The recent referendums in Catalonia and Kurdistan, while by no means crucial developments for Russia, have resulted in a lively debate in the Russian media and the Russian public opinion. The Kremlin itself has refrained from making any strong statements, possibly indicating that there might be several schools of thought on these issues in key ministries. Let's look at these two situation from the Russian point of view.

Kurdistan:

This is the comparatively simpler one of the two: there is no way Russia is going to take the risk of alienating Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Furthermore, "independent Kurdistan" is so clearly a US-Israeli project that there is no constituency in Russia supporting this concept. Or is there?

Let's not forget the for all the official smiles and declarations of mutual friendship, Erdogan is not, and will never, be trusted by the Kremlin. Furthermore, let's not forget that Russia and Turkey fought 12 (twelve!) wars (1568-1570, 1672-1681, 1686-1700, 1710-1713, 1735-1739, 1768-1774, 1787-1791, 1806-1812, 1828-1829, 1853-1856, 1877-1878, 1914-1918). Neither should we forget the role Turkey played in supporting Takfiri terrorism in Chechnia. Or the fact that Erdogan himself bears a huge responsibility in the bloodbath in Syria. Oh and there is the issue of the Russian bomber shot down (with US assistance) over Syrian airspace. So, all in all, there is a lot in the past and the Russian will not ignore it. While it is most definitely not in the Russian national interest to fully support an independent Kurdistan anywhere (meaning not in Turkey, not in Iraq, not in Iran and not in Syria), a Realpolitik approach would strongly suggest that the Russians have an objective interest in keeping the Kurdish issue festering just to have a potential leverage against Turkey. Is that cynical? Yes, absolutely. I am not saying that this is morally/ethically right, only that there will be those in Russia who will make that case.

Following President Trump's "calm before the storm" comments last night, reporters tried to ask him once again what he meant today, to which he responded "you'll see." However, during The White House Press Briefing, Sarah Sanders replied to questions suggesting the President's comments were "extremely serious," however without offering an explanation.


When asked if Trump was referring to military action when he said "calm before the storm." Sarah Sanders replied "We're never going to say in advance what the president's going to do. You'll have to wait and see."

President Trump boasts about his "zigzag" foreign policy as if inconsistency is an attribute in dealing with a fragile world, but his zigzagging endangers backchannel intermediaries handling outreach to North Korea, reports Robert Parry.

President Trump's bellicose speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month sparked a crisis for the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that was then reaching out to North Korea and Iran, with Trump's comments jeopardizing not only the talks but the credibility of the intermediaries, according to a source familiar with those efforts.

Trump essentially pulled the rug out from under the intermediaries by insulting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "Rocket Man," threatening to "totally destroy" Kim's nation of 25 million people, and calling for regime change in Iran. Trump's bluster on Sept. 19 also deepened internal tensions with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who was privately supporting the secret diplomacy.

Jim Rickards for The Daily Reckoning discuses how Russia is aggressively working to decouple its economy from dependence on the US dollar.

Gold, a SWIFT alternative, and even blockchain technology are being utilized to free Russia from US hegemonic influence...and its working.

As the entire western mainstream media and "red scare" US congressmen push the fake news "Russia election meddling" narrative, there is only one "Russia story that matters"...

The Speaker of Iraq's Parliament, Salim Jabouri has travelled to Erbil in northern Iraq, to meet with the Kurdish secessionist leader Masoud Barzani. The move comes as Iraq has made it clear that it will not tolerate secession, but will instead work to reach an agreement with Kurdish secessionists with the aim of preserving the status quo, wherein Kurds in norther Iraq had substantial autonomy within the framework of the Iraqi state.

Iraq and its neighbours have spoken with a singular voice on the issue. They have made it clear that they see Kurdish secessionism as a threat to the territorial unity of embattled states of the region and also a treat to regional security, not least because of Israel's deep and dangerous connections with Kurdish nationalist movements. Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran have also spoken plainly of their legitimate fears that a Kurdish state would openly discriminate against Arabs and Turkomen in their borders, a fear which is based on present worrying trends of non-Kurds being systematically disenfranchised in Kurdish regions of both Iraq and Syria.

The former Workers Party president of Brazil who was ousted in a coup and replaced by current right-wing president Michel Temer, Dilma Rousseff, has slammed him for being "submissive" to the United States policy against Venezuela.

"The Temer government has an absolutely incorrect position towards Venezuela, not only for the pressure of U.S. President Donald Trump and Temer's intention to be submissive, but above all the fact that it accepted joint military actions with U.S. troops in the Amazon," Rousseff said in an interview with Sputnik.

The statement was in reference to US military exercises that will take place in November in the Brazilian Amazon.

One of the victims in Sunday's Las Vegas mass shooting claims the onslaught felt like it was carried out by more than one person, and says he has the evidence to support it.

The Blast spoke with Rocky Palermo, who has 30-40 pieces of bullet shrapnel still inside his body after taking a .223 round to the pelvis. He says the bullet was inches from paralyzing or even killing him.

Palermo strongly believes there were between 3-5 active shooters during the attack because as he ran away from the initial gunfire, he describes bullets not only raining down, but flying horizontally at the crowd.

Palermo - an avid hunter familiar with guns and ballistics - says the different trajectories of gunfire was extremely evident, even in the midst of chaos.

Violent clashes broke out Sunday morning between the terrorist group Hay'at Tahrir Al Sham (ex-Al Nusra Front) and the Erdogan regime forces and their FSA allies, on the Turkish-Syrian border.

According to social media reports, clashes erupted on Sunday morning between the Turkish Forces and elements of Hay'at Tahrir Al Sham (ex-Al Nusra Front) in the northern countryside of the northwestern Syrian province of Idleb, and right at the Turkish-Syrian border.

Hay'at Tahrir Al Sham (ex-Al Nusra Front) reportedly assaulted Turkish military positions in the vicinity of the refugee camp of Deir Hassan, which is inhabited by Syrian refugees and located on the border between Syria and Turkey, with no information on casualties being available at the moment.

The jihadists have reportedly hit a Turkish bulldozer.

Today, October 7th, Russian President Vladimir Putin's representative Vladislav Surkov met with the US State Department's Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker in Belgrade. The backstory of this meeting is the Ukrainian parliament's adoption of two bills on October 6th in their first readings, namely, no. 7163 (known as the "reintegration of Donbass bill") and bill no. 7164. The latter extends for another year the bill on "special self-government" for the regions of Donbass uncontrolled by Kiev, which was adopted back in 2014 following the first Minsk Agreements and which was supposed to expire on October 18th.

To recall, "Minsk 1" was initiated by Kiev in order to save the Ukrainian Army from final defeat at Ilovaysk and Izvarino and was seen as a temporary respite needed to restore the combat capacity of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. "Minsk 2" practically repeated the fate of Minsk 1, having been adopted for the same reason - the Donbass militias' defeat of Ukrainian forces - and the same failure to implement the conditions of the ceasefire.

Madrid will use all legal means to stop Catalonia's secession, PM Mariano Rajoy said, ruling out talks with separatists and vowing to keep federal police in the region, where 800 people were injured in a crackdown on last week's independence referendum.

In an interview with El Pais newspaper on Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy indicated that he is not going to back down from his tough stance on Catalonia's independence, reiterating that until the regional government abandons its intention to proclaim independence, no talks can take place.

"As long as it does not go back to legality, I certainly will not negotiate," Rajoy said, adding that while the Spanish government appreciates proposals to mediate between the national and Catalan governments, it will have to reject them.

"I would like to say one thing about mediation: we do not need mediators. What we need is that whoever is breaking the law and whoever has put themselves above the law rectifies their position," the PM said.