A small German village containing just 102 residents and with almost no infrastructure will have to accommodate as many as 750 asylum seekers after a decision by the regional authorities. Villagers fear the area will be unable to cope with the burden. [...]

I first came to the conclusion that the U.S. is a dictatorship in 2002, when I found proof that George W. Bush was lying to claim that he possessed proof that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding his WMD (weapons of mass destruction) stockpiles, and when the U.S. and UK ’news’ media hid this crucial fact that their heads-of-state were lying. [...]

The Russian Defense Ministry has denied media reports its aircraft hit hospitals in Syria, saying the medical facilities mentioned by Western media don’t actually exist. The Defense Ministry has checked the data presented in recent media reports, which blamed Russian aviation for hitting several hospitals in Syria, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the ministry spokesman said in a press briefin [...]

Official Washington’s neocon-dominated “group think” on Syria is that everything is the fault of President Assad and Russian President Putin, but the actual history shows many missed opportunities for peace because of the U.S. obsession with dictating “regime change” in country after country, as Jonathan Marshall explains. [...]

Sending some 50 US advisers to Syria illegally to train the so-called ‘moderate rebels’ looks like a calculated move. If, or when, someone gets hurt, the US will have a pretext for boots on the ground, believes retired US Air Force Lieutenant Col Karen Kwiatkowski. Does this deployment mean Americans will be putting themselves in the direct line of fire in Syria? [...]

Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Sicily protesting against Trident Juncture 2015, the largest military maneuvers in more than a decade, which NATO claims are designed to adapt the alliance to “emerging security challenges.”   [...]

Obama’s decision to send Special Forces into Syria is being widely viewed as a US military escalation in the country. The troop dispatch also signals that the US trying to forestall Russian successes in wiping out Washington’s regime-change assets in Syria. In short, the US Special Forces are being used as “human shields” to curb Russian air strikes against anti-government mercenaries, [...]

Women arming themselves in Austria as migrant rape epidemic hits Europe. Private gun sales are exploding in Austria as women prepare to defend themselves against migrant rapists. “All long guns are currently completely sold out,” a Czech TV station reported. “Those arming themselves are primarily women.” [...]

Sealing the Hungarian border will not stem the tide of Muslim migrants as long as Germany & Sweden offer the incentive of open borders and the open coffers of the welfare state. With crime, especially rape, soaring from the migrants, women in Austria are arming themselves with firearms and the German government fears a backlash from citizens who have been “radicalized”, awakened to the [...]

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair “misrepresented” military intelligence in order to secure approval to invade Iraq in 2003, Dr Hans Blix, the head of the UN inspection team at the time, has revealed. Blix, who inspected Iraq for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) before the US and British-led invasion, told former-Telegraph journalist Peter Oborne the intelligence gathered was not accuratel [...]

The subsidiary of the Russian Space Center and French satellite provider Eutelsat has signed a long-term launch contract. “Several Proton-M carrier rocket launches with Eutelsat satellites will be carried out between 2016-2023 from the Baikonur space center,” Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday. [...]

The majority of European Parliament members have voted in favor of asking constituent states to grant protection to whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who has described the move as a ‘game-changer’ and a ‘chance to move forward’. MEPs have urged EU member states to “drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent ext [...]

The International Monetary Fund will go ahead with the promised $17.5 billion loan to Ukraine even if Kiev defaults on its $3 billion debt to Russia due in December, reports The Wall Street Journal. Current IMF policy forbids it loaning to countries that default on other governments.   [...]

The US would not be keen to pursue a trade deal with Britain if it were to leave the European Union, one American official has said.It marks the first public acknowledgement by the US of a stance on the upcoming referendum. [...]

Threatening continued assaults on the Kurdish militia in Syria, the Turkish president has warned he will not request anyone’s permission to do whatever is necessary to prevent the spread of support for Kurdish autonomy, even if it requires bombing US-allied rebels.   [...]

Over 80 percent of the asylum seekers recently arrived in Germany have no formal qualifications, and only eight percent have a college degree, local media reported citing research by the country's Federal Employment Agency. Germany (population 80 million) may receive 1.5 million asylum seekers this year alone. [...]

Sir John Chilcot has told Prime Minister David Cameron that the long-delayed, highly controversial report into the legality of the Iraq War will certainly be published in June or July 2016. In an official letter to Cameron, Chilcot said the text of the report would be completed by April 18, 2016, at which point “national security” checking of the content will commence. [...]

Hand guns and rifle sales are spiking in Austria, with some shops reporting they are running out of stocks of shotguns, since no license is needed to buy them. “Yes, I can confirm, the demand in Austria for weapons is growing. My revenue doubled in September. And in October it has doubled again, and we are still in October,” a gun shop owner told RT. [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the government for turning a blind eye on US dollar payments in the domestic oil trade. "I would like to mention one crucial issue in the development of the energy industry, and the economy as a whole. It is a question of finally stopping the use of foreign currency in internal trade,” said Putin at the fuel and energy presidential commission on Tuesda [...]

The Iraqi government never asked for and does not need any US involvement in ground operations against Islamic State terrorists. The eye-opening statement came only a day after the Pentagon promised its partner more ground support if it was required. “This is an Iraqi affair and the government did not ask the US Department of Defense to be involved in direct operations,” spokesman Sa'ad al- [...]

Rock star politician and ex-Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has brushed off accusations by the Times of London that he is raking in cash for speaking engagements by publishing his expenses. On Tuesday, the paper published a piece claiming Varoufakis was merely moonlighting as a “libertarian Marxist,” while in fact acting like a “highly-paid capitalist,” raking in six-figure fees [...]

Something really fishy is going on in Syria, US Marine combat veteran Gordon Duff notes, adding that Western mass media remains suspiciously mute about the matter. There are lots of battles being fought across Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Libya, accompanied by various local conflicts, US Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War and senior editor of Vet [...]