Erik Prince, the founder of the mercenary company Blackwater, admitted that he met with an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin during then-President-elect Donald Trump's transition.

The Washington Post reported last week that Prince held a secret meeting with a Putin confidant in the Seychelles islands "as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump."

"U.S. officials said the FBI has been scrutinizing the Seychelles meeting as part of a broader probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and alleged contacts between associates of Putin and Trump," the Post noted.

In an interview with the Financial Times that was published on Monday, Prince acknowledge that the meeting had occurred but insisted that it was "incidental."

Prince admitted an "incidental" meeting but denied anything of consequence was discussed, blaming "permanent seditious bureaucrats" in the US intelligence community for leaking the information.

Prince also said that the business his current company, Frontier Services Group, was doing with China did not include mercenary services.

US President Donald Trump wants to ride in the Queen's gold-plated royal carriage when he travels to London on a state visit -- an insistence that has thrown British security forces into a tizzy, a media report has said.

The White House has made clear it regards the carriage procession as an essential element of the itinerary for President Trump's visit currently planned for the second week of October, The Sunday Times reported, citing officials.

But security officials have warned that the carriage journey down The Mall to Buckingham Palace will require a "monster" security operation, far greater than for any recent state visit, the paper said.

The Metropolitan Police was already facing a challenge in ensuring the safety of the controversial president as tens of thousands of people are expected to protest his visit.

First, a painful, but needed, clarification:
Basement crazies. Neocons. Zionists. Israel Lobbyists. Judaics. Jews. Somewhere along this list we bump into the proverbial "elephant in the room". For some this bumping will happen earlier in the list, for others a little later down the list, but the list will be more or less the same for everybody. Proper etiquette, as least in the West, would want to make us run away from that topic. I won't. Why? Well, for one thing I am constantly accused of not discussing this elephant. Furthermore, I am afraid that the role this elephant is playing is particularly toxic right now. So let me try to deal with this beast, but first I have to begin with some caveats.

First, terminology. For those who have not seen it, please read my article Why I use the term AngloZionist and why it is important. Second, please read my friend Gilad Atzmon's article Jews, Judaism & Jewishness (or, even better, please read his seminal book The Wondering Who). Please note that Gilad specifically excludes Judaics (religious Jews,) from his discussion. He writes "I do not deal with Jews as a race or an ethnicity. I also generally avoid dealing with Judaism (the religion)". I very much include them in my discussion. However, I also fully agree with Gilad when he writes that Jews Are Not a Race But Jewish Identity is Racist (those having any doubts about Jews not being a race or ethnicity should read Shlomo Sand's excellent book The Invention of the Jewish People). Lastly, please carefully review my definition of racism as spelled out in my "moderation policies":

Racism is, in my opinion, not so much the belief that various human groups are different from each other, say like dog breeds can be different, but the belief that the differences between human groups are larger than within the group. Second, racism is also a belief that the biological characteristics of your group somehow pre-determine your actions/choices/values in life. Third, racism often, but not always, assumes a hierarchy amongst human groups (Germanic Aryans over Slavs or Jews, Jews over Gentiles, etc.). I believe that God created all humans with the same purpose and that we are all "brothers in Adam", that we all equally share the image (eternal and inherent potential for perfection) of God (as opposed to our likeness to Him, which is our temporary and changing individual condition).

To sum it all up, I need to warn both racists and rabid anti-anti-Zionists that I will disappoint them both: the object of my discussion and criticism below will be limited to categories which a person chooses to belong to or endorse (religion, political ideas, etc.) and not categories which one is born with (race, ethnicity).

One of the most useful things I learned in business school was that you can usually make a deal whenever the parties involved don't want full control of the same limited resources. That's why a peace deal in Israel is impossible - because both sides want the same land. But that's a rare situation (fortunately).

The more normal situation is the one we see with North Korea and the United States. The United States doesn't want the same limited resource that North Korea wants. And China has their own interests. That kind of situation almost always means you can reach a deal if you look hard enough.

At the moment, we have about 75% of what we need for a nuclear deal with North Korea. Both the United States and China are putting unprecedented economic and military pressure on North Korea, and that means North Korea will start to get flexible. But without the remaining 25% of what is needed for a deal, no breakthrough is possible. North Korea is unlikely to agree to anything that makes it seem as if it caved to pressure from the United States. You have to solve for that to get a deal. That is the missing 25%.

So let me tell you how to do that.

Philippines' strongman Rodrigo Duterte has expressed his support for the US President calling him a "pragmatic thinker" and pointing out that Donald Trump simply would not have become a billionaire if he were [sic] stupid. Duterte's comments came while meeting the Filipino community in Qatar on Saturday. "Trump is a realist, a pragmatic thinker," The PhilStar daily quoted Duterte as saying.

The Philippines leader compared his widely-known controversial speech manner with Trump's, noting, however, that unlike him, Trump was a deep thinker, as quoted by Rappler news outlet. "You just think that you know, both of us pretend that if we're insulted, we speak that way. But they don't know that in the case of Trump, he thinks deeply," Duterte said while speaking Filipino.

Duterte stated that if Trump was "stupid," he would not become a billionaire. To prove his point he cited the Trump Tower building in New York. "Have you seen his building? How can he be stupid?" he asked the laughing audience. "That's true. Trump is a deep man, he just pretends otherwise. Like me, I'm not really very bright."

While US-Philippines relations have been quite turbulent since Duterte assumed office last June, his attitude towards the new US President differs drastically from the attitude towards the previous one. The Philippines strongman has repeatedly insulted Barack Obama, calling him a "son of a b*tch" and an "idiot" and continued his tirade even after the end of Obama's term.

The first round of the presidential election will be held on 23rd of April. On the eve of it, the leader of the National Front Marine Le Pen has posted the video on her Twitter account where she presents 10 actions that she will take during the first two months in case of her election. The French presidential candidate also published the text version on her website.

1. Cancel the Schengen agreement and restore control at the national borders

This statement made a big fuss in the Western mass media. It revived talks about the possibility of Frexit. Also, this ambitious point of her program distinguishes the leader of FN from all candidates and, especially, from the former investment banker of the Rothschild bank, ex-Economy Minister, Emmanuel Macron, who is satisfied with his current subordinate position in France.

2. Deport foreigners of "S" category

Citizens of category S (Sûreté de l'Etat - State Security) in France are not identified as criminals, but are mentioned as someone who might have any connections with terrorist organizations. This category is not formal, people cannot be arrested because of it, but, nevertheless, they are under surveillance.

Marine le Pen also proposes to take action and deprive suspicious individuals of French citizenship. Moreover, the candidate suggests preventing individuals, who have dual citizenship and whose connection with jihad is proved, to enter the State.

Malicious computer malware that caused substantial damage to Iran's nuclear program may be the work of the NSA, researchers burrowing into the latest leak from hacking group Shadow Brokers have discovered within the computer data. A tool found in Friday's leak matched one used by the notorious Stuxnet malware.

First detected in 2010, Stuxnet is believed to be the joint work of the US and Israel; a claim that Edward Snowden backed up in a 2013 interview but which has never been acknowledged by either government. Designed to target industrial control systems used in infrastructure facilities, Stuxnet modifies data on controller software affecting their automated processes.

Computer code found in last week's leak from Shadow Brokers, alleged to have been stolen from the NSA, was also found to match that used in Stuxnet. Officials, who spoke under anonymity to The Washington Post, said in 2012 that the worm, developed under George W. Bush's administration and continued under Barack Obama's, was designed to damage Iran's nuclear capabilities. When it infected Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz, it reportedly destroyed a fifth of their centrifuges after causing them to spin out of control, all the while relaying readings back to technicians at the plant that operations were normal.

François Asselineau, the founder of the Republican Popular Union, UPR on March 25, 2007, the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome signature held a political rally for his candidature for President of France on March 25, 2017 in Paris, France. Over 6,500 people attended. François Asselineau is promoting Frexit - France's exit from the European Union. He is the only presidential candidate promoting Frexit. Assilineau is making waves with his ideas for France.

Although Assilineau has been speaking in cities throughout France it was just shortly after this rally that the mainstream press first bothered to have him as a guest on TV. Before this rally, interviewers worked hard to belittle him as a small unimportant candidate, cut him off and try to ridicule his stance against Europe in favor of sovereign democracy. Up until this close before the elections they ignored his existence and the facts of his growing popular platform. As result there are still many less plugged in voters who have never even heard his name.

François Asselineau was born on September 14, 1957 in Paris, France. He is now Tax Inspector-General and the president of the UPR. In 1993.he served as Advisor on International Affairs in the Cabinet of Gérard Longuet, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade in the Balladur Government. He was elected as Counseiller (Advisor) in Paris in 2001 in the 19th district of Paris with the political party Rassemblement pour la France ( RPF).

Since the founding of the UPR François Asselineau has given many lectures in France and other countries. Between March, 2007 and March, 2016 he gave about 400 conferences.

When you want to see what U.S. deep state propagandists are up to, all you have to do is take a glance at what meme corporate media happens to be pushing any given week. It's been almost a decade since I started observing and analyzing the corporate press on a daily basis, and I can now say unequivocally that the quality of American imperial propaganda has gone completely down the crapper.

The believability of some of the stuff being pushed these days defies all logic and is easily dispelled with an ounce of critical thought, yet there it is, in our face on a daily basis almost taunting the intelligence of the U.S. population. Indeed, it appears the current strategy is no more sophisticated that proclaiming any and all dissent as being the result of "Russia operations." This is done to prevent any actual debate on subjects of grave national importance since the U.S. government knows its claims don't hold up to any real scrutiny. Why look into the veracity of a deep state claim when we can just dismiss alternative viewpoints as "Russian operations."

To see what I mean, take a look at some excerpts from a recent article published by ABC News, Behind #SyriaHoax and the Russian Propaganda Onslaught:

As Syrian president Bashar al-Assad called videos of last week's chemical attack a "fabrication," a piece of propaganda promoted by a Russian cyber operation and bearing the hashtag #SyriaHoax has gained traction in the United States, analysts tell ABC News.

Following the chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians on Tuesday, Al-Masdar News, a pro-Assad website based in Beirut, published claims that "something is not adding up in [the] Idlib chemical weapons attack." Its author cited "holes" in the accounts provided by the "Al-Qaeda affiliated" White Helmets leading to the conclusion that "this is another false chemical attack allegation made against the government."

That hoax story was promoted by a network of Russian social media accounts and ultimately picked up by popular alt-right personalities in the United States, including Mike Cernovich, one of the leading voices in the debunked 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theory. Cernovich popularized its new hashtag — #SyriaHoax — and sent it soaring through cyberspace. According to Trends24, within hours of the retaliatory missile strike President Donald Trump launched on Thursday night, #SyriaHoax was the No. 1 trending Twitter topic in the United States.

There are a few things I want to highlight when it comes to these first three paragraphs. First, anyone paying the slightest amount of attention to what's happening in the world would have immediately and independently questioned why Assad would launch a chemical attack guaranteed to lead to widespread international condemnation at the very moment he was most secure in his own position. No "Russian operation" needed to recognize Assad's total lack of motive. Indeed, two of America's more respectable former Congressmen, Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich both questioned the ridiculous deep state Syria narrative.

The UN Children's Fund has condemned the killing of more than 60 children in a recent Aleppo bomb attack targeting evacuees.

"After six years of war and human carnage in Syria... six years of heartbreak for so many Syrian families... there comes a new horror that must break the heart of anyone who has one," the statement by UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said Sunday.

"More than 60 children reportedly killed in an attack on a bus convoy yesterday outside Aleppo. A convoy of families who for so long had already known so much suffering. Now the survivors must bear such a new and terrible loss," the statement added.

Lake urged not only for regret, but for action to ensure that the war ends soon, saying, "We must draw from this not only anger, but renewed determination to reach all the innocent children throughout Syria with help and comfort. And draw from it also the hope that all those with the heart and the power to end this war will do so."