Iraq

Trump is popular not so much for his stance on issues as for the fact that he is not another Washington politican, and he is respected for not backing down and apologizing when he makes strong statements for which he is criticized. What people see in Trump is strength and leadership. This is what is unusual about a political candidate, and it is this strength to which voters are responding. For that reason, the corrupt American political establishment has issued a “get Trump” command to its presstitute media.

For those who have enjoyed our coverage of how Washington and its regional allies supply TOWs to militants battling for control of Syria, we bring you the following clip, which appears to depict Syrian rebels firing a missile at a Hezbollah fighter sitting in a truck. In a remarkable example of remaining cool under fire (literally), the soldier simply pulls forward, dodging death by a few feet at the last second.

As the status-quo-sponsored mainstream media continues to desperately try to point out all of Donald Trump's flaws (and apparently wash over all of Hillary's), the actual electorate appears unimpressed by their efforts. Despite "Schlong-gate" (more press), the latest poll from CNN/ORN shows The Donald adding 3 more points since the last debate to 39% of Republicans, with Ted Cruz a distant second at 18%.

An analysis of terror attacks since 2002 suggests U.S. efforts to combat terrorism - i.e., the "War on Terror" - have led to a dramatic increase in death and suffering from terrorism.

As Baghdad gears up for an assault on ISIS-held Mosul, the Iraqi army has managed to liberate Ramadi, the "heartland" of the country's Sunni community. “We went into the center of Ramadi from different axes, and we started clearing residential areas. The city will be cleared within the coming 72 hours."

In a shocking new report, Seymour Hersh reveals what he says was a covert operation run by the Joint Chiefs of Staff who sought to undermine the Obama administration and the CIA's goal of overthrowing the Assad regime in Syria. "If the American public saw the intelligence we were producing daily, at the most sensitive level, they would go ballistic."

"I hope I'm wrong but I fear Washington is trying to provoke a war in the Middle East to cover the coming collapse of the Petrodollar system and the American economy when the dollar is no longer the world reserve currency. The war is necessary to blame the coming dollar and debt collapse on Russia and China rather where it belongs on Wall Street, the central banking cartel and Washington political establishment. Remember while a Washington provoked war or conflict is likely to start in the Shia Crescent; it could spread across the Middle East and into Europe."

2015 has witnessed several events that had, and will have, negative repercussions on individual freedom. Orwellian totalitarianism is increasingly creeping into our everyday lives. How much more intrusive will the violations of our liberties become and for how long will the establishment get away with this? With regards to the financial system, no real solution was found to issues such as those in the euro zone. Furthermore, the financial system as a whole once again got deeper into debt. For how much longer can central banks and governments continue kicking the can down the road without any real reform?

“I worry greatly that the rhetoric coming from the Republicans, particularly Donald Trump, is sending a message to Muslims here ... and ... around the world, that there is a ‘clash of civilizations.'” So said Hillary Clinton in Saturday night’s New Hampshire debate. Yet, that phrase was not popularized by Donald Trump, but by Harvard’s famed Samuel Huntington. That Clinton is unaware of the thesis, or dismisses it, does not speak well of the depth of her understanding of our world.

The main shortcoming of today’s militarized approach to fighting terrorism is simple - unless the expansion of dangerous ideologies like Wahhabism is stopped, the global war on terror, now almost a generation old, will never be won. No matter how many bombs the US and its allies drop, the Saudi-financed madrassas will continue to indoctrinate tomorrow’s jihadists.

Britain is set to deploy additional troops to the fight in Afghanistan after a suicide bomber on a motorbike killed six US troops near Bagram. The Taliban advance in Helmand underscores the country's worsening security situation and suggests that in relatively short order, Afghanistan will once again become a key battleground in what has become a multi-state regional proxy war.

Two waves of IS terrorists are said to have been trained for terror attacks in Europe - either for suicide bombings, or for Paris-style handgun attacks.

• Splintered Spanish vote points to fraught coalition talks (Reuters)
• Brent Oil Falls to 11-Year Low in London as Global Glut Persists (BBG)
• Oil prices hit lowest since 2004 as supply balloons (Reuters)
• U.S. Probes Theranos Complaints (WSJ)
• Driver plows onto Las Vegas Strip sidewalk 'like bowling ball', one dead (Reuters)
• Yellen, Bull Markets and Extinction in a Seven-Year Stock Rally (BBG)

The American people are asleep at the wheel. The blame is not totally their’s, but they do bare the brunt of the blame. The mainstream media does not report what is happening within our economy or the geopolitical arena, unless they can spew on and on about the endless rainbows, unicorns and how “America is the greatest and Putin is the devil." As Paul Craig Roberts warns, we are facing a world in change and the pace is quickening.

On the heels of Hillary Clinton's comments during the third Democratic debate regarding the appropriateness of America's pursuit of regime change in Syria, Vladimir Putin is out reiterating Russia's position that "outsiders forcing change of legitimate powers in other countries is intolerable."