On August 14th, John McCain had the opportunity to visit the Navajo Reservation, to honor the code talkers of World War Two. However, his visit would quickly turn sour as he was confronted by dozens of Apaches and Navajos, protesting his role in passing a last minute provision to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015, as well as changes to their tribal water rights. The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange Bill would allow mining interests to build the largest North American copper mine on the Oak Flat campgrounds, an area of spiritual and historical significance to the Apache people.

While meeting with Navajo officials at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona, he was confronted by 17 year-old Adriano Tsinigine during a photo shoot. The teenager held a card which read "Protect Oak Flat." The Senator's smile quickly disappeared as he pushed the card back to Adriano and told him to leave.

[Editor's Note: This article describes a dynamic we have covered before: After the US suffered its major setbacks with Crimea's secession and the Novorossiya uprisings, they needed the EU and Russia to help re-manage part of the situation. So much for 'F*ck the EU', and Nuland's attempt to alienate other interested parties. Poroshenko was an optimal compromise candidate; he was someone that the Three Powers involved could more or less live with. The US and Russia both have mechanisms at their disposal to push Poroshenko in various, often contradictory, ways. This article helps to explain why the Russians saw Poroshenko as someone they could minimally work with - J. Flores]

Experts: Part of the Russian governing class is closely connected with Poroshenko

Visible manifestations of Russia's support for the Ukrainian economy and, as a result, the Kiev regime, are really there. But on the question of how much they are capable of significantly affecting the economic situation in Ukraine, experts' opinion diverge. Many political analysts, writers, and simply indifferent observers, blame the Russian government, convicting it of evil intent in their aspiration to maintain good relations with the West, by protecting the Kiev authorities who are waging war against the rebellious Donbass.

So by what ways and, above all, for what is Russia, albeit indirectly, contributing to the maintenance of the positions of the hostile powers of the puppet and criminal Ukrainian "elite?"

Granting discounts on gas and electricity supplies at preferential prices

In order to justify here the policy of "Gazprom," the argument can be made that, first of all, Ukraine is a transit territory for Russian natural gas, and attempts to establish an alternative path of transit have thus far been unsuccessful. The objective reality is such that, dependent on resource exports, Russia is compelled to make concessions. The second argument is a concern for the "brother Ukrainian people" which, of course, it is impossible to regain due to the unhealthy actions of the leadership of Ukraine.

But, given that the bills for the population as a result of Russian discounts in Ukraine do not at all decrease, and social policies are not gravitating to be wider encompassing, this argument also appears unconvincing. Moreover, experts notice that discounts on gas are one of the most important areas of unofficial support for Kiev from Russia's side.

In the case of electricity, it's also possible to reference the dependent status of Crimea on Ukraine on this question. The peninsula is currently 70% dependent on Ukrainian electricity. In the words of the Minister of fuel and Energy of Crimea, Sergei Egorov, the peninsula could independently provide for basic energy needs by 2018, when private energy generation will reach 950 MW per day.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is acting as a mediator in hush-hush talks between Hamas and Israel in an attempt to halt the Israeli siege of Gaza, reports suggest.

According to accounts from Al-Hayat, an Arabic daily newspaper, since resigning as the Quartet's Middle East envoy Blair has held two meetings with the Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal.

Hamas has been in control of the Gaza strip since 2007.

One Israeli newspaper also reported that Blair had previously discussed his plans with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Meetings have reportedly taken place in Qatar, and have centered around the possibility of a temporary ceasefire, which would lift the siege on Gaza.

Saudi Arabia has been on a course to boost its military capabilities focusing lately on its naval forces and the possible purchase of the two Mistrals originally built for Russia by France could be central to these efforts.

The primary reason Riyadh needs the warships is simple: the amphibious assault ships are ideal for unilateral power projection in littoral waters or as part of the joint Arab force project which Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi and Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced earlier this month.

President Vladimir Putin has voiced issues with the current situation around Crimea, pointing out at a continuing threat from "foreign forces" that try to play on the "justified concerns" of local residents in order to destabilize the peninsula.

"It is obvious that a persistent threat still comes from foreign forces who are trying in one way or another to destabilize the situation on the [Crimean] peninsula," Putin said as cited by RIA Novosti.

"[They] may want to play the nationalist card or - capitalizing on any mistake, miscount or ineffective actions of the authorities - channel the justified concerns of residents into a destructive course."

The president attended a meeting on Crimean security in the port city of Sevastopol on Wednesday.

Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said Tuesday that the government should have broad surveillance powers of Americans and private technology firms should cooperate better with intelligence agencies to help combat "evildoers."

At a national security forum in the early voting state of South Carolina, Bush put himself at odds with Republican congressional leaders who earlier this year voted to end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone records.

The former Florida governor said Congress should revisit its changes to the Patriot Act, and he dismissed concerns from civil libertarians who say the program violated citizens' constitutionally protected privacy rights.

"There's a place to find common ground between personal civil liberties and NSA doing its job," Bush said. "I think the balance has actually gone the wrong way."

The past couple of weeks have seen Russia intensify its efforts to resolve the War on Syria and coordinate an inclusive anti-ISIL coalition.

The War on Syria experienced a noticeable escalation ever since the Iran nuclear agreement was signed, with Turkey committing to "fight ISIL" in the country and the US gaining access rights to use the nearby Incirlik air base for its bombing missions in Syria.

What's really going on is that the American-Turkish Tandem is racing against the clock to accomplish The Brookings Institute's plan for splitting Syria as soon as possible, knowing that Iran will likely send some of the billions of dollars of frozen funds that it's set to receive around January to its embattled ally, and in turn irreversibly augment Damascus' defensive capabilities against external aggression from then on out.

More than 400 children have been killed and at least 600 wounded since the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen begun in late March, UNICEF said, warning that younger casualties might rise as youths are now being recruited as fighters in the civil war.

"This conflict is a particular tragedy for Yemeni children ... (they) are being killed by bombs or bullets and those that survive face the growing threat of disease and malnutrition," UNICEF Yemen representative Julien Harneis said, commenting on a new report by the agency.

With an average of eight child casualties every day over the past four months, the conflict has resulted in 4,300 deaths, mostly civilian, according to the organization's Childhood Under Threat report.

At this stage of the great game, or farce, I'm resigned to the fact that the world is going to hell in a hand basket (as the saying goes) and nothing anyone says or does will change that. Admittedly, I don't know if hell exists, so the precise planetary conditions that await humanity are unknown to me, but there have been many suggestive signs and portents over the last few years.

The word 'hell' has an interesting etymology; it comes from an Indo-European root meaning 'to cover' or 'hide'. The word 'apocalypse', on the other hand, means 'to uncover' or 'reveal', which is weird, but strangely appropriate, because just about everything of real importance - all meaningful truth - in this world is hidden from most people, leading to a collective retardation of true human evolution and progress.

But if 'normal life' on this planet is hell, most people are having a ball, and will continue to do so, at least until the 'apocalypse'/uncovering, when the bare, naked truth gets dropped on humanity's collective doorstep and everyone freaks out and runs screaming to the nearest Walmart or FEMA camp for some familiar police-state succor.

Over the last 15 years, Western political types have repeatedly treated the human race's tendency towards open-minded positivity disorder (OMPD) with high doses of fear-mongering in an attempt to induce in them the, more desirable, disinhibited reactive attachment to authority disorder (DRAAD). One example of this, (among an overwhelming number of other examples), comes from the relatively new rabid authoritarian on the block, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

With the Minsk ceasefire agreements formally still in force, the situation in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region remains extremely tense amid reports about Kiev's mass troop deployments in the area.

In violation of the Minsk ceasefire agreements, the Armed Forces of Ukraine has deployed heavy weapons and a large number of troops to the frontline in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region, Russian media outlets said.

The reports came amid intensified artillery shelling exchanges between the warring sides in the area, including near the city of Mariupol.