US and international media have been abuzz in recent days with the ongoing armed occupation at the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. The social media space has been - quite predictably - polarized, with many on the far-right lionizing the armed occupiers as "patriots" and "heroes" defending a just cause in the name of "liberty." Naturally, many liberals and assorted leftists have condemned the occupation, pointing out both the relevant legal and historical issues at play here, including the vicious tradition of white militias in the US, the blatant disregard of environmental regulations, and much more that is well beyond the scope of this article.

But what has been missed by seemingly every pundit, left and right, who has chimed in on the Oregon occupation is the unmistakable stench of provocation. Simply put, something is off about this whole story, and it struck me from the first moment I read about what was happening, who was involved, and who wasn't involved. Specifically, there are indications that this entire fiasco has been manufactured by either government agencies themselves or some other private forces for any number of reasons.

This week on Behind the Headlines, we're interviewing - for the second time - freelance journalist and human rights activist Eva Bartlett, who was on this show two months ago. Bartlett was aboard the Dignity, one of five Free Gaza relief operations to successfully sail to the Gaza Strip in 2008. She ended up staying in Gaza for some time, reporting from there during Israeli Operations 'Cast Lead' in 08/09, and 'Pillar of Defense' in 2012.

In the last couple of years, Bartlett has been one of the few Western journalists to report truthfully on the situation in Syria, a country she has visited several times, including independently on a journalist visa. Bartlett recently returned from spending 8 days over Christmas in the war-torn country, where she attended conferences, visited recently liberated districts, and met Syrian officials, religious and community leaders.

Listeners can find Eva's writings on Syria and Palestine at her blog, InGaza.wordpress.com, and support her continuing work as a voice for the voiceless through SyriaSolidarityMovement.org.

We hope you'll join us from 2-4pm EST / 8-10pm CET, this Sunday 10th January 2016, for an account of life in Syria you won't hear anywhere else.

Running Time: 01:32:00

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The second top deputy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and chief of staff of Islamic State's Military Council was killed in an airstrike, the Iraqi Air Force has claimed.

The airstrike allegedly took place in western Anbar province, east of the town of Haditha.

The deceased commander is reported to have been Assi Ali Mohammed Nasser al-Obeidi. He was formerly a colonel in the Iraqi Republican Guards during the reign of Saddam Hussein. He spent some years in American prisons before joining Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Al-Obeidi became acquainted with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the current IS leader, in Camp Bucca prison. The Americans released al-Baghdadi from Camp Bucca in 2009, while al-Obeidi was transferred to the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, from which he escaped in 2013. He became a top IS commander and went under the name of "Abu Omar al-Obeidi."

Al-Obeidi hailed from the small town of Hawija to the west from Kirkuk. His last post was chief of staff of Islamic State's Military Council. Al-Obeidi adds to the long list of top rank IS commanders reported to have been eliminated by the Iraqi Army in recent months. They include al-Baghdadi's top deputy Abu Ali al-Anbari and the head of IS' intelligence committee Abu Hassan al-Sahabi.

As recently as Friday, January 8, the Iraqi Defense Ministry announced: "ISIL Spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani was killed during the terrorist group's offensive at the town of Barwani in Iraq's Western territories," although the terrorist group is yet to make any official statement on al-Adnani's death.

In October 2015, a convoy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was targeted by an Iraqi Air Force airstrike, also in western Anbar province bordering Syria. It was heading to Al-Karable to attend a meeting with other IS commanders. The airstrike reportedly killed dozens of jihadists who were accompanying the IS leader. Al-Baghdadi was wounded himself and evacuated to safety to undergo medical treatment.

Unique among the countries on earth, the US government insists that its laws and dictates take precedence over the sovereignty of nations. Washington asserts the power of US courts over foreign nationals and claims extra-territorial jurisdiction of US courts over foreign activities of which Washington or American interest groups disapprove. Perhaps the worst results of Washington's disregard for the sovereignty of countries is the power Washington has exercised over foreign nationals solely on the basis of terrorism charges devoid of any evidence.

Consider a few examples. Washington first forced the Swiss government to violate its own banking laws. Then Washington forced Switzerland to repeal its bank secrecy laws. Allegedly, Switzerland is a democracy, but the country's laws are determined in Washington by people not elected by the Swiss to represent them.

Consider the "soccer scandal" that Washington concocted, apparently for the purpose of embarrassing Russia. The soccer organization's home is Switzerland, but this did not stop Washington from sending FBI agents into Switzerland to arrest Swiss citizens. Try to imagine Switzerland sending Swiss federal agents into the US to arrest Americans.

Consider the $9 billion fine that Washington imposed on a French bank for failure to fully comply with Washington's sanctions against Iran. This assertion of Washington's control over a foreign financial institution is even more audaciously illegal in view of the fact that the sanctions Washington imposed on Iran and requires other sovereign countries to obey are themselves strictly illegal. Indeed, in this case we have a case of triple illegality as the sanctions were imposed on the basis of concocted and fabricated charges that were lies.

1 October 2015 - 8 January 2016

Executive Summary

It has been 100 days since grassroots, mostly youth-led protests broke out in Jerusalem, in reaction to increasing Israeli incursions into and restrictions on Islam's Al-Aqsa Mosque. Since then, mass protests and individual attacks have spread across the West Bank and into Gaza and communities of Palestinian Israelis.

The story told primarily by the international media is one of Palestinian stabbers and Israeli retaliation in self-defense. However, as the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor documents in this 100-day report, proven Palestinian attacks are relatively small in number and often committed by lone youth, while the number of arrests, harassment and executions committed by Israeli forces are increasingly excessive and disproportionate.

As such, the behavior of the Israeli military constitutes violations of international law, and thus Euro-Med demands that the United Nations and other international bodies, as well as governments doing business with Israel, act now to pressure Israeli authorities to stop the abuse of human rights and end the root cause of the unrest: its decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories.

A headline, from today, on the British Guardian newspaper's web site:

Murder in Istanbul: Kremlin's hand suspected in shooting of Chechen

'Oh, those terrible Russians and that ruthless Putin are up to their old extrajudicial murder tricks again! Will they never learn about real democracy! At least we, the great Western public (and therefore representatives of the 'global community'), are holding them to account as best we can by imposing 'sanctions' and hysterically demonizing them every time they fly a plane near Scotland.'

The above reflects, more or less, the thoughts that would have rattled around the, largely empty, vessel that is the cranium of the average Western citizen, as he or she read the above Guardian headline. And what else can we expect when such pernicious propaganda is catapulted at them on a daily basis?

Look at that headline again: "Murder". Well, right there you have the judgement... MURDER! And who did? The KREMLIN! Who else! And the victim? A CHECHEN! Oh dear Lord! Those poor chech-y people who have, for decades, if I vaguely remember, been trying to tear themselves away from the greedy grasp of the new Russian/Soviet Empire! There's no need to read any further, we have all the information we need!

Humankind is witnessing two major events: the new millennium and the 2000th anniversary of Christianity. I think that the general interest and attention paid to these two events is more profound than the usual celebration of red-letter dates.

New Possibilities, New Problems

It may be a coincidence - but then again, it may not be - that the beginning of the new millennium coincides with the dramatic turn in world developments in the past 20-30 years. I mean the deep and rapid changes in humankind's whole way of life related to the formation of what we call the post-industrial society. Here are its main features:

• Changes in the economic structure of society, with the diminishing importance of material production and the growing importance of secondary and tertiary sectors.
• Consistent renewal and quick introduction of novel technologies and the growing output of science-intensive production.
• Landslide developments in information science and telecommunications.
• Priority attention to management and the improvement systems of organisation and guidance in all spheres of human endeavour.
• And lastly, human leadership. It is the individual and his or her high standards of education, professional training, business and social activity that are becoming the guiding force of progress today.

A new type of society develops slowly enough for careful politicians, statesmen, scientists, and all those who use their brains, to notice two issues of concern.

Russia Defense Report (Jan. 10): Caspian Fleet

A viral photo depicting a "malnourished Syrian child" being "starved" by the "evil Syrian army" is a bona fide fraud. The details, via Lebanon's Daily Star ('Starving Syria child' revealed as south Lebanon girl):

The family of a south Lebanon girl depicted in a photo that went viral alleging to show a starving child from a besieged Syrian border town has expressed anger over the incident.

"They took it too far this time," Rosine Mazeh, the grandmother of 7-year-old Marianna Mazeh, told Al-Jadeed from their village of Tay Filsey in a report broadcast Saturday.

She said the photo of her smiling brown-haired, blue-eyed granddaughter was originally posted to Facebook three years ago and had been doctored several times in the past by individuals promoting different causes.

Most recently, the photo was circulated in a side-by-side with images depicting a skeletal figure said to be suffering from malnutrition as a result of a Syrian army siege in the town of Madaya, located several kilometers east of Lebanon's border.

Several other photos circulating on social media and picked up by some international news agencies that alleged to show starvation from the town have also been revealed as fakes.

Many US officials obstinately refuse to understand the benefits from Russian-US cooperation and they willfully try to tarnish Russia's image, according to former CIA officer Philip Giraldi.

A whole array of US experts and officials create and use Russia's hostile image in order to hold down their jobs, former CIA officer Philip Giraldi, who is now executive director of the Council for the National Interest, said in his article published by the opinion journal American Conservative.

He said that when in Moscow, he often met ordinary Russians who asked him why Washington hates Russians so much and "why does the American press seemingly have nothing good to say about them?"