Advertisers Shocked to Find Their Ads Run Before ISIL Videos on YouTube

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Smooth skin, cold beer, a clean kitchen floor - all perfectly normal things to advertise to average consumers. But potential terrorists? Some major brands are less than pleased that their pre-roll commercials are running before Islamic State recruitment videos on Youtube.

Big advertisers — like Budweiser, Aveeno, Proctor & Gamble, and Swiffer — have been shocked to find that their ads are being paired with propaganda videos for Islamist militants currently overrunning vast swathes of the Middle East and beheading innocent prisoners on camera.

Iraqi Parliamentarian Claims to Have Proof US Help to ISIL

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Iraqi lawmaker Qasim Al-Araji told the Iraqi parliament that his group, the Badr Organization, is in possession of documented proof that the United States government offers the self-proclaimed Islamic State with weapons and military aid.

 According to Almasalah news, the top of the Badr Parliamentary bloc shared these details with parliament on Thursday, claiming that the group is in possession of evidence pointing to US military provisions to Islamic State and further stating which they will have the ability to share the documented evidence at a later time.

How MH17 was shot down – analysis by Colonel Cassad

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Colonel Cassad has just published an interesting analysis about how MH17 was shot down (please see here for the original Russian text: http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/2077046.html).  Uncle Martin has already made a full translation and posted it on the English version of Colonel Cassad’s blog (please see here for the English translation: http://cassad-eng.livejournal.com/133434.html).  Since this is very long text, I will not re-post it fully here, but I have decided to make it available for download in ODT, RTF and PDF format (please click here to download the zipped file with all three formats: http://www.mediafire.com/download/cj4vd09u7i1zr4b/How_MH17_was_shot_down.zip).

In conclusion I would like to indulge in a rather infantile exercise in self-congratulatory “autobackslapping” and point out that the hypothesis I put forth as early as August 4th is holding up to time pretty well.  See for yourself:

The cognitive dissonance of the European Union’s position

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http://worldcrisis.ru/crisis/1828184

Translated from Russian by Robin

The problems with the European Union’s basic ideology of course involve Germany’s position more specifically. To see it with the utmost clarity, we must recall the standard mantra of the proponents of Western liberalism, whether they are from the European Union, from the United States or homegrown: the West’s main goal in relation to Russia is to explain that adopting basic liberal values ​inevitably leads to a flourishing economy and happiness all round. If we make any attempt to poke our noses into the real results, they explain that we ourselves are doing everything wrong; specifically, we have created corruption on a massive scale.

US Expands Russian-Aimed Propaganda Budget by More Than 100%

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Despite its denial of any involvement in the Ukrainian crisis, and repeated criticism of Russian media, a senior official now admits that the US State Department has nearly doubled its funding for its Russian-language propaganda programs, since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis.


Speaking before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary of European Affairs Victoria Nuland said that the State Department is vastly increasing its budget for battling what she calls “the Kremlin’s pervasive propaganda campaign poisoning minds across Russia, on Russia’s periphery, and across Europe.”

US Commander in Europe Panics, Goes on weird Anti-Putin Rant

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Generals always prepare for the last war, but in the case of Lt. Gen. Hodges, the war may have never really happened. However, that's no reason to stop fighting. 

It was all over. Endless columns of T-64 tanks were about to steamroll through the Fulda Gap all the way to the English Channel. Elite paratroopers, armed to the teeth, were marching into an unending row of Il-76 transport planes that took off every minute, from every airfield. Early warning radar stations were overwhelmed as a tsunami of ICBM launches consumed every point on their screens. Against all odds, we managed to wake our German allies and prepare them to make one last stand. As they marched forward to show… Wait. Oh no. Are those broomsticks?

The history of the Ukraine, part 5

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For parts 1, 2 and 3 see here: A short course in Ukrainian history

For part 4 see here: History of Ukraine, part 4

The History of the Ukraine part 6

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For parts 1, 2 and 3 see here: A short course in Ukrainian history

For part 4 see here: History of Ukraine, part 4

For part 5 see here: The history of the Ukraine, part 5

Beyond the ninth circle of hell: what changes are waiting for the Ukrainian society after the war

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By Ivan Lisan for Odnako
Source: За девятым кругом ада: какие перемены ждут украинское общество после войны

Translated from Russian by Alexander

The civil war in Ukraine is like a huge meat grinder. The hands that turn the screw conveyor kill dozens of people every day and destroy thousands of people’s lives. However, any war will sooner or later come to an end, and the wounds on the tissue of society will gradually scar – though leaving an ugly trail of dead, wounded and displaced. Therefore it would be no harm to understand how Ukrainian society will change after the war.

Revanchism and russophobia: the dark undercurrents of the war in the Ukraine

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The situation in the Ukraine is more or less calm right now, and this might be the time to step back from the flow of daily reports and look at the deeper, underlying currents.  The question I want to raise today is one I will readily admit not having an answer to.  What I want to ask is this: could it be that one of the key factors motivating the West’s apparently illogical and self-defeating desire to constantly confront Russia is simply revanchism for WWII?