Dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards collected millions of dollars in U.S. Social Security benefits after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The payments, underwritten by American taxpayers, flowed through a legal loophole that gave the U.S. Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave the U.S. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal U.S. government records.

Among those receiving benefits were armed SS troops who guarded the network of Nazi camps where millions of Jews perished; a rocket scientist who used slave laborers to advance his research in the Third Reich; and a Nazi collaborator who engineered the arrest and execution of thousands of Jews in Poland.

There are at least four living beneficiaries. They include Martin Hartmann, a former SS guard at the Sachsenhausen camp in Germany, and Jakob Denzinger, who patrolled the grounds at the Auschwitz camp complex in Poland.

He said that Russia would support all efforts designed to implement the agreements, including those reached in Minsk that are already being implemented
Ukraine is the closest fraternal nation for Russia with which it has "common historical, cultural and civilization roots, the same world outlook as well as language and literature, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Russia's NTV television channel.

"We cannot lose Ukraine because it is not confined to a group of persons who committed a state coup and seized power; it is not confined to the Nazis who continue marching in Kiev and other big cities committing acts of vandalism, destroying monuments and glorifying Hitler's accomplices," Lavrov said. "Ukraine is the closest to us, fraternal nation, with which we share common historical, cultural and civilization roots, the same world outlook, let along the language and literature."

"What's happening in relations between our presidents proves that we are going to find the way out of the crisis anyway and will help the Ukrainian brothers to agree on how they should build and develop their country," he stressed. "We will support all efforts geared to implement the agreements, including those reached in Minsk that are already being implemented, and those that were reached with participation of Russia, the United States and the European Union in April in Geneva, where the Ukrainians undertook a commitment to immediately start a nationwide comprehensive, open and accountable dialogue on the constitutional reform that is supposed to involve representatives of all regions and political forces in Ukraine."

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There is complicity between the Bush administration that was involved in torture and the current Obama administration that has been involved in whitewashing the program, an American political commentator says.

An upcoming investigation into the CIA's interrogation program reportedly ignored the role of former US president George W. Bush or his administration officials in approving torture against prisoners.

The five-year probe is led by the US Senate Intelligence Committee into the torture program conducted by the CIA in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

"The CIA report regarding torture is really a whitewashing of what the United States was doing during the Bush administration," Eric Draitser from Stopimperialism.com told Press TV on Saturday.

"When President Obama first took office, he was asked about the torture that went on under the Bush administration and in the CIA and whether or not he would be investigating that and he's quoted 'we shouldn't look back and we should look forward'," he added.

"In other words that he was unwilling that for his administration to be the one to prosecute criminals in the CIA and criminals in the former Bush administration, who were responsible for violation of the UN Charter," the analyst said.

Draitser also argued that the US is not simply a country with a president and it is the head of an Imperial system that justifies torture, genocide, and war.

"There is no significant difference between the parties. There's one ruling class and representatives of those parties are either accepted or rejected within that ruling class," he said.

Don't come to Australia, you'll drown.

That's the hard hitting message being sent out by the current Australian government to asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants, in the hope it will discourage more of them from ever setting out for its shores.

The controversial new government approved poster - which has already been printed in 17 languages - reads: "No way. You will not make Australia home."

The blunt language and the ominous imagery, part of the Australian government's Operation Sovereign Borders program, ensured the poster became a global internet sensation this week. To underline the Australian government's point that the danger isn't worth it, the new poster presents a tiny boat being tossed by a threatening sea.

Critics are already calling it the anti-tourist campaign of the century.

Documentary produced by Béatrice Pignède, with footage shot by Jonathan Moadab, Sylvia Page, Jean-Sébastien Farez and Saber Farzard. Music by Gilad Atzmon.

In yet another curious coincidence surrounding the recent Ebola crisis, it appears that FEMA has been preparing for the appearance of a pandemic of deadly disease in the near future all along.

As part of the FEMA Pandemic Exercise Series: PANDEMIC ACCORD: 2013-14 Pandemic Influenza Continuity Exercise Strategy , the Sifma.org website states that,

The Federal Executive Boards in New York City and Northern New Jersey in partnership with FEMA Region II, The Department of Health and Human Services Region II, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the Clearing House Association are sponsoring a two year series of pandemic influenza continuity exercises - tabletop exercise 2013 (complete), full scale exercise 2014 - to increase readiness for a pandemic event amongst Federal Executive Departments and Agencies, US Court, State, tribal, local jurisdictional and private sector continuity.

The exercise, having been underway since 2013 is scheduled to continue to December 4th 2014. The exercise will involve eight scheduled events and/or webinars which will discuss questions surrounding continuity of operations for essential services, transportation impacts, disruption in communications and internet connectivity, disruptions to power sources and other related possible damages to the normal function of societal life. The exercises also deal with the aftermath of the pandemic including "coping with the deaths of multiple coworkers/loved ones," "replacing staff," and "replacing personal protective equipment for a potential next wave."

In a courageous and brilliant speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 27, 2014, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pierced the veil of obfuscation that characterizes too many speeches at the United Nations, and delivered a scathing denunciation of Western imperialism, imperialism that can only be accurately described as global theft. Lavrov, on behalf of the Russian Federation implicitly warned that US/NATO is risking global war in embarking on its campaign to seize and dominate huge territories, while inexorably and ruthlessly determined to conquer and subjugate Russia, having learned nothing from the historic reality that Napolean's effort to dominate Russia led to the collapse of Napoleonic France, and Hitler's attempt to subjugate Russia led to the obliteration of his Third Reich.

Perhaps this third attempt to conquer and subjugate Russia may lead not only to war encompassing huge territories of the globe, but, dialectically, may be the catalyst leading to the ultimate decline of capitalism, an economic system which thrives almost entirely on imperialism, and is undergoing a possibly terminal crisis, as described by the French economist, Thomas Piketty in his best-selling work "Capital in the 21 Century." In desperation, dysfunctional Western capitalism is lashing out recklessly and irrationally, unwilling and unable to preclude the disastrous consequences of its myopic policies. And one possible consequence of current US/NATO policies is thermonuclear war.

Lavrov stated: "The U.S.-led Western alliance that portrays itself as a champion of democracy, rule of law and human rights within individual countries, acts from directly opposite positions in the international arena, rejecting the democratic principle of sovereign equality of states enshrined in the UN Charter and trying to decide for everyone what is good or evil."

"Washington has openly declared its right to unilateral use of force anywhere to uphold its own interests. Military interference has become a norm - even despite the dismal outcome of all power operations that the U.S. has carried out over the recent years."

"The sustainability of the international system has been severely shaken by NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia, intervention in Iraq, attack against Libya and the failure of operation in Afghanistan. Only due to intensive diplomatic efforts the aggression against Syria was prevented in 2013. There is an involuntary impression that the goal of various 'color revolutions' and other projects to change unsuitable regimes is to provoke chaos and instability."

"Today Ukraine has fallen victim to such an arrogant policy. The situation there has revealed the remaining deep-rooted systemic flaws of the existing architecture in the Euro-Atlantic area. The West has embarked upon the course towards 'vertical structuring of humanity' tailored to its own hardly inoffensive standards. After they declared victory in the Cold War and the 'end of history,' the U.S. and EU have opted for expanding the geopolitical area under their control without taking into account the balance of legitimate interests of all peoples of Europe [...] NATO enlargement to the East continued in spite of the promises to the contrary given earlier. The instant switch of NATO to hostile rhetoric and to the drawdown of its cooperation with Russia even to the detriment of the West's own interests, and additional build up of military infrastructure at the Russian borders - made obvious the inability of the alliance to change the genetic code it embedded during the Cold War era."

"The U.S. and EU supported the coup d'etat in Ukraine and reverted to outright justification of any acts by the self-proclaimed Kiev authorities that opted for suppression by force of the part of the Ukranian people that had rejected the attempts to impose the anti-constitutional way of life to the entire country and wanted to defend its rights to the native language, culture and history. It is precisely the aggressive assault on these rights that compelled the population of Crimea to take the destiny in its own hands and make a choice in favor of self-determination. This was an absolutely free choice no matter what was invented by those who are responsible in the first place for the internal conflict in Ukraine."

"The attempts to distort the truth and to hide the facts behind blanket accusations have been undertaken at all stages of the Ukranian crisis. Nothing has been done to track down and prosecute those responsible for February bloody events at Maidan and massive loss of human lives in Odessa, Mariupol and other regions of Ukraine. The scale of appalling humanitarian disaster provoked by the acts of the Ukrainian army in the South-Eastern Ukraine has been deliberately understated. Recently, new horrible facts have been brought to light when mass graves were discovered in the suburbs of Donetsk. Despite UNSG Resolution 2166 a thorough and independent investigation of the circumstances of the loss of Malaysian airliner over the territory of Ukraine has been protracted. The culprits of all these crimes must be identified and brought to justice. Otherwise the national reconciliation in Ukraine can hardly be expected."

In total contempt for truth and international law, Kiev's escalation of the Ukranian crisis is being relentlessly prepared, in an ultimate act of deceit, as Ukranian President Poroshenko assumes military regalia, threatening Russia's survival, and, indeed the survival of his own bankrupt country, and is now speaking of all-out war with Russia.

Welcome to the official radio show of Sott.net, your source for independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events. Each week, Sott.net editors Joe Quinn and Niall Bradley analyze global impact events that shape our world and future, and connect the dots to reveal the bigger picture obscured by mainstream programming.

From the crisis in Ukraine to the ISIS in Iraq, from increasingly extreme weather to surviving in a world ruled by psychopaths, your hosts, their colleagues (and occasional guests) explore the deeper truths driving world events by exposing the manipulations behind what passes for 'news'.

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PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA VLADIMIR PUTIN: Good evening, colleagues.

I am ready to answer questions pertaining to the work that was done here over the past day and a half.

I want to start by saying that overall, in my view, this was a fruitful visit. I was able to talk with many of my colleagues, and not just within the framework of the ASEM Summit, where your humble servant talked about how we view the development of relations in the world and between different continents in fighting today's issues pertaining to terrorism, infectious diseases and other current problems, but also during bilateral meetings with representatives from our partner nations in Asia and Europe. Overall, these talks were substantive and comprehensive, and I am certain they will help develop relations between Russia and its partners in Asia and Europe.

If you have questions, I will try to answer them.

QUESTION: Mr President, today you had several meetings on the sidelines of the summit. How do you assess the results of those meetings? We know you discussed Ukraine; what can we expect next?

Also, a question concerning the Ukrainian gas issue. Mr Poroshenko stated that you were able to reach certain agreements, and then added that you were not able to do so in all areas. Could you tell us about these talks in more detail?

Germany has reversed an earlier decision to hold back a discount on missile boats to Israel over its settlement projects, agreeing to give Tel Aviv a USD 382 million (€300 million) discount.

Israeli media reported on Sunday that the crisis between Israel and Germany over a missile boats deal worth USD1.1 billion, that had been stalled because Germany refused to give Israel a 30-percent discount, has ended.

German and Israeli officials are expected to sign an agreement over the issue within weeks.

Germany was withholding the price cut over Israel's settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It is not immediately clear what prompted German officials to change their mind.

But an Israeli Foreign Ministry official said German Chancellor Angela Merkel's personal commitment to "securing" Israel was a key to swinging the deal.

In May, Christoph Heusgen, German's national security adviser, said Tel Aviv should pay full price of the missile boats.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.