Another 1,100 or so emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta have been released by WikiLeaks - the second such release in a day - after the State Department published 1,250 pages of Clinton's emails.

The 28th batch of Podesta's emails has been dubbed the "Department of Justice/FBI/Huma [Abedin] special" by WikiLeaks, referring to Clinton's aide implicated in the FBI's most recent email probe.

Despite the sensationalist headline, there doesn't seem to be much in the release related to Abedin, the DOJ or the FBI.

A March 17, 2015 email chain shows the staff discussing Clinton's use of personal email while at State Department.

"...it was her practice, as well as ours, to conduct work on the .gov system," argued senior aide Philippe Reines, in response to questions from the New York Times. "They are looking at HER email, not ours. They don't know what next step we took," Reines wrote. "If they've somehow seen some of the other 55k, we'd need to see each to determine what they were."

For the second time in less than a month Politico chief political correspondent Glenn Thrush has been caught sending stories to Hillary Clinton staffers for approval.

Thrush sent an email to Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri on April 17, 2015 with the subject line: "pls read asap — the [Jennifer Palmieri] bits — don't share." This was revealed in Thursday's WikiLeaks release of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails. It is included in Podesta's emails as Palmieri shared the email with several other Clinton staffers, including campaign manger Robby Mook and Podesta.

The eight paragraphs that Thrush sent Palmieri were filled with glowing sentences about her. She wrote in the forwarded email to Clinton staffers, "He did me courtesy of sending what he is going to say about me. Seems fine." The paragraphs about Palmieri ended up largely unchanged in the column, "Quiet, please. Hillary's running," a piece largely about Clinton's press strategy.

In a previous email chain released by WikiLeaks, Thrush asked Podesta to look over a portion of a story pertaining to him. The Politico reporter in the email called himself a "hack" and said "please don't share."

American economist Jeffrey Sachs is no stranger to Russia, having served as an advisor to the Yeltsin government as it attempted to transition to a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Now, the academic warns that the United States may follow the USSR's path to ruin, if it doesn't scale back its military adventures and spending.

In his latest piece for the Boston Globe, Sachs explained that for economists, "the single most important issue in allocating national resources is war versus peace, or as macroeconomists put it, 'guns versus butter'." Unfortunately, he suggested, "the United States is getting this choice profoundly wrong, squandering vast sums and undermining national security."

In fact, Sachs noted, "if our next president remains trapped in expensive Middle East wars, the budgetary costs alone could derail any hopes for solving our vast domestic problems." And that's not even mentioning Washington's competition with Russia in Europe and China in the Pacific.

The US is not a classical empire, the economist suggested, since it does not directly control foreign territories; rather, the US stations forces in dozens of countries, and uses this power to influence "who governs" in these states.

When Alec Ross, Senior Advisor for Innovation at the US State Department bumped into John Podesta "in the hallway", the two Washington insider's probably exchanged some polite pleasantries, and then discussed those freedom-loving Al Qaeda "moderate rebels" that Hillary Clinton hopes to one day provide a no-fly zone for.

In an email message sent by Alec Ross to John Podesta, Wikileaks reveals how arming Al Qaeda-ISIS jihadists, in an effort to overthrow a democratically elected Syrian government, brings a "smile" to the faces of Washington's warmongers.

Via Wikileaks...

From:RossAJ@state.gov
To: john.podesta@gmail.com
Date: 2012-06-14 13:03
Subject: Syria

John,
Good seeing you in hallway the other day. Thought you'd find this interesting — thought it would make you smile

http ://world.time.com/2012/06/13/hillarys-little-startup-how-the-u-s-is-using-technology-to-aid-syrias-rebels/

Alec Ross
Senior Advisor for Innovation
Office of the Secretary of State

An unpublished report by a government advisor and UN consultant, obtained exclusively by INSURGE intelligence, accuses Western and Algerian security services of complicity in al-Qaeda terrorist activity across North Africa.

The academic report focuses on damning evidence that a devastating al-Qaeda terrorist attack on the Tigantourine gas plant near In Amenas, Algeria, was orchestrated by Algeria's secret services, with the knowledge of US, French and British intelligence.

A draft copy of the report, due to be published later this month, has been seen exclusively by INSURGE intelligence.

Escalating instability in North Africa is being blamed on the re-emergence of an offshoot of al-Qaeda — al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Despite French military efforts, the group is re-consolidated in northern Mali, and has orchestrated terror strikes from Burkino Faso to the Ivory Coast.

Yet the new draft report by a UN consultant, prepared by the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) at Queen Mary University of London, uncovers remarkable evidence that the Phoenix-like return of AQIM is thanks to the unwavering covert support the terror group receives from one of the West's staunch allies in the 'war on terror': Algeria.

The Russian president Putin declared another unilateral ceasefire in east-Aleppo for Friday:

"A decision was made to introduce a 'humanitarian pause' in Aleppo on November 4 from 9:00 am (0600 GMT) to 19:00," the chief of Russia's General Staff Valery Gerasimov said in a statement on Wednesday.

Gerasimov said the decision was approved by Syrian authorities and was meant to "prevent senseless casualties" by allowing civilians and armed combatants to quit rebel-held eastern Aleppo.
...
Defence ministry Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that Russia had ceased air strikes on eastern Aleppo for 16 days, following criticism over a Russian-backed Syrian government assault that has killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed infrastructure, including hospitals.

This is probably the last ceasefire on offer before al-Qaeda and CIA proxy forces in east-Aleppo are attacked in full force.

These head-chopping "rebels" rejected the Russian offer:

Rebel groups in Aleppo dismissed Russia's latest offer, with one of the groups describing it as a media stunt for "public consumption."

Yasser al-Youssef, a spokesman for the Nour el-Din el-Zinki rebel group, said Russia "is not serious" and its latest initiatives "don't concern us." He added that the Russian leader's comments do not reflect the reality on the ground.

The great "rebel" attack from Idleb in the west on Aleppo to open a corridor to the government besieged "rebel" area in east-Aleppo has failed. Local fighting is still ongoing but the main attack has stopped. Most of the major hardware of the attacking "rebels", tanks and multiple rocket launchers on trucks, have been destroyed by the Syrian and Russian artillery and air forces.

As 127 people in West Aleppo are killed this week from indiscriminate Al-Nusra led shelling, and accusations are made of opposition groups using chlorine gas, John Kerry doesn't notice Russia and Syria stopped bombing East Aleppo 2 weeks ago.

The period from mid to late October must be hibernation time for US Secretary of State John Kerry. How else are we to explain comments he made on Monday which clearly show he's ignorant of well-publicised events unfolding on the Aleppo battlefield?

Speaking at Chatham House in London on Monday, Kerry said:

If Russia were to test the stated willingness of Qatar, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia and the United states to try to separate Nusra from the opposition, and if they would test it by standing back and not bombing for a period of time, and give the legitimate opposition the opportunity to adhere to the ceasefire, but separate from the true terrorists, then we could begin to get some perhaps cooperative breathing space where we might have an opportunity to be able to really put in place a ceasefire.

In the salubrious surrounds of Chatham House we can be sure US idolaters did not dare raise a point of protest or dissent. "I say, can I correct you there, old chap," is hardly likely to have been uttered as the participants, grateful to hear Kerry's honeyed words, treated themselves to a hearty helping of tea and scones.

Despite the United States being engaged in what it calls "reconstruction" in Afghanistan, quarterly reports on their progress doing so reveals expanding violence and deepening poverty.

Washington Times, in an article titled, "Afghanistan failures rising, progress eroding 15 years after U.S. intervention," reports that:

Opium production is up 43 percent in Afghanistan, the economy is struggling and the government has lost ground to insurgents over the last year, according to an inspector general's report released Sunday that shows ongoing failures overshadowing the few signs of hope.

Indeed, every quarter, the "Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction," or SIGAR, submits a report to the US Congress regarding US activities in Afghanistan regarding "reconstruction."

In reality, it is not only an audit that provides insight into America's ongoing, now 15 year long military occupation of Afghanistan, but reveals the very nature of this so-called "reconstruction" process. It is one that ensures inevitably whatever regime sits in Kabul remains entirely dependent on the United States, on immense funding from abroad and amid a conflict that seems only to expand as US troops "drawdown." It also depicts an immensely ineffective "reconstruction" process, riddled with corruption and unsustainable programs that is creating a nation according to US interests, with institutions built by and for America's own endgame, not that of the Afghan population's future.

It also reveals the role of organizations like USAID, depicted as rendering aid to foreign nations, while in reality overseeing an empire of corrupt contractors pursuing ineffective programs amid an unraveling nation.

Tribal militia members, taking part in the operation to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Daesh jihadist group, have tortured alleged Daesh fighters in revenge for the group's atrocities, an influential human rights group's official said Wednesday.

"There is strong evidence that Sab'awi tribal militia members have committed crimes under international law by torturing and otherwise ill-treating residents in Qati' al Sab'awiin in revenge for crimes committed by Daesh," Deputy Director for Research at Amnesty International's Beirut regional office Lynn Maalouf said, as quoted on the Amnesty International's website.

According to the human rights watchdog, all eyewitnesses interviewed described a troubling scene in which several men and boys, aged between 16 and 25, were placed in large poultry cages in the middle of a public roundabout. Some of the men were beaten by militia with cables.

Britain's electronic spy agency GCHQ is advertising 50 vacancies for its new elite cyber force, but recruiters don't seem to mind if applicants lack experience. The scheme was announced on Tuesday as part of the new £1.9 billion (US$2.3 billion) National Cyber Security Programme. It will take the form of a free London course which aims to deliver the next generation of cyber spies. If successful the pioneering recruitment scheme will be expanded on a nationwide basis.

The private firm running the course is called the SANS Institute. It claims to pack two years' worth of training into a 10-week technological boot camp. The course is aimed at what it terms as "high-aptitude people" like soldiers, doctors and nurses who are looking to find a new career.

"This new academy will give students the skills the nation needs to fight cyber attacks and help us achieve our ambition of making the UK the safest place to live and do business online," Matt Hancock, the minister for digital and culture, told the Times on Tuesday. UK spy agencies are pushing hard to recruit among groups that fall outside the traditional sources of manpower.

A study released in May claimed Britain's security apparatus would be vastly improved if recruiters were to target "high emotional intelligence, rather than focusing on standard qualifications." Agencies are now keen to show life as a spy is compatible with raising a family.