McCain called it a disgrace that the United States are not arming Ukraine.

It is a shame that the States do not arm Ukraine, which became a victim of Russian aggression, said Senator John McCain at a briefing after the meeting with the Governor of Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, who arrived in Odessa for an official visit.


"For us Americans, it is a shame that we can't provide modern weapons to Ukrainians who are leading this uneven battle with the Russians" - he said, expressing admiration for the brave people of Ukraine who faced Russian aggression.

McCain also remembered about Maidan, stressing that for him it was an honor to see how Ukrainians rose up against a corrupt and evil government. "Now the task for all of us is that aspirations and goals of Maidan are realized. It is very important that in Ukraine continues the process of reforms and combating corruption," - he said.

Senator, during his working visit to Odessa, again criticized Russia for aggression and stated that after the fall in oil prices, Moscow will have problems. Answering the question, what would he say if he met Russian President Vladimir Putin, McCain said: "We know Mr. Putin as a man who loves to bully the weak. I've often said that Russia is a gas station pretending to be a country."

"To a large extent their [the Russian - ed.] economy depends on oil. The oil price will keep falling and he will face difficulties in the country. If I saw Putin, who imposed sanctions on me, I'd thank him for it, as I consider these sanctions an honor for the support of Ukraine. I would tell him that he's on the wrong side of history. Sooner or later his aggression, gambles, corruption and other shenanigans will come to an end", - concluded the politician.

Two AFP journalists, covering clashes between Palestinians and IDF sparked by the death of a Palestinian killed by the army last week, were assaulted by Israeli soldiers who destroyed and seized their equipment in the West Bank. The incident was filmed and posted online.

The commander of a Syrian rebel group trained by the US to battle Islamic State "surrendered" a quarter of his unit's military supplies to the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front in exchange for safe passage, US Central Command said it learned on Friday.

More specifically, CENTCOM said the equipment given away by the commander included six coalition-issued pick-up trucks as well as ammunition. It doesn't appear that the commander gave the supplies directly to Al-Nusra, according to CENTCOM, but rather transferred them through an "intermediary."

"Today the NSF unit contacted Coalition representatives and informed us that on Sept. 21-22 they gave six pick-up trucks and a portion of their ammunition to a suspected Al Nusra Front intermediary, which equates to roughly 25 percent of their issued equipment," said CENTCOM spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder in a statement.

"If accurate, the report of NSF members providing equipment to Al Nusra Front is very concerning and a violation of Syria train and equip program guidelines," he added.

An unknown explosive device detonated Thursday at a military range near the city of Torez in DPR during tank competitions there, DPR Emergencies Minister Alexey Kostrubitsky said Thursday. As a result, a child died, and some people were wounded. The preliminary investigation concluded that the explosion was a terrorist attack, more then likely, conducted members of so-called volunteer battalions of Kiev.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with his US counterpart, Barack Obama, during his stay at the UN General Assembly, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin press secretary, said. The meeting will take place after the Russian presidents address at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly on September 28. The situation Syria will be a top issue of the meeting. According to Peskov, If there is enough time, the Ukrainian issue will also be discussed by the leaders of Russia and the US. It's unclear how Poroshenko will explain his little ultra-nationalist friends why Ukraine isn't a top issue of the negotiations. I mean all Ukrainian patriots know that Ukraine's problems are the only important issue in the world.

As the refugee crisis in Europe has come to dominate western media headlines, it has predictably given rise to a complex web of theories, analyses, and politically and ideologically charged omissions and distortions. The corporate propagandists of 'acceptable journalism' have presented the issue in a purely humanitarian and cultural light, with little to no political context in terms of the refugee influx as the fruit of imperial wars in Africa and Asia.

These bastions of journalistic truth have managed to flush down the memory hole nearly all evidence published in their own pages of the overlapping strategies of regional and international powers that have conspired to wage war in Syria, openly colluded in wars of aggression in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen, and prolonged and capitalized from seemingly endless conflicts in Somalia and elsewhere. All of these very conscious decisions by the ruling class and its political establishment in the US-NATO (plus Israel and Gulf Cooperation Council states), have led directly to the "crisis" as it exists today. And yet, if they're mentioned at all, it is merely in passing bemusement, the way one might refer to a stupid comment made after one too many tequila shots at a margarita happy hour.

The refugee issue then becomes less a product of political conflict, and more a cultural battlefield with trenches dug along racial and ethnic lines: the struggle to maintain European 'civilization' against the barbaric hordes of uncivilized brown-skinned invaders arriving as a "swarm," to borrow the unintentionally honest expression used by British Prime Minister David Cameron to describe the refugees. This is of course the neocolonial, supremacist position espoused most vocally by the far right throughout Europe, from Marine Le Pen and the Front National in France, to Hungary's conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban whose heavy-handed tactics - building fences, mobilizing troops and the unemployed, convicts, and fascists of various stripes - to block the refugee influx, have been both praised and condemned by various elements in Europe.

The Swiss attorney general's office says it has opened a criminal procedure against FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who is suspected of theft. The FIFA HQ and the president's office have been searched and data has been seized, it added.

Blatter is being investigated on the suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation, the Swiss statement said.

He is suspected of illegally paying the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) President Michel Platini 2 million Swiss francs out of FIFA's resources, the Swiss statement said.

Seventy years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, fascism has reemerged with a vengeance. This resurgence can be seen all over Europe and the former Soviet bloc, perhaps most notably in Ukraine where Nazism masquerading as nationalist patriotism has effectively embedded itself in the political and military institutions of the country, all with the backing of the United States and European Union. From racist rhetoric and xenophobia in Western Europe, to torch-lit parades with fascist iconography in Greece and Ukraine, this virulent disease is once again infecting the body politic of the European continent.

However, just to the East, and with very little fanfare from sociologists, political scientists, and the international Left, Turkey has quietly been transformed into an aggressive, and deeply reactionary, country where civil and human rights are trampled under the weight of so-called "nationalism." Under the leadership of first Prime Minister, and now President, Erdogan, Turkey has eschewed its once deeply held desire to be accepted as a liberal democracy in the community of European nations, and instead chosen the trajectory of regional hegemony abroad and fascist thuggery at home.

Now, it should be said at the outset, that the term fascism can take on many meanings, particularly in light of its historical development and context. One must also be careful not to use the term haphazardly at the risk of robbing it of its true meaning. Indeed, it would not be fair to say that Turkey in 2015 is as fascist as Ukraine or Germany under Hitler; such a description would be grossly irresponsible and not at all accurate.

However, a close analysis of Turkey in the 'Age of Erdogan' does reveal a country that has given over to violence as a political tool, repression and censorship as standard government practice, and sponsorship of terrorism as foreign policy. If it hasn't already earned its fascist moniker, it may well be on its way.

After months of US allegations that the Chinese have been launching hack attacks, US President Barack Obama says he and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have reached a "common understanding" on cyber spying issues.

"We've agreed that neither the US government nor the Chinese government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property including trade secrets or other confidential business information for commercial advantage," Obama said Friday, adding that the agreement is "progress."

A Palestinian delegation may visit Moscow this year to discuss joint energy projects, including the possibility of Russian energy giant Gazprom developing the Gaza Marine field, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Maliki said Friday.

"We have invited Russian companies to Palestine, offered them to invest. Soon, perhaps, a Palestinian delegation will visit Moscow to discuss with our Russian partners prerequisites for implementing such joint projects," Maliki said following Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' visit in the Russian capital.

The top Palestinian diplomat added that cooperation between Palestine and Russia in various areas was developing in the right way.

Prior to being fired herself, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina used tax incentives from the federal government, intended to increase research and development and employee hiring, to buy back stock before firing thousands of HP workers.

According to The Daily Beast, Fiorina — whose troubled tenure at HP has come under more scrutiny as she moves up in the polls for the GOP presidential nomination — was not the only high-ranking executive to take advantage of a corporate "tax holiday" and work it to her own advantage.

In 2004 Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 — after high pressure lobbying from Hewlett-Packard among others — that included an incentive for companies to repatriate profits stashed overseas with the understanding the money would be invested in job-creating research and development.