"Ukraine will definitely not be able to become a member of the EU in the next 20-to-25 years, and not of NATO either." Let's play a guessing game. Who made this statement last week?

Was it:

(a) Vladimir Putin
(b) Sergey Lavrov
(c) Viktor Yanukovich
(d) Jean Claude-Juncker

If the correct answer were (a) or (b), western journalists and pro-Kiev regime activists - which are frequently indistinguishable - would be lining up to dismiss the quote as "Russian propaganda." Or "Hybrid War." Or whatever this month's agreed catchphrase/Twitter hashtag is.

Recently the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that expanded the list of sanctions against North Korea. Members of the Council banned the export of coal, iron ore, gold, titanium, vanadium and rare earth minerals (which provide the DPRK its main source of revenue), along with prohibiting the import of aviation fuel in North Korea. The list of banned luxury goods was expanded to include snowmobiles and watches, while an arms embargo now includes small arms which haven't been banned previously.

"In order to ensure that no items are going to be smuggled in violation of the resolution" the Security Council allowed the inspection of any cargo being transported from the DPRK without any preconditions or time limits. What's even worse for the DPRK, all funds and other financial assets outside of North Korea owned by the Korean Workers' Party are going to be seized or frozen. This condition also applies to the foreign branches of North Korean banks.

If we are to compare this UN version of new sanctions with those that had been adopted by the US previously, it becomes clear that they largely remain unchanged. The most delusional things, such as ban on the supply of energy resources to the North, or prohibition of labor exports were condemned by China, then Russia forced the Council to change a number of details.

However, even with the way these new sanctions have been adopted, it's getting much closer to a full scale blockade than the actions designed to prevent the development of North Korea's nuclear weapons. The discussion of the resolution usually comes down to two questions: "why have Russia and China shown solidarity with the US position?" and "what is going to happen next?"

What we told you yesterday was absolutely true. We were the only ones in this crazy-quilt media to tell the world the Ba'ath Party ignited the fire which would end with the devastation of the "Islamic State" as it exists in Al-Raqqa. It was the Ba'ath which was trained to utilize communication equipment provided by the government and it was the Ba'ath which organized cadres and cells within the city to finally reach a point when they had the capability to dispel the suffocating stench of ISIS and its mindless Wahhabism.

We can confirm the defection of over 350 ISIS rodents with their noisome grub families to Faylaq Al-Shaam, but, many were seen killed by our operatives as they tried desperately to leave Al-Raqqa to the north. What they did not know, and couldn't know, was that the terrorists whom they believed belonged to Faylaq Al-Shaam, were in fact agents of the Syrian Army's Military Intelligence Directorate. All were arrested, their families sent to safe locales for interrogation.

Abu 'Ali Al-Tunisi, ISIS's "Intelligence Chief in Al-Raqqa" was gunned down by Ba'ath Party irregulars as he passed by the Al-Taaj Hotel with 5 aides accompanying him. Every rodent who was found to have one breath left received his special coup de grace courtesy of the Ba'ath.

Wishful thinking, manipulation, blatant propaganda, the western mainstream press holds no real surprises any more. News from American and British newspapers concerning Iran's elections depicts a fantasy liberalized Iran today. Reading the news, it's as if the neocons are in some kind of tantric trance. Iran is fundamentally Iranian still; a different kind of democracy from the one Obama has beaten the world over the head with. So for those of you interested in a simplified Iranian election analysis, here's a look at what really happened during last Friday's elections.

You can read the disparate opinions and views in the mainstream, form the Atlantic to The New Yorker, and very quickly you'll glean just how little western writers know about Iran. Tehran may as well be on Pluto, for all the misinformation and stigmatic BS cast out to news consumers the last few days. The New Yorker headline reveals the ultra-liberal dream, "Iran's Voters Sent a Message to the Hard-Liners". No, Robin Wright, Obama is not fighting Ronald Reagan in Persia! Yes, the turnout and the vote was a booster shot for President Rouhani. But no, no and triple no, Iran's President is not ready to become the Angela Merkel of the Middle East. Of course the billionaires who own western news media would love a surrogate with trillions in energy reserves, but Iranians simply replaced some members of the so-called Majles. The people did not dive into the waiting arms of Washington and London.

Russia Defense Report - Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria and Beyond

"That's the way the ruling class operates in any society. They keep the lower and the middle classes fighting with each other... Anything different—that's what they're gonna talk about—race, religion, ethnic and national background, jobs, income, education, social status, sexuality, anything they can do to keep us fighting with each other, so that they can keep going to the bank!"—Comedian George Carlin

"We the people" have been utterly and completely betrayed.

The politicians "we the people" most trusted to look out for our best interests, protect our rights, and ensure that the nation does not slip into tyranny have cheated on us, lied to us, swindled us, deceived us, double-crossed us, and sold us to the highest bidder.

Time and again, they have shown in word and deed that their priorities lay elsewhere, that they care nothing about our plight, that they owe us no allegiance, that they are motivated by power and money rather than principle, that they are deaf to our entreaties, that they are part of an elite ruling class that views us as mere cattle, that their partisan bickering is part of an elaborate ruse to keep us divided and distracted, and that their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution mean nothing.

Incredibly, even in the face of their treachery and lies, the great majority of Americans persist in believing that the politicians have the people's best interests at heart.

Despite the fact that we've been burned before, most Americans continue to allow themselves to be bamboozled into casting their votes for one candidate or another, believing that this time they mean what they say, this time they really care about the citizenry, this time will be different.

Of course, they rarely ever mean what they say, they care about their constituents only to the extent that it advances their political careers, and it never turns out differently. We are as easily discarded the day after the elections as we were wantonly wooed in the months leading up to the big day. Those same politicians who were once so eager to pose for our pictures, smile at our jokes, and glad-hand us for our votes will, upon being elected, retreat behind a massive, impenetrable wall that ensures we are not seen or heard from again—at least, until the next election.

The joke is on us.

As I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, all of the caucuses, primaries, nominating conventions, town hall meetings, rallies, meet and greets, delegates and super-delegates are sophisticated schemes aimed at advancing the illusion of participation culminating in the reassurance ritual of voting.

It's not about Red Republicans or Blue Democrats. It's about Green Donors—i.e, those with money who can afford to pay for access.

Votes might elect politicians, but as a 2014 field experiment by political scientists at Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley, makes clear, it's money that talks.

General information on the application of measures for the reconciliation of opposing sides

In the course of last 24 hours, preliminary ceasefire agreements have been achieved with 5 commanders of armed units with total staff up to 550 men active in the Damascus province.

In total, 35 ceasefire application forms have been signed with leaders of armed groupings.

Negotiations with leaders of 4 armed formations active in the provinces of Damascus, Daraa and Hama are being held.

Total number of towns, which had joined the ceasefire agreements, remained 42 ones.

A drone strike conducted by the US military in Somalia has killed over 150 fighters from the Islamist group Al-Shabaab, a Pentagon spokesman said. The strike targeting the group's training camp was carried out over the weekend.

Officials said Monday that the drone strike was carried out over the weekend and dropped Hellfire missiles on a camp located about 120 miles (195 km) north of the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

"The fighters were there training and were training for a large-scale attack. We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to US and [African Union] forces," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said.

"Initial assessments are that more than 150 terrorist fighters were eliminated," he added.

Turkey has offered to take back unregistered migrants from Greece while sending the same number genuine Syrian refugees to the EU. In return, Ankara wants double the promised EU funding, visa-free travel, and faster progress towards EU membership.

"We want to prevent waves of refugees, and tragic events in the Aegean Sea," said prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, following a summit with 28 EU heads of states in Brussels, which had to be extended into the early evening. Hours earlier, 25 migrants drowned off the Turkish coast, en-route to Greece. "With these new proposals, we aim to rescue refugees, discourage those who misuse and exploit their situation, and find a new era in Turkey-EU relations."

The French colonial green, white, and black banner of Syria adapted by the West's proxy "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) had long been forgotten in the sea of black banners held aloft by Washington and Riyadh's more extreme ploy to gain leverage upon and more direct access to the battlefield.

However, as Syrian forces backed by its regional allies and Russian airpower overwhelm these forces while building alliances with other factions, including the Kurds, the West's entire regime change enterprise faces ignominious collapse.

It appears that - having exhausted all other options - the West has decided to change as many of those black banners back to the "rebel" green, white, and black as possible, before the conflict draws to a close, giving the West the most favorable position achievable ahead of "peace talks."

The West's Shape-Shifting Proxies

For years, just looking at maps - including those produced by Washington-based think tanks themselves - revealed the true nature of Syria's ongoing conflict. Forces could be seen flowing into the country as one would expect amid an invasion, not a "civil war." While the West's military campaigns over and upon Syrian soil claimed to be taking on the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS), it was clear that nothing was being done about cutting off the obvious supply corridors sustaining ISIS' fighting capacity.