I'm aiming at you, lover
Cause killing you is killing myself
- Orson Welles (director), The Lady from Shanghai,1947

He's invincible. He beheads. He smuggles. He conquers. He's the ultimate jack-of-all-trades. No Tomahawk or Hellfire can touch him. He always gets what he wants; in Kobani; in Anbar province; with the House of Saud (which he wants to replace) trying to make Putin (who he wants to behead) suffer because of low oil prices.

If this was a remake of Orson Welles's noir classic The Lady from Shanghai, in the mirror sequence the lawyer (American?) and the femme fatale (Shi'ite?) would also get killed; but The Caliph of Islamic State would survive as a larger than life Welles, free to roam, plunder and "give my love to the sunrise" - as in a Brave Caliphate World shining in "Syraq" over the ashes of the Sykes-Picot agreement.

He's winning big in Iraq's Anbar province. The Caliph's goons are now closing in on - of all places - Abu Ghraib; Dubya, Dick and Rummy's former Torture Central. They are at a mere 12 kilometers away from Baghdad International. A shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile (or MANPAD) away from downing a passenger jet. Certainly not an Emirates flight - after all these are trusted sponsors.

Hit, in Anbar province, is now Caliph territory. The police forces and the province's operational command have lost almost complete control of Ramadi. The Caliph now controls the crucial axis formed by Hit, Ramadi, Fallujah; Highway 1 between Baghdad and the Jordanian border; and Highway 12 between Baghdad and the Syrian border.

A shocking text by Senegalese Bakary Kante, head of the UN mission in 1999 about the horrific consequences of the bombing of Serbia was never published, Vesti reported. In May 1999 the United Nations have hidden from the public the report by Bakari Kante, head of the first mission of UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) about the environmental consequences of the bombing of Yugoslavia.

The UN has never published the text, but parts of it leaked to the public thanks to the interviewee of Vesti, American independent journalist Robert Parsons, a reporter from the international institutions in Geneva.

He managed to get Kante's report from his source in UNEP and publish its parts in June 1999 in Geneva daily Le Courrier in an article entitled "Hidden alarming report on the consequences of the bombing of Yugoslavia: Toxins that UN will not see".

Parsons spoke exclusively for Vesti about how reports on the health consequences of the use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons in the Balkans were censured and changed in the offices of the United Nations.

After 12 days of his stay in Yugoslavia, which was still being bombed at the time, in May 1999, where he was with missions of other agencies of the UN system, Bakary Kante submitted a report to UNEP which speaks of ecological horror: atmosphere and the soil in former Yugoslavia have been permanently contaminated with toxic materials because of the bombing of industrial-chemical complexes and use of depleted uranium weapons.

The report was categorical in the assessment that the future generations living on the bombarded soil will suffer from cancer, leukemia, the number of miscarriages and deformities of newborns will be increased.

Kante's report further says that because of the bombing, the nature in Yugoslavia has been contaminated with toxic substances among which the most dangerous is polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), highly cancerogenous and responsible for immunological diseases. The report stresses that one liter of PCB is enough to contaminate one billion gallons of water.

PCB is located in the electrical substations and numerous oil refineries which were the target of NATO. It is added that the bombing of numerous factories which processed heavy metals caused, among other things, spreading of cadmium and methylmercury (the most poisonous form of mercury). These are metals that are poisonous even if they are spread on an area of several thousand kilometers. The result - the Danube was poisoned.

In the eight[h] chapter of the report Kante speaks about the pollution caused by the use of depleted uranium weapons. "According to available data, NATO used depleted uranium ammunition targeting military and civil targets".

A 30 - milimeter ammunition was used. It was fired mostly from aircrafts "A-10″, as well as within cruising missiles "Tomahawk". These missiles can penetrate 57 mm thick steel.Their load is radioactive and it is believed that they contain uranium 238, whose radiation is approximately 3.4 Mbq. Uranium belongs to a group of toxic elements that enter the second group of radionuclides of very high toxicity. This kind of ammunition is nuclear waste and its use is very dangerous to health.

The use of this ammunition has terrible consequences for the population, because in addition to physical injuries it causes radiological contamination. This contamination has toxic and radiological consequences that cause cancer," says Kante's report submitted to the Director General of UNEP, Klaus Töpfer.

Kante further says: "During the use (explosion) of the depleted uranium weapon is produced uranium oxide (U308 and UO2) as well as, among other things, very reactive gases radium and radon. The oxide particles have a width between 0.5 and 5 microns, and wind can carry them to the distance of several hundred kilometers.

Since in the region of Yugoslavia dominate northwestern winds, this means that the pollution goes from Yugoslavia to Hungary, Germany, Croatia and Bosnia, or to Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece."

With US politicians and the American media engaged in an increasingly acrimonious debate over the strategy guiding the latest US war in the Middle East, the United States Army has unveiled a new document entitled the Army Operating Concept (AOC), which provides a "vision of future armed conflict" that has the most ominous implications. It is the latest in a series of documents in which the Pentagon has elaborated the underlying strategy of preventive war that was unveiled in 1992 - that is, the use of war as a means of destroying potential geopolitical and economic rivals before they acquire sufficient power to block American domination of the globe.

The document was formally released at this week's Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference, an annual event bringing together senior officers and Defense Department officials for a series of speeches and panel discussions, along with a giant trade show mounted by arms manufacturers to show off their latest weapons systems and pursue lucrative Pentagon contracts.

Much of this year's proceedings were dominated by dire warnings about the impact of cuts to the Army's troop strength brought about by sequestration. Gen. Raymond Odierno, chief of staff of the Army, told reporters at the AUSA conference Monday that he was "starting to worry about our end strength" and regretting having told Congress in 2012 that the Army could manage with 490,000 active-duty soldiers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed concern over the spread of neo-Nazi ideology in Europe and called for efforts to prevent the revision of the outcome of the Second World War.

"Unfortunately, the vaccine against the Nazi virus, developed at the Nuremberg trials, is losing its effectiveness in some European countries. A clear sign of this trend is open manifestations of neo-Nazism, which have become common in Latvia and other Baltic states," Putin said on the eve of his visit to Serbia on October 16.

"We are especially concerned in this respect about the situation in Ukraine, where an unconstitutional state coup in February was driven by nationalists and other radical groups," Putin said in an interview with Serbian newspaper Politika.

"Today, our common goal is to counter the glorification of Nazism, firmly counter attempts to revise the results of World War II and consequently fight any forms and manifestations of racism, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism and chauvinism," Putin stressed.

Parliament took the historic step tonight of voting unilaterally to back the recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Voting by 274 to 12, a majority of 262, MPs on all sides urged the Government to "recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel" as part of a "contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution".

Support for the motion, while symbolic, marks a significant change in the political landscape, following the failure of successive peace negotiations and the bitter conflict in Gaza over the summer.

Significantly Labour whipped its MPs to vote in favour of the resolution, raising the prospect that the party would defy Israel's wishes and recognise Palestine as a state should it come to power at the next election.

There are times when farce and living caricature almost consume the cynicism and mendacity in the daily life of Australia's rulers. Across the front pages is a photograph of a resolute Tony Abbott with Indigenous children in Arnhem Land, in the remote north. "Domestic policy one day," says the caption, "focus on war the next."

Reminiscent of a vintage anthropologist, the prime minister grasps the head of an Indigenous child trying to shake his hand. He beams, as if incredulous at the success of his twin stunts: "running the nation" from a bushland tent on the Gove Peninsula while "taking the nation to war". Like any "reality" show, he is surrounded by cameras and manic attendants, who alert the nation to his principled and decisive acts.

But wait; the leader of all Australians must fly south to farewell the SAS, off on its latest heroic mission since its triumph in the civilian bloodfest of Afghanistan. "Pursuing sheer evil" sounds familiar; of course, an historic mercenary role is unmentionable, this time backing the latest US installed sectarian regime in Baghdad and re-branded ex Kurdish "terrorists", now guarding Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil, Hunt Oil et al.

Following Russia Insider's recent article that the true fatality rate of the junta's army during the "anti terrorist operation" may have been in the region of 8,000 to 12,000, a number of important points can be made.

These figures are of course unverified. However they do not look unreasonable to me in light of Poroshenko's admission that the Ukraine lost during the ATO something like 65% of its armoured vehicles. It seems the Ukrainian airforce has also been essentially annihilated. Certainly it has ceased to be a presence in recent weeks.

Assuming that the figures are true then the Ukraine has just been witness to a slaughter unprecedented in any European country since the end of the Second World War. It bears saying that the fighting only achieved full intensity following the fall of Slaviansk on 5th July 2014. The fighting around Slavyansk in May and June was of a lesser intensity. It is surely the case therefore that the bulk of the losses the Ukraine suffered were accounted for by the fighting that took place after Slavyansk fell on 5th July 2014.

In other words it is likely that between 8,000 to 12,000 Ukrainian troops were killed in a period of around 2 months from 5th July 2014 until the announcement of the ceasefire on 5th September 2014. If so this would mean the Ukraine was losing during this period men at a rate of roughly 129 to 190 a day. Nothing comparable has happened in Europe since the German surrender on 9th May 1945. 

While serving as secretary of state under President George W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice called upon the New York Times and asked the paper to not report on a story, a former editor now says.

Jill Abramson, who served as executive editor of the Times from 2011 through earlier this year, told CBS News' 60 Minutes television program that she was summoned to an undisclosed location by Rice during the Bush administration and asked to stop Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James Risen from finishing an article concerning a CIA effort to disrupt Iran's nuclear capabilities.

According to the interview with 60 Minutes, Abramson said Rice "barely looked up" during the meeting and instead "read in a very stern manner" from a legal pad that was described by the editor as containing "just point after point about why this story would be damaging to the national security."

"I felt a bit surreal," Abramson recalled. "Her bottom line ... was to make sure that Jim cease all reporting on this story, which was really an extraordinary request."

The USS Mount Whitney has docked in Georgia's Black Sea port of Batumi. The ships visit is intended to "strengthen ties" with the United States' NATO allies and partners and promote "peace and security in the region," the US Embassy in Georgia said.


The US command ship entered the Black Sea on Saturday, one day after the guided missile destroyer USS Cole arrived in the region.

According to a press release from the US Sixth Fleet, Mount Whitney's mission is to reassure its NATO allies of the US Navy's commitment towards strengthening and improving interoperability in the region.

"This is a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with our naval counterparts, enhancing alliances, and strengthening bonds as we advance our common goal of safety, stability, and security in the region," the ship's commanding officer, Captain Mark Colombo, said at the welcome ceremony.

#USSMountWhitney arrives in #Batumi #Georgia http://t.co/vEO550lNtc

- U.S.NavyEuropeAfrica (@NAVEUR_NAVAF) October 14, 2014

The ship is slated to conduct routine combined training with the Georgian Coast Guard, provide ship tours, hold a public concert for the local community, and host a reception for local officials, the US embassy in Tbilisi said in a statement.

The ship is set to depart on October 18.

The Saker is an ex-military analyst who was born in Europe to a family of Russian refugees. He now lives in Florida where he writes the Vineyard of the Saker blog and is a regular contributor to Russia Insider. The international community of Saker Blogs includes, besides the original Saker blog, French, German, Russian, Oceania and Serbian members and will soon include a Latin American member. - Mike Whitney

Mike Whitney: Is the United States responsible for the troubles in Ukraine?

The SAKER: Yes, absolutely, there's no doubt about it. While it's true that the Ukrainian people were unhappy with the corrupt Yanukovich regime, the coup itself was definitely CIA orchestrated. The EU was also involved, especially Germany, but they didn't play nearly as big a role as the U.S. The taped phone messages of (US Undersecretary of State) Victoria Nuland show who was really calling the shots behind the scenes.

Mike Whitney: What role did the Obama administration play in Kiev's decision to launch a war on its own people in the east of Ukraine?

The Saker: A central role. You have to understand that there is no "Ukrainian" power in Kiev. Poroshenko is 100% US-run as are the people around him. The head of the notorious Ukrainian secret police (the SBU), Valentin Nalivaichenko, is a known CIA agent. It's also true that the US refers to Poroshenko "our Ukraine insider". All of his so called "decisions" are actually made by U.S. officials in Kiev. As for Poroshenko's speech to Congress a few weeks ago, that was obviously written by an American.