The US is getting ready for an open dialogue with Iran to discuss Iraq's security concerns and ways of responding to radical Sunni militia that have been gaining ground in western Iraq, The Wall Street Journal quoted senior US officials as saying. [...]

So after the grotesquerie of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 suicide killers of 9/11, meet Saudi Arabia’s latest monstrous contribution to world history: the Islamist Sunni caliphate of Iraq and the Levant, conquerors of Mosul and Tikrit – and Raqqa in Syria – and possibly Baghdad, and the ultimate humiliators of Bush and Obama. [...]

The G7 "€˜snub"€™ to Russia really reveals the cracks behind the facade as America desperately tries to gain a broad alliance to support its misguided Ukrainian crusade. We’ve all been there, sitting in the playground and when it comes to somebody’s birthday party, unprecedented kindergarten power is vested in the hands of the 7 year-old. [...]

Apparently, the bloody wave of Islamic extremism gripping Iraq is an internal occurrence and was in no way facilitated by the Western invasion. This is former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair'€™s version of events concerning the entire Middle East. In fact, the former prime minister describes at length how it’s necessary to rid oneself of any feeling of responsibility that the crumbling country an [...]

Total US debt soars to nearly $60 trn, foreshadows new recession! The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis released the current data for the total debt in the United States Economy on June 5, 2014 — All Sectors; Credit Market Instruments; Liability, Level (TCMDO). While people, companies, and governments blamed bad weather for a dismal showing in economic activity, it appears they had little troubl [...]

The US Air Force has sent more of its bombers to Europe, deploying two B-2 stealth aircraft as part of a military exercise. On Sunday they joined three B-52 StratoFortress bombers already deployed in Britain. “This deployment of strategic bombers provides an invaluable opportunity to strengthen and improve interoperability with our allies and partners,” said Adm. Cecil Haney, commander, US Str [...]

Tony Blair'€™s essay on how the Middle East should blame its own religious dynamics for its troubles -€“ instead of Western attempts at intervention - has seen London Mayor Boris Johnson launch a scathing attack on the "€œunhinged"€ former PM. Johnson’s strong condemnation is a reaction to the arguments made in the former British Prime Minister’s piece entitled 'Iraq, Syria and the Mi [...]

Heavily-armed, Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants have seized the Iraqi city of Mosul, driving back government forces. Officials say the Iraqi Army'€™s soldiers are demoralized and are no match for the attacking militant forces. “The city of Mosul is outside the control of the state and at the mercy of the militants,” an Interior Ministry official told AFP on Monday. [...]

NATO is preparing a package deal to ramp up the Ukrainian military because it "€˜must adapt"€™ to Russia viewing it as an enemy, the outgoing chief of the military bloc said. The deal would be submitted to foreign ministers of members states later this month, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told El Pais in an interview. [...]

It was a bad week for blow back. So it goes. Tit-for-tat. Violence begets violence, as every schoolboy knows. Just at the brouhaha over the US solider Bowe Bergdahl being freed by his Taliban captors was simmering, the Taliban attacked Karachi Airport. Soon after, this was followed by yet more drone attacks on Waziristan that killed women and children. [...]

US federal authorities have been increasingly involved with local police departments and criminal trials in an attempt to keep details of vast domestic surveillance policies under wraps, according to a new report from the Associated Press. [...]

When you think of how happy people in a whole country are, what do you take into account? True, country well-being and perception of own happiness depend greatly on the economic situation. But it's Panama that tops Gallup's Global Well-being Index. The Gallup-Healthways index, released for the year 2013, puts the Latin American country at number one, with war-torn Syria and Afghanistan coming i [...]

Elections to the European Parliament have brought groundbreaking changes in the structure of EU'€™s most powerful body: right wing parties along with Eurosceptics, an outsiders just a few years ago, have now taken the political scene. [...]

The Ukrainian President is sitting at the top of a living volcano and must understand that exacerbating conflict with Russia will put an end to his presidency, Michael J. Carley, professor of history and 20th century international relations, told RT. [...]

Ukraine has chosen a new president. How is he going to deal with his country's dire problems? Is it possible to achieve the promised peace when he immediately refuses to compromise? How much latitude does President Petro Poroshenko have in his government at all? Peter Lavelle hosts CrossTalking, with Vladimir Suchan, Daniel Welch and Mark Sleboda. [...]

Historical analogies may be inaccurate, but Americans may need to look at their own civil war and compare it to what is happening in Ukraine now. Today the US supports a murderous criminal adventure that has little to do with unifying the country. [...]

A spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed this week that a fleet of Russian bombers set off alarms in the United States after coming within 50 miles of California'€™s Pacific coast. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for NORAD, told Washington Free Beacon reporter Bill Gertz that a pair of Tu-95 Bear H aircraft maintained by Russia came close to US airspac [...]

The world’s second-largest mobile phone company has broken its silence over its cooperation with government agencies and their efforts to eavesdrop on unsuspecting customers, but what it fails to mention speaks the loudest. [...]

Ukrainian police have detained two men with a package presumably containing a homemade explosive device near Russia'€™s consulate in the city of Odessa. The explosive has been sent for inspection, the local Ministry of Interior reports. [...]

Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, has proven his "political realism" by comparing his country's relations with the US to unrewarding oral sex, the Russian Foreign ministry commented. In a leaked recording of a private conversation, Sikorski said that Warsaw’s alliance with Washington is worthless and even damaging as it “creates a false sense of security in Poland,” [...]

The European Commission said it will provide up to €125 million from Monday till the end of November to compensate food producers coping with Moscow’s food ban. “The exceptional measures announced today will include market withdrawals especially for free distribution, compensation for non-harvesting and green harvesting. [...]

Russia and Ukraine failed to resolve a gas pricing dispute during Sunday talks in Kiev. Gazprom says its demands have not changed and Kiev is expected to pay its debt of $1.95 billion by 06:00 GMT on Monday, otherwise the gas supply will be stopped. Gazprom’s position remained unchanged after EU-brokered negotiations finally ended around 2:30 a.m. Moscow time (10:30 p.m. GMT) on Monday [...]