journalists has been adjourned for a tenth time in Egypt.

The court in Cairo said on Sunday that a verdict in the case would now be delivered on August 29.

The rulers of the two most powerful authoritarian regimes in the Middle East are launching major wars to reconfigure the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared war by proxy on Iran, announcing full-scale military mobilization within Israel (July 27 -29) and organizing the biggest political campaign of ultra Zionist Jews in Washington. The purpose of this two-pronged propaganda blitz is to defeat the recently signed US-Iranian agreement and start another major Middle East war.

At the same time, Turkish Prime Minister Erodogan has launched a major war against the Kurdish people and their aspirations for a Kurdish state. T

Whenever you stay in any hotel in Latin America, which does not “play” RT, PressTV, CCTV, TeleSUR, be a pest; demand! Nag, nag, and nag!

Mighty new television networks based in South America, Russia, China and Iran are locked in what could only be described as an epic battle against the omnipresent Western propaganda and indoctrination networks.Their programs can be seen all over the globe, and they have been dramatically changing the lives of millions in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, even in some hubs of the Empire itself, like New York and London.

Dear Reader, this is as far as we have fallen since the ascent of neoliberalism in the last twenty-some years. No ethics, no moral, no law, just coercion for greed and ultimate hegemony – enslavement of the people while and after they are lulled and dulled with lies 24/7.

According to UNHCR about 50 million refugees are on the move every day on our globe. This is most likely an understatement, as this figure doesn’t take into account what takes place in the almost hermetically closed-off Central Africa, Congo, Zaïre, where western corporations are exploiting for a pittance and with millions of slaves precious metals, uranium, hydrocarbons and rare earths – and where millions have died over the past ten years, by butcher regimes supported and armed by the west – and where millions are on the run.

The real figure of refugees on the run is easily 60 to 65 million;

As much of the Middle East sinks deeper into division between competing political camps, the so-called ‘Islamic State’ (‘IS’) continues its unhindered march towards a twisted version of a Muslim caliphate. Many thousands have lost their lives, some in the most torturous ways, so that ‘IS’ may realize its nightmarish dream.

Of course, violence meted out by ‘IS’ is hardly an anomaly, considering that the group was spawned in a predominantly violent environment. It is difficult to imagine, for example, that, if the Syrian regime and its opposition had sought a political solution from the early days of the uprising, ‘IS’ would have found a stable foothold for itself in Syria.