While Bernie Sanders may be tired of hearing about Hillary Clinton's "damn emails," the recent scandals that have resulted from her Capitol Hill hearings, combined with the virtually non-existent investigation into the State Department funding of terrorist organizations have gone only a short distance in demonstrating the lengths to which Hillary Clinton has acted as the supporter and executioner of warfare since the first day she assumed any national position in government.

In addition to her history regarding the Syrian and Libyan crises, it should never be forgotten that Hillary Clinton has supported virtually every military conflict launched during and since her husband's own disastrous tenure as President.

Remember, in 2002-2003, Hillary Clinton not only supported the push for war in Iraq, she voted for the invasion. In fact, she was fervent in her support for the war, delivering impassioned speeches on the Senate floor in order to convince members of Congress who might have been on the fence, as well as the general American population and a handful of Democrats and liberals who valued her opinion on the topic, that war was the right choice. Indeed, Hillary's speech promoting war in Iraq rivaled only George W. Bush who was campaigning night and day on American television.

French President François Hollande is to call for the US to review its strategy in fighting terrorist group Islamic State, arguing that Europe cannot wait for America's long war of attrition with the jihadists to work, the Guardian reports.

Hollande is to meet US President Barack Obama on Tuesday next week before going to Russia for a visit. The French leader intends to make Obama aware of the extent of damage done to Europe by the developing refugee crisis and the rising threat of terrorist attacks, a European diplomat told the British newspaper.

"The message that we want to send to the Americans is simply that the crisis is destabilizing Europe," said the diplomat, who did not wish to be named. "The problem is that the attacks in Paris and the refugee crisis show that we don't have time. There is an emergency."

The source said that's the reason why the French president will visit Washington on Tuesday before flying to Moscow.

Several hours after the world woke up to the night of terror in Paris, French President Francois Hollande declared that the attacks were "an act of war" executed and planned by ISIL .

"Faced with war, the country must take appropriate action," he added, prompting many to say that the French leader could then invoke Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which stipulates that an attack on one country should be treated as an attack on all NATO members.

This is not what happened.

Russia and the US have removed radioactive components from Antarctica that were left unprotected and could have been used by terrorists to craft a "dirty bomb," said Valery Lukin, deputy head of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute.

"Four radioisotope thermoelectric generators and four sources of ionizing radiation, which were used in different equipment, have been removed from Antarctica within the framework of the joint Russian-American program," Lukin, who is also in charge of the Russian Antarctic Expedition (RAE), told TASS.

"These radioactive sources may be used by international terrorism for making a dirty bomb," he added.

According to Lukin, malefactors had previously attempted to get their hands on derelict radioactive devices, "but not in Antarctica."

Russia's Defense Ministry has released new videos of retribution attacks on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) with strategic bombers launching smart bombs and cruise missiles. Strategic aviation was scrambled shortly after confirmation that the Russian passenger plane that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Desert on October 31 was downed by a terrorist bomb.

The footage was apparently recorded on the morning of November 19 and collected as technicians prepare the Russian long-range bombers to fulfill their missions:

• The Russian president takes the US missile shield extremely seriously and doesn't for a moment believe it has anything to do with Iran
• Nor is he convinced that the project is merely intended to provide corporate welfare for defense contractors
• If made to work the missile shield would give the US the ability to launch a first strike without suffering the consequences of retaliation and Putin believes gaining this ability is the goal of the project

A fascinating, if brief, verbal exchange recently took place between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1987 - 1991), Jack Matlock. The remarks occurred on October 22 during the 12th annual Valdai International Discussion Club - an event that brings together politicians, experts, public figures, and journalists from many countries to discuss a designated topic of importance to the world.

This year's focus (Oct. 19 - 22) was "Societies Between War and Peace: Overcoming the Logic of Conflict in Tomorrow's World." Putin addressed the final plenary session and then joined in the discussion.

Putin referred to "the USA's unilateral withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, which was the cornerstone for preserving the balance of power and international security." The U.S. withdrawal, he said, "has left this whole system [of nuclear weapons and strategic arms limitation] in a serious and complicated state."

More than half the cases in the military justice system involve child victims of sex assault, according to an investigation by Associated Press. This has raised questions about the transparency of military courts.

With information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, AP uncovered that out of the 1,233 inmates in US military prisons, 61 percent were convicted of sex crimes. Children were the victims in more than half of those cases, making their abusers the largest group of criminals in the US military prison system. In 2015 alone, service members victimized children in 133 of 301 sex crime convictions.

The military justice system operates independently from federal and state criminal courts. The US Constitution requires openness in civilian judiciary, which is why trials and court filings are open to the public, as a way of providing accountability.

The military judiciary is much less transparent, however, and acquiring full accounting of perpetrators' crimes and sentencing is difficult. The most that the public can generally hope to see is a brief summary of the results of the trial. Records for most federal court cases are available online via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records.

To obtain records from military trials, on the other hand, a request must be made through the Freedom of Information Act, which itself includes an exemption that allows the government to withhold records in cases where disclosure could violate personal privacy. Case information that might be relevant to the public interest includes pretrial agreements between the accused and prosecutors, which can drastically reduce sentences for criminals such as child sex offenders.

Former White House National Security Council advisor Gwenyth Todd claims that NSA will continue its mass surveillance practices despite changes to the legislation.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) will continue its mass surveillance practices despite changes to the legislation, former White House National Security Council advisor Gwenyth Todd told Sputnik

"The NSA and other western governments are going to continue collecting as much information as possible, regardless of legislation. They may have to find another source to point toward if they act upon information illegally obtained, but that is not difficult," Todd told Sputnik on Wednesday.

The world was shocked and horrified at the terror inflicted upon Paris on the night of Friday the 13th, 2015, when ISIS-affiliated militants killed well over 100 civilians in one of the world's most iconic cities. An outpouring of grief, solidarity, support and condolences came in from across the world. The tragedy, and tyranny, of such terror cannot be underestimated, but it should also be placed in its global context: namely, that the chief cause of terrorism is, in fact, terrorism, and that the chief victims are the innocent, wherever they may be.

While ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, following attacks the group undertook in previous days in both Beirut and Baghdad, it is worth remembering and reflecting on what led to the development of ISIS itself. The so-called Islamic State had its origins in the Iraq War, launched by the United States and closely supported by the United Kingdom in March of 2003. After overthrowing Saddam Hussein, a dictator once favored by the U.S., the occupying powers struggled to deal with a growing Sunni insurgency against their military occupation. In response, the U.S. helped create death squads in Iraq that further fueled a sectarian conflict between Shi'a and Sunni communities, which likewise fueled a growing regional rivalry between Shi'a Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.

The resulting civil war in Iraq killed hundreds of thousands, and the U.S. aligned itself even more tightly with Saudi Arabia, a country the West considers to be "moderate" in comparison to both Iran and Syria, yet it was the primary financier of al-Qaeda. The broader aim, in Iraq and across the Middle East, was to support the regional hegemony of the West's allies - Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab dictatorships - against their chief rivals, Iran and Syria. If it meant supporting the countries that supported al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, so be it.

After all, it has never been much of a secret that the Saudis and their Gulf neighbors were the major financial backers of global terrorists; even then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted as much in a memo leaked by Wikileaks. Nor was it a secret that Saudi Arabia was responsible for more destabilization and terrorism inside Iraq than Iran, which nonetheless received most of the blame.

The Saudis and the Gulf dictatorships are U.S. and Western allies, with immense oil riches that have made them some of the largest investors and shareholders in Western banks and corporations. Iran and Syria, on the other hand, are not.

Al-Qaeda did not exist inside Iraq until after the U.S. invasion and occupation. Over the years, since the war and occupation began, the group has undergone a number of name changes and transitions. One such evolution of the group is the al-Nusra front. And another is now known as the Islamic State, or ISIS.

A Republican senator from Arkansas has submitted a bill that would extend the NSA's ability to collect Americans' phone metadata by more than a year. Tom Cotton insisted the last week's terror attacks in Paris proved the value of such spying activities.

Cotton introduced his bill, titled the Liberty Through Strength Act, on Tuesday, which proposes postponing the "transition timeline in the USA FREEDOM Act until after January 31, 2017."


"If we take anything from the Paris attacks, it should be that vigilance and safety go hand-in-hand," Cotton said in a statement."Now is not the time to sacrifice our national security for political talking points. We should allow the Intelligence Community to do their job and provide them with the tools they need to keep us safe."