Where does our President find his men? They do not measure up against the former cadres of the movement. Instead, they fight in our courts to keep their jobs, they lie and influence respective boards to secure their jobs, and they cajole and interdict to stay. They have no shame, and because they are the President's Men, they think they're above reproach.

For those of us who take a keen interest in global affairs, I'm sure you would know about the infamous Watergate scandal in the USA. It was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s, following a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. in 1972 and President Richard Nixon's administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration's resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis.

On the one hand, there is no justification for Syria to surrender any of its territorial integrity. On the other hand, pragmatism might dictate that it is best for Syria to allow the Kurds to control their own destiny and in so doing, make the Kurdish issue a problem for America and Turkey to deal with among themselves.

The Kurds have released a number of statements with regards to the Astana Memorandum that appear to contradict each other. On the one hand, they referred to the decree calling for safe zones in Syria a 'crime', claiming that it would lead to sectarian partition and federalization. But isn't partition indeed what the Kurds - or at least many of them want and always wanted? In this instance, they share the same objective as the terrorist factions: to divide and conquer albeit to a much smaller degree and for vastly different reasons.

The reality is that, despite this positive memorandum drafted by Russia, Iran and Turkey to reach a peaceful settlement in the Syrian Arab Republic, the Kurdish problem is not going away anytime soon, in fact, it may become a problem all of its own.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said that there is no definitive proof of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence. Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee have also said they don't expect to find any evidence of collusion. Now, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, ventured over to CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia for a briefing concerning their probe into the allegations.

"You don't have to provides us with any classified information, Senator, but do you believe—do you have evidence that there was in fact collusion between Trump associates and Russia during the campaign?" asked CNN's Wolf Blizter.

"Not at this time," replied Feinstein.

President Donald Trump signed a religious liberty executive order Thursday that promises "regulatory relief" for groups, like the Little Sisters of the Poor, with religious objections to the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act. The president asked for applause for the Little Sisters before signing the order telling them, "your long ordeal will soon be over, okay?"

The nuns and other nonprofit religious organizations that have religious objections to Obamacare's contraceptive mandate have been involved in a nearly five-year long lawsuit against the Obama administration. The administration offered the groups an accommodation that would delegate the contraception coverage to a third party but they objected that the process still left them complicit in the coverage.

Their case was remanded to appeals courts with direction from the Supreme Court that the Obama administration and the organizations work out a compromise.

The safe-zones have once and for all extinguished the old lie about 'moderate rebellion'.

Syria's safe zones are now operational. Many are currently questioning whether these areas, mostly in the west and centre of the country will be effective in ending violence?

A non-judicial state body has threatened publishers with criminal prosecution.

Nearly 9 gigabytes of information from private emails belonging to French Presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron have been leaked after an apparent hack. The leaks came to light late Friday evening, less than two days before polls open in the final round of elections.

The hack is said to contain business documents and related photos.

Macron's campaign have said that some of the leaked files are fake.

Wikileaks is currently running each document through its copious verification process.

But this is not even the main story.

Over the past 15 years, fighting-talk has periodically flared over 'what to do about that crazy Asian dictator' in North Korea. Today's round of brinkmanship by the US/Western 'deep state' against North Korea will - in all probability - unfold the same way as in previous episodes; it will fizzle out. China is a guarantor of North Korean security, so the US will not go to war with North Korea. Period.

The battle between Trump and the Washington Crazies for control of the reins of empire continues, however, and the 'Krazy Korean' is relevant to that. I hope to get to that in a later article, but in the meantime, take note of the contradictory messages coming from the US. One minute, US Navy battle-groups are 'en route to North Korea'; the next they're heading in the opposite direction. One minute, THAAD missile systems are 'installed and operational in South Korea'; the next, Trump wants South Korea to pay for them. One minute, someone on the US National Security Council is telling NBC News that the US is considering 'decapitating the North Korean regime'; the next, Trump announces he'd be honored to meet Kim Jung Un... All of which has provoked the South Korean and Japanese governments to denounce Trump's confusing and contradictory statements. Is there a method in Trump's apparent madness?

I recently read The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia by James Bradley, a breathtaking panorama of US and Chinese trajectories from the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century to the birth of 'Communist' China and 'Pax Americana' a hundred years later. This naturally encompassed US involvement in Korea, so in this article I'd like to share some historical context that is either incomplete or missing from summaries of US-Korean relations I've seen online so far.

The US has a long history of propping up crazy Asian dictators - from imperial Japan to 'Christian' Chiang Kai-shek in 'New' China to Catholic Diem in the short-lived US invention of South Vietnam. 'North' Korea is similarly a US invention. After existing for hundreds of years as a sovereign country, Korea fell under Japanese imperial influence in the late 19th century. The Japanese had by then become the 'Yankees of the Far East' and so accepting were they of civilized Western ways (and Anglo-Saxon values in particular), that the US and British empires were able to convince the Japanese that they should expand their empire as a check against Russian economic expansion in the Far East and as a vehicle through which to 'Americanize' China and the wider region.

The US and Saudi Arabia have reportedly intensified negotiations over arms deals potentially worth tens of billions of dollars. The purported agreement looks to go beyond or make major shifts from the Obama administration.

Washington and Riyadh have been engaged in talks over multi-billion arms deals, Reuters reported Friday, citing unnamed sources within the administration.

Notably, Saudi Arabia is set to be the first stop on President Donald Trump's maiden foreign trip since taking the office.

Sources told Reuters the arms package includes a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system from Lockheed Martin, similar to the one being made operational in South Korea, which costs around $1 billion.

Those very familiar with the conflict in Syria have most likely been following Eva Bartlett, a journalist who is covering the conflict in Syria by reporting from Syria...unlike every western mainstream media outlet, which usually just regurgitates scripts and talking points provided by the CIA.

Jimmy Dore has Bartlett on his show for the first time in what is an eye opening interview for anyone still a bit confused as to what is really happening in the six plus year conflict. Hint, it's not a civil war, but an invasion and violent US/Saudi sponsored regime change operation.

The visit of Pope Francis to Egypt on April 28-29, 2017 (previously, the Pope visited the Middle East three years ago - Jordan, Palestine, and Israel in 2014) could have become historical had it not been for the conflict surrounding the DPRK, primarily provoked by the US Administration, which has taken up all the attention of the international community, alongside the Presidential elections in France. When Francis was leaving the ancient Egyptian land, he was asked questions on these topics. He responded reluctantly, preferring being questioned about his first visit to Egypt in 44 years, except for the "pilgrimage", and in fact, the passing visit of Pope John Paul II in 2000. It was then, in 1973, that Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Shenouda III laid the foundations for the relationship between the Coptic and Catholic churches, the development of which was one of the main objectives of this visit. The declaration adopted in that far year recorded the creation of a commission for a theological dialogue between the two churches, which opened the way for a wider communication between the Catholic Church and the entire family of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

In the landmark document, as emphasized in the new declaration of the Pope of Rome Francis and the Patriarch of Coptic Theodoros (Theodore) the Second, both churches recognized that, in accordance with the apostolic tradition, they profess "one faith in one Triune God" and "in the divinity of the Only Begotten Son of God ... a perfect God with respect to His divinity, a perfect man with respect to his humanity." It was also recognized that "Divine life is given to us and nourishes us through the seven Sacraments" and that "we honor the Virgin Mary, the Mother of True Light," the "Mother of God." At that time, it was a breakthrough talking point in the inter-Christian dialogue, especially given the fact that the Coptic Church is Miaphisite (pre-Chalcedonian), which is interpreted (unjustly) by many people as its monophysitism.