Most people think of a psychopath as a rare creature found only in the lowest levels of society. However, the reverse is true. They are not rare, but actually quite common, and you are more likely to find psychopaths in the boardroom than on the wrong side of the tracks. The reason is that, the more competitive a particular environment is, the more ruthless the use of the Cheating Strategy becomes. Within the highest circles of power and wealth, a lack of pity and remorse is practically a prerequisite to success, and only the psychopathic mentality can thrive. Living at the expense of the rest of humanity would be an impossible situation in a rational society."

In his book, "Defense Against the Psychopath," author Stefan Verstappen outlines the greatest and stealthiest danger in the human jungle. Leaders throughout history - the people we vote for - are rarely moral leaders. For them, lying is as easy and natural as breathing. They have this extraordinary ability to deceive and manipulate others for their own benefit. Masters at keeping people confused and off balance, they are easily able to take advantage of and traumatize life. Their acting skills are unbelievably masterful.

No one likes a bully, and Washington's NATO puppets have been bullied for six decades. British prime ministers, German chancellors, and French presidents have to salute and say "yes sir."

They all hate it, but they love Washington's money; so they prostitute themselves and their countries for Washington's money. Even a person of Winston Churchill's stature had to suck up to Washington in order to get his bills and his country's bills paid.

But what the bought European leaders are finding is that Washington doesn't pay enough for the prostitution required. One year out of office Tony Blair was worth $35 million dollars. But that's not enough to get Blair on the waiting list for $50 million 200 foot yachts, to have a chalet in Gstaad, $50 million penthouses in Paris and New York, and a private plane to fly between them, or to wear a $736,000 Franck Muller watch on his wrist, sign his name with a $700,000 Mont Blanc jewel-encrusted pen, and drink $10,000 "martinis on a rock" (gin or vodka poured over a diamond) at New York's Algonquin Hotel.

In a world in which every member of the Forbes Four Hundred is a billionaire plus or multi-billionaire, $35,000,000 just doesn't cut it. In 2006 the manager of one hedge fund was paid $1,700,000,000 for one year's thieving. Another 25 were paid $575,000,000 for their skills in front-running trades. $35 million is probably the annual budget for their household servants.

Hundreds of people gathered in the plazas of the Chilean capital on Wednesday night, banging pots and pans in support of student demands. The demonstration followed a day of protests and violence. Battles between riot police and small groups of hooded protesters also continued into the night, with water cannons being used to try and disperse them. People of all ages took to the streets, banging metal poles with stones, and saucepans and pots with spoons.

The protests began early on Wednesday and police have so far arrested 102 people and four officers have been injured. The protest, timed ahead of Sunday's presidential primaries, is aimed at demanding wider distribution of Chile's copper wealth. It also calls for reform of the education system that would put the state back in control of the mostly-privatized public universities.

Western publics sit like deer in the headlights, unable to move despite the illegal night hunter about to shoot them through the head.

But it also could be said we are shooting ourselves in the head.

I use that dramatic analogy because that seems to be exactly what is happening to us. A new generation of terror is being created right before our very eyes using our own tax dollars to do so, and the effort led by those sworn to protect us...people we elected.

Let's review the current Syrian mess and how some very evil people, maybe an evil empire really, saw a way to exploit the situation to launch a new generation of terror not only in the Mid East but the Caucus region and Europe and North Africa.

The devastation that this will bring upon those areas is so certain I can only conclude that it is actually the purpose of the whole effort. The motivation seems a bit hazy as there is no real understandable beneficial motive for the people of these countries...like a real security threat. A war for commercial interests is the only feasible reason.

Senior military sources say Nato will continue to play major role as Afghan forces are unprepared for 2014 withdrawal

International forces will provide logistical advice to the Afghan military up until 2020 after concluding that Afghanistan's national security forces will be unprepared for full operations when Nato combat troops withdraw from the country at the end of 2014.

As David Cameron paid a visit to British troops in Helmand province on Armed Forces Day, senior military sources indicated that Nato would need to play a major role in Afghanistan until the end of the decade.

The prime minister said British forces were reaching the final phase of the 12-year campaign. But senior British military sources said the Afghan forces would need advice on providing close air support, the distribution of food and fuel and on medevac facilities.

British military commanders have been able to make their assessments after Nato handed control of security for the whole of the country to Afghan forces this month. The commanders have concluded that a great deal has been achieved but that Afghan forces will not have built their capacity to full operational levels by the time Nato combat troops leave at the end of 2014.

A tense calm prevailed over Libya's capital Thursday after days of chaos left at least seven people dead -- including a 12-year-old boy.

But it's unclear if the violence is really over -- or even who the warring groups are.

Sounds of heavy gunfire and explosions echoed across Tripoli on Wednesday night, sending waves of confusion and panic as residents weren't sure who was behind the attacks.

Medical sources in Abu Saleem Hospital said two people, including a 12-year-old boy, died Wednesday from injuries sustained in the clashes, the state news agency LANA reported. The hospital also said it was treating a number of injured from the violence.

LANA said it was not clear what groups were involved in Wednesday's fighting. It quoted witnesses as saying the densely populated Abu Saleem area was in a state of "panic and fear" as fighting closed off main roads in the area, including the one leading to the international airport.

Former Peace Corps volunteer Will Ruddick and several residents of Bangladesh, Kenya, face a potential seven years in prison after developing a cost-effective way to alleviate poverty in Africa's poorest slums. Their solution: a complementary currency issued and backed by the local community. The Central Bank of Kenya has now initiated charges of forgery.

Complementary currencies can help eradicate poverty.

Proving that may be difficult in complex economies, due to the high number of factors influencing outcomes. But in an African slum with little of the national currency available, supplying residents with an alternative currency has a positive effect that is obvious, immediate and incontrovertible.

This was demonstrated when Will Ruddick, an American physicist, economist and former Peace Corps volunteer, introduced a complementary currency into a Kenyan slum called Bangladesh, near the coastal city of Mombasa. Will's local development organization, Koru-Kenya, worked with over one hundred small business owners in Bangladesh, who agreed to give each other the equivalent of 400 shillings (about €3.5 or $4.60) in mutual credit in the form of business vouchers called Bangla-Pesa. Half of the vouchers would be available for spending on each others' products and services, and half would be spent into the community on public projects such as waste collection and health services. Allocation decisions were democratic and transparent, and the new currency was backed entirely by the community's own resources and insured by a system of group guarantors, not by the Kenyan government or a development agency.

The project was launched on May 11, 2013. The immediate effect was an increase in sales of 22%. That meant increasing incomes and purchasing power by 22%. These exchanges were of goods and services that without the additional currency would have been thrown away or gone to waste, not because they were unmarketable but because potential customers did not have the money to buy them. Introducing Bangla-Pesa worked to move the economy forward at full capacity, connecting the community to its own resources when the only things lacking were those slips of paper called "money." A compelling video on the project is here.

Sacked Environment Minister Delphine Batho

France's Green Party (EELV) are "not far from quitting the government" it said Wednesday, in the wake of the abrupt sacking of Environment Minister Delphine Batho.

French President François Hollande's Socialist government faces a fresh headache Wednesday, after it's Green Party (EELV ) junior coalition partner threatened to quit the government following the abrupt sacking of Environment Minister Delphine Batho.

Batho was fired after she dared to criticise a decision to slash the environment ministry's budget by seven percent - cuts that are part of a wider austerity trim that will see the first drop in overall government spending since 1958.

"It's a bad budget," Batho complained to RTL radio on Tuesday. The 40-year-old, a member of the ruling Socialist Party, was immediately summoned by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and given her marching orders. She has been replaced by another Socialist, Philippe Martin.

A former official with Swiss bank Reyl et Cie who claimed he knew of 15 French politicians and "big names" with undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland said Wednesday he had submitted the list to investigators.

Pierre Condamin-Gerbier was a witness before a parliamentary commission investigating former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, who resigned in disgrace in March over an undeclared foreign bank account said to contain around 600,000 euros ($770,000).

Cahuzac is now facing charges of tax fraud.

"The list and information were transmitted yesterday to French justice," Condamin-Gerbier, who worked at Reyl et Cie between 2006 and 2010, told the commission.