The U.S. backed, Syrian Revolutionary Front (SRF), have signed a ceasefire agreement with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) in the Rif Dimashq Governate. According to the ceasefire agreement, the two militant groups will not engage in violence with one another in the densely populated city of Hajar Al-Aswad, just south of Damascus. The agreement outlines the purpose of the ceasefire, alluding to their mutual interest in usurping the "Nusayri Government" (Nusayri is a derogatory word used to insult Alawi Muslims) in Damascus.


Other rebel groups involved in the ceasefire with ISIS are Liwaa' 'Ahrar Turkman Al-Golan, Liwaa' Hittin, and Liwaa' Al-'Ummah Al-Waheeda; these groups operate primarily in the Rif Dimashq, Al-Quneitra, and Dara'a Governates. Recently, ISIS militants have been identified in the Yarmouk Camp District and the village of Babeela in south Damascus. While, rebel group Jaysh Al-Islam has combatted ISIS militants in the East Ghouta, most rebel groups in Rif Dimashq have avoided confrontation with the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham.

All 200 trucks in Russia's 2nd convoy carrying long-awaited humanitarian aid for devastated areas of eastern Ukraine have crossed the border after weeks of delays that occurred despite an agreement on relief corridors in the Minsk ceasefire deal.

"At 08:00 Moscow time (04:00 GMT) the customs procedures for all trucks and goods in them were completed," local customs service spokesman Rayan Farukshin told RIA Novosti news agency.

The trucks started passing through Russia's 'Donetsk' checkpoint into the buffer zone shortly before midnight on Friday. Trucks had to wait for several hours to get clearance for further movement from Russian customs officers supervised by their Ukrainian colleagues.

The 200 white Kamaz trucks were waiting for their turn to undergo customs proceedings, as the first group moved into Ukrainian territory early on Saturday morning.

One part of the forensic investigation into the MH17 plane crash in the Ukraine focuses on 25 metal fragments that were found on bodies of passengers and baggage.

The investigation is examining where these particles came from. From the aircraft itself, from luggage or from a source external to the aircraft such as the missile, says Patricia Zorko of the national police Friday during a press conference. Zorko is leading the criminal investigation done by the police and justice after the disaster. According to Zorko currently about 500 physical traces have been secured, including 25 metal fragments.

Chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke of the national prosecutor says that the Public Prosecutor is very willing to prosecute the parties responsible for the MH17 plane crash in the Netherlands. The Public Prosecutor in the Netherlands is leading the international crime investigation into those responsible for the disaster.

On September 11 officers of Ukraine's Security Service searched the editorial office, confiscated the equipment, working materials and personal belongings of the Vesti staff.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic called on the Ukrainian authorities with a demand to treat mass media with respect in her statement on Friday that followed a recent raid by law enforcers on the editorial office of the Vesti newspaper in Kiev.

"I call on the Ukrainian authorities to refrain from any measures which could intimidate members of the media and impede the work of media outlets," Mijatovic said. "National security concerns related to the current challenges in Ukraine should not justify disproportionate restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the media."

Did last night's primetime presidential speech announcing expanding authorization for airstrikes in Iraq and Syria feel kind of familiar? Like you've heard it before?

That's probably because you have. You've been hearing for more than two decades, from presidents on both sides of political aisle. At this point, bombing Iraq is practically a American presidential tradition.

And, via the magic of YouTube and The Huffington Post's Sam Stein, you can watch every president back to the first George Bush announce a new plan to launch military strikes in Iraq.

Here's George H.W. Bush in January 1991 announcing that "air attacks are already underway against military targets in Iraq."

Read the letter from 34 reserve soldiers who have served in Unit 8200 explaining why they refuse to serve in Palestinian territories

Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu

Chief of General Staff, Benny Gantz

Military Intelligence Director, Major General Aviv Kochavi

Commander of Unit 8200

We, veterans of Unit 8200, reserve soldiers both past and present, declare that we refuse to take part in actions against Palestinians and refuse to continue serving as tools in deepening the military control over the Occupied Territories.

It is commonly thought that the service in military intelligence is free of moral dilemmas and solely contributes to the reduction of violence and harm to innocent people. However, our military service has taught us that intelligence is an integral part of Israel's military occupation over the territories. The Palestinian population under military rule is completely exposed to espionage and surveillance by Israeli intelligence. While there are severe limitations on the surveillance of Israeli citizens, the Palestinians are not afforded this protection. There's no distinction between Palestinians who are, and are not, involved in violence. Information that is collected and stored harms innocent people. It is used for political persecution and to create divisions within Palestinian society by recruiting collaborators and driving parts of Palestinian society against itself. In many cases, intelligence prevents defendants from receiving a fair trial in military courts, as the evidence against them is not revealed. Intelligence allows for the continued control over millions of people through thorough and intrusive supervision and invasion of most areas of life. This does not allow for people to lead normal lives, and fuels more violence further distancing us from the end of the conflict.

Millions of Palestinians have been living under Israeli military rule for over 47 years. This regime denies the basic rights and expropriates extensive tracts of land for Jewish settlements subject to separate and different legal systems, jurisdiction and law enforcement. This reality is not an inevitable result of the state's efforts to protect itself but rather the result of choice. Settlement expansion has nothing to do with national security. The same goes for restrictions on construction and development, economic exploitation of the West Bank, collective punishment of inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, and the actual route of the separation barrier.

In light of all this, we have concluded that as individuals who served in Unit 8200, we must take responsibility for our part in this situation and it is our moral duty to act. We cannot continue to serve this system in good conscience, denying the rights of millions of people. Therefore, those among us who are reservists, refuse to take part in the state's actions against Palestinians. We call for all soldiers serving in the Intelligence Corps, present and future, along with all the citizens of Israel, to speak out against these injustices and to take action to bring them to an end. We believe that Israel's future depends on it.

Watch the following video from RT, which includes a clip from Secretary of State John Kerry's joint press statement with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on September 11 in Saudi Arabia. The trip to Saudi Arabia followed Kerry's 'surprise' visit to Baghdad the day before, where newly installed (puppet) Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called for the international community "to act immediately to stop the spread of this cancer [IS/ISIS/ISIL]." Who exactly is Iraq's new prime minister?

Minister of communications in the post-invasion Iraqi government for 2003-2004, Abadi has served in various posts since then, and has been deputy leader of the Islamic Dawa Party since 2007. Prior to returning to Iraq in 2003 he had spent at least the last 25 years in 'voluntary exile' in the UK being groomed by her Majesty's finest for his future role in post Saddam Iraq.

Pay attention to Kerry's words, in response to the Abadi's request for help in dealing with IS.


He says:

"The government of Iraq has invited the United States of America and asked for help. It has asked for help from the United States; it has asked for help from its neighbors, from other countries in the region. And under international law, when a country is invaded and a country invites somebody to come in and help them, we have every right in the world to respond to that request."

Sounds reasonable, right?

As wars rage around the globe, the world continues its descent into the lower circles of Dante's Inferno - all with the help of an insatiable global empire, run by warmongering opportunistic Machiavellians and amoral realists, aided by masses of Uncommitted Souls, who will do nothing for either good or evil, as long their consumerist desires, created by the empire's nightmarish 'dream-making' machine, are satisfied and their wealth and power (or aspirations to them) are preserved.

In the case of psychopathic Machiavellians, fixated on money, power and competition, it is their low emotional intelligence and lack of empathy and conscience that prevents them from having concerns for the victims of their wars or the poor. Amoral realists, on the other hand, view events on the international arena solely in terms of power - morality has no place, only national interests count. As for the Uncommitted Souls - they are just gullible dupes, whose beliefs and values are spoon-fed to them by media and advertising, the choices they focus on are those of a consumer, not of a human being.

Gazprombank GPB, a Russian bank targeted with sanctions by President Obama over the Ukraine crisis, has hired two former U.S. senators to lobby against those sanctions, according to a new disclosure filed with the Senate.

Gazprombank is controlled by Russia's state-owned energy company Gazprom, the country's largest gas producer; it supplies about a third of Europe's natural gas.

In a filing submitted Friday and effective that day, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and former Senator John Breaux, D-La., are listed as the main lobbyists under the Gazprombank account for the firm Squire Patton Boggs, lobbying on "banking laws and regulations including applicable sanctions."

Gazprombank GPB (OJSC) is a subsidiary of Gazprombank, Russia's third largest bank. On July 16th, the U.S. Treasury Department added it to a list of Russian firms barred from debt financing with U.S. institutions.

Lott and Breaux left public service almost a decade ago and are among more than 300 members of Congress who've become lobbyists, and begun petitioning former colleagues on behalf of clients, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In 2008, they started a lobbying firm with their sons, Breaux Lott Leadership Group, which was acquired by D.C.-lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs in 2010. Patton Boggs merged with Squire Sanders to form Squire Patton Boggs in June.

Gazprom has been in the news a lot. In July, The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that the Russian government should reimburse $50 billion to certain shareholders of former Russian oil company Yukos. The tribunal said the government, in a series of actions starting in 2003 "accompanied by serious due process violations," had dismantled and seized the assets of Yukos and transferred them to Gazprom and state-run oil company Rosneft.


Last month, Russian gas firm OAO Novatek retained Washington, D.C., public relations firm Qorvis to lobby the administration and Congress after one of its largest shareholders, an associate of Russian president Vladimir Putin, was similarly targeted for sanctions by the United States.

The EU "does not see or is unwilling to see" Russia's efforts to establish peace in Ukraine, Moscow said in response to the bloc's new sanctions. Despite Brussels' "non-constructive" policy, Moscow is committed to helping implement the peace plan.

"We are sorry that the European Union has adopted a new round of sanctions. We have repeatedly expressed our discontent with the previously-imposed sanctions and our disagreement with them. We also considered them illegal," Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

The EU decision "is absolutely beyond understanding and explanation," Peskov added, especially given Russia's recent efforts to help stop the bloodshed in Ukraine and peacefully resolve the conflict between Kiev and southeastern regions.


The presidential spokesman stressed that Brussels either fails to see or "is unwilling to see the real situation in Donbass and does not want to get informed about the steps the parties are taking towards settlement."