Republican Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was elected Speaker of the House, defeating Democrat Nancy Pelosi. The 45-year-old has become the youngest congressman to serve as the House leader since 1869. Of the 432 votes cast, 236 went to Ryan and 184 to Pelosi. [...]

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. [...]

Here is the dictionary definition of MYTH: Etymology: New Latin mýthus, from Late Latin mýthos, from Greek muthos. A fiction or half-truth, especially one that forms part of an ideology. An unfounded or false notion. A person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence. Idle fancy, fable, fiction. Here is the dictionary definition of ANTI-SEMITISM: 1. Hostility toward [...]

During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, an Air Force airman says that his unit was ordered to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. His captain’s use of common sense over 50 years ago may have saved the world from a nuclear apocalypse. An article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists paints a picture of John Bordne, an Air Force airman who was stationed at one of four secret [...]

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- [...]

The secret 995 year old Khazarian mafia Blood Feud against Persia and Russia. The *Khazarian Mafia has had long term plan to enslave and destroy Russia and Persia (now called Iran). They infiltrated Russia and hijacked it in 1917 with their Bolshevik Revolution funded by the RKM Banksters of the City of London and Wall Street. [...]

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 [...]

Die Terrorgruppe Islamischer Staat hat erstmals ein Video nur auf Deutsch veröffentlicht. Die Fanatiker töten zwei Männer, rufen Muslime zum Mord an „Ungläubigen“ auf und drohen Kanzlerin Merkel. Zum ersten Mal hat die Terrorgruppe "Islamischer Staat" ein Video nur auf Deutsch veröffentlicht. Darin drohen sie Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel, rufen zum Morden auf und erschießen zwei Geis [...]

Once again, whatever hangs in the future for Syria on both the political and military fronts depends on the new Battle of Aleppo. The city and its outskirts, with the influx of internal refugees, may be harboring up to three million people by now. It’s always about Aleppo. Here’s what’s going on, essentially, on the ground. West Aleppo is controlled by Damascus, via the Syrian Arab Army ( [...]

The UN has finally come out with a verdict on meat, with a report indicating that processed meat like sausages and ham can cause cancer, with red meat also under suspicion. The Monday report issued by WHO is set to once again heat up the ongoing debate over the health dangers of a carnivorous diet. [...]

In three days of operations, the Russian aviation group in Syria has hit 258 targets belonging to the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terror groups, the Defense Ministry said. "Over the past three days, the warplanes of the Russian air group have carried out 164 sorties, hitting 285 targets,” Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, said Monday. [...]

If Middle East strongmen Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were still in this world, it would have been a better place, because what came instead is much worse, US presidential candidate Donald Trump said. Asked by CNN's Jake Tapper on his State of the Union show whether the world would have been better off with Hussein and Gaddafi still ruling in Iraq and Syria, Trump said “100 percent.” [...]

Former UK PM Tony Blair should be indicted by the International Criminal Court for leading Britain into an illegal war with Iraq, resulting in millions of deaths and the rise of Islamic State, says Neil Clark, a journalist and a broadcaster. The former British Prime Minister admitted in an interview with CNN that there are “elements of truth” to the supposition that the US-led Iraq invasio [...]

Thousands rallied in Cologne on Sunday as supporters of the ‘Hooligans against Salafists' far-right group and their left-wing opponents took to the streets. Police had to deploy a water cannon in an attempt to control the counter-protest. Law enforcers had earlier sought to ban Sunday’s demonstration by the far-rights. [...]

Last week I compared the US – and by extension all economies based on the same model – to Semtex. My exploration of this analogy both ruffled feathers and raised questions. This week, I want to address five of the most common criticisms the article generated.   Have not read part one yet? CLICK HERE  to read it first.   Or CLICK HERE to proceed to the current article! [...]