Comment: With people like this, American foreign policy is hopeless. The Kurds aren't facing a massacre. But if they start a civil war, it will be of their own doing. With U.S. influence in the region waning and Turkey-Iran-Iraq-Syria all finding common ground, people like Nunes are getting desperate. But it's looking like putting all their eggs in the Kurdish basket might not have been the best play. Now all they can do is scream helplessly, "humanitarian intervention!" and hope someone will hear them. Good luck with that.

Comment: Actually, the reign of US sponsored terror forces in Syria is coming to an end. The last card the US has to play in the region is in their old 'plan B', which is to divide Syria up by using the Kurds as pawns. Tillerson is just concealing the US hand by stating the US wants a 'whole and unified Syria'. The US obviously has a problem in learning from reality, and this plan is just as likely to be quashed as their terrorist uprising was.

Comment: An update from today:

Pro-government forces in Iraqi have engaged in a rapid drive and liberated a host of sites from ISIS in an effort to clear the Syrian border region from the terrorist organisation.

Iraqi forces have liberated al-Nasir, Abid, al-Ghar, al-Halqum and Jahish valleys south of ISIS-held al-Qaim at the Syrian border.

The major city of al-Qaim is the last major city held by ISIS in Iraq and its liberation will severely hinder its operations in neighboring Deir Ezzor province in Syria.

In addition, Iraqi forces have also liberated the H2 Airbase, al-Husseiniya, al-Nadirati and al-Kurati in its offensive to reach al-Qaim.

Comment: The Iraqi government has not yet responded to Iraqi Kurdistan's cease-fire proposal, according to Kifah Sinjari, an adviser to the president of Iraqi Kurdistan.

"I think that the Kurdistan government will await an official response from the Baghdad authorities," Sinjari told Sputnik.

According to the official, the continuation of military actions is in the interest of neither side.

"The ball is in the federal government's court, and there is an opportunity to save lives," he concluded.

Sinjari pointed out that the clashes between the Iraqi forces and the Kurdish units might cause irreversible consequences.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has offered the country's central government a cease-fire and to engage in bilateral dialogue, expressing its readiness to "freeze" the results of the region's independence referendum.

Update (Oct. 26): The security council in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region said Thursday that Iraqi government forces and Iran-backed Shiite militias were attacking Kurdish Peshmerga positions near Mosul.

"Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed PMF [Popular Mobilization Forces] are shelling Peshmerga positions from Zummar, North West of Mosul. Now advancing," the authority said on Twitter.

This offensive has started despite the region's repeated calls on Baghdad to conduct unconditional negotiations in exchange for a freeze on its independence drive after a September referendum, in which over 90 percent of Kurds in the region backed splitting from Iraq.

The council said in a statement on Thursday that Iraqi troops and militias had been pulling heavy artillery and tanks close to Peshmerga positions near Zummar and called on the international community to intervene.

Comment: Britain 'exports fear' to Yemeni children via arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Comment: More on the mysterious FBI informant and the Uranium One story:

• FBI informant claims Barack Obama received daily updates on Uranium One deal (Video)
• Do Dem talking point shifts signal the realization that "Trump unlikely to be implicated" in Russia inquiry?
• House Republicans Nunes and Grassley open investigation into Russia uranium deal
• Russian spies targeted Hillary Clinton in "influence campaign" in 2009-2010
• Bill Clinton sought permission to meet with Russian nuclear official during infamous uranium deal decision
• The real Russiagate? FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama admin approved nuclear deal with Russia - UPDATE

This too is a nothing-burger, although it's understandable why US conservatives have hung their hat on it: their Democratic opposition, with the backing of the Deep State establishment, have used 'ties with Russia' as a vehicle with which to bash Trump and keep him in line, thus keeping the US Empire on course (towards its total destruction, but they don't know that).

Putin explained - in plain, simple, non-hysterical language - what this uranium deal is actually about in his recent speech at Valdai 2017 (where leaders from around the world in the fields of politics, media and business met to discuss future global governance without the US, which has apparently lost its mind).

The US and Russia made arrangements in the early 90s to 'civilize' their nuclear warheads by selling it to each other for use in nuclear power plants. This way, the process could be openly monitored. The only Clinton connection to this overarching deal is that Slick Willy happened to be president at the time. There's no scandal here. It's being 'scandalized' now because all things Russia are 'bad'.

The vast majority of political news coming out of the US these days is - to again borrow a phrase from Putin - paranoid political schizophrenia.