On 26 August a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was agreed, bringing a fragile end to a war that killed 2150 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and 73 Israelis (mostly soldiers). Since then Hamas has not fired a single rocket, attacked an Israeli target, or done anything to break the terms of the ceasefire. Israel has done the following:

And then they came for The Holocene: New paper suggests “removing the Holocene Epoch from the geologic timescale”. ● Is there any limit to the extremes some climate propagandists will go?The Climategate team removed the warm 1940’s “blip”, erased the Medieval Warm Period, Hid the Decline, and tortured temperature & sea level data until it confessed, but a paper published Monday in Earth’s Future could take the cake by suggesting removal of “the Holocene Epoch from the geologic timescale” and replacing it with the fictitious, scary-sounding “geologic” timescale “The Anthropocene.” [...] There is no valid reason whatsoever to remove the Holocene Epoch “blip” from the geological timescale, despite how convenient it would be for the climate propagandists.

The bear and the dragon: Russia and China are moving closer together as Moscow becomes more and more disenchanted with the West. Can these two countries successfully challenge western hegemony? Can the bear and dragon reshape the world? CrossTalking with Martin Hennecke and Pepe Escobar.

US President Barack Obama has threatened to wipe out Syria’s air defense system and topple the Syrian government if President Bashar al-Assad ordered his forces to shoot American planes entering Syrian airspace. ● He made the remarks during a meeting in the White House before his speech about Washington’s strategy about the ISIL terrorist group, The New York Times reported on Sunday. Obama ordered the US military on Wednesday to expand its bombing campaign against ISIL terrorists and launch airstrikes in Syria. “If he [Assad] dared to do that, Mr. Obama said he would order American forces to wipe out Syria’s air defense system, which he noted would be easier than striking ISIS (or ISIL) because its locations are better known,” the newspaper said.

Reuters: US to Assad: Beware of Interfering With US Air Power in Syria
PressTV: Iran: US to regret military action in Syria: IRGC chief
SANA: Lavrov: Russia will provide aid to Syria and Iraq to combat terrorism

The United States launched at least one airstrike against Islamic State militants near Baghdad on Monday, marking the expansion of the US military campaign against the extremist group. The airstrike was reportedly requested by Iraqi forces under attack. ● According to US officials cited by the Associated Press, the airstrike was authorized after Iraqi security forces requested air power support as they engaged Islamic State (IS) fighters south of Baghdad. An unnamed defense official, meanwhile, told NBC News that the most recent air attack near Baghdad was an “offensive” strike, and there was no suggestion that militants were making headway towards the country’s capital. US Central Command confirmed the air strike and affirmed that it was part of a new phase in the battle against IS. Previous airstrikes in Iraq were characterized by the US as “defensive” in nature, as they were used to protect American diplomatic sites as well as crucial Iraqi facilities like the Mosul Dam.

■ New Phase of ISIS War With Strikes Near Baghdad
■ IRAQ: THE REAL STRATEGY IS ABOUT TO SUCCEED [June 19, 2014]
■ “Going After” the Islamic State. Guess Who is Behind the Caliphate Project?
■ The CIA Engaged In Covert Terrorism to Give Government Plausible Deniability

"The receptivity of the great masses is very limited, their intelligence is small, but their power of forgetting is enormous. In consequence of these facts, all effective propaganda must be limited to a very few points and must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogan. As soon as you sacrifice this slogan and try to be many-sided, the effect will piddle away, for the crowd can neither digest nor retain the material offered. In this way the result is weakened and in the end entirely cancelled out."

■ Mind Control and The ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Meme. Echoes of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley

US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has been caught posting "unverified images" on his Twitter feed Monday, as he was showing off the ongoing US-Kiev military exercises in Ukraine. ● Ambassador Pyatt first uploaded a picture of US and Ukrainian troops, which he said was taken in the morning at the military exercises in western Ukraine. Internet users quickly pointed out that the photo had already been published as early as July 31. The ambassador then posted a picture of a German tank allegedly taking part in the drills. His tweet said that the Leopard 2 tank is taking part in Rapid Trident exercises near Lvov. However, Twitter users found out that the posted image was actually taken from a YouTube video uploaded nearly one year ago – in October 2013. UK journalist and RT contributor Graham Phillips called Pyatt out on Twitter, calling the ambassador a “liar” for posting old photographs.

■ New Zealand was preparing to conduct mass domestic surveillance last year, a US investigative journalist said yesterday, five days before the country goes to the polls, provoking immediate denials from Prime Minister John Key. Glenn Greenwald's accusations were based on evidence disclosed by former US National Security Authority (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden that Key's centre-right government planned to exploit amended spying laws to sharply widen domestic spying. Greenwald said the NSA documents showed New Zealand's electronic spy agency took the first steps towards the surveillance in a project dubbed "Speargun", by tapping into an undersea telecoms cable into the country, while waiting for the legal authority to do so. "Phase one entailed accessing that cable, tapping into it, and then phase two would entail metadata probes," Greenwald said on Radio New Zealand National.
■ Key said Greenwald, who was brought to New Zealand by millionaire internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, was being used to try to influence voters ahead of the election. In media interviews, Key has repeatedly dismissed Greenwald as "Dotcom's little henchman". Greenwald told 3 News: "I've done reporting of surveillance all over the world and a lot of governments haven't liked what I've said, but I've never seen a head of government lose their dignity and get down in the mud and start chucking names to discredit the journalist in order to discredit the journalism." Dotcom, who is fighting extradition to the US, on charges of internet piracy, copyright breaches, and money laundering, has paid for Greenwald's trip to New Zealand.

RT.com: Snowden: If you live in New Zealand, you’re being watched

Ukraine is set to approve an association agreement with the European Union, while Kiev plans to offer limited self-rule to parts of the country’s volatile eastern regions. ● Lawmakers in the Ukrainian and European parliaments are due to sign the 1,200-page political and economic association agreement during a live video conference later on Tuesday. President Petro Poroshenko has said the pact would enter into force as of November 1; however, the two sides will delay the application of the trade rules until 2016.

The Australian: EU, Ukraine, Russia reach deal on EU-Ukraine association agreement [September 13, 2014]
EU Propaganda: Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area
Chris Marsden ■ Ukraine’s EU Association Agreement a prelude to further bloodshed [28 June 2014]
Pål Steigan ■ Går det mot deling av Ukraina?