The direct costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars thus far are nearly five trillion dollars. The indirect costs are virtually incalculable.

I am feeling much better today, and it is indeed back to filing reports at this blog....I am continuing to watch the events unfold in Syria, and especially the fight for eastern Aleppo city... It is a fact that the US so called "moderate" rebels and the other fraud mercenaries are indeed holed up in what is an ever contracting area of eastern Aleppo.... It will indeed only be a matter of time now before the entire rotting bunch of criminals will have to surrender to the Syrian army and their allies...

Pesticide Action Network International details health and environmental damage from glyphosate herbicides

OffGuardian | October 11, 2016 The House of Commons is set to have an “emergency debate” on the declaration of a no-fly zone over Syria, specifically to “defend Aleppo from Russia”. The debate, called by Andrew Mitchell, will be over whether or not NATO planes should confront, and attack, Russian jets. Speaking on the BBC’s […]

Exclusive: The American people are receiving a highly distorted view of the Syrian war – much propaganda, little truth – including from one of the moderators at the second presidential debate, writes Robert Parry. By Robert Parry How ABC News’…Read more →

RT | October 11, 2016 UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has used his debut at the House of Commons dispatch box to accuse Russia of bombing an aid convoy in Aleppo, and asked why anti-war activists have not mounted protests outside the Russian Embassy in London. “Where is the Stop The War coalition at the […]

Exclusive: As U.S. politicians and pundits have fun talking tough about Russia and demonizing President Putin, they are missing signs that Moscow isn’t amused and is preparing for actual conflict, writes ex-CIA analyst  Ray McGovern. By Ray McGovern During the…Read more →

Neil Young singing to the junkies for oil. He's seen the needle and the damage done.by Gaius PubliusThe oil train dominoes are falling. Seems no one touched by oil at the transport end wants any part of it. Pipelines leak, 100- and 200-car trains blow up and burn, and fracking destroys health, lives and ground water.The key in all of these battles is local control, exercised by the very people in place to be the suffering recipients of all the damage done. Tony Bizjak writing at the Sacramento Bee (my emphasis):

Zuma, left, and Kenyatta presided over the signing of six essential MoUs [Xinhua]
Kenya and South Africa on Tuesday agreed to remove any hurdles and barriers to boost trade between them.
South African President Jacob Zuma arrived in the Kenyan capital Nairobi earlier Tuesday on a state visit he hopes will strengthen economic, political, cultural and social ties in several sectors such as agriculture, tourism and infrastructure and investment.

Scorpio holds the dubious distinction of being the first film to be allowed to shoot at the CIA headquarters in Langley. Since then the likes of Patriot Games and Argo are among a very small number to have been granted that privilege.

By Steven Chovanec | Reports From The Underground | October 6, 2016 The United States is manipulating humanitarian concern in an effort to protect its proxy militias and its imperial regime-change project in Syria. The media and intellectual classes are dutifully falling in line, promoting a narrative of military aggression under the cover of “protecting […]

There’s an ongoing humanitarian disaster happening in one of the poorest countries on earth — Yemen. Yet you won’t hear much outrage about it from the media, and you won’t hear moderators asking questions about it during the debates. Why? Because close U.S. government ally and Clinton Foundation mega-donor Saudi Arabia is the one committing the atrocities, with American made weapons and assistance.
Reuters reports:

The decision comes a day after Russian media reported that Egypt is in talks to allow Russia use of military bases across the country.

By Mark Taliano | American Herald Tribune | October 11, 2016 The West keeps all of its mercenary terrorists, including its “A -Team”— al Qaeda and ISIS – well equipped with sophisticated weaponry. In 2014, for example, when Lebanese and Libyan terrorists captured the world-renowned Krak des Chevaliers, a UNESCO world heritage site, the Syrian […]

The base is Russia’s only naval base in the Mediterranean.

21st Century Wire says…

The war in Afghanistan is ready to enter its 16th year (if it was a kid it’s be ready to start driving) and by most definitions is pretty much a bust.
Despite that, both mainstream candidates have made it clear in public statements they intend to continue pouring money – and lives – into that suppurating sore of American foreign policy. Despite that, there has been no mention of the war in two debates.

15 years after NATO's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the 9/11 and Al Qaeda lies that were used to justify the war have disappeared. Now the truth about oil and gas, mineral wealth, opium and naked imperial ambition are all that remain.

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Among the NATO allies decrying “war crimes” in Syria, France is taking a lead role in the chorus denouncing Russia. The latest outburst comes from French President Francois Hollande who says he wants Russia charged with war crimes at the International Criminal Court.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 9 out of 10 people are currently breathing in toxic air.

Fact-checking Trump is a bizarre task since nothing he says is especially grounded in objective reality. Every utterance is a negotiating ploy. Nothing is true in the way normal people define "true." During the debate Sunday night, Jesse Williams, a former school teacher best know for his acting role as Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey's Anatomy, tweeted that "Trump is the king of empty sentences. No actual information.

Exclusive: One of Donald Trump’s most dangerous lies is his claim about Russia surging ahead of the U.S. on nuclear weapons, a Cold War-style assertion of a nuke “gap” that goes unchallenged, writes Jonathan Marshall. By Jonathan Marshall “The country has never had…Read more →

While most teenagers bemoan the appearance of the red spots on their faces, a new study has emerged suggesting that these unsightly skin legions might actually be good for you.
Kings College London conducted research revealing that teens who are prone to acne actually have younger looking skin as they age, as compared to their peers with perfect complexions. Those with acne will delay the onset of wrinkles as well as thinning skin, which causes the appearance of aging.

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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
British writers on peace and war
Alexander Pope: Peace o’er the world her olive wand extend

In the strangest election year in recent American history -- one in which the Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson couldn’t even conjure up the name of a foreign leader he “admired” while Donald Trump remained intent on building his “fat, beautiful wall” and “

5/5 (21) Sometimes I have to marvel at the utter insanity of today's western corporate "scientism" culture. A brief review is necessary. First we…
The post THE GMO SCRAPBOOK: NOT TO WORRY! WE HAVE ROBOBEES! appeared first on Giza Death Star.

Putin Meeting with Deputy Crown Prince, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Defence Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud in Sochi, Russia on 11 October 2015. Russian and Saudi officials have been meeting a number of times to discuss the oil glut and other regional issues [PPIO]
Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Monday announced that his country is ready to back a Saudi Arabian plan to curb oil production output in a bid to raise subdued oil prices.

Lies, the examination thereof, may well lead the people of the world to the right choices. After almost four years of independent analysis of PR, politics and media in the current catastrophic atmosphere, this is the only hopeful conclusion to come to. News the western mainstream is losing credibility before the people is one highlight, but a lot more meaningful evidence is there to be gleaned. Here are some key takeaways the normal person can get hold of.

October 11, 2016 (LD) - Journalism 101 - if one makes a mistake in an article, they must make the appropriate changes and note them in an "editor's note" or equivalent. Just like a security guard standing watch and keeping a logbook at a U-Store-It, journalists are writing the world's daily record.

Addressing a DiEM25-Another Europe event held at the LSE on Saturday 8th October 2016 For the complete transcript of the speech… Before the referendum DiEM25, our Democracy in Europe Movement, and Another Europe Is Possible, joined forces to argue the … Continue reading →

With the collapse of the US-Russian ceasefire agreement and the resumption and escalation of the massive Russian bombing campaign in Aleppo, the frustration of hawks in Washington over the failure of the Obama administration to use American military power in Syria has risen to new heights.  But the administration’s inability to do anything about Russian […]

President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his most powerful speech as he left office in 1961. He warned the American people about an emerging military-industrial complex, a complex that was already beginning to erode democratic rule in America. Originally, Ike had Congress as a collaborator with and enabler of that Complex, but he deleted the reference […]

This is starting to sound pretty ominous. The Washington War Party is coming unhinged and appears to be leaving no stone unturned when it comes to provoking Putin’s Russia and numerous others. The recent collapse of cooperation in Syria – based on the false claim that Assad and his Russian allies are waging genocide in […]
The post The Truth About the War in Aleppo appeared first on Antiwar.com Original.

While the US has suspended co-operation in bi-lateral channels with Russia over Syria and that it has explicitly threatened it with more “body bags”, the underlying and unstated objective of this frenzied behaviour and a sustained media and propagandist vilifying-campaign is to create a distraction a

21st Century Wire says…

The public are being sucked into the militarist mindset that Russia is the belligerent party, when all evidence points to an American Reich.
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SARTRE
21st Century Wire
Every day the world moves closer to a nuclear winter. The finger on the trigger presses upon the button and only a slight movement will launch unthinkable destruction.

It finally happened! According to Bloomberg, Stephanie Ross DeSimone, a US Citizen, has sued the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in connection with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that led to the death of her husband. As reported, her husband served in the US Navy and was killed in the crash of one of the planes that was hijacked by terrorists and directed at the Pentagon.

4.67/5 (15) With all the bruhaha over Mr. Trump's locker room tape, I received this article from a reader here, written by a teacher:…
The post TIDBIT: LOCKEROOM VS. TEACHER appeared first on Giza Death Star.

-by NoahThere’s a lot of discussion going on today about Sunday night’s "debate"; the horror that is going down in history under the name of "The Stalker Debate": The "debate" between presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and whatever that belligerent, sniffing, bloated orange thing is that the Republican Party is valiantly trying to ram down the throat of America.Rather than write about the "debate" like everybody else, I am choosing to zero in on just one aspect of the coverage of that "debate," namely the complete nuthouse that is Rupert Murdoch’s Fox "News" and one show in particular.

Shi'ite pilgrims are gathering in Karbala for Ashura observances.
The post 82 Killed as Shi’ite Pilgrims Gather in Iraq appeared first on Antiwar.com Original.

Le Cercle des Volontaires a pu s’entretenir au cours du mois de juillet avec le Docteur Elias Lahham, chirurgien des Hôpitaux de Damas, qui effectuait une visite de trois semaines en France. Au début de cet entretien, nous lui avons demandé les raisons de sa venue en France.

TweetDr. Corsi’s new article about the crimes committed in Libya by Clinton’s Al Qaeda mercenaries.. with a video (2nd video) of our interview of the Libyan family whose son is in the first video. This was during Clinton’s 2011 attack on Libya. You will hear Jimmy and me speaking, the family speaking and the translators speaking.
** WARNING: The first video (in the article) is VERY GRAPHIC

“Any real journalism concerning the White Helmets – as also applies to the entire Syria situation – isn’t available in mainstream media or newspapers.”

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21st Century Wire says…
They were tipped for a Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today, but despite the multi-million dollar PR campaign run 24/7 through US and UK media outlets over the last month, the western-funded ‘NGO’ known as The White Helmets came up short. 
On the eve of the award ceremony in Norway, CrossTalk host Peter Lavelle posed a fundamental question:

by Alan Longhurst
Because the climate change science community habitually concentrates attention on surface data from a very short recent period – nominally a little more than 100 years – it would be very interesting to know how the pattern habitually derived from these data compares with longer data archives that have been processed independently by the observing nations.

    With Syria locked in a statement while Russia-US relations spiral downward, which party in this conflict is the barrier to peace and what needs to happen next? CrossTalking