Perhaps nothing symbolizes the decline of the New Yorker magazine more than the hatchet job on Vandana Shiva that appears in the latest issue. Written by Michael Specter, the author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, the article is a meretricious defense of genetically modified organisms (GMO) relying on one dodgy source after another. This is the same magazine whose reputation was at its apex when Rachel Carson's groundbreaking articles on DDT appeared in 1962. If DDT was once a symbol of the destructive power of chemicals on the environment, GMO amounts to one of the biggest threats to food production today. It threatens to enrich powerful multinational corporations while turning farmers into indentured servants through the use of patented seeds. Furthermore, it threatens to unleash potentially calamitous results in farmlands through unintended mutations.

Let's not ignore the co-conspirator in the continued injustice perpetrated against Palestinians

Last month I wrote an essay detailing the dangers of criticizing Israeli aggression against Palestinians, particularly when one is in the United States, a country that not only supports Israel with $3.1 billion annually in military aid but also regularly vetoes any attempt by the United Nations Security Council to sanction Israel for war crimes.

The news that brilliant sociologist Steven Salaita had a job offer rescinded at the University of Illinois for expressing criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza came as no surprise. It seems practically inevitable, given the almost universal experience of everyone I've spoken to in the United States who has publicly condemned Israel's behavior. By conflating Israel with Judaism - as Rabbi Michael Lerner phrased it succinctly for Salon, "by turning the Israeli nation state into 'the Jewish state' and making Israel into an idol to be worshiped rather than a political entity like any other political entity" - supporters of Israel deflect righteous criticism of the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people as anti-Semitic slurs.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton perfectly summarized the United States' stance this week when she blamed Hamas' "anti-Semitism" for the more than 2,000 Palestinian deaths in the most recent conflict - and not the arms the United States ships to Israel. No matter that The Times of Israel runs op-eds titled "When genocide is permissible" and Likud's Moshe Feiglin, deputy speaker in the Knesset, calls for Gaza to be incorporated into Israel and for Palestinians to be driven into the Sinai. No matter that while the consequent rise of anti-Semitism is well documented by mainstream newspapers such as The New York Times, little time has been devoted to the similarly bigoted anti-Muslim, anti-Arab sentiments that inevitably increase in proportion. The U.S. government's message to the world is clear: America will not hold Israel accountable. And we, in turn, will not hold our government accountable for its continued, quiet and yet blatant backing of Israel.

More than 7,000 troops from China, Russia and four central Asia countries have gathered in Inner Mongolia for their biggest joint drills to fight terrorists.

A total of 23 Chinese aircraft will participate in Peace Mission-2014, along with tanks, drones and air-defense missiles from countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China's Xinhua News Agency reported. The SCO groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The exercises are another sign China and Russia are willing to work together as both seek to upgrade their military capacity in the face of rising territorial tensions. The drills will prepare troops to protect the so-called Silk Road economic and transport belt that will run through central Asia from China to Europe from terrorist attack, China Radio International reported.

After news -- and footage -- of journalist James Foley's death began circulating on social media networks, tech firms immediately had to grapple with the question of how to handle the graphic images. Twitter, arguably the fastest-moving and most public social network, opted to do something that it rarely does. The company scrubbed images of Foley's beheading from its network, and even temporarily blocked the account of journalist Zaid Benjamin, who appeared to be the first to report the news.

When asked why it took the images down, Twitter said it does not share information on specific cases. But it did refer reporters to its policies regarding takedown requests from the family members of deceased users. That indicates that the firm took down the photos and videos of Foley's death not because of a request from the U.S. government--which reached out to social media sites regarding the video on Tuesday--but because the family had asked it to, shortly after the news broke.

The policy, recently changed, outlines the guidelines Twitter follows to remove imagery of deceased individuals at the request of immediate family members -- a policy enacted after some Twitter users bullied the daughter of comedian Robin Williams off the network by sending her altered images supposedly depicting her father's corpse.

How does Twitter scrub its network of the offensive images, which tend to spread online very quickly? The process is actually low-tech. When a request is submitted, Twitter employees on the company's safety and legal teams look at the image that's been flagged, reviewing each one individually, and evaluating the public interest and newsworthiness of each message. That, for example, could explain why some images of Foley's death were taken down immediately, while others bore a warning.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is conducting a nationwide search of its cold storage units after discovering vials of smallpox in a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cold storage room at the National Institutes of Health facility in Bethesda, Maryland. Along with the vials of smallpox were 327 other pathogens including vials labeled for dengue, influenza, and rickettsia. This news comes as the CDC is under multiple investigations for unsafe practices. In response to the news Richard H. Ebright, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University remarked "It is ironic that the institution that sets U.S. standards for safety and security of work with human pathogens fails to meet its own standards."

It's official: Right now the No. 1 rule in Hollywood is that you can talk about anything political - except Israel's attack on the Christians and Muslims in Gaza, Palestine. That's not a conspiracy theory from critics of Israel or Jew-hating neo-Nazis. Instead, that was the thesis of a candid article in the August 1 edition of The Hollywood Reporter (THR), influential trade journal of the entertainment industry.

In fact, the article was bluntly titled: "Rule 1: Talk About Anything Political in Hollywood . . . Except Gaza."

That such an article would appear in a magazine considered "must" reading for those in show business was a not-so-subtle warning that anyone who violates that rule is in for a tough road ahead.

Noting several celebrities had expressed sympathies for the plight of Gaza, THR commented ominously that - "for now at least" - powerful Jewish moguls in Hollywood were simply dismissing those entertainers as being "uninformed." However, continue speaking out this way and there will be trouble.

Brutal images of heavily armed police clashing with Ferguson's protesters pushed US President Barack Obama to question the militarization of the law enforcement, as he reportedly ordered a probe into police use of military gear against Americans.

Strategies introduced after 9/11 attacks, which provide police with federal grants and surplus military equipment, including military-grade body armor, mine-resistant trucks, silencers and automatic rifles, will all be reviewed, senior officials told the New York Times.

Images of police using such equipment against their own people during the Ferguson protests in Missouri shocked many Americans.

Police attempt to control demonstrators protesting the killing of teenager Michael Brown on August 18, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. (AFP Photo / Getty Images / Scott Olson)

The probe will focus on whether the police should be receiving this kind of gear in the first place, on how it is currently being used, and whether the officers are being properly trained for it, according to senior administration and law enforcement officials.

It has begun, and there can be only one. No, this isn't Highlander, it's global politics at its worst. How does it all fit together? The coup in Ukraine, militarized police shootings in Ferguson, the 'Islamic State' threatening to behead all of Christendom, a looming worldwide Ebola epidemic and Israel is up to its old tricks again with more indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians. To top if all off, there appears to be no doubt that our climate is in the midst of a major 'shift' to something radically different from what we've known to date.

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The return of Russian humanitarian aid convoy is underway, no major incidents or violations recorded, the Head of the OSCE's mission in Rostov region Paul Picard told RIA Novosti, as trucks that have delivered humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine are returning to Russia.

"There was nothing [no incidents]. The return process is underway," Picard said, adding that he could speak only about the situation at Russia's border checkpoint of Donetsk. "We cannot see beyond it as we have no authority and it is beyond out mandate," he noted.

On August 14, the trucks with Russian humanitarian aid arrived at the border, but Ukraine began customs clearance only on August 21. On Friday, the convoy crossed the border and arrived in Luhansk, the city struggling daily without regular food supplies, water, electricity and under constant shelling.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry described the convoy crossing the Russian border as a violation of international norms and urged its international partners to condemn the Russia's move.

Later, UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern over the Russian aid convoy crossing the border into Ukraine.

Moscow reminded the UN that Russia received a formal agreement from Kiev authorities for the passage of the humanitarian convoy through the Ukrainian border on August 12.

The humanitarian disaster in Luhansk, controlled by independence supporters, occurred after the Ukrainian army had blocked approaches to the city.

Moscow wants the investigation into the crash of a Malaysian Boeing 777 to be as most transparent as possible, and insists on regular provision if prove reports in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution, a diplomatic source told RIA Novosti.

"Investigation into the reasons of the catastrophe should be carried out under international control, should be all-encompassing and transparent for the wide international audience and mass media," the source said. "We will keep pressing for it, demanding the implementation of the UNSC resolution 2166 which stipulates monthly reports about the course of the investigation."

Resolution 2166 adopted by the UN Security Council in July calls for a thorough and impartial investigation into the MH17 tragedy and requires the secretary-general to provide the Security Council with investigation progress reports.

The source stressed that the majority of Western media "seem to have been ordered to avoid the investigation issue for about two weeks."

"US official representatives who rushed to accuse Russia and Donetsk self-defense forces in the first hours following the tragedy, also maintain silence. America's allies, particularly the British and the Australian, who were also among the first accusers, stick to the same policy. The international community has not yet seen the promised "incontestable evidence." The explanation is that the truth could be inconvenient to Washington, London and Canberra," the source told RIA Novosti.

The source added that Kiev's official position is also telling.

"As the curtain of allegations is clearing, the specialists have more and more questions over the actions of the Ukrainian authorities and military toward the Boeing. Kiev still has not made public the recordings of the talks between air traffic control and the crew, which would allow to understand why the plane was in the combat area," the diplomatic source said.