Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu accused the United States on Thursday of working on military "scenarios" near Russia's borders that he said were a source of grave concern. ● Interfax news agency quoted Shoigu as expressing surprise at a speech on Wednesday in which U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said U.S. armed forces "must deal with a revisionist Russia - with its modern and capable Army - on NATO's doorstep". Russia's relations with the West have reached a post-Cold War low over the conflict in Ukraine, with Moscow denying accusations that it has supplied weapons and troops to back pro-Russian separatists in the east of the former Soviet republic. "Chuck Hagel's thesis on the necessity for the American army to 'deal' with 'modern and capable' Russian armed forces on NATO's doorstep is of grave concern," Shoigu said, according to Interfax. "This testifies to the fact that the Pentagon is working on scenarios for operations at the borders of our country." Shoigu did not say what he thought the U.S. military was planning. Washington has been open about its deployment of additional troops to Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland and the Baltic states, on manoeuvres intended to signal its commitment to nervous NATO allies. Since the collapse of Communism, NATO has expanded eastward to take in three former Soviet republics and a clutch of ex-communist states once dominated by Moscow, in what Russia views as a serious threat.

Moments ago CBS News reported, citing Law enforcement and U.S. Government sources, that the shooter in today's tragic Ottawa incident was Michael Abdul Zehaf Bibeau, born in Canada in 1982. One source says he sometime dropped the name Michael and went by Abdul Zehaf Bibeau. At other times he apparently dropped the Abdul. In a report from the Muslim Issue, Zehaf-Bibeau is said to be reportedly of Algerian descent. Zehaf-Bibeau is the alleged shooter who killed soldier at the national War Memorial before entering the Centre Block and firing off more shots. Epoch Times reporter Matthew Little says that the shooter got as far as the library before Sergeant-At-Arms shot him dead. Earlier, a Canadian parliament official described the gunman to BBC as looking “Arabian” with “long hair and a small beard.”

Itar-Tass: Canada’s Ottawa on high security alert after series of deadly shootings

Keith Jones ■ Ottawa terror attack triggers massive police-military mobilization || The locked-down area quickly came to encompass much of downtown Ottawa, confining thousands of government workers, shoppers, tourists and Ottawa University students. Schools throughout the city were either in lockdown or semi-lockdown. The latter was described as students being confined to their classrooms with no one allowed to enter or leave. The lockdown remained in effect throughout the afternoon and early evening, ending only at 8:30 PM. According to one news report, police were stopping vehicles leaving Ottawa in the direction of Montreal and questioning their occupants. The emergency measures extended well beyond Ottawa. In Toronto, additional police were deployed at the Ontario legislature, City Hall, government and military facilities and on the subway. In Montreal, City Hall was closed to visitors and at the Quebec National Assembly in Quebec City, security was doubled and a helicopter circled the building. All Canadian Armed Forces bases have been placed on high alert and NORAD, the joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command, has increased its “alert posture,” placing an increased number of fighter jets on high alert. The US has also heightened security along the Canada-US border.

Henry Makow ■ Everything was calculated to exaggerate the threat. Here's why. The fact that Bibeau was able to enter the Parliament Buildings with a rifle is highly suspicious. The press entrance he used is protected by airport-like security and guards. Didn't they know a shooting had just taken place a few blocks away? I see this incident in the context of what Albert Pike predicted in his famous letter to Mazzini. The Third World War would be between Zionists and Islam. There is a need for all Westerners to feel like Israelis, under the constant threat of terror. This goes a long way toward meeting that demand. In order to have a confrontation between Zionists and Islam, you need to build up an Islamic enemy. ISIS fills that role. If Bibeau was working for ISIS, and ISIS is Western-backed, then this indeed was a false flag.

Imagine if this was done to their synagogues... Or this. Israel Knesset member calls for storming Al-Aqsa. UK Foregin Office, World Leaders ("Arab" Leaders): NO to dividing Al Aqsa. Israel to vote on partitioning Al-Aqsa Mosque between Muslims and Jews: While they're at it, maybe they would also like to vote on taking over USA, UK, Russia and China, perhaps even the entire globe, why not? After all, what matters is their "Jewish vote" and "Jewish democracy", isn't it!? How "democratic" and how "civilized", they vote even for robbery! Then comes the sleazy ones and call this "sharing" and accuse the robbed ones of being "hateful antisemites" and blame them for being unwilling to share! [Hat tip & comment: Nahida Izzat at Poetry for Palestine.]

PressTV: UN chief says 100K still homeless in Gaza

US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Berlin to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and take part in talks with Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel, the US Department of State said Wednesday. "Secretary John Kerry is on travel to Berlin," the US Department of State confirmed via Twitter on Wednesday. The German Foreign Office later tweeted a photo of Steinmeier and Kerry visiting the Berlin Wall this morning. Kerry is scheduled to visit the Berlin Wall memorial and meet with children to discuss the meaning of the fall of the wall, according to a US Department of State briefing. Kerry is also to hold a press conference.

Itar-Tass: Russia to continue resistance to attempts at revival of Nazism — Lavrov
Liam Halligan ■ Why the West will surrender in its new cold war with Russia

Barry Grey ■ Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report Monday documenting the widespread use of banned cluster munitions rockets by the Ukrainian military against heavily populated civilian centers in eastern Ukraine, including central Donetsk city. The detailed account, based on an on-the-spot investigation by the New York-based organization, working with a New York Times reporter, is a damning exposure of the brutal and illegal methods being used by the US- and European Union-backed regime in Kiev against Ukrainians in the pro-Russian east of the country. ● The report includes video interviews with victims of the cluster rocket attacks. It charges the Kiev regime with firing the weapons into Donetsk city, the center of the separatist rebellion against the fascist-backed, pro-Western government that was installed last February in a putsch orchestrated by the CIA and German intelligence. ● HRW also released photos showing sections of the cluster munitions rockets in and around Donetsk, unexploded submunitions and remnants of exploded submunitions released by the rockets, and other physical proof of the regime’s use of the weapons. ● The report focuses on attacks launched October 2 and October 5 against Donetsk, a month after the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. HRW writes that these cluster munitions attacks, along with ten others it documented, were responsible for at least six deaths and dozens of injuries. The October 2 attack killed a 37-year-old International Committee of the Red Cross administrator stationed in Donetsk. [...] “Ukrainian government forces used cluster munitions in populated areas in Donetsk city in early October 2014. The use of cluster munitions in populated areas violates the laws of war due to the indiscriminate nature of the weapon and may amount to war crimes,” the report states.

Russia Insider: Video: What Shelling of Civilians Looks Like Up Close
Eric Zuesse ■ Our ‘Enemies’ in Ukraine Speak (Atrocities documented)
Vera Graziadei ■ Kiev's War Crimes Are Not in Doubt. Why the Silence?
Robert Parry ■ Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis Demand Respect
Carla Stea ■ The War in East Ukraine: US-NATO’s Paranoid Falsification of Reality

The Obama administration has blocked the public release of disturbing torture photos out of concern they would endanger US troops. Now, a federal judge is giving the government until December to justify its actions. ● The US government has been blocking the release of US military torture photos from Iraq and Afghanistan out of concern they could endanger US troops. Now, a federal judge is giving the government until December to justify its actions. In addition to the disturbing Abu Ghraib photos released in 2004, an estimated 2,100 images of US military personnel torturing and degrading detainees – possibly even more disturbing – may soon be released into the public realm. Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein [Yes, Hellerstein of the 911 settlement cases. -So we're not holding our breath...] has given the US Justice Department until December 12 to defend its rationale for withholding each photograph on an individual basis. Hellerstein will then deliver his ruling on the future fate of the photographs after he conducts a review of the government’s case.

Obama considers allowing torture overseas
Obama on CIA’s post-9/11 tactics: ‘We tortured some folks’

Pew headlined on October 21st, “Political Polarization & Media Habits,” and reported “Striking Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives,” such as that Fox News Channel dominates as the news-source among conservatives, but that no news-source dominates among liberals. 47% of “Consistent Conservatives” cite FNC as their “main source for news about gov’t and politics,” whereas 15% of “Consistent Liberals” cite CNN as theirs — and no news-source is more-frequently cited by them than CNN. NPR ranks second among them, at 13%. MSNBC is third, at 12%. New York Times is fourth, at 10%. Local TV is fifth, at 5%. By contrast: for “Consistent Conservatives,” Local radio is second, at 11%. Local TV is third, at 5%. Local newspaper is fourth, at 3%. Google news is fifth, at 3%. Those are the main news-sources for more than 96% of Americans.

The outgoing head of the GCHQ, the NSA’s UK equivalent, has slammed proponents of a free internet as ‘dreamers’, and defended those who spy on the communications of everyday people, saying they do “an extraordinary job.” In a farewell speech at the Churchill War Rooms in Whitehall, Sir Iain Lobban demanded that GCHQ needs the power to “access the Internet at scale” and “dissect it with surgical precision”. He said that the internet has become home to the “worst aspects of human nature,” and that spies need to be given unfettered power to govern the internet, to weed out “plotters, proliferators and paedophiles.”

Itar-Tass: Russian speaker against tighter rules on Internet access || The speaker of the Federation Council upper house of the Russian parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, said on Wednesday she was against tighter rules on Internet access and government control over the Internet. “We are against restrictions on access to the Internet or a total control over it, against restrictions on legitimate interests and possibilities of the citizens,” Matviyenko said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily on Wednesday.

Paul Craig Roberts ■ More information is available that suggests the the government had advance information that ebola was coming to the US and that the government expects a much larger outbreak of the disease in the US than it admits. ● Keep in mind that Washington is evil and has been killing people in seven countries for thirteen years based entirely on lies. Keep in mind that Washington has a long list of countries that it has destabilized. ● Most recently Washington overthrew the elected government in Ukraine and is currently working on the remaining independent governments in the Middle East, Russia, and China as Tony Cartalucci’s article documents. For six case studies of how Washington overthrows governments, read The Brothers. Here is a report from Natural News. ● The U.S. government knew about the outbreak in advance, but didn’t warn the public - It’s now clear that the U.S. government has long known this outbreak was coming but did nothing to warn the public. In early September, the government sought to purchase 160,000 Ebola hazmat suits from a U.S. supplier. Furthermore, according to this report on SHTFplan.com, “Disaster Assistance Response Teams were told to prepare to be activated in the month of October.” Don’t you find it strange that while the government itself was gearing up for an October disaster, the public wasn’t told a thing about any of this?

Aggeliki Dimopoulou ■ Is The US Government The Master Criminal Of Our Time?

Zero Hedge: Chicago Hospitals Monitoring 2 Sick Passengers From Liberia, CDC Not Testing For Ebola

Swedish Armed forces are ready to use force if they detect any foreign submarine in the waters of the Stockholm Archipelago, the supreme commander general said as the operation in search of the underwater threat entered its fifth day. ● "Our aim now is to force whatever it is up to the surface... with armed force, if necessary," Sverker Göranson said, as cited by the Local. He added that "the most important value of the operation - regardless of whether we find something -- is to send a very clear signal that Sweden and its armed forces are acting and are ready to act when we think this kind of activity is violating our borders.” According to Göranson, submarines are “extremely difficult” to detect and Sweden has never managed to find them in the past.

Jordan Shilton ■ Sweden mounts military operation to find alleged Russian submarine

A new video has emerged from northern Syria showing the weapons the US says is sending to Kurdish forces end up in the hands of the ISIL terrorists. ● The video shows masked insurgents inspecting the military equipment which was airdropped in areas controlled by ISIL near the Syrian border city of Kobani. The supplies include several boxes of hand grenades and RPGs, as parachutes used for the airdrops were clearly visible on the ground in the video. The US Central Command said on Sunday it has airdropped weapons and ammunition, and medical supplies for the Kurdish forces defending Kobani. It said the airdrops, which have been provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq, were "intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobani."[...] This comes as the US and its Arab allies have been backing ISIL as a tool to put more pressure on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The group has committed heinous crimes in Syria and Iraq.

The forces of the Kiev government used cluster munitions in populated areas in the city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, says Human Rights Watch. It adds that the use of this forbidden weaponry violates the laws of war. Human Rights Watch (HRW) was documenting the “widespread use of cluster munitions” in fighting between government troops and self-defense forces, according to investigation carried by the watchdog. “While it was not possible to conclusively determine responsibility for many of the attacks, the evidence points to Ukrainian government forces’ responsibility for several cluster munition attacks on Donetsk [Donetsk Region, Eastern Ukraine],” says the report.

Stephen Lendman ■ Kiev War Crimes || Mounting evidence shows Kiev committed horrendous war crimes in Southeastern Ukraine. Dirty war continues on non-combatant men, women and children. Residential neighborhoods are bombed and shelled. [...] In early June, Southeastern Ukrainian freedom fighters said Kiev forces attacked Semyonovka near Slaviansk with an unknown chemical weapon. Freedom fighters reported "irrefutable evidence" of a weapon used similar to white phosphorous. It burns flesh to the bone. It keeps burning until entirely consumed or deprived of oxygen. The Hague and Geneva Conventions categorically prohibit use of these type weapons. It doesn't matter. Kiev uses them against civilians. War without mercy is official Kiev policy.

Paul Craig Roberts ■ US Army withheld promise from Germany that Ebola virus wouldn’t be weaponized || German High Government Official Seeks Washington’s Reassurance that the US did Not Weaponize the Species of Ebola that Germany Made Available to Washington. Washington has not provided the reassurance. By providing the virus to Washington prior to effective reassurances, Germany is complicit in the breakout of a bio-warfare grade of ebola, which has now spread to the US and Europe. At this point, it is not clear that this ebola strain will be contained or whether Washington has any intention or ability to contain it. The arrogance and inhumanity of Washington is beyond comprehension.

US Army withheld promise from Germany that Ebola virus wouldn’t be weaponized || (RT.com) The United States has withheld assurances from Germany that the Ebola virus – among other related diseases – would not be weaponized in the event of Germany exporting it to the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. German MFA Deputy Head of Division for Export Control Markus Klinger provided a paper to the US consulate’s Economics Office (Econoff), “seeking additional assurances related to a proposed export of extremely dangerous pathogens.” Germany subsequently made two follow-up requests and clarifications to the Army, according to the unclassified Wikileaks cable. ”This matter concerns the complete genome of viruses such as the Zaire Ebola virus, the Lake Victoria Marburg virus, the Machupo virus and the Lassa virus, which are absolutely among the most dangerous pathogens in the world,” the request notes.

Wikileaks: GERMANY REQUESTS ASSURANCES ON VIRUS EXPORT
Aggeliki Dimopoulou ■ Is The US Government The Master Criminal Of Our Time?

'Error of nomenclature' undermines case against Polish immigrant barber accused of carrying out the atrocities in 1888. ● It was supposed to have been the definitive piece of scientific evidence that finally exposed the true identify of Jack the Ripper after he had brutally murdered at least five women on the streets of Whitechapel in the East End of London, 126 years ago. A 23-year-old Polish immigrant barber called Aaron Kosminski was "definitely, categorically and absolutely" the man who carried out the atrocities in 1888, according to a detailed analysis of DNA extracted from a silk shawl allegedly found at the scene of one of his murders. However, the scientist who carried out the DNA analysis has apparently made a fundamental error that fatally undermines his case against Kosminski – and once again throws open the debate over who the identity of the Ripper.

[Editor's Comment:] A serious error was made, alright, albeit not a scientific one. The error was the political one of correctly identifying the notorious murderer as being a Jew. Let it be said, however, the error was indeed one of 'nomenclature' - "the act or process or an instance of naming". We suspect Mr. Louhelainen got his balls squeezed until he saw the error of his ways. He now seems to have not only recanted, but to even have fallen on bended knee before the Masters of Political Correctness, organized Jewry. -Absolutely disgraceful!

A hoax story alleging the British graffiti artist Banksy has been arrested and has had his identity revealed has once again duped thousands of people online. ● According to the highly refutable website National Report, a 'news' website consisting entirely of fake stories, the artist was arrested by Metropolitan Police at his studio and his identity revealed as 35-year-old Paul Horner, originally from Liverpool. The article contains all the elements you would expect to see from a news story covering an arrest, including details from police and quotes from those close to Banksy. However, it only takes the bare minimum of fact-checking and research to spot that this story is a hoax.

[Read with caution:] Swedish defense now confirms that it was a foreign submarine. || (2014-10-17) Naval Tactical Command has analyzed the image. This is a Dutch submarine that [participated in an exercise] with Swedish military said Mikael Abrahamsson, information officer at the Armed Forces. Shortly after 14 o'clock on Monday met Adam Repenning and his friends [observed] while they were sailing just outside Sandhamn. After the Navy Tactical Command had analyzed the image, [we] now can conclude that it was a foreign [sumarine] [that] Adam Repenning took pictures of. It [turned out that it] was a Dutch submarine that [participated in an exercise] with Swedish military. We've got more pictures of the same submarine from several witnesses, says Mikael Abrahamsson, Communications Officer at the Armed Forces. At the beginning of the week, Swedish military samövat with the Dutch fleet. The ship in the picture is a submarine of the so-called Walrus-class, says Mikael Abrahamsson. (Google translate)

Bekräftar: Ubåten kom från Holland || Nu bekräftar försvaret att det var en utländsk ubåt. Marintaktiska kommandot har analyserat bilden. Det är en nederländsk ubåt som samövade med svensk militär, säger Mikael Abrahamsson, informatör på Försvarsmakten. Strax efter 14-tiden i måndags mötte Adam Repenning och hans seglarvänner en ubåt strax utanför Sandhamn. Efter att Marintaktiska kommandot analyserat bilden så kan man nu slå fast att det var en utländsk ubått som Adam Repenning tog bilder av. Det var en nederländsk ubåt som samövade med svensk militär. Vi har fått fler bilder på samma ubåt från flera vittnen , säger Mikael Abrahamsson, informatör på Försvarsmakten. I början på veckan har svensk militär samövat med den nederländska flottan. Fartyget på bilden är en ubåt av så kallad Walrus-klass, säger Mikael Abrahamsson.

Försvarsmakten: Samövning med Nederländska flottan – övningen ”Northern Archer”
RT.com: Mysterious ‘Russian sub’ off Sweden may be Dutch – Defense Ministry source

Video footage of the Moscow plane crash that killed Total CEO Christophe de Margerie has emerged. The aircraft attempted a takeoff from Vnukovo around midnight, failing and crashing into a snowplow. ● The video shows emergency workers sawing away at the fuselage, which appears to have split in half, following the collision and resulting crash. Debris is strewn around amid the overnight commotion. Investigators are at the scene examining evidence, taking fuel samples and talking to staffers. Two main theories as to the cause are being considered at this time – an air traffic control error and the actions of the snowplow driver, Vladimir Martynenkov.

RT.com: Total CEO crash: Investigators say snowplow driver ‘drunk’, lawyer rejects claim

Just in case you need another reason to dislike the thieving Federal Reserve. From Reuters:

(Reuters) – The top 113 earners among staff at the Federal Reserve’s Washington headquarters make an average of $246,506 per year, excluding bonuses and other benefits – more than Fed Chair Janet Yellen and nearly double the normal top government rate.

Don’t worry Janet, once you leave, you can earn $250k per speech like your hero Banana Ben Bernanke.

● When the Bush administration revealed in 2005 that it was secretly interpreting a treaty ban on “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” as not applying to C.I.A. and military prisons overseas, Barack Obama, then a newly elected Democratic senator from Illinois, joined in a bipartisan protest.
● Mr. Obama supported legislation to make it clear that American officials were legally barred from using cruelty anywhere in the world. And in a Senate speech, he said enacting such a statute “acknowledges and confirms existing obligations” under the treaty, the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
● But the Obama administration has never officially declared its position on the treaty, and now, President Obama’s legal team is debating whether to back away from his earlier view. It is considering reaffirming the Bush administration’s position that the treaty imposes no legal obligation on the United States to bar cruelty outside its borders, according to officials who discussed the deliberations on the condition of anonymity.

A political analyst has termed the suspicious death of Press TV’s correspondent in Turkey, Serena Shim, as an act of “assassination” by the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. ● “The reality is that our sister Serena was assassinated by Erdogan’s regime,” Shabir Hassan Ali, a political analyst from London, said in an interview with Press TV on Sunday night, adding, “Serena was hounded in a fashion by Turkish intelligence.” The analyst further said that she was “assassinated” because “she gave the truth about what this regime in Turkey, that has been oppressing its people, that has been oppressing the Kurdish population and that is actively working to support…this terrorist organization known as the ISIL” is doing.

PressTV: We do not believe Serena died in car accident: Family

Stephen Lendman ■ It's pure fantasy. None whatever exists. US-installed coup d'etat putschists run things. Neo-Nazis have power. Ordinary Ukrainians have no say. Elections when held are farcical. Expect scheduled October 26 parliamentary ones to reflect business as usual. ● Excluding democratic choices. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said Washington spent around $5 billion sabotaging Ukrainian democracy over the past 20 years. She lied calling it "democracy promotion…We stand with the people of Ukraine," she hyperventilated. USAID spent about $1.8 billion assuring ordinary Ukrainians had no say. Calling it "critical development assistance in support of the Ukrainian people." Nuland was caught red-handed urging regime change on tape. Her conversation with US Ukraine ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt was recorded. It circulated on You Tube earlier. It remains damning. More evidence of Washington's dark side.

The Swedish military did not confirm allegations that “a damaged Russian submarine” is being hunted for in waters east of Stockholm, while adding that a search for a “foreign vessel” is ongoing. Moscow said none of its military vessels have been damaged. The official statement by the Swedish military said the search around the Stockholm archipelago was due to “alien underwater activity."

RT.com: Sweden deploys troops near Stockholm due to alleged underwater threat
Ruters: Sweden says credible reports of foreign submarine in its waters

The average worker saw a 8pc decline in real wages between 2008 and 2013, says NIESR. ● British workers have suffered an “unprecedented” decline in real wages over the past six years, with the average employee £2,000 worse off since the financial crisis hit, according to new research. “The scale of the real wage falls is historically unprecedented, certainly in the past 50 years where broadly comparable records exist,” said Paul Gregg, Stephen Machin and Mariña Fernández Salgado, the authors of the report. Official data this month showed that workers experienced a 7.6pc fall in real wages over the past six years. However, the research published by NIESR revealed that young workers, among the hardest hit by the downturn, also saw the biggest decline over the period, with pay falling by 14pc between 2008 and 2013. [Hat Tip: Steigan Blogger]

Evening Standard: Occupy London protesters start week long demonstration in Parliament Square
Michael Roberts ■ UK: the agony and the ecstasy

An Israeli lawmaker says there is no difference between Israeli soldiers and militants of the ISIL and that both are “armies of murderers with no boundaries and red lines.” “They (ISIL) kill one person at a time with a knife and the IDF at the press of a button [kills] dozens of Palestinians,” Haneen Zoabi said in a Sunday interview with Channel 2 Online. The Arab member of the Israeli Knesset added that an Israeli pilot is no less a terrorist than a person who takes a knife and commits a beheading. The Israeli military unleashed aerial attacks on Gaza in early July and later expanded its military campaign with a ground invasion of the Palestinian strip. Over 2,130 Palestinians, including around 570 children, lost their lives and some 11,000 were injured in the raids.

AWIP Search: Zoabi