Obama administration considering strikes on Assad, again

U.S. military strikes against the Assad regime will be back on the table Wednesday at the White House, when top national security officials in the Obama administration are set to discuss options for the way forward in Syria. But there’s little prospect President Obama will ultimately approve them.

Inside the national security agencies, meetings have been going on for weeks to consider new options to recommend to the president to address the ongoing crisis in Aleppo, where Syrian and Russian aircraft continue to perpetrate the deadliest bombing campaign the city has seen since the five-year-old civil war began. A meeting of the Principals Committee, which includes Cabinet-level officials, is scheduled for Wednesday. A meeting of the National Security Council, which could include the president, could come as early as this weekend .... https://www.washingtonpost.com

1,320-ton 'God of War' Guan Yu statue unveiled in China

China have redefined the concept of ‘statue’ and put Lady Liberty to shame with the unveiling of a colossal 1,320-ton, 58-meter-high statue of legendary general and “God of War” Guan Yu.

The intimidating statue stands in the city of Jingzhou in Hubei province – and you would be well advised not to pick a fight with it.

The general fought to end the reign of the Han dynasty and establish the Shu Han state before he died in 220 CE. In the sixth century he was deified, earning him the very cool title of “God of War” .... https://www.rt.com

The CIA Just Declassified the Document That Supposedly Justified the Iraq Invasion

Thirteen years ago, the intelligence community concluded in a 93-page classified document used to justify the invasion of Iraq that it lacked “specific information” on “many key aspects” of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.

But that’s not what top Bush administration officials said during their campaign to sell the war to the American public. Those officials, citing the same classified document, asserted with no uncertainty that Iraq was actively pursuing nuclear weapons, concealing a vast chemical and biological weapons arsenal, and posing an immediate and grave threat to US national security .... https://news.vice.com

Marc Faber: Hillary Clinton Will Destroy The Whole World

Hillary Clinton’s Emails. A Sunni-Shiite War Would be Good for Israel and the West. Senior Israeli Intelligence Official

The intelligence service of Israel considers a potential Sunni-Shiite war in Syria a favorable development for the country and the West, according to an email archive of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, released by WikiLeaks.

The author of the email, forwarded by Clinton in July 2012, argued that Israel is convinced Iran would lose “its only ally” in the Middle East, if the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad collapses.

“The fall of the House of Assad could well ignite a sectarian war between the Shiites and the majority Sunnis of the region drawing in Iran, which, in the view of Israeli commanders would not be a bad thing for Israel and its Western allies,” an email stated .... http://www.globalresearch.ca

Pro War Candidate Hillary Clinton vs. Candidate Donald Trump

North Korea claims it could 'burn down' Manhattan with a hydrogen bomb

State-run television in the People’s Republic reported on Sunday that Pyongyang’s arsenal of deadly weapons now includes a hydrogen bomb that could wipe out New York City and kill everybody who lives there.

“Our hydrogen bomb is much bigger than the one developed by the Soviet Union,” DPRK Today reported, citing nuclear scientist Cho Hyong Il.

“If this H-bomb were to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile and fall on Manhattan in New York City, all the people there would be killed immediately and the city would burn down to ashes.”

The remarks, first reported by the Washington Post, follow a staged show of the country’s military power last week where leader Kim Jong-un was filmed inspecting a silver sphere. The object is believed to be a miniature nuclear warhead or a hydrogen bomb .... http://www.foxnews.com

Neocons Panic That Trump Presidency Would Mark End to Their New World Order

As eccentric billionaire Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump continues to rack up primary victories, the party's establishment is beginning to wonder whether the political outsider can be stopped. Alarmed, neoconservative pundit Anne Applebaum goes so far as to suggest that a Trump presidency would mark "the end of the West as we know it."

On Saturday, real estate mogul Donald Trump racked up two more primary victories, winning in Louisiana and Kentucky, and thus securing a total of 373 delegates, with establishment candidates Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich trailing with 291, 122 and 33 delegates, respectively.

With some pundits now openly asking whether the Republican establishment really has a chance to derail Trump, others, including neocon journalist Anne Applebaum, have resorted to scaremongering .... http://sputniknews.com

Russia condemns ‘unprecedented’ US-South Korea war-games for pressuring Pyongyang

Large-scale defense drills being conducted by the US and South Korea are an alarming attempt to put military and political pressure on North Korea, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said, while also criticizing Pyongyang’s reaction to the exercise.

“The development of the situation on the Korean peninsula and around it is causing growing concern,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Despite being pre-planned, the US-South Korean exercise is “unprecedented in its scale, and the number and types of weaponry being employed,” it stressed.

On Monday, some 15,000 American troops and 300,000 South Korean servicemen commenced the annual drill, which is aimed at testing the militaries’ readiness to counter a North Korean threat .... https://www.rt.com

Tony Blair ‘deceived’ top ministers over Iraq invasion – new memoir

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair kept members of his cabinet and numerous high-profile Whitehall officials in the dark over his plans to create a “regime change” in Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein, a new memoir has revealed.

“Broken Vows,” a new book about the former PM by investigative journalist Tom Bower, reveals that Blair had decided as early as 2002 that Saddam Hussein should be removed, but failed to state his intentions to his Chief of Defence Staff, Cabinet Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary and most of the Cabinet.

The book alleges that because so many top officials were out of the loop, the military were unable to begin training in earnest for an invasion, and subsequently suffered due to insufficient equipment. Blair always insisted he was an “honest broker,” looking for a peaceful solution .... https://www.rt.com/uk

'Is it 2016 or 1962?' PM Medvedev urges Russia & West end ‘Cold War’ amid terror rise

The relationships between NATO and Russia have slid down toward a new Cold War, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at a panel discussion during the Munich Security Conference, describing NATO's policy as 'unfriendly and not transparent.'

Assange (Wikileaks): A vote today for Hillary Clinton is a vote for endless, stupid war

A vote today for Hillary Clinton is a vote for endless, stupid war.

Hillary didn't just vote for Iraq. She made her own Iraq. Libya is Hillary's Iraq and if she becomes president she will make more.

I have had years of experience in dealing with Hillary Clinton and have read thousands of her cables. Hillary lacks judgement and will push the United States into endless wars which spread terrorism. Her personality combined with her poor policy decisions have directly contributed to the rise of ISIS.

Pentagon generals objected to destroying the Libyan state. They felt Hillary did not have a safe post-war plan. Hillary Clinton went over their heads. Libya has been destroyed. It became a haven for ISIS. The Libyan national armory was looted and hundreds of tons of weapons were transferred to jihadists in Syria. Having learned nothing from the Libyan disaster Hillary then set about trying do the same in Syria. Hillary's war has increased terrorism, killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians and has set back women's rights in the Middle East by hundreds of years.

Hillary publicly took credit for the destruction of the Libyan state. On hearing that the country's president had been killed by her handiwork, she became wild-eyed and gloated "We came, we saw, he died!". In the momentary thrill of the kill, she had aped, of all people, Julius Ceaser .... http://www.twitlonger.com

Declassified Memo Proves The Pentagon Had ZERO Evidence Of WMDs In Iraq

Thirteen years after the invasion and occupation of Iraq, it is common knowledge that this war of choice was based on fabrications and slick propaganda. There were no weapons of mass destruction, the country posed no real threat to the U.S., and it was not a hotbed of terrorism until after Saddam was deposed.

Now, a bombshell has dropped in the form of a leaked classified report—a “smoking gun” if you will—that confirms the utter deception carried out on the American people to support the invasion. It demonstrates just how far the cabal under George W. Bush, making up a group known as the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), would go to prey upon fear in pursuit of global hegemony .... http://www.activistpost.com

Hillary Clinton’s insane plan for a no-fly zone

Raddatz moved on, but this exchange illustrates the absurdity of Clinton’s support for a “no-fly zone.” A no-fly zone over Syria, as all parties understand, is a tacit declaration of war not only against Syria, but also against their longtime ally Russia, whose air force is currently flying over Syria to defend the government of Bashar al-Assad against both ISIL and various rebel groups, some overtly or covertly backed by the United States.

But most Americans don’t know what a no-fly zone is, because the media almost never explains what it would entail. Indeed, one has to look to paragraph 19 of an article in The New York Times from 2013 to get some specifics.

No other major Democrat supports Clinton’s tortured position. President Barack Obama himself has dismissed the idea, including when Clinton pushed for it while serving in his administration. But Clinton isn’t alone. She has lots of company on the other side of aisle, including from GOP establishment favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (with whom she shares a foreign policy consultant, Beacon Strategies), who has repeatedly called for a no-fly zone in similarly vague terms. In the Republican debates, the moderators haven’t even gone as far as Raddatz tried to in clarifying what this means .... http://america.aljazeera.com

Elon Musk worries World War III may stop him conquering Mars

In a recent lengthy interview, the man behind Paypal, Tesla and SpaceX has confessed that he feels another World War is more real than it may seem.

“You know, in 1912 they were proclaiming a new age of peace and prosperity, saying that it was a golden age, war was over. And then you had World War I, followed by World War II, followed by the Cold War. So I think we need to acknowledge that there’s certainly a possibility of a third World War, and if that does occur it could be far worse than anything that’s happened before,” he told GQ.

In his inimitable fashion, Musk likens the Mars operation to backing up a computer: "You back up your hard drive.... Maybe we should back up life, too?”

Elon Musk believes Mars is the perfect destination, it just needs a bit of heating. After one of his TV appearances he was quoted for proposing nuking Mars, a bold statement that he later had to explain.

Musk dismissed earlier comments that he intended to nuke the planet’s surface. He said he wanted to create aerial explosions to heat it up, likening it to placing suns at each pole .... https://www.rt.com

The Nobel Foundation taken to court on the Peace Prize

The Nobel Committee in Oslo has, over the years, awarded this prize to several people whose activities are in clear violation of those goals, even with a broader, updated interpretation.

Can such a prize, with a so clearly stated goal, be changed to serve the opposite idea and be given again and again to recipients who promote arms races and believe in militarism and war?

This question will soon be answered, after Mairead Maguire, Jan Oberg, David Swanson, and Lay Down Your Arms took the case to the Stockholm District Court on Friday 4th of December 2015.

The specific case to be tested is the 2012 award to the European Union .... http://worldbeyondwar.org

Turkey risks sparking world war, says Iraq's Maliki

Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki Thursday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of pushing the world to the brink of a global conflict after Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane.

Maliki, a former prime minister who remains very influential, lashed out at Erdogan after Turkey shot down a Russian jet it said briefly violated its airspace during operations in northern Syria on Tuesday.

"Erdogan claims that a Russian aircraft entered Turkey's airspace for a few seconds, forgetting that its own planes violate Iraqi and Syrian airspace every day," he said in a statement.

Turkish fighter jets have in recent months carried out a series of deadly strikes against rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in their bases in the north of Iraq.

"Erdogan's double standards and aggressive policies are threatening a new world war," he said.

The authorities in Baghdad have long accused Ankara of playing a key role in the rise of the Islamic State group, which took over entire regions of Syria and Iraq over the past two years .... http://news.yahoo.com

A Look Inside Putin's Massive New Military Command and Control Center

Weapons Manufacturers Stocks Soar After Paris Attacks

A recent report by journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out stock prices for weapons manufacturers sharply increased just after the terrorist attacks in Paris last week.Greenwald was following the tip of Brooklyn journalist Aaron Cantú, who posted screenshots for the recent stock performances of major weapons contractors on his Twitter page early Monday morning .... http://www.zerohedge.com

US: Suicide rate 50% higher for veterans than civilians

The United States has been marking Veterans Day. But despite celebrations and words of honor given on this day, some veterans still feel very alone the rest of the year...But despite celebrations and words of honor given on this day, some veterans still feel very alone the rest of the year.