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It would have been bad enough for Washington if Moscow had simply intervened in Syria and left it to the media to speculate and report on the progress made by Iranian ground troops operating under the cover of Russian airstrikes. But subtlety isn’t really Putin’s style and besides, the conflict in Syria represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to lay bare the West’s deplorable strategy of funding and arming extremists on the way to destabilizing recalcitrant regimes. ... We are of course not attempting to trivialize the death of Joshua Wheeler by writing this off as some kind of...

I am wearing my asbestos underwear for this one.

Once it became clear that Moscow and Tehran had jointly planned the incursion in Syria with Russia promising full air support and Iran pledging ground troops from Hezbollah, its various Shiite militias, and the IRGC, we immediately suggested that Iraq was next on the agenda after the Assad regime is restored. For those unfamiliar with the situation on the ground, we encourage you to read “Who Really Controls Iraq? Inside Iran's Powerful Proxy Armies,” in which we outline the extent to which Tehran effectively controls both the Iraqi military and the politicians in Baghdad.The US allows this because i) there’s...

Tyler Durden 10/22/2015 Submitted by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog, Whenever we at the Automatic Earth explain, as we must have done at least a hundred times in our existence, that, and why, we refuse to define inflation and deflation as rising or falling prices (only), we always get a lot of comments and reactions implying that people either don’t understand why, or they think it’s silly to use a definition that nobody else seems to use. -More or less- recent events, though, show us once more why we’re right to insist on inflation being defined in...

U.S. President Barack Obama tried to convince the King of Saudi Arabia to coordinate actions in the oil market to reduce world oil prices, the main source of Russia's export revenues, and "punish its behavior" in Crimea. Experts estimate that if the prices are reduced by as little as 12 dollars per barrel, the Russian Federation will lose $40 billion in revenue. There has been a precedent, because this is precisely how the USSR collapsed. Before Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia, the U.S. media was discussing options of "punishment" for Russia with sanctions for its "behavior in Crimea." The first...

Sounds like knees are knockin in the ME and Saudis offered to go and ask for something... The visit of the Saudi official to Moscow against the backdrop of Russia's anti-terrorist operation in Syria, which Saudi Arabia remains vehemently opposed to, may indicate Riyadh's willingness to compromise with Moscow. Saudi Arabia hopes to change Moscow's attitude towards the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, promising strategic partnership and multi-billion-dollar projects. Noteworthy, Saudi Arabia remains one of the most ardent opponents to Bashar al-Assad. -

Sophie Cruz's encounter with the pope during a parade in Washington this week looked to be one of those spontaneous, once-in-a-lifetime-moments Francis has become known for. But for 5-year-old Sophie, the chance to wrap her arm around the pope's neck as he offered a hug, kiss and a blessing unfolded as perfectly as it was scripted by members of a coalition of Los Angeles-based immigration rights groups. For nearly a year the group had been preparing the young girl from suburban Los Angeles to make a dash for the popemobile to deliver a message about the plight of immigrant parents...

No link....could not find it on site. But I just tuned in to the Miami Fox station.....they are running STATE DEPARTMENT INTERVIEWS with some vets who are going to be in Havana today for the flag raising dog and pony show in Cuba. The Obama worship runs deep.

At the beginning of my recent article, Will Wisconsin's Ignorance Become America's Ignorance Again? (Pravda.Ru, 03/04/2015), I stated, "Ever since America's politicized, corrupt, unethical, corporate-controlled Supreme Court decided the cases of Citizens United vs. FEC (2010) and McCutcheon vs. FEC (2014), I have written numerous articles for Pravda.Ru describing how these two decisions destroyed the ability of working class Americans to exercise their once fundamental right to freedom of speech and unleashed a torrent of unbridled political corruption that is rapidly replacing democracy with corporate fascism." As the machinations of Wisconsin governor, and newly announced presidential candidate, Scott Walker graphically...

Please seem my comments below Google Drive is offering its users 2GB of free storage for completing a simple security checkup. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete, but the offer only lasts until Feb. 17. Designed to make sure everything about your account is shipshape, the security checkup runs through a checklist of security features examining your account recovery information, recent activity, account permissions, and your 2-step verification settings. To access the security checkup, head on over to your Google account page. Next, click "Get Started" button to begin the checkup.

Link only: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/ff_kaspersky/all/

(Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives.

The malware reprograms the hard drive’s firmware, creating hidden sectors on the drive that can only be accessed through a secret API (application programming interface). Once installed, the malware is impossible to remove: disk formatting and reinstalling the OS doesn’t affect it, and the hidden storage sector remains. “Theoretically, we were aware of this possibility, but as far as I know this is the only case ever that we have seen of an attacker having such an incredibly advanced capability,” said Costin Raiu, director of Kaspersky Lab’s global research and analysis team, in a phone interview Monday.

The targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists. The National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives, allowing them to monitor and eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers - even when they are not connected to the internet. This 'surpasses anything known in terms of complexity and sophistication of techniques, and that has been active for almost two decades,' said Kaspersky. 'The hardware will be able to infect the computer over and over,' lead Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu said in an...

Contestant: "Who is Barrack Hussein Obama?" Trebek: "I'm sooooo sorry. Who..." All of a sudden, Trebek's legs start to shake, uncontrollably. The huge bulge in his tight pants starts to vibrate violently. Trebek stops; reaches down; he answers his i-phone1.

Governor Palin addresses the corruption of the media's herd mentality:  Sarah Palin  PoliticianFriends, this is a very important post I respectfully ask you to read through. Forgive its length. May it help you nail the coffin that's given shelter to a corrupt press that would stop at nothing in their fight against right.Reports today claimed Tom Brokaw was calling on his former network to fire Brian Williams for lying for years about being hit by enemy fire in Iraq. Brokaw apparently denies the reports. (Personally, I hope Williams keeps his job as the face of network news to remind America how...

Germany’s plan to phase out nuclear energy and switch to renewables by 2022 is unrealistic as the country is doomed to remain dependent on fossil fuels like oil and gas for the next 70 years, energy expert Matthias Dornfeldt told RT. Renewables can’t replace fossil fuels overnight because there’s not enough infrastructure, said Dornfeldt in an interview with RT. He believes the 21st century will be the century of gas, as the 20th century was the century of oil. “We are going to be dependent on oil as well as on gas, as I see, for the next 50, 60,...

A new article written for AP defends President Barack Obama’s expected executive order to protect illegal immigrants from GOP criticism by noting that presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush also extended amnesty to illegal immigrants. [Snip] “A tea party-influenced GOP” is standing in Obama's way, according to the author. Not only does the article cite GOP leaders asserting that if Obama issues an executive order, it would “poison the well” of Obama-GOP relations, but that “Some Republicans have even raised the possibility of impeachment.”

What if Iraq is not a country of people with common cultures and interests and generally accepted borders, but rather an amalgam of warring groups cobbled together by British and American diplomats? What if only a strongman like Hussein — however evil and ill suited for government by Western standards — can keep peace and stability in an artificial country like Iraq?

Siege of Mecca, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria: US and Gulf Destabilization PoliciesMurad Makhmudov and Lee Jay WalkerModern Tokyo Times In the 1980s the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and some other nations began to fund Sunni Islamic terrorism in Afghanistan. This meddling came hot on the heels of the Siege of Mecca in Saudi Arabia in 1979. Therefore, funding radical Sunni Islamism in Afghanistan came at a very opportunistic time for the rulers based in Saudi Arabia. Pakistan became the central base in training international jihadists and spreading Islamism in Afghanistan. Irrespective of the motives in...