A short time after the worst US war defeat in the nation's history - the Vietnam War - a growing wave of films began emerging in attempts to grapple with America's open war wounds. Some focused on allegorical cautionary tales such as Apocalypse Now, an epic masterpiece showing the war in Southeast Asia as a nightmare of misguided confusion and terror, and ultimately its senseless brutality.

The caricatures depicted left an indelible imprint on viewers with Robert Duvall's perverse character proclaiming that napalm in the morning "smells like victory." Or the decorated war hero-West Pointer renegade colonel played by Marlon Brando who saw the evil Empire war for what it was worth and jumped ship to the other side to become a hero worshipped, warrior God to the indigenous deep jungle inhabitants.

Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 tour-de-force of an anti-war film became both a box office smash as well as Oscar nominated Best Picture with Coppola himself nominated as Best Director.

Just the year before in 1978 an Oscar winner for its stars was Coming Home, exploring the devastating impact of war on relationships. War's collateral damage manifesting at home in the form of marital infidelity centered on stateside wife (Jane Fonda's character), her wayward, war-fighting, PTSD-stricken husband (Bruce Dern) amidst the burgeoning intimacy of another war victim-paraplegic played by Jon Voight. The powerful reality drama in its raw emotional delivery depicted how different individuals participating in that debacle of a war each responded to their own pain, trauma and suffering. The film poignantly transcended its challenge as a potential soap opera-ish tearjerker to bring us as an audience closer home than we might comfortably want in understanding the war's very real catastrophic consequences on vulnerable and frail human beings.

Also the year before Apocalypse Now came another Oscar winning portrait of the before- and aftereffects of Americans living through the Vietnam War in Michael Cimino's 1978 Deer Hunter. Capturing the pro-war sentiment of a small steel mining town in Pennsylvania with a huge wedding celebration as a joyful tribute to three young men about to join the war effort, the second half of the film focuses on the costly toll that combat takes on the fragile human psyche and the deep sense of loyalty amongst war buddies. The mountainous treks in search of conquering the hunted act as a metaphorical backdrop to the complex nuance of male bonding juxtaposed by man's inhumanity toward both all that is beautiful and natural as well as the brutality of man's inhumanity to man. This film also offers deep human insight as another allegorically dark, cautionary tale of the heavy lessons of war.

Perhaps the most accurate Oscar winning depiction of what it must have been like as an American soldier trying to stay alive in the jungles of Southeast Asia was Vietnam veteran Oliver Stone's 1986 Oscar winner Platoon. The graphic horror of war in all its senselessness including a glimpse into atrocities committed by the US military is brilliantly shown bringing out both war's best and worst in human nature.

As the implacable advance of ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) militants in Iraq continues, several US senators called for a new bombing campaign against the jihadists and for the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down.

Senators Dianne Feinstein and John McCain are calling for the US intervene in Iraq again, this time to bomb the groups of ISIS terrorists who have captured a series of Iraqi cities in rapid succession and to kill everyone they regard as a security risk.

According to a new report by the Center for American Progress (CAP), the US should "prepare for limited counterterrorism operations against ISIL, including possible air strikes."

"I think most important is that we take direct action now against ISIL, marching down to Baghdad, and prevent them from getting into Baghdad," said Feinstein (D-CAL), head of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin welcomed on Wednesday the choice of Ukrainian president, saying Pavel Klimkin, proposed for the post of Ukraine's Foreign Minister, was a professional and a very experienced diplomat. "We know Pavel Klimkin very well, as he was Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine, and after that ambassador to Germany," Karasin said to Tass on Wednesday.

"He is a professional, one of the most experienced people in Ukraine's diplomatic service, so we wish him success in a new key position," the top Russian diplomat said.

On Wednesday President Pyotr Poroshenko suggested to deputies of Ukraine's unicameral parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, to dismiss Andrei Deshchitsa and proposed ex-ambassador to Germany Pavel Klimkin for the post of the top Ukrainian diplomat.

The decision comes after Russian Embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kiev came under a violent attack on Saturday, June 14, with embassy cars overturned, the Russian flag torn down and the premises pelted with eggs, smoke barrels and firecrackers. Ukrainian police did nothing to stop the attack.

Deshchitsa came to the embassy. While addressing radicals who gathered in front of it in what he claimed was an attempt to calm them down, he said a swear word about Russian President Vladimir Putin. Later Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he has nothing to talk about with Deshchitsa.

I wish I had only good news to bring to readers, or even one item of good news. Alas, goodness has ceased to be a feature of US policy and simply cannot be found in any words or deeds emanating from Washington or the capitals of its European vassal states. The Western World has succumbed to evil.

In an article published by Op-Ed News, Eric Zuesse supports my reports of indications that Washington is preparing for a nuclear first strike against Russia.

US war doctrine has been changed. US nuclear weapons are no longer restricted to a retaliatory force, but have been elevated to the role of preemptive nuclear attack. Washington pulled out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and is developing and deploying an ABM shield. Washington is demonizing Russia and Russia's President with shameless lies and propaganda, thus preparing the populations of the US and its client states for war with Russia.

There will be no tar sands pipeline.

That is the message stressed by First Nations communities who say that even if Canada's Prime Minister Harper gives the federal OK to Enbridge's Northern Gateway project, First Nations law and their "responsibilities to future generations" will stop the project dead in its tracks.

A federal decision on the project, which includes a 1,200-kilometer pipeline that would carry half a million barrels per day of crude from the Alberta tar sands to coastal Kitimat, British Columbia, is expected in the coming days.

Chief Fred Sam of the Nak'azdli First Nation, one of the Yinka Dene First Nations communities who have joined in opposition to the Northern Gateway, stated, "Our decision to refuse consent for the Enbridge pipeline is a decision according to our own laws. It is binding and clearly set out in the Save the Fraser Declaration."

That declaration, the Yinka Dene Alliance explained, bans Enbridge's pipelines and tankers from First Nations territories.

"This project is doomed," added Jasmine Thomas of Saik'uz First Nation in a statement issued Wednesday, referring to Enbridge's proposed pipeline.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced a ceasefire plan for government troops in the East of the country. The move comes after a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin which allegedly discussed a ceasefire.

As part of the proposed plan, Poroshenko is calling for all pro-federalization forces in the region to lay down their arms.

"The plan will begin with my order for a unilateral cease-fire," he said, while refraining from mentioning when he would give the order. Poroshenko, who was elected president in a May 25 vote boycotted by many voters in eastern Ukraine, stressed that all parties involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine must adhere to the plan, Interfax news agency reported.

The president said that Ukraine would also close its border with Russia, as the Kiev government claims that pro-federalization forces are being sent reinforcements from neighboring Russia.

"There is a big risk that criminals may take advantage of the ceasefire," Poroshenko said. He added that an amnesty would be offered to those who had not committed crimes against Ukraine during the ongoing conflict in the east of the country, while so-called "mercenaries" will be given the chance to leave the country.

Poroshenko's government believes that most of the violence in eastern Ukraine has been caused by Russian mercenaries, something which Moscow categorically denies. The Russian government has condemned the deployment of Kiev's punitive "anti-terrorist" operation in eastern Ukraine and urged the Ukrainian government to withdraw their troops on a number of occasions.

U.S. companies are reaping big benefits from the Iraqi government's battle with ISIS militias. Three sales, including some big-ticket items, announced last month will put nearly $1 billion in the pockets of American defense contractors if Congress approves the sales.

• Beechcraft Defense Co. and eight other contractors are selling 24 AT-6C Texan II aircraft, plus spares and other equipment to Iraq. That deal is worth about $790 million. The plane is used for "light attack and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance."
• AM General has a deal to send 200 of its venerable Humvees to help guard oil installations. The contract, which includes spares and equipment such as radios and machine gun mounts, is worth $101 million.
• Raytheon has a $90-million deal for seven aerostats along with 14 Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment (RAID) Tower systems to be used for command and control by the Iraqi military.

These are just the latest in a string of sales of military equipment to the Iraqi government. Others have included Stinger missiles, C-130J cargo planes, drones and patrol boats.

Since 2005, the U.S. government has provided more than $14 billion in military hardware, services and training to Iraq, according to Global Post. The Iraqi government is now requesting more equipment to battle the Sunni militias, which have taken over large swaths of the country, and American contractors stand to make even more money as the fighting progresses.

Moscow expects explanations from Kiev over the intention to close the state border with Russia. Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov stated this after a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Uladzimir Makei on Monday.

"As to statements of Kiev authorities' representatives about the intention to completely close the border with Russia, I do not quite understand what case in hand is this and to what it is referred to," the minister said. "If they are going to block all channels of free movement of our citizens including labor migrants, we would like to specifically understand what exactly they mean to do."

Lavrov noted that Kiev stated about a unilateral closure of state border. "That is why it is difficult for us to comment it," the Russian top diplomat said. "We need to find out what is meant."

Sergei Lavrov also said there was nothing to talk about with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia.

If there's one person who has absolutely zero business criticizing anyone for how they're running the country, it's Dick Cheney.

This should be obvious to pretty everyone by now, but apparently the Wall Street Journal didn't get the message. Today, the paper published an editorial by Cheney and his daughter Liz in which the former Vice President blasts the "collapsing Obama doctrine" of foreign policy."

Taking the rapid advance of ISIS radicals through northern Iraq as his cue, Cheney accuses President Obama of "emboldening" America's enemies. He writes:

Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is 'ending' the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality...America's enemies are not 'decimated.' They are emboldened and on the march.

As the White House weighs the possibility of taking military action in war-torn Iraq, WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning is warning that it's imperative that the American media demands unfettered access to any operations overseas.

Manning, 26, issued that call for action in an editorial published in the New York Times this weekend authored from the jail cell in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where she is currently serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking a trove of sensitive files to the anti-secrecy site. Before being arrested and charged with dozens of crimes related to the unauthorized disclosure of those documents, Manning was deployed outside of Baghdad and for months worked as an intelligence analyst for the United States Army.

According to Manning, her experience during the Iraq War has left her believing the Pentagon has a big problem with providing access to journalists, especially those who may portray America's military actions in a way that Defense Department wouldn't particularly like.