In 2004, while President George W. Bush was running for re-election, he developed a sinister reputation for aggressively banishing political dissent from his events. Bush "rewrote the playbook for organizing campaign rallies," USA Today declared, ejecting from them people who scrawled anti-war messages on signs and shirts. The ACLU sued and successfully settled with the federal government over one couple's thwarted attempts to wear anti-Bush t-shirts to a 2004 rally. One political science professor even compared Bush to Richard Nixon over the suppressive behavior at these events.

Fast forward to 2015, this past Saturday, when Bernie Sanders, an increasingly viable contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, held one of his biggest campaign rallies to date, drawing more than 20,000 people to an event at the Boston convention center. Among those visitors were a number of young activists from Boston Students for Justice in Palestine, who were curious about Sanders' position on the occupied territories. They had a sign with them; in a playful nod to one of Sanders' campaign slogans, it simply asked, "Will Ya Feel The Bern For Palestine?" The activists say they were well-received by other Sanders supporters in the crowd.

But staffers working for a candidate widely viewed as one of the most progressive members of the Senate were apparently not happy. Security was made aware of a threat: Some students who support Sanders were holding a sign with a question on it. A tactic right out of the Bush campaign "playbook" went into action.

"They told us to either put the sign away or leave," said Sana Hashmani, one of the student activists. "We asked why, and they said that Bernie's campaign staff had said the sign had to go."

There had been no signs of trouble previously. The pro-Palestine group was doing nothing unusual — except, perhaps, for daring to question Sanders about territories occupied by Israel, of which Sanders has been a not-entirely-progressive supporter. "When we got there and entered the overflow space with our sign, people were supporting us and taking pictures, and other people had signs talking about various social issues as well," Hashmani said.

Belarus's longtime leader, Aleksandr Lukashenko, won a landslide victory in Sunday's presidential elections, taking over 80 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said.

The incumbent president received 83.49 percent of the vote with an election turnout of 87.2 percent. The highest turnout rate of 91 percent was registered in Vitsebsk region, located just north of Minsk, the Belarusian capital. The lowest turnout, on the other hand, was posted in Minsk.

These numbers do not include the votes of citizens who voted from abroad. The official final figures will be available on Friday, October 16.

Lukashenko visited one of the polling stations with his son and cast his ballot in a box.

"You know very well my position and I am not going to deviate from my main principle, and it's not just mine. Many have such a main principle for governing - everything should be quiet and without revolutions," he said.

He also said that he is ready to improve relations with the West, but only if the West wishes for this too.

"I don't think our elections, and not only the elections, can bring an improvement in our relations with the West. They will happen only when the West wants this itself," the president said.

He also said that Russia will remain Belarus' main partner. "Russia has always been with us economically and politically, they are not just our friend but our brothers, whether anyone likes it or not."

A group of people who were plotting a terrorist attack in the Russian capital have been detained, Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said on Sunday, adding that an improvised explosive device had been found and defused.

The perpetrators were arrested in an apartment in central Moscow, the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a press release.

The operation was carried out as part of a series of criminal investigations resulting in the arrest of an unspecified number of people.

"In the flat, where the gunmen were hiding out, a self-made explosive device has been found and defused," said Andrey Chatskiy, spokesman for the National Anti-Terrorism Committee's information center.

China's Central Bank has started a global payment system which provides cross-border transactions in yuan. The China International Payment System (CIPS) intends to internationalize the yuan and challenge the US dollar's dominance.

"The establishment of CIPS is an important milestone in yuan internationalization, providing the infrastructure that will connect global yuan users through one single system," Helen Wong, greater China chief executive at HSBC, was cited as saying by the Financial Times.

CIPS will accept payments in cross-border trade, direct investments, financing and personal remittances. The system is open for operations 11 hours a day. The first CIPS transaction was completed by Standard Chartered Bank for Sweden's IKEA.

Nineteen banks have been authorized to use CIPS; eight of them are Chinese subsidiaries of foreign banks, including Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and ANZ.

• US admits disconnect amongst intelligence, policy and operations--CIA declines comment
• Obama slow to recognize and respond to signs of trouble
• US claims failure to read implications of Russian air strikes on ISIS locations

Among the first clues that Russia was mobilizing for a military offensive in Syria were requests Moscow began making in ­mid-August for permission to cross other countries' territory with more and larger aircraft.

"We were getting the word the Russians were asking for inordinate overflights," a senior Obama administration official said, referring to reports from U.S. allies receiving the requests. Russia was seeking clearance for not only cargo planes but also "fighter aircraft and bombers" that Syrian pilots had never been trained to fly, the official said. "It was clear that something pretty big was up."

But despite that early suspicion — which only intensified as Russia then deployed fighter jets and teams of military advisers — the United States seemed to be caught flat-footed by the barrage of airstrikes that Moscow launched last week.

99% of the people on this planet have an entirely false understanding of how the world really works and, therefore, they totally misunderstand the true meaning and significance of major events that transpire on the political, social and environmental stages. This misunderstanding is the result of the deliberate dissemination of lies and propaganda by people in positions of power and the mainstream media that propagates these lies and propaganda.

In the two weeks since Russia began bombing ISIS positions in Syria from its airbase in Latakia, the mainstream media, both in the West and in Russia, has crafted a narrative about why this is happening. The Western narrative is that Russia is attempting to support the Assad government. The Russian perspective is that the West has not been effective in defeating the terror group and therefore the Russian military was required to get the job done. While both of these narratives describe basic truths of the situation, the true implications of, and background to Russia's moves in Syria are completely edited out and hidden from the global public record.

Suffice to say that the actions of the Russian government and military over the past few years have massive ramifications for the current world order. It is not an exaggeration to say that the world as we have all know it for 100+ years is on the brink of a profound change. Want to know what that change will involve, and how?

Join your hosts this Sunday Oct. 11th 2015, 2-4pm EST - 8-10pm CET, for the inside scoop that you won't hear anywhere else.

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Russian Air Forces have extended the range of their airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Syria to four provinces, focusing primarily on demolishing fortified installations and eliminating supply bases and the terrorists' infrastructure.

Over the last 24 hours Russian aircraft have attacked terrorist positions in the Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Raqqa provinces of Syria. In total, 64 sorties targeted 63 Islamic State installations, among them 53 fortified zones, 7 arms depots, 4 training camps and a command post.

The airstrikes were carried out by Sukhoi Su24M and Su-34 bombers and Su-25SM assault aircraft, with Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets ensuring air escort for the assault groups.

Russia has appealed to the head of the UN aviation agency to intervene in the investigation into the MH17 crash in Ukraine to prevent the Dutch experts in charge from ignoring the findings of their Russian counterparts, according to a new media report.

The Deputy Chief of Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Oleg Storchevoy, sent a letter to Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, the head of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), after becoming acquainted with a draft of the final report by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB), which is heading the probe. This was revealed by Malaysian newspaper the New Straits Times on Sunday.

The letter, received by the ICAO on September 16, states that the DSB ignored "comprehensive information" provided by the Russian side and relating to the downing of the Boeing 777 over war-torn Eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, the media report said. In the letter, Storchevoy said that, in conducting its investigation, the DSB had violated the principle of "sequence of conclusions," one of the most fundamental rules when conducting probes into air crashes.

Putin is no chess master. He overstretched and misstepped in Syria, and U.S. would be wiser to wait him out than chase him out.

With each Russian escalatory step in Syria, the situation only seems to get worse. Critics pile on, citing it as an example of President Barack Obama's "failed" foreign policy, calling for Obama to "do something" — confront Moscow, punish it for its reckless behavior, reassert leadership. But what would that something be?

Across the political spectrum, there are calls for a more muscular U.S. approach in Syria. Some are talking of proxy battles, while others are calling it a new Cold War and declaring a need to act tough to restore American credibility. But before the U.S. tumbles into something, it's worth taking a step back and asking what Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to get out of this, and whether, if measured by his own goals, this brazen military intervention will work. I think the answer is no - which should guide how the U.S. should respond.

Ever since the plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor (AKA NAFTA Superhighway) were canceled by the Federal Government and the Texas State Legislature, the theories surrounding the North American Union have largely fallen out of public's awareness. However, every now and then a story will emerge that suggests that the governments of North America are still quietly conspiring to unite Canada, Mexico, and the US into a superstate, much like the European Union.

The latest revelation of this plan comes from Canada, where it's been revealed that Chief of the Defence, Staff Gen. Tom Lawson and the former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, once discussed a plan to fully integrate the militaries of the US and Canada. On the surface this doesn't sound too surprising, since these forces have been frequently deployed together overseas in recent years. And under NORAD, the Air Forces of both nations are already operating under the same command structure for the most part.