₦airaland Forum

The United States is in decline. While not all major shocks to the system will be devastating, when the right one comes along, the outcome may be dramatic.

Not all explosives are the same. We all know you have to be careful with dynamite. Best to handle it gently and not smoke while you’re around it.

Semtex is different. You can drop it. You can throw it. You can put it in the fire. Nothing will happen. Nothing until you put the right detonator in it, that is.

To me, the US – and most of the supposedly free West – increasingly looks like a truck being systematically filled with Semtex.

But it’s easy to counter cries of alarm with the fact that the truck is stable – because it’s true: you can hurl more boxes into the back without any real danger. Absent the right detonator, it is no more dangerous than a truckload of mayonnaise.

But add the right detonator and you’re just one click away from complete devastation.

We can see how fragile the U.S. is now by considering just four tendencies.

1. Destruction of farms and reliable food source
The average American is a long way from food when the shops are closed.
The Washington Post reports that the number of farms in the country has fallen by some 4 million from more than 6 million in 1935 to roughly 2 million in 2012.

And according to the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, only about 2 percent of the US population live on farms.

That means that around 4.6 million people currently have the means to feed themselves.

Food supply logistics are extended, sometimes stretching thousands of miles. The shops have nothing more than a few days’ stock. A simple break in that supply line would clear the shops out in days.

2. Weak economic system
The American economic system is little more than froth.

The US currency came off the gold standard in 1933 and severed any link with gold in 1971. Since then, the currency has been essentially linked to oil, the value of which has been protected and held together by wars.

The whole world has had enough of the US and its hubris – not least the people of the US themselves, which the massive support currently for Putin’s decision to deal with ISIS demonstrates.

Since pro-active war is what keeps the US going, if it loses the monopoly on that front, its decline is inevitable.

Fiat economies always collapse. They last on average for 37 years. By that metric the US should have already run out of gas.

Once people wake up and smell the Yuan, the Exodus out of the dollar will be unstoppable.

3. Americans increasingly on mind-altering drugs
According to the Scientific American, use of antidepressants among the US population was up 400 percent in the late 2000s over the 1990s. Many of these drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

These are the type of FDA-approved narcotics lone gunmen are frequently associated with, and their psychoses often attributed to a forced or sudden withdrawal from such drugs.

Pharmaceuticals are produced at centralized points by companies which themselves rely on extended logistics systems both to produce and to deliver their output. If the logistics system fails, there’s no more supply.

4. Morals in decline
During the objective hardship of the 1930s, there was surprisingly little crime. People were brought up with a conception of morals and right and wrong. Frugality and prudence were prized virtues. Communities were generally fairly cohesive.

Relative to then, society today is undisciplined, unrealistic and selfish.

Around 250 million shoppers participated in the Black Friday sales in 2013 in which around USD 61 billion was spent on consumer items – up roughly 100 percent on 2006 figures.

Stampedes and even murders are not uncommon each year with people openly fighting each other over reduced-price items.

The goods bought in such sales tend to be non-essential and many of them are bought on credit cards which then have to be paid off at interest.

Part of the problem in what I have outlined above is that there is little explicit tension. Sure, it is depressing, vulgar and immoral. But it doesn’t look catastrophic. It looks normal.

My point is that just because US – and many other countries organised after the same template – do not look explosive, doesn’t mean they won’t blow up.
Whereas 80 years ago we could absorb major shocks, today we cannot.

Nowhere to run

In the past, people were in rural communities. They could grow food. They had real communities. They also had self-control and a conception of morality.
Today, if the supply lines go down, you are stuck in a house you can’t heat surrounded by millions of FDA-approved drug addicts who are going psycho because they have run out of juice and people who would murder their own grandmother to get a cut-price iPhone.

I would argue that the right shock event – or combination of shock events – will detonate the explosive.

Potential detonators happen all the time. Either they are contained or they are simply incompatible with the explosive or they don’t go off. But that doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen or that we are not sitting on a mountain of explosives.

There was one such potential detonator – which presently has not gone off – in the UK just last week.
The UK’s Independent reported Friday that experts were ‘staggered’ after Pauline Cafferkey – who had been brought to London of all places – rapidly declined after being declared cured from Ebola.

This woman had been allowed out into the community – still sick with Ebola – and managed to visited Mossneuk Primary School in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, on Monday to thank children for their fund-raising efforts.

We will assume these events have their origins in incompetence; the fact is: we have a woman dying from Ebola in the UK’s largest population center.
What if there is more incompetence?

Boris Johnson, the current Mayor of London, primed the British public for the possibility of Ebola in London just last week.

Perhaps he knows something we don’t.
What do you think will happen if people start dying from Ebola in London or New York? The natural response will be to get out of the urban centre as quickly as possible.

During the Great Plague of London of 1665, for example, Defoe wrote " Nothing was to be seen but wagons and carts, with goods, women, servants, children, coaches filled with people of the better sort, and horsemen attending them, and all hurrying away".

Once the better off city people reach the countryside there will be instant resistance from the host population, not least because they will not want potentially infected people entering their communities.

Meanwhile, the poor people who are left in the cities will run out of food in short order as suppliers refuse to enter the city.

Those who fled London in 1665 had somewhere to go: they were returning to the fields that fed them.
Today, the fields which feed us are largely in other countries, and the ones which are in our own are mainly owned by large corporations.

I am not predicting exactly this scenario for the US or for any other country. I am saying that all the ingredients are there for complete breakdown and large-scale deaths given the right initiating incident.

I am saying that volatility is baked into the cake – even into the cake of what today looks and feels normal.

I am saying that while it may be possible to keep loading box upon box of societal Semtex into the truck, given the right detonator the collapse will be swift, unstoppable and devastating.

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/318986-america-bomb-society-crisis/

The case is obviously in the court, admitting fault is different from paying the price for war crimes.

A US military vehicle has allegedly forced its way into the hospital in Afghanistan which was devastated by US airstrikes two weeks ago. The move was an unwelcome surprise for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) which operates the site.
Members of a joint investigation team from the US, NATO and Afghan government were aboard the heavy military vehicle, Reuters reported citing a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) statement on Thursday.

“ Their unannounced and forced entry damaged property, destroyed potential evidence and caused stress and fear for the MSF team ,” the group said, adding that the investigators had previously promised they would notify the organization of any actions involving MSF personnel or assets.

NATO's spokesperson in Afghanistan said the incident was being " reviewed. "
" It's a violation of international humanitarian law, so we want to see the facts and understand why ," MSF president Meinie Nicolai told RT, referring to the US attack on the hospital in Kunduz. " Under the Geneva conventions medical care and hospitals are protected sites, they are not allowed to be targeted during war and this is what has happened in this case ," the member of the MSF International Board said, adding that the organization is seeking an independent investigation.

President Obama has apologized for the strike that killed at least 22 people, including 12 medical staff and ten patients, and the Pentagon said it would " make condolence payments and payments toward repair of the hospital ."

" For us it's not convincing ," Nicolai told RT. " We have given the coordinates, this was a hospital that was open for four years, and now to just say that it's a mistake, that something else had to be bombed, is difficult to believe ."

The MSF-operated site was attacked five times in the span of an hour by a C-130 gunship, despite repeated pleas from the MSF to US forces, the international humanitarian group said. While the main hospital building, which housed an emergency room and intensive care unit, was destroyed, no surrounding buildings were hit.

" What we need is the answer to the question that we are asking everybody ... Why this hospital was targeted ," MSF's country representative in Afghanistan Guilhem Molinie told Reuters. " If we don't have the guarantee that treating patients coming from both sides of conflict is respected by all parties in the conflict, we cannot continue to do that in Afghanistan, but potentially all over the world ," he said.

In July, the MSF hospital in Kunduz suffered from a " violent armed intrusion ," when heavily armed men from the Afghan Special Forces entered its compound, shooting in the air. They " physically assaulted" three MSF staff members and tried to arrest three patients, threatening a staff member at gunpoint in the process, the organization said.

https://www.rt.com/news/318910-tank-msf-hospital-afghanistan/

The oil market will be more balanced next year as production contracts and global demand increases, according to the head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Abdalla Salem el-Badri.

“At OPEC, we are hopeful that the industry will see a more balanced oil market in 2016,” El-Badri said at a conference in Kuwait City on Sunday, adding: “We have recently seen a contraction in production from some non-OPEC producers and an uptick in demand growth.”

El-Badri said he expects global demand for oil to rise to 110 million barrels per day by 2040 from the current 93 million barrels per day, and that investors can be optimistic about the oil industry's future in the coming months.

"We need to keep investing, it is essential for our industry," said el-Badri. "I remain confident that our industry's best days are yet to come."

Qatar’s Energy Minister Mohammed Al Sada echoed the OPEC chief’s optimism, saying oil prices have bottomed out and there are signs of recovery in 2016. OPEC member Qatar is one of the largest oil producers in the world, with an output of 2.3 million barrels a day.

OPEC’s output in July hit a three-year high when the 12-member countries pumped 31.5 million barrels per day (bpd). The cartel’s chief then said that oil prices will not drop lower, as demand was surging and production falling. He stressed that the cartel was not going to cut crude output.

Last month OPEC signaled of a possible change of stance. The cartel said it might cut output and stands ready to talk to other producers. But this is only possible with a change of policy by its largest producer Saudi Arabia.

In June, despite falling prices, the cartel decided to keep the output quota unchanged at 30 million
barrels , sending oil prices below $50 a barrel.
Brent futures for November were up 27 cents on Monday, trading at $52.92 per barrel. Price for West Texas Intermediate grew by 25 cents, $49.88 per barrel at 1:12pm GMT.

Penis extender photo

An advertisement for a “penis enlarger” has been banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after the watchdog found there is not enough evidence to prove the product actually works.

Some 42 percent of British men wish they had a longer penis, according to a YouGov poll. Many of them are determined to do whatever it takes to increase the length of their manhood by an inch or two.

Comfort Click’s “ Jes Extender” advertisement claims its penis enlargement product is the answer.
‘Penis extender’

According to its website, the “ original penis extender ” can help men grow their private parts up to 24 percent their original size.

“ Clinically tested with excellent results, the Jes-Extender is a pain-free treatment to enlarge your penis comfortably and easily ,” the website reads.

“ Increase your penis size by 1.1 inches over 4 months with 1,200g of traction force ... This gives an additional 0.74 inches to the penis when flaccid ... You can expect a weekly average growth of 0.07 inches ,” it added.

Comfort Click claims the product has over 100,000 satisfied users and is a “ number one choice ” for men worldwide looking for a “ safe way to enlarge their penis .”

The product uses the “ traction method ” to increase penis length without surgery.

However, one web user who visited the firm’s site complained to the ASA, saying the claims were too good to be true.

The complainant doubted whether the firm had solid evidence to prove the product works.
In response, the ASA contacted the makers, requesting evidence.

The firm sent promotional materials, background information, trial summaries and testimonials, but the watchdog said the evidence provided was not enough to support the claims made in the advert.

“ We had not seen sufficient evidence to support the claims that Jes Extender could enlarge penile length, we concluded the claims were misleading and had not been substantiated ,” the ASA said.
“ This ad must not appear again in its current form ,” it added.

The advertising watchdog ordered the firm to stop making “ efficacy claims for their product in the absence of adequate substantiation .”

However, Comfort Click insists the material they sent to the ASA supports all claims made in the advert.

According to findings published in the BJU International Journal of Urology in March, the average length of a flaccid penis is 9.16 centimeters and the average length of an erect penis is 13.12 centimeters.

A study conducted by researchers from UCLA and the University of New Mexico has revealed that women’s idea of the perfect penis is “ slightly larger ” than the average.

https://www.rt.com/uk/317875-penis-enlarger-advert-banned/

Dannyset:
Expect US to mirror on that area. The dispute will be revisited and wars between Syria and Israel is likely. But, you know what? It makes Israel stronger. Those people get agidi.

The United Nations was created to settle disputing countries, Israel has never really respected the United Nations so another future round of hostile land grabbing is a sure thing.

Israel is gonna steal that land and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

omowolewa:
Let me search my room well, oil fit dey there. The rate people discover oil nowadays, ehn!

Lmao! You like good thing o

Aromas:
But I think the oil in Anambra belongs to Kogi State?

Oil in anambra belongs to Kogi?
How is that possible? I sincerely need to be educated on that matter!

labamo07:
Nigeria to form alliance with Russia keh!!!!! you wan make nigeria romance with America to turn sour sharp sharp..........

Lmao! If wishes were horses!

A better alliance will be between Nigeria, Russia and China.

Our marriage of rape between Nigeria, Britain and the United States is simply what it is - RAPE!

ArodewilliamsT:
It is confirmed on CNN abd Al-jazeera. The US bombed the hospital at kunduz. The head of MSF medics have told us her story, confirming the kilkings.

Who is a greater threat ISIS or Assad? I think ISIS. The US sponsors ISIS albeit covertly to remove Assad. Russians goes after ISIS and i support Russians.

The yanks are chasing shadows if they think they can keep brainwashing the world to prioritize Assad's removal over the dangerous murderous ISIS. Kremlin has my FULL support.

The most annoying thing is that they were lying about being guilty of bombing that hospital in the first place!

They release 4 different version of the story in 4 days! Even our lovely APC can't dare try that.

ArodewilliamsT:
It is confirmed on CNN abd Al-jazeera. The US bombed the hospital at kunduz. The head of MSF medics have told us her story, confirming the kilkings.

Who is a greater threat ISIS or Assad? I think ISIS. The US sponsors ISIS albeit covertly to remove Assad. Russians goes after ISIS and i support Russians.

The yanks are chasing shadows if they think they can keep brainwashing the world to prioritize Assad's removal over the dangerous murderous ISIS. Kremlin has my FULL support.

It's so unfortunate that many Nigerians have been utterly brainwashed to think the United States army and politicians are so pure that they don't/can't make mistakes or support terrorist.

BALLOSKI:
this is the same source the writer was talking about- they dont see anything good in what russia is doing. You saw them over-flogging the presence of the US-coalation that yielded little or no result last time, but all they report about russia is casualties. I wish had a known channel like bbc, aljazeera and cnn.

The Russians have a similar news channel which is gaining ground rapidly. Go to www.rt.com That is my favorite website for alternative news.

I love their slogan which is simply called 'QUESTION MORE' Which is exactly what most 'America wannabes' do need!

vedaxcool:
Seeing insults everywhere when there is none is a serious signs time to see the doctor or quit the internet

I know your type.

I bet hissing at people is a perfect conversation starter.

( ANTIMEDIA ) Kunduz, Afghanistan — After relentlessly bombing a civilian hospital staffed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF — Doctors Without Borders) in Kunduz, Northern Afghanistan, the U.S. military did the only thing truly befitting American government — it tried to get away with it.

Saturday’s initial summary involved U.S. troops taking on fire in Kunduz, but — according to officials that day — they had no idea if they’d hit the hospital or not.
After a day to fully concoct recall those events, Sunday’s military brief said the strike occurred in the
“vicinity” of the hospital so, sure, maybe it was hit by accident.

Deciding that didn’t quite seem plausible exact enough, General John Campbell, commander of the U.S. and NATO [quasi]-war in Afghanistan, claimed the U.S. had never faced a threat on Saturday but were called to assist Afghan troops in the area.

And then Tuesday, the latest available only because it isn’t yet time for the Wednesday version, Campbell expounded on Monday’s version of events, adding that U.S. forces had both called in and carried out the airstrike at the behest of Afghan forces.

“Today’s statement from General Campbell is just the latest in a long list of confusing accounts from the U.S. military about what happened in Kunduz on Saturday,” said Jason Cone, U.S. Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders. “They are now back to talking about a ‘mistake.’ A mistake that lasted for more than an hour, despite the fact that the location of the hospital was well known to them and that they were informed during the airstrike that it was a hospital being hit.

All this confusion just underlies once again the crucial need for an independent investigation into how a major hospital, full of patients and MSF staff, could be repeatedly bombed.”

From the beginning, MSF insisted no gunfire originated in the hospital — a claim the U.S. implied and Afghan officials expressly stated. Crucial in deducing whether the catastrophe — one that left 12 MSF staff and ten patients mortally injured — amounted to a war crime is an examination of events under the microscope of international laws of war.

As becomes quickly apparent, there are a bevy of reasons the U.S. military continues to tidy its explanation of the bombing.

According to the laws of war, direct attacks on such civilian facilities as domiciles, hospitals, places of worship, schools, etc. is prohibited, except in truly definitive cases whose general circumstances involve the military employment of said facility by opposing forces. Here, of course, MSF personnel on scene at the time refute official claims — no matter what those claims involve at any given moment.

Even in those instances, the attacking party is required to give the targeted facility fair warning it will be subject to bombardment. But advanced warning wasn’t given to the hospital in Kunduz, which by some accounts suffered bombardment for a full ninety minutes — including up to 45 minutes after the military was alerted to the ostensible targeting error.

“Any serious violation of the law of armed conflict, such as attacking a hospital that is immune from intentional attack, is a war crime.

Hospitals are immune from attack during an armed conflict unless being used by one party to harm the other and then only after a warning that it will be attacked,” explained Mary Ellen O’Connell, professor of international law at Notre Dame.

MSF International President Joanne Liu concurred, saying the decision to “raze to the ground a fully functioning hospital . . . amounts to an admission of a war crime.”

Like ducks in rain, U.S. officials in recent decades have repeatedly repelled charges of war crimes — notwithstanding actual culpability. But the Kunduz hospital bombing — whatever excuse U.S. government chooses to wrap it with — could feasibly be the world’s last straw.

This article (Doctors Without Borders Bombing: U.S. Changes Story Four Times in Four Days ) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org

vedaxcool:
Learn to sensibly answer a question asked, which is, to you the Russians are the saints right?

My reply to your sly insult vexed you abi?

When people read our replies, they will judge who replied with sense or not.

Don't think I'm one of those people that will take insults smiling.

Go and learn to be civil on the Internet and perhaps, just perhaps others will respect you in kind.

Besides, your question is a rhetorical one, no goddam reply is needed.

A big oil deposit has been found in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, with enough reserves to last Israel for decades, according to the country's media.

The Israeli presence in the Golan Heights is in dispute. The region is internationally recognized Syrian territory that has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and several Arab states. UN Resolution 242 (1967) demands the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the territories occupied in the conflict. Israel disagrees with the wording of the resolution, saying the territories are disputable.

Reportedly, the potential production may reach billions of barrels, while Israel consumes 270,000 barrels per day. Israel currently imports up to three quarters of its oil from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, the Financial Times reported in August.

"We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick and what is important is the thickness and the porosity. On average in the world strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is ten times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities.

The important thing is to know the oil is in the rock and that's what we now know," Israel business website Globes quotes Yuval Bartov, chief geologist of Afek Oil and Gas as saying. Afek is a subsidiary of the America’s Genie Energy.

The reported discovery coincides with the civil war raging in Syria. Israel has been accused of taking advantage of the conflict.

The Israeli-occupied Golan Heights also border Syrian territory controlled by anti-government rebels.

Israel has reportedly provided medical aid to the rebels and has responded to rocket fire from rebel-controlled territory by striking Syrian Army positions.

Israel's explanation has been that it "holds the Syrian military responsible for all events stemming from its territory."

https://www.rt.com/business/317906-oil-golan-heights-israel/

coolhumble:
Friends with benefit is the best so we know what we are doing

Yes o!
Even the friends with benefit know they are for benefits sef.
No time to use body language to explain their role.

Interesting excuse for the abysmal quality of electricity been produced.
Nigerians have been scammed since 1960.
Mr Body Language over to you.
Prob or nah!

younghartz:
I still have loyal frnds
There are just two in numbers
Cisse and Mohammad

Igbo boy in da mist of fulanis


its better to have few you can rely and trust in....rather than have millions you cnt even trust

lol. good for you

chocolateme:
Our presido is friendly

Hihihihihi.... Laughing in Fulbe

coolhumble:
Been dead for a long time, i am a.living withness to that, no more friends rather we have frienemies.

I swear... I prefer to use Friends with benefits though.

favoured234:
Let me to be your friend na.. As me is first to comment
Abi it did not among your criteria for friendship?

#Smiles You just made me laugh here

Is friendship really dead in Nigeria? That is a question many Nigerians often ponder afeter we go through disappointments and heartbreaks. This takes me back to when we were little kids, mum was our best friend because of our selfish natural need for her delicious breast milk. As we grew older and developed teeth, we found out we could connect with other people based on mutual and also selfish interest.

With the state of the Nigerian economy, having any sorts of friendship is at your own peril. What many of have is mostly ‘Friends with benefits’. I’m guilty of this. Anyone who deserves to be my friend has to bring something to the table apart from useless Kim Kardashian , Telemundo , Nairabet , Relationship problems, Football gist or Tonto Dike gossips

For starters, you must speak very good English, I can never ever introduce anyone who cannot speak very good English to my parents as my friend. Secondly, you must be a graduate of any course. As the Nigerian proverb says, Iron sharpens Iron, as a graduate myself, I can’t call a non graduate my friend unless he is into a thriving business.

These days, parents often warn their kids to mingle with people in a higher economic class so as to have a good chance of getting the good stuffs of life. This is perfectly normal. When I have kids, I will also give them the same lecture.

There are loads of stories going on around us here in Nigeria , for example, a friend stealing a valuable item like a car, a friend who gossips at your back, a friend who wants to steal your job or your girlfriend/boyfriend…yes, all these happens in Nigeria.

I’ll never blame bad friendships on the state of the economy. I will always blame bad friends on the individual, some people are simply programmed to be wicked right from birth.

Beware of the people you let into your close circle of life. They can make or break you.

Before you embark on any friendship quest, start by loving yourself first. In that way, you can listen to your intuition (Innerself) more and avoid futuristic heartbreak and disappointments.

Practice selflove.

https://dantewest./2015/10/04/friendship-is-dead-in-nigeria/

lekkie073:
ok...nigeria dey NATO

I no fit laugh abeg

vedaxcool:
But the Russians are saints according to you? Mtshceew

At least they ain't at war with so many countries and lying about civilian casualties or even dictating to other countries.

I prefer the Russians any day, any time.

Keep hissing o, it makes the face less uglier.

DaBullIT:
Been following that news and there's no evidence US bombed the hospital, as a matter of fact i watched the video as well , but not my business sha

It's confirmed that the hospital was indeed blown up by the Americans.

The Americans are no saints you know....

So a Su-30 enters a few hundred meters into Turkish airspace for only two minutes over Hatay province, and returns to Syrian airspace after being warned by a couple of Turkish F-16s.

Then all hell breaks loose as if this was the ultimate pretext for a NATO-Russia war.

NATO, predictably, went out all rhetorical guns blazing. Russia is causing “extreme danger” and should immediately stop bombing those cute “moderate rebels” the coalition of the dodgy opportunists refuses to bomb.

But wait; NATO is actually too busy to go to war. The priority, until at least November, is the epic Trident Juncture 2015; 36,000 troops from 30 states, more than 60 warships, around 200 aircraft, all are seriously practicing how to defend from the proverbial “The Russians are Coming!”

Still, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu – he of the former “zero problems with our neighbors” doctrine - actually “warned” Moscow that next time Ankara would respond “militarily”.

Until, of course, he backed down; “What we have received from Russia …is that this was a mistake and that they respect Turkey's borders and this will not happen again.”

The incident could have been easily defused – via military to military communication - without the posturing.

But Ankara – NATO’s eastern flank – is under immense pressure from ‘Exceptionalistan’ . It’s no accident Pentagon supremo and notorious neocon Ash Carter “conferred” with Ankara about the incident. Carter of course is the most stellar practitioner of the official Beltway diktat; “By taking military action in Syria against moderate groups’ targets, Russia has escalated the civil war.”

‘Sultan’ Erdogan, right on cue, and straight from Strasbourg (no, he was not campaigning for the European Parliament) doubled down: “Assad has committed state terrorism, and unfortunately you find Russia and Iran defending (him).”

And yet ‘Sultan’ Erdogan won’t go down in history as the catalyst for the much-awaited NATO-Russia Hot War 2.0. At least not yet.

Only bomb if we say so

Enter Dr. Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski, growling in a FT Op-Ed that Washington should
“retaliate” if Moscow does not stop attacking US assets in Syria. “US assets” means CIA-trained
“moderate rebels” . And after all, “American credibility” is at stake.

Dr. Zbig – Obama’s prime foreign policy mentor – insists bombing CIA-trained “rebels” accounts for
“Russian military incompetence” . And the American counter-attack should be to “disarm” the “Russian naval and air presence.” Now that’s how you go for a NATO-Russia Hot War 2.0.

Dr. Zbig admitted though that “regional chaos could easily spread northeastward,” and then “both Russia and then China could be adversely affected.” Who cares? What matters is that “American interests and America’s friends…would also suffer.”

This is what passes for prime geopolitical analysis in the ‘Empire of Chaos’ .

‘Sultan’ Erdogan, for his part, remains restless. Moscow has already evaporated his so cherished three-year-old dream of a no-fly zone over northern Syria. There is an actual no-fly zone all over Syria now in effect. But it’s managed by Russia.

And that explains why there’s already full spectrum hysteria for more US Congress sanctions on Russia. How can a no-fly zone be imposed over Syria when Russia got there first?

And it was all going so swimmingly for the ‘Sultan’ . Ankara – at the insistence of Washington – had finally thrown open its air bases to fight ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, but as long as this was part of a regime change operation in Damascus. And for that, Ankara would get its no-fly zone.

Enter ‘The Sultan’ s’ recurrent nightmare; the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its sister organization, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

‘The Sultan’ simply cannot accept the PYD advancing to the western bank of the Euphrates to help in the fight against ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. ‘The Sultan’ wants to
“contain” the PYD in Kobani.

The problem is the PYD – supported by the PKK – is the only reliable ‘Empire of Chaos’ ally in Syria. Yet
‘the Sultan’ could not help himself; he got into a war – again – against the PKK. Washington was not exactly amused.

And then there’s the key corridor from the Bab al-Salam border crossing down to Aleppo - controlled by Ankara-supported goon squads. That’s Ankara’s bridge to Aleppo; without it, not the slightest chance of regime change, ever. The fake “Caliphate” was threatening to take over the corridor. So action was imperative.

Russia’s spectacular entry into the war theatre threw all these elaborate plans into disarray. Imagine a complete liberation of northeast Syria as soon as the PYD – with help from PKK fighters - is weaponized enough to smash the ISIS/ISIL/Daesh goons. And imagine the Russian Air Force providing air cover for such an operation, with extra coordination by the Russia-Syria-Iraq-Iran central in Baghdad.

‘The Sultan’ , in desperation, would have to maneuver his F-16s against such an offensive. And then we might really have a NATO-Russia five seconds to midnight scenario – with terrifying consequences.

‘The Sultan’ would blink first. And NATO would collapse into the ignominy it never left – back to its elaborate “Russia is invading” drills.

Say hello to my geopolitical jihadi tool
Next steps for the Russian campaign would be to pay close attention to the road linking ISIS/ISIL/Daesh’s capital, Al-Raqqah, around which jihadis are fighting for the control of oil and gas in Sha’ir and Jazal. And then there are pockets east of both Homs and Hama, and in al-Qaryatayn. Moscow – slowly, surely, methodically - is getting there.

What the Russian air campaign has already graphically exposed is the whole rotten core myth of the new Jihad International.

ISIS/ISIL/Daesh, Jabhat al-Nusra and assorted Salafi-jihadi goon squads have been kept up and running by a massive financial/logistical/weaponizing “effort” – which includes all sorts of key nodes, from arms factories in Bulgaria and Croatia to transportation routes via Turkey and Jordan.

As for those Syrian “moderate rebels” – and most of them are not even Syrian, they’re mercenaries – every pebble in the ravaged Sykes-Picot desert sands knows they were trained by the CIA in Jordan. The desert pebbles are also aware that ISIS/ISIL/Daesh goons have been infiltrated into Syria from Turkey – once again, across Hatay province; and vast swathes of ‘the Sultan’s’ Army and police were into the game.

As for who pays the bills for the lavish weaponizing, talk to the proverbial “pious wealthy donors” – incited by their clerics - in the GCC, the petrodollar arm of NATO. None of these goon squads could possibly thrive for so long without full, multidisciplinary “support” from the usual suspects.

So the hysterical/apoplectic/paroxystic rage enveloping the ‘Empire of Chaos’ betrays the utter failure, once again, of the same old
“policy” (remember Afghanistan) of using jihadis as geopolitical tools. Fake “Caliphate” or “rebels” , they are all NATO-GCC’s bitches.

To add insult to injury, a frustrated ‘Sultan’ has also been forced to annex himself to a slightly changing Washington position – which now rules that “Assad must go,” yes, but it may take some time, as part of a yet to be defined “transition” .

‘The Sultan’ will remain a pile of nerves. He does not give a damn about ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Washington now does – sort of. He wants to smash the PYD and the PKK. For Washington, the PYD is a helpful ally. As for Moscow, ‘the Sultan’ better watch his neo-Ottoman step.

‘The Sultan’ simply cannot afford to antagonize ‘The Bear’ . Gazprom will expand the Blue Stream pipeline into Turkey. It would be by 3 billion cubic meters; instead it will be by 1 billion cubic meters. According to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, it’s due to technical capabilities.

Yet Ankara better get its act together, because even that extension may evaporate if there’s no agreement on the commercial terms of TurkStream, the former Turkish Stream. Ankara is under tremendous pressure from the Obama administration. And ‘the Sultan’ knows very well that without Russia all his elaborate plans to position Turkey as the key energy transit hub from East to West will vanish in Anatolian scrub. In the end, he may even get regime-changed himself.

Source: https://www.rt.com/op-edge/317804-isis-turkey-jet-russia/

As if to underscore Russia’s decision to initiate airstrikes against Islamic State on the territory of Syria as Western forces don’t appear up to the task, NATO jets unleashed a deadly barrage on a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan.

No sooner had Vladimir Putin wrapped up his speech at the United Nations, where he roundly criticized the manner in which US-led forces have been trampling on the sovereignty of nation states in its global pursuit of terrorists, Russia opened a stunning aerial campaign against Islamic State fighters on the ground in Syria.

Yet across the Western world, which has had its share of deadly collisions with ISIS, not to mention a number of decapitated journalists, there was no applause for Moscow’s actions, not even a polite golf clap. Indeed, Russia’s intervention against the most sadistic band of brutes since the Nazis was greeted with scorn, skepticism and outright belligerence.

Reports of civilian casualties caused by the Russian airstrikes surfaced almost immediately. Much of the photo evidence was easily disproven. One dramatic photo showed a Syrian rescue worker carrying an injured girl, allegedly injured during the Russian strike in Homs. There was just one snag: the photo first appeared on September 25, almost a week before the airstrikes started.

Even the Russian leader could not resist commenting on the alleged civilian casualties caused by Russian warplanes in Syria.

“As for media reports claiming that the civilian population is suffering, we are prepared for such information attacks. The first reports about civilian casualties emerged even before our planes got in the air,” he said.

Forced to fight on two dangerous fronts - one against the Western media and the other against bloodthirsty terrorists - Moscow believes there is an orchestrated campaign to undermine its operations in Syria.

“Biased and false reports have flooded Western and regional media claiming the Russian military operation is causing civilian deaths or even is aimed against pro-democratic forces and the peaceful population,” Mariya Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said. “That is an information attack, the information warfare that we all have heard so much about. Apparently someone came well-prepared for it.”

Western criticism of Russia’s efforts to destroy Islamic State in Syria is strange to say the least. After all, if the Western powers genuinely fear that Russia is engaged in Syria to provide air support to forces loyal to President Bashar Assad in his protracted war against anti-government rebels – a charge that Moscow vehemently denies - then the simple solution would be to coordinate strategies with Russia. That way there can be no rumors as to what ulterior motives either side may have.

The fact that Washington rejects the idea of coordinating efforts with Russia, while accusing Moscow at the same time of “pouring fuel on the Syrian crisis,” is not a convincing argument. Nor is it logical, especially considering that Russia has a strategic presence in Syria at the Khmeimim airfield in Latakia.

After all, what does it matter who eliminates ISIS so long as the mission is accomplished?

As one RT commentator asked rhetorically: "Do we want to remove ISIS/ISIL? Yes. Does it matter who removes them? I don’t think so. Do you care how a cancer is removed – I don’t care how you do it."

However, instead of understanding the primary objective in Syria, which is - or should be - the removal of Islamic State, the US remains focused on Assad and its obsessiveness to have him removed.

And since Washington is headed for presidential elections next year, the Republicans are now branding President Obama as “weak” – but weak not against Islamic State, mind you, but weak against the most sinister politician on the planet as far as Washington is concerned: Vladimir Putin.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican presidential candidate, gave a speech Friday attacking Obama’s approach to Russia and his strategy on Syria.

“The more our current president fails the test of leadership against Putin, the more important it becomes for our next president to pass it,” Rubio told an audience at a national security forum in Iowa.
Meanwhile, the American Empire appears to be suffering the symptomatic effects of overstretch, Roman-style, as its military judgment and prowess seems to be on the wane.

The brainy logistics of any operation just do not seem to be keeping stride with the US military’s on-steroids physical expansion. How else to explain its aerial bombing raid on Saturday morning that hit the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan?

MSF said the hospital was struck by a series of aerial raids at approximately 15 minute intervals. The bombs “very precisely” and “repeatedly” hit the central hospital building that housed the intensive care unit, emergency rooms, and physiotherapy ward, it added.
“The bombs hit and then we heard the plane circle round,” said Heman Nagarathnam, MSF’s head of programs in northern Afghanistan. “There was a pause, and then more bombs hit.

This happened again and again. When I made it out from the office, the main hospital building was engulfed in flames.”

And yes, civilians were killed.

The charity has confirmed 19 deaths, 12 of whom were staff. Four were adult patients, including three children. A further 37 people were left wounded. The tragedy happened despite the fact that MSF had provided the US-led command with the GPS coordinates of the facility to make sure that the hospital would not come under attack.

Human rights group Amnesty International characterized the Kunduz bombing as “a deplorable loss of life” and called for an immediate and impartial investigation.

“This bombing of the MSF hospital in Kunduz marks a dark day for humanitarianism. It is sickening to think that doctors and other staff have had to pay with their lives while trying to save others. Hospitals are places of sanctity under international law governing conflict,” said Horia Mosadiq, Afghanistan Researcher at Amnesty International.

Following the news of this incredible error, yet another bit of “collateral damage” from the endless war on terror, I could not help remembering part of Putin’s speech at the UN General Assembly:
“I cannot help asking those who have caused the situation, do you realize now what you've done,” the Russian leader asked. “But I am afraid no one is going to answer that. Indeed, policies based on self-conceit and belief in one's exceptionality and impunity have never been abandoned.”

It’s time for the West to put aside its self-important Russian-bashing and agree to work alongside Moscow in eliminating one of the great scourges of our times, and it's certainly not Syrian President Bashar Assad, one of the few actors in the region who takes Islamic State very seriously.

Source: www.rt.com/op-edge/317611-isis-syria-russia-us/

As if to underscore Russia’s decision to initiate airstrikes against Islamic State on the territory of Syria as Western forces don’t appear up to the task, NATO jets unleashed a deadly barrage on a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders in Afghanistan.

No sooner had Vladimir Putin wrapped up his speech at the United Nations, where he roundly criticized the manner in which US-led forces have been trampling on the sovereignty of nation states in its global pursuit of terrorists, Russia opened a stunning aerial campaign against Islamic State fighters on the ground in Syria.

China will be helping out the Syrian government in the fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIL/ISIS) by sending “military advisers,” media reports have claimed.

“The Chinese will be arriving in the coming weeks,” a Syrian army official told the Lebanon-based news website Al-Masdar Al-‘Arabi.

The report claims that a Chinese naval vessel is on its way to Syria with dozens of “military advisers” on board. They will reportedly be followed by troops.

The ship is said to have passed the Suez Canal in Egypt and be making its way through the Mediterranean Sea.

According to the website, the advisers will be joining Russian personnel in the Latakia region.

Meanwhile, an Israeli military news website, DEBKAfile, has cited military sources as saying that a Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning-CV-16, has already been spotted at the Syrian port of Tartus on the Mediterranean coast. It was said to be accompanied by a guided missile cruiser.

The news comes after Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria agreed to establish a joint information center in Baghdad to coordinate their operations against Islamic State militants, according to sources.

“The main goal of the center will be gathering, processing and analyzing current information about the situation in the Middle East – primarily for fighting IS,” a military-diplomatic source told Russian news agencies on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was recently asked about Russia’s presence in Syria, to which he replied that Russia’s activities are limited to supplying weapons to the Syrian government, training personnel and providing humanitarian aid for the Syrian people.

“We act based on the United Nations Charter, i.e. the fundamental principles of modern international law, according to which this or that type of aid, including military assistance, can and must be provided exclusively to the legitimate government of one country or another, upon its consent or request, or upon the decision of the United Nations Security Council,” Putin told CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ show.

Putin reiterated his support for Syria’s regular army – the army of President Bashar Assad. “He [Assad] is confronted with what some of our international partners interpret as an opposition. In reality, Assad’s army is fighting against terrorist organizations,” Putin said.

Russia’s president added that US attempts to train a Syrian opposition to take on Islamic State have failed. The US had aimed to prepare up to 12,000 fighters, but only 60 managed to complete the training and only four or five actually fought with the opposition, while others fled to IS with American weapons, Putin said, citing US Senate hearings.

“In my opinion, provision of military support to illegal structures runs counter to the principles of modern international law and the United Nations Charter,” he said.

Back in December, 2014, China offered to help Iraq in fighting Islamic State militants, volunteering to assist with airstrikes, but said it would not join the US-led coalition against ISIS.

In one of the latest atrocities committed by IS, the terror group used an online magazine to post pictures of two hostages, one Norwegian and one Chinese, putting the men up “for sale.”

Source: http://www.rt.com/news/316705-china-syria-isis-fight/

Bored and looking to make an extra buck, a former Google employee was fortunate enough to purchase the Google.com domain for just $12 – and actually managed to get control of it for about 60 seconds before the company realized it was a mistake.

The main domain of the search engine giant, whose market capitalization last year equaled almost $395 billion, was briefly bought by Sanmay Ved, who was casually browsing Google’s website-buying service, when he noticed that one of the world’s most visited domains was available for purchase.

“The domain actually got added to my cart as seen by the green check-box, and the domain appeared in my cart,” Vad wrote of his experience in a LinkedIn post. “I was hoping I would get an error [message] at sometime, saying transaction did not go through, but I was able to complete [the] purchase, and my credit card was actually charged!”

The price was only $12, hardly enough to buy you a lunch in Silicon Valley, where the company is based.
“I used to work at Google so I keep messing around with the product. I type in Google.com and to my surprise it showed it as available,” Ved told to Business Insider. “I thought it was some error, but I could actually complete check out.”

The domain then was added to Vad’s order history while his Google Webmaster Tools informed him of the ownership of Google.com, as proved by the screenshots he posted online.

“The scary part was I had access to the webmaster controls for a minute,” the lucky guy said.
However Vad’s fortunate purchase on Monday was short-lived, as Google Domains canceled the sale a minute later. The reason for the cancellation was simple – the company said someone had registered the site before he could.

“So for one minute I had access,” Ved said. “At least I can now say I’m the man who owned Google.com for a minute.”

Ved was immediately refunded his $12, but received no reparations for the shattered dream of owning the internet giant’s domain.

“I can't shake that feeling that I actually owned Google.com,” Ved said.

While Google has so far declined to comment on the circumstances which made his purchase possible, Ved's told CNET's Crave blog that Google is investigating. Google’s Security Team acknowledged the incident.

Source: www.rt.com/news/317326-google-domain-briefly-purchased/