General Sir Nicholas Houghton, who is currently head of the British military, has bemoaned the limiting effects of democracy, law and public opposition to Britain's involvement in foreign wars.

He warned if the UK's enemies think the army will only fight as a matter of national survival it would give succor to Britain's international opponents, which would encourage "rather than deter revisionist states and their own ambitions."

"The more worrying constraints on the use of force lay in the areas of societal support, parliamentary consent and ever greater legal challenge," the general told an audience at the Chatham House think-tank on Tuesday.

On Saturday, September 12th, United Kingdom's Labour Party elected as its leader and their candidate to lead the UK, Jeremy Corbyn, who has been the most vocal British critic of the UK's serving as the lap-dog of an aggressive imperialistic United States of America.

Simultaneously, the leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's own Christian Social Union Party, Horst Seehofer, a man who, prior to his being appointed to be the Party-chief had been Chancellor Merkel's Agriculture Minister, has now turned against Chancellor Merkel (who until now was the most powerful leader in all of Europe) and denounced her policy on the refugee crisis, and has now stated publicly that Germany should instead ally with Russia and against NATO on the entire Syrian war.

This public statement, which is really a sea-change in history, was reported Friday night, 11 September, in Germany's leading magazine, The Mirror, Der Spiegel, and it represents the breaking-point in Germany's foreign policy, finally yielding now to the rapidly rising anti-Americanism within Germany that results from America's prioritizing America's war against Russia as being a more important goal than the global war against Islamic jihad, which is clearly the most pressing threat to national security not only within Germany, and not only within all Western countries, but even within Pakistan and many other countries that have majority-Islamic populations, as well as in India, China, and other nations around the world.

"An iron curtain has descended across the continent..."

So said Winston Churchill during his speech at Harry Truman's Missouri hometown in 1945, more or less officially declaring the Cold War to 'contain' Soviet Russia and establish the West's de facto control of the planet. That 'iron curtain' was mostly metaphorical, but the steel wire chain-link fences that are being erected today along Hungary's border with Serbia are very real. As Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands all follow Germany's lead to impose border controls, effectively suspending the EU's open borders policy, you have to wonder what other moves are afoot in Europe's unfolding migration/refugee crisis.

The stream of refugees from Syria is just one branch of many coming to Europe from as far away as Afghanistan and central Africa. All these places have been - or are still being - destroyed by NATO and/or proxy forces in the post-9/11 war frenzy. Regarding the broader refugee crisis, Western leaders knew full well, prior to obliterating Libya, that a significant increase in the numbers of people coming north from Africa into Europe would be the logical result:

Italy and Silvio Berlusconi face Libya dilemma

BBC News, 1 March 2011

"Italy's interior and foreign ministers seemed equally cautious at first, painting Libya not as a military priority but a humanitarian one.

They conjured up disturbing predictions of mass unchecked migration from Libya into the EU - suggesting it would be of biblical proportions with as many as 300,000 fleeing to Europe.

Other EU capitals said Italy was over-reacting to a crisis that had yet to materialise, but the Italian worries had been registered.‌

By most accounts, the refugees from Syria alone constitute the largest mass movement of people since the last major US-Russia proxy war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. How fitting that right-wing Islamist nut-jobs - funded, armed and trained by the US and allies - are responsible for both sets of refugees. Among the waves of people coming from all across Washington strategists' "arc of crisis", there have been many children who have washed up dead on European shores in recent years - all of them fleeing the direct or indirect consequences of the West's 'humanitarian' wars.

There is no need for creating the new coalition against the ISIL militant group, as the US-led alliance is operating successfully both in Syria and Iraq, US State Department spokesperson said Tuesday.

The US-led coalition against the Islamic State is successfully operating in Syria and Iraq, and there is no need for another alliance against the terrorist group, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a briefing.

"There is no need for another international coalition against ISIL [Islamic State], when 60 plus nations are already aligned and having an effect against ISIL [Islamic State], not just in Syria, but also in Iraq," Kirby said.

In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem that Moscow would support the establishment of an anti-terrorism coalition if Syria considered it appropriate and possible.

I think that a week after Ynet broke the story about a Russian military intervention in Syria we can confidently say that that this was a typical AngloZionist PSYOP aimed at inhibiting the Russian involvement in the Empire's war against Syria and that it had no basis in reality.

Or did it?

It turns out that there was a small kernel of truth to these stories. No, Russia was not sending "MiG-31s to bomb Daesh", nor is Russian going to send an SSNB (submarine armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles) to the Syrian coast. All these rumors are utter nonsense. But there are increasing signs that Russia is doing two thing:

1) increasing her diplomatic involvement in the Syrian conflict

2) delivering some unspecified but important military gear to Syria

The second item is the one which is most interesting. Needless to say, as is typical in these cases, the actual contents of the cargo Russia is sending by air and sea is not made public, but we can speculate. First, we know that Syria needs a lot of spare parts and equipment repairs. This war has been going on for 4 years now and the Syrians have made intensive use of their equipment. Second, the Syrians lack some battlefield systems which could greatly help them. Examples of that include counter-battery radars (radars which spot where the enemy's artillery is shooting from) and electronic warfare systems. Furthermore, Russian sources are saying that Syria needs more armored personnnel carriers.

Crime and corruption pay in America; you just have to be a corporate CEO, Wall Street executive, senior member of the military-industrial-intelligence complex or a politician. These so-called "elites" have perverted American justice to such a degree that not only are they now entirely above the law, they're actually rewarded for unethical and crony behavior even after they get caught.

Nothing sums up how completely fraudulent and corrupt the U.S. economy has become than the following story, which describes how the United Airlines CEO who stepped down in the midst of a corruption probe is rewarded with a $21 million exit package, "free flights for life," and free parking in downtown Chicago forever. No, I'm not making this up.

From the Omaha World-Herald:

When Jeff Smisek stepped down as United Airlines' chief executive last week amid a federal corruption probe, he didn't walk away empty-handed. He will receive at least $21 million in cash and stock, fly free for the rest of his life and keep his company car.

Then there is the parking.

He can park free in downtown Chicago and at airports in Houston and Chicago for the rest of his life.

The full value of Smisek's exit package could be even higher — he's still eligible for the incentive pay that accumulated before his resignation. In all, Bloomberg estimates he will walk away with $28.6 million. That's more than double his pay last year, which reached $12.8 million.

Smisek's resignation was tied to a federal investigation into whether the air carrier launched a money-losing flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Columbia, South Carolina, to benefit the influential then-chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who owned a vacation home near Columbia.

Smisek's tenure was also pockmarked by technical glitches that briefly grounded United's fleet this year, and a difficult merger with Continental.

You see, he wasn't just rewarded for corruption, he was incompetent too.

The image of the lifeless body of the Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi washed up on a shore in Turkey seemed to changed the conversation around the plight of North Africa's refugees overnight. Many European governments that until that moment were demonizing the fleeing refugees, began to offer their support, with buses, aid, and promises of a better life. Last week, the European Union drew up a proposal to distribute migrants among its 28 members, signs reading "Refugees Welcome" were seen across the region.

However, this episode has also served to expose the cynicism of media outlets or the news cycle, which has lost interest in the plight of refugees elsewhere.

In June of last year, the world was shocked when it was reported that an unprecedented 50,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America had arrived at the U.S. border during the previous nine months.

These minors were escaping a violent situation not too different than that facing children in Syria. Like the present situation in Europe, refugees from Central America were demonized as invaders, politicians of all stripes said they would work to address the root of the problem.

One year on, the root causes of that migration — poverty, violent crime, and a lack of opportunities for young people — remain unaddressed.

Instead, the United States has simply pushed to transfer the problem from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Mexico-Guatemala border. Mexican officials stopped nearly 93,000 Central American migrants between last October and April of this year, nearly double the number from the previous period.

People from Central America continue to flee, by the tens of thousands, but it seems, the world stopped taking notice. The plight of those most in need cannot be fleeting, or determined solely by periodic public outrage, or the image of Aylan Kurdi won't be the last.

An apocalyptic-looking train fitted with razor wire has been deployed to seal the last gap in Hungary's border with Serbia, amid UN agency warnings that fences and tougher border controls are not a solution to the dire refugee crisis.

Each country has the right to protect its borders, the United Nations refugee agency acknowledged, yet warning that Hungary's protective fence, built on its Serbian border to keep the influx of migrants out, could limit the rights of those people seeking asylum.

Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis warned Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and his new frontbench team that Tory opponents would mount a campaign of fear against their anti-austerity message.

Varoufakis addressed Corbyn, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Shadow Secretary for International Development Diane Abbott at a Peoples' Assembly Against Austerity event on Monday night.

He told the Labour ministers they are embarking upon a path that will "not be rosy."

"Your opponents, Diane, Jeremy, John, are going to use fear as their main instrument.

"They will say to you that a Corbyn government will push up the pound. This is what the systemic media will tell people in their living rooms.

"You will be told ... if Corbyn gets elected Labour will be like Syriza and the United Kingdom will be like Greece.


"Don't fear them. People are perfectly capable of sifting through this. The people who can overcome fear if the leadership overcomes fear."

In response, Abbott said she hopes the result of Corbyn's victory will enable Labour to defeat austerity in Britain once and for all.

"But I hope the result of Corbyn's victory at the weekend gives us renewed hope to believe that we can take the fight against austerity off the street and into parliament," she said.

In a speech to before the Trades Union Congress (TUC) annual conference in Brighton on Tuesday, Corbyn vowed to tackle austerity, saying it is a "political choice, not an economic necessity."

Corbyn accused the Tories of being "poverty deniers," driving up poverty.

"They call us deficit deniers. But then they spend billions cutting taxes for the richest families or for the most profitable businesses."

Speaking about the Labour Party's beliefs, Corbyn said: "We oppose the benefit cap. We oppose social cleansing. We will bring the welfare bill down by controlling rents and boosting wages, not by impoverishing families and socially cleansing our communities."

Tens of thousands of people have attended a rally in central Tokyo to denounce the lack of public debate and governmental haste in adopting controversial legislation which would allow Japan to deploy troops abroad for the first time since World War II.

Led by opposition parties, celebrities and peace activists, members of the crowd held placards saying "no war" and "scrap war legislation," as they stood outside the National Diet building in Tokyo. Organizers say that over 45,000 people attended the rally.

"I'm not sure if my participation will change anything. But I came here, for the first time, as I feel the government's way to decide without listening to people's voices is much too contemptuous," demonstrator Tateo Iida told The Japan Times.