The US is creating an alliance to end the pandemonium in Iraq and Syria. What America has assembled is a "coalition of the guilty", the same players that created the forces menacing Iraq and Syria, and hides America's role creating the disorder.

On September 15, 2014, a conference took place in France about the violence in Iraq. The forthright aim of the Paris conference was to convene a broad coalition to tackle the crisis in Iraq. Just as important, because of the cross-border nature of the crisis, the fighting in Syria was also part of the discussions in Paris.

This whole coalition-building process is a disingenuous deception. Two of the major regional players, which are at the forefront of fighting the cross-border insurgencies in Syria and Iraq, did not even attend the gathering. Syria was not present at the conference, because it was not invited. The Iranians were not present in Paris either.

The best thing that the world can do is to prevent the governments in Washington, Paris, and London from get involved any further in the debacle.

Were the above governments not the very same authorities that helped form, train, arm, and finance the same groups inside Syria that they now say they want to fight there and in Iraq?

Were the head choppers, cannibals, rapists, and criminals that are trying to fragment Iraq and Syria - whatever you want to call them: Al-Qaeda/Al Nusra/ISIL/ISIS/DAISH/IS/DI - not trained by the US and its allies in places like Jordan and Turkey?

Since the start of the Ukrainian crisis in November 2013, Western media and politicians have accused Russia's in its role in the Ukrainian crisis, repeatedly claiming that Russia has acted aggressively without any provocation. Contrary to these frequent statements, Russia has been a victim of regular provocations over the last few years, but despite these aggravations, Russia has not acted bellicosely, but instead continued to search for a diplomatic solution to the current crisis.

How Russia was provoked by the West

The first myth stipulates that Russia deliberately attacked Ukraine without any reason, annexing Crimea and destabilising eastern Ukraine. Debunking this myth is crucial, as many other false statements about Russia originate from the assumption that Russia acted belligerently. However, the truth is that the West triggered Russia into reacting the way it did. Firstly, since 2004 the West continuously supported and injected finance into pro-Western groups in Ukraine, despite warnings from Russia to not destabilise Ukraine. Secondly, the European Union was blackmailing former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich into signing an Association Agreement, a deal that would be of grave consequences to Russian economy due to Western products flooding the Russian market.

Iranian and Chinese naval vessels are beginning joint drills focusing on "relief and rescue operations" in the Persian Gulf for the first time ever.
For the first time ever, Iran and China have begun joint naval drills in the Persian Gulf.

"Discussing and studying the two countries' naval relief and rescue operations and drills, confronting sea incidents and accidents, and gaining the necessary technical preparedness, are among the actions to be practiced with the Chinese army forces," Admiral Amir Hossein Azad, commander of Iran's First Naval Zone said Saturday, according to the FARS news agency.

"The voyage of the Chinese army's fleet of warships for the first time in the Persian Gulf waters is aimed at joint preparation of Iran and China for establishing peace, stability, tranquility and multilateral and mutual cooperation," Azad said.

Last year Iranian ships traveled to the Sea of China "to deliver Iran's message of peace and friendship to the Chinese," FARSreported.

A few days ago the Iranian Navy stopped pirates from attacking a Chinese vessel in the Gulf of Aden, the news agency reported. The container ship was allegedly en route from Singapore to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) at the time of the attack.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society has reported, Sunday, that Israeli soldiers kidnapped 174 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in the second week of September, 2014.
The PPS added that most of the kidnappings were focused in the northern West Bank district of Jenin with 69 arrests in different parts of the district.

It added that the soldiers also kidnapped 40 Palestinians in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, 12 in Bethlehem, 17 in Ramallah, and 10 in occupied Jerusalem.

Four more Palestinians have been kidnapped in the Nablus district, four in Qalqilia, five in Tulkarem, while 13 Palestinians have been kidnapped in Tubas and Salfit, in Central West Bank.

There are approximately 7000 Palestinians who are currently held by Israel in 17 prisons and detention camps.

Among the detained Palestinians are 75 Palestinians who have been kidnapped after being released under the Shalit Prisoner Swap Agreement.

30 detainees have been imprisoned since before the First Oslo Agreement of 1993; the longest serving detainee is Karim Younis, who has been imprisoned since at least 32 years.

They were supposed to be released back in late March, but Israel violated its own vows to release them under the fourth and final phase of releasing all veteran detainees.

Former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has announced his return to the country's political arena after being beaten by current president Francois Hollande in 2012.

Sarkozy made the announcement on his Facebook page and he is now likely to run as the candidate for the center-right aligned Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which could put him in line for another presidential bid.

"I am a candidate for the presidency of my political family," he wrote. "I propose a complete transformation so as to create within three months the conditions for a vast new movement that will address itself to all French people irrespective of partisanship."

World View: Israel takes land, Palestine loses land; that's the way it works

So a bit more of Palestine has slidden down the plughole. A thousand more acres of Palestinian land stolen by the Israeli government - for "appropriation" is theft, is it not? - and the world has made the usual excuses. The Americans found it "counter-productive" to peace, which is probably a bit less forceful than its reaction would be if Mexico were to bite off a 1,000-acre chunk of Texas and decided to build homes there for its illegal immigrants in the US. But this is "Palestine" (inverted commas more necessary than ever) and Israel has been getting away with theft, albeit not on quite this scale - it is the biggest land heist in 30 years - ever since it signed up to the Oslo agreement in 1993.

The Rabin-Arafat handshake, the promises and handovers of territory and military withdrawals, and the determination to leave everything important (Jerusalem, refugees, the right of return) to the end, until everyone trusted each other so much that the whole thing would be a doddle - no wonder the world bestowed its financial generosity upon the pair. But this latest land-grab not only reduces "Palestine" but continues the circle of concrete around Jerusalem to cut Palestinians off from both the capital they are supposed to share with Israelis and from Bethlehem.

It was instructive to learn the Israeli-Jewish Etzion council regarded this larceny as punishment for the murder of three Israeli teenagers in June. "The goal of the murders of those three youths was to sow fear among us, to disrupt our daily lives and to call into doubt our right [sic] to the land," the Etzion council announced. "Our response is to strengthen settlement." This must be the first time that land in "Palestine" has been acquired not through excuses about security or land deeds - or on God's personal authority - but out of revenge.

And it raises an interesting precedent. If an innocent Israeli life - cruelly taken - is worth around 330 acres of land, then an innocent Palestinian life - equally cruelly taken - must surely equal the same. And if even half the 2,200 Palestinian dead of Gaza last month - and this is a conservative figure - were innocent, then the Palestinians presumably now have the right to take over 330,000 acres of Israeli land, in reality much more. But however "counter-productive" this might be, I'm sure America would not stand for it. Israel takes land, Palestinians lose land; that's the way it works. And thus it has been since 1948, and that is how it will continue.

Alibaba's IPO could well be the end of U.S. dominance in the world technology sector, a professor from a Britain's business school told Xinhua on Thursday.

"Alibaba's annual growth rate of more than 30 percent shows that the gap between the Chinese companies, Alibaba and Tencent, and U.S. companies is getting ever closer," said Qing Wang, professor from Warwick Business School, one of the most prestigious and highly selective business schools in the world.

"The ability to understand customers intimately and continuously innovate should enable them to expand overseas with US dominance in the world technology sector gradually being broken," said professor Wang.

The strong performance and fast rise of the Chinese technology companies in the world was helped by an enormous and fast growing domestic market, she said. The competition in that domestic market among the Chinese companies, as well as with multinational corporations that have entered it, was extremely fierce and successful private companies like Alibaba had to be highly entrepreneurial and market-oriented, she added.

Professor Wang didn't see major risks for Alibaba after IPO, as this was not the first Chinese company who has done this and the earlier ones such as Tencent are doing well after their IPO.

But she warned that what Alibaba might need to watch out for is the short term orientation of the stock market, the expectation and pressure to deliver quick results, which may clash with his business philosophy.



© unknown
The destroyed Al Wafa hospital and surrounding buildings in Shejaiya, Gaza

"Nation of Cowards: What else can you fairly call a people who attack a population of refugees confined to a small space surrounded on every side by fences and machine-gun towers, a population with nowhere to run? No, that is not put strongly enough. Not just attack, but use the latest and most ferocious weapons from the American arsenal to slaughter more than 2100 people, including more than 500 children, destroying along the way a major portion of the housing, businesses, and institutions of a poor people."

The definition of a coward is not the traditional military one of a soldier who won't fight. No, that's far too simplistic and self-serving. The genuine meaning of the word, the meaning that warrants our full sense of revulsion and contempt, is someone who attacks someone far weaker than themselves. A large man who beats a woman or a child with his fists or a policeman who clubs a handcuffed prisoner - that is the accurate and meaningful definition of the word. And the people of Israel responsible for Operation Protective Edge are as sadly perfect examples of genuine cowards as you can find in the world.

Washington should respect the sovereignty of Syria in its attempts to deal with the Islamic state, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a phone call with his US counterpart, John Kerry.

Lavrov and Kerry talked on Sunday at the initiative of the US Secretary of State, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

During the conversation, the Russian FM stressed "the importance of coordinated action... by the international community aimed at countering the threat" coming from the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

However, he warned against "double standards" and "distortion of facts" during the battle against the terrorist group, which has declared a caliphate in the occupied territories of Syria and Iraq.

Lavrov underlined "the necessity for strict adherence to the UN Charter and international law as well as unconditional respect for Syrian sovereignty during the implementation of plans by the US-led coalition, which includes the use of force," the statement by the ministry said.

Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock has resigned from the party, ahead of an internal disciplinary hearing. The disgraced MP had already been suspended for making improper sexual advances towards a vulnerable constituent.

The Portsmouth South MP, who was forced to publicly apologize at London's High Court last June, was suspended for an "inappropriate and unprofessional friendship" with a vulnerable single mother with mental health issues.

Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had previously called on Hancock to resign, saying he had "no future" in the party.

"We have received a letter confirming his resignation," a party spokesman said. "Obviously, there was due to be a disciplinary hearing imminently, so before that has happened he has resigned."

Hancock had initially denied the allegations, but as part of a High Court settlement earlier this year he apologized to the constituent.

"I understand that you felt degraded. I did not treat you with sufficient respect. I made you feel deeply uncomfortable and discriminated against and I crossed the line," said Hancock in his High Court statement.