A senior Obama administration official has described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “chickenshit,” expressing the US president’s frustration with the Israeli leader. ● “The thing about Bibi [Netanyahu] is, he’s a chickenshit,” the unnamed official told the Atlantic when asked about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House the most. The official added that the good thing about Netanyahu is that “he’s scared to launch wars,” and the bad thing about him is that “he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians.” “The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat… He’s got no guts,” the official said. According to the Atlantic, the statement by the top Obama official indicates that relations between Washington and Tel Aviv have moved toward a “full-blown crisis.”

Haaretz: Netanyahu's office hits back at U.S. official's 'chickenshit' jibe

The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly for the 23rd time to condemn the decades-long U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, with many nations praising the island state for its response in fighting the deadly Ebola virus that is ravaging West Africa. ● In the 193-nation assembly, 188 countries voted for the nonbinding resolution, titled "Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial and Financial Embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba." As in previous years, the only countries that voted against the declaration were the United States and an ally, Israel. The Pacific island nations Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia abstained. The voting result was identical to last year's.

RIA Novosti ■ With oil hovering around the $80-85 per barrel mark, down nearly 30 percent from a high of over $115 in mid-June, media and expert analysis about the causes and consequences of the price decline has been extensive. We present another, Russia-informed perspective. [...] There are high hopes among Russian experts and by many in Russian society that unstable energy prices, combined with Western sanctions, may drive a revival of the country as a major industrial, agricultural and technological power. Some industries have already seen growth in recent months as a result of the government’s push for import substitution, while the president noted the need for a “true industrial breakthrough” in the coming years, which would reduce the country’s natural resource dependency.

Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Hungary despite the government's amendment of a controversial internet tax bill. The demonstrators say the country is turning anti-democratic and drifting away from the EU. ● The protest against the policies of Prime Minister Viktor Orban reignited on Tuesday night, as an estimated 100,000 people took to the streets, reports Reuters. The demonstration follows similar action on the weekend, at which protesters demanded that legislation imposing a tax on internet traffic be withdrawn within 48 hours. Instead, the government introduced an amendment on Monday that caps the proposed tax at 700 forints ($3) per month for individuals and 5,000 forints ($21) for companies. This wasn’t enough for the protesters, who accuse the government of authoritarian trends. Since taking power in 2010, Orban's center-right government has imposed taxes on the banking, retail, energy and telecommunications sector. The measures are designed to keep the budget deficit in check, but have hurt some foreign investors' profits.

What was supposed to happen in Ukraine? Why has the Western media stopped talking about the blunders of the Ukrainian regime? Is Ukraine a failed state beyond repair? How long will Petro Poroshenko last as president of Ukraine? CrossTalking with Eric Kraus, Charles Bausman, and Alexander Mercouris.

Aljazeera America: Poroshenko claims victory in Ukraine presidential election

Moscow believes that the issue of the revival of fascism in Ukraine should be discussed in the United Nations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told reporters Wednesday. “Of course, what is going on in Ukraine in regard to the revival of fascism seriously bothers us. In this context, we believe that these issues should be reviewed in the UN. As far as we are concerned, we constantly center our attention on this during our speeches, trying to show the international community the danger in these trends that have now appeared in Ukraine,” Gatilov said.

Thomas Gaist ■ New book sheds further light on US government protection of ex-Nazis || A new book published Tuesday, The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men, by New York Times journalist Eric Lichtblau, details the close relations developed by the US government with Nazi war criminals during and after the Second World War. Lichtblau's work extends and deepens previous research demonstrating that the US government gave extensive support to top Nazi intelligence personnel as part of its efforts to create a new intelligence apparatus in West Germany, known as the BND. Former Nazis were especially valued by the US government for their experience conducting espionage and waging war against the Soviet Union.

The UK government has admitted for the first time that its spy agency, GCHQ, can access raw data mined by America’s NSA and others without a warrant. It was made to comply following post-Snowden legal action from rights organizations. ● The secrets leaked by the iconic former NSA contractor led Amnesty International, Liberty and Privacy International to compel the UK government to submit documents to government surveillance watchdogs revealing secret “arrangements” between GCHQ and foreign spy agencies, The Guardian reported. The documents reveal that such access to foreign partners’ bulk data is acceptable when it’s not “technically feasible” to acquire a warrant, and if the good that comes out of it is “necessary and proportionate” to the cause. British citizens are safeguarded from warrantless spying by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), but the document itself states there are exceptions.

Peter Dale Scott ■ How do Wall Street, oil companies and the shadow government agencies like the CIA and NSA really shape the global political order? - That’s the question author Peter Dale Scott examines in his forthcoming book “The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil and the Attack on U.S. Democracy,” due out on Nov. 12. Scott, a professor emeritus of English at Berkeley and former Canadian diplomat, is considered the father of “deep politics”—the study of hidden permanent institutions and interests whose influence on the political realm transcends the elected. In the “American Deep State,” Scott takes a compelling look at the facts lurking behind the official histories of events to uncover the real dynamics in play. In this exclusive excerpt—the first of several we will feature on WhoWhatWhy—he looks at the revolving door between Wall Street and the CIA, and what that demonstrates about where power truly resides.

Say American leaders have “eroded the very freedoms and rights that generations of their young gave their lives to defend”. ● Twelve winners of the Nobel Peace Prize asked President Barack Obama late Sunday to make sure that a Senate report on the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of harsh interrogation tactics is released so the U.S. can put an end to a practice condemned by many as torture. The release of the report, which is the most detailed account of the CIA’s interrogation practices in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, would be an opportunity for the U.S. and the world to come to terms with interrogation techniques that went too far, the laureates said in an open letter and petition. The release of the report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has stalled as the Obama Administration the CIA, and lawmakers clashed over how much of it should be redacted.

It’s open season for Western media to bend the rules in their depiction of Russia. And with a little help from Western officials, they can quote President Putin speaking pretty aggressively – even when he actually said nothing of the kind.
In recent months, there have been two notable occasions when Vladimir Putin was misquoted. ● The first came when he apparently put on his conqueror’s hat while speaking about Ukraine. In September, La Repubblica newspaper reported the Putin had told then-European Commission president, Jose Manual Barroso, that he “could take Kiev in weeks.” The alleged bragging was revealed by the European official to a council meeting, but after Moscow said it would publish the transcript of the entire conversation, the EU admitted that the words were taken out of context. ● An arguably more scandalous incident was sparked by former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who told Politico magazine that he overheard Putin suggesting to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in 2008 that Ukraine be divided between the two nations. The official backpedalled on the accusations after a backlash both from Russia and at home, admitting that he never heard Putin actually voicing the Hitleresque plan. He also admitted that Putin and Tusk didn’t actually meet at the time the conversation was supposed to have taken place.

Robert Parry ■ Treating Putin Like a Lunatic
Paul Craig Roberts ■ Washington Is Defaming Putin

Almost half of the population in Russia have approved an idea to close all the McDonald's fast food restaurants in Russia, according to a poll conducted by VTSIOM, the leading and highly reliable Russian polling group. which released the results of the poll on Monday. ● The idea to close all the McDonald’s catering establishments has been more welcomed by the respondents who have never been to these restaurants, rather than regular visitors (53% against 44%, respectively). The main reason behind the suggested closure is that the food served at McDonald's is not tasty and is of poor nutrition value, said 41% of the respondents interviewed. 20% of the respondents said that the state should, above all, support Russia's own catering establishments. Nonetheless, almost every third out of ten respondents said that they are against shutting down the McDonald's restaurants.

The State of Michigan is ordering that Detroit man Carnell Alexander pay approximately $30,000 in back child support or go to jail, despite the fact that a DNA test proved that he is not the father of the child in question. ● In child support cases, courts sometimes force people to pay back the government’s welfare contributions to a child, even in scenarios when the person being ordered to pay support is not actually the child’s parent. According to WXYZ-TV ABC 7 Detroit, Detroit man Carnell Alexander is facing that exact situation after an ex-girlfriend of his listed him as the father of her child on an application for welfare benefits. Despite the facts that a DNA test proved that he is not the father and his ex-girlfriend agrees that he should not have to pay support, the State of Michigan is ordering him to either pay back the nearly $30,000 worth of welfare contributions it paid to the child’s mother or go to jail.