For a moment it looked as if the U.S. was giving up on violent "regime change" in Syria. Under Russian pressure Secretary of State Kerry concided on September 29 that the outcome should be something that is not supported by the U.S. Gulf allies and proxy fighters of the war on Syria:

The United States and Russia agree on "some fundamental principles" for Syria, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday, adding that he plans to meet again with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday.

"There was agreement that Syria should be a unified country, united, that it needs to be secular, that ISIL (Islamic State) needs to be taken on, and that there needs to be a managed transition," Kerry told MSNBC ...

But instead of building on that agreement and of further working with the Russians, the U.S. is now slipping into a full war by proxy against the Russian Federation and especially with its contingent in Syria. Obama had claimed that he would not get drawn into a proxy war with Russia in Syria but his administration, the Pentagon and the CIA, is now doing all it can to create one. The Russian support for Syria is not limited. With the U.S. administration now moving into a position where war on Russia in Syria becomes the priority the fighting in and around Syria will continue for a long time.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said earlier this week that he expects Russia will soon suffer casualties. The comment has sparked a good deal of debate as to whether Carter is just another hopeful US psychopath, or if the Pentagon has a Soviet-Afghanistan redux in mind for Syria. Either way Russia is infuriated, and a dangerous game just got downright scary.

Vladimir Putin's ISIL "end game" in support of Syria's armed forces has put the United States and the coalition in an untenable spot, that's for sure. For over a year Central Command has been reporting damage assessments telling of hundreds and thousands of destroyed targets, and completed mission objectives against ISIL, but no tangible victory was ever in sight. As we see now, the US posture on ISIL has been one of "wait and see" in the hopes ISIL, and other extremist jihadists supported by the coalition, might overthrow Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad.

It's crystal clear this was the only mission Barack Obama had in the region, and now Vladimir Putin has forced his hand. Destroying ISIL, as far as Pentagon strategy was concerned, was counterproductive to the greater mission. Now the US Defense Secretary is in the spotlight, chirping ill advised warnings about a Russian intervention he should be welcoming. The question is, why?

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ruled out participation of the Russian Armed Forces in a ground operation in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that he ruled out possibility of the Russian Armed Forces' participation in ground operations in Syria.

"This is out of question," Putin told Rossiya-1 TV channel in an interview, answering a question on Russia taking part in ground operation in Syria. "Whatever happens, we're not going to do this, and our Syrian friends know about it."

After losing all hope that the US and its allies would save Iraq from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIL), and heartened by the actions of televised Russian military intervention on behalf of Syria against ISIL, Baghdad is now taking under serious consideration a formal request to the Russian Federation to lend it a helping hand in the fight against ISIL terrorists.

To obtain this goal Baghdad has sent an official request to Moscow to strike terrorist infrastructure with bombs and cruise missiles within Iraqi territory. It would also make a big difference for Russia if it was capable of deploying its aircraft from within Iraqi territory,as it has been demonstrated in Syria where air strikes have been far more effective when launched from local bases. In this case, Russia would be able to provide close air support for Iraqi ground troops, while coordinating with Iraqi spotters and Iranian drones. In the case of Iraq Russia could make good use of its strategic bombers which are capable of destroying heavily fortified positions in the areas of Fallujah, Ramadi and Mosul.

The first signs that Moscow and Baghdad are moving towards cooperation are already visible. It's evident by statements made by senior officials of the the two states. In addition, in early October, representatives of Iraq's armed forces announced that they had signed an agreement on the exchange of intelligence data with Iran, Russia and Syria. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said a few days ago that he cannot exclude the possibility that Iraq will turn to Russia for further aid. A truly influential Iraqi Shiite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called on the international community to take an active part in the fight against ISIL, while hinting that he too has nothing against Russia's involvement. On October 5 Russia's Chairman of the Federal Assembly Valentina Matviyenko said that Moscow was ready to consider a request to strike positions of the Islamic State in Iraq, if such a request was received.

The US Department of Defense will work on compensating the families of the victims killed in a deadly American airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The strike "mistakenly" killed 22 people.

On Saturday, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement that it is "important to address the consequences of the tragic incident at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan."

"US Forces-Afghanistan has the authority to make condolence payments and payments toward repair of the hospital. USFOR-A will work with those affected to determine appropriate payments. If necessary and appropriate, the administration will seek additional authority from the Congress," Cook said.

A civilian woman and her 3-year-old daughter were killed as her family's house collapsed during an Israeli Air Force strike on the Gaza Strip. The bombing, which reportedly targeting Hamas sites, came after a rocket had been intercepted by Israel's air defense system.

A series of deafening blasts in the Gaza Strip were reported after 2am local time by multiple sources on social media, with pictures of smoke billowing into the air posted on Twitter.

Hamas-run Al-Aqsa Satellite Channel reported that the Badr area, site of the militant Palestinian al-Qassam Brigades, was among the targets struck. Some Israeli media reported strikes on "terror targets" in Gaza.

High-level security advisors to US President Barack Obama recommended that the US should withdraw its military forces from Syria and abandon plans of Assad's resignation, DWN wrote.

Instead, high-ranking White House officials suggest that the US should undertake steps to improve the situation of the Syrian population and stop the refugee flow, the newspaper reported.


Advisors argue that the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not enforceable anymore. Therefore, the Americans should pull back their military forces and contribute to the restoration of destroyed cities and the supply of the population instead. According to US officials, these steps would help to stop the massive waves of refugees from the region.

A Democrat that makes sense. Wow. Wait till Hillary declares Hawaii the stronghold of terrorists and Russians and will do another Benghazi on it. Tulsi Gabbard, who serves on the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services and Foreign Affairs, tells Steve Kornacki:

"If we focus on overthrowing secular dictator Assad instead of defeating our real enemy, Islamic extremists who attacked us on 9/11, we'll see a repeat of exactly what happened in Iraq, exactly what happened in Libya where ISIS, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, will walk in the front door, take over the country of Syria and they will be a greater threat to the people on the ground as well as the world with their heightened military capability."

Israel lacks a national motto. If its leaders are looking for a Latin one, "carpe chaos" would be an apt and honest choice.

"Seize the chaos" is half of Israeli foreign policy in a nutshell (the other half being the instigation of that chaos in the first place). Indeed, even its friends in the media cannot help but put it in such terms. For example, The New York Times recently reported about the "...many Israeli leaders and thinkers seizing on the chaos in Syria to solidify Israel's hold on Golan."

This refers to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and has occupied ever since. Even the Israel-enabling United Nations considers that occupation and subsequent annexation to be unjust and illegal. Returning Golan to Syria has long been advanced as part of a potential peace deal.

The US House of Representatives has voted in favor of lifting a four-decade ban on oil exports. Lifting the prohibition has been a years-long priority for the oil industry and its lobbyists.

Lawmakers voted 261-159 in favor of lifting the ban on Friday, with 26 Democrat lawmakers joining 235 Republicans in the vot. However, they were 55 votes short of being able to override a presidential veto. President Barack Obama has promised to reject the proposal if it were to pass Congress.

Debate on the issue now moves to the Senate, where the measure faces a sharp hurdle to passage and needs Democratic support to get it over the 60-vote hurdle to end debate on the issue.

The White House has said that Congress should instead "be focusing its efforts on supporting our transition to a low-carbon economy."

The House measure has the backing of oil and gas corporations, who argue that lifting the ban would create jobs and stimulate more US petroleum production. Already, US production has increased 80 percent since 2008 and helped drive down the global price of oil to half of what it was in the summer of 2014.

"An extra dollar or two for the price of our product today is very important because our margins are incredibly squeezed," Doug Suttles, the chief executive of Encana, a Canadian company that pumps oil and gas in the US, told the Wall Street Journal

More than a dozen oil companies, including Hess Corp, ConocoPhillips and Encana, formed a coalition to press the matter with Congress for over than a year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"This is a vote to level the playing field for US workers and businesses who should be allowed to compete against foreign oil suppliers like Iran and Russia," George Baker, executive director of the coalition of more than a dozen oil companies, which also includes Marathon Oil Corp and Apache Corp, told the Journal.