IRAQ - While Berlin is pushing for the prolongation of the Bundeswehr's deployment in Syria and Iraq, German soldiers have come under fire north of Baghdad. Last weekend, several mortar rounds were fired at Camp Taji, one of the Iraqi armed forces' largest bases, where German soldiers are training Iraqi military personnel. Officially, the training is part of the ongoing war against the IS, whose remaining structures are still operating underground. Normally, German participation in that war is due to end on October 31. The German government now seeks to prolong this deployment to emphasize its efforts to gain influence in the Middle East, also militarily - against the SPD, which until now has opposed the measure. However, there are signs that the SPD is changing course. At least, there is a danger that in Iraq, the German contingent in Baghdad could be drawn into the escalating confrontation between the USA and Iran as can be seen by the recent mortar attacks.

USA - Take heed, America. Our losses are mounting with every passing day. What began with the post-9/11 passage of the USA Patriot Act has snowballed into the eradication of every vital safeguard against government overreach, corruption and abuse.

USA - It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Georgetown, Texas – population 75,000 – was to be the new poster child of the green movement. Environmental interest in Georgetown’s big push to generate all of its electricity from wind and solar power was amplified by three factors: the town and its mayor were nominally Republican; Georgetown is in an oil- and natural gas-rich state; and that state is deep-red Texas. Former Vice President Al Gore and other climate change luminaries feted Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross, and Ross was featured prominently at renewable energy conventions.

SWEDEN - A Swedish behavioral scientist has suggested that it may be necessary to turn to cannibalism and start eating humans in order to save the planet. Appearing on Swedish television to talk about an event based around the “food of the future,” Magnus Söderlund said he would be holding seminars on the necessity of consuming human flesh in order to stop climate change. Environmentalists blame the meat and farming industry for a large part of what they claim is the warming of the earth. Another proposal to save the earth which has been promoted by numerous mass media outlets and environmentalists is only somewhat less disgusting – eating bugs. No doubt Greta Thunberg and Prince Harry will be first in line for when cockroaches and human flesh is being dished out at the next international climate summit.

USA - Hurricane Dorian Battering South Carolina, North Carolina With Flooding Rain, Storm Surge, High Winds, Tornadoes. Hurricane Dorian is now unleashing its siege of storm surge flooding, rainfall flooding, high winds and tornadoes as it tracks near the coasts of South Carolina, North Carolina and southeast Virginia through Friday. Dorian's maximum sustained winds increased to the 115-mph threshold required to regain Category 3 status. Despite that, its damaging impacts are likely to remain the same as it hammers this part of the Southeast coast.

BAHAMAS - Stunned residents of the Bahamas surveyed the wreckage of their homes and officials struggled to assess the number killed by Hurricane Dorian, as the storm bore down on the South Carolina coast, threatening record flooding on Thursday.

UK - Jeremy Corbyn denied voters the chance to decide the future of Brexit last night after ordering his MPs to block Boris Johnson's call for a snap election. A visibly frustrated PM ridiculed the stance taken by Corbyn - who did not even bother to be present for the declaration of the result - taunting that he was the first Opposition leader 'in history' to turn down the opportunity of a poll.

GERMANY - A decision to move US troops out of Germany would mark a major change in the defense relationship between the two countries and reshape the basis of American military presence in Europe since WWII. The Federal Republic of Germany has been a vital part of United States defense strategy in Europe ever since the end of World War II, when US forces were part of a 10-year Allied occupation of the country. Though troop numbers have fallen drastically since those days, the US military still maintains a major presence and over the intervening decades, US military communities have formed around a handful of German towns. The US Army Bavaria Garrison, headquartered at Grafenwoehr, near Bavaria's Czech border, is the largest overseas US Army base in the world, both in population and acreage, covering over 97,000 acres (or 390 square kilometers / or 150.58 square miles).

GERMANY - In the early morning hours of September 1, 1939, Germany began World War II with an attack on Poland. Unspeakable atrocities followed, including millions of dead and wounded, innumerable rapes, displaced persons and a world that is still recovering from the destructive rage of the Nazis.

GERMANY - There is no simple way to explain the motivations of Alternative for Germany (AfD) party voters. They are far too many, and they are varied. There are, however, some conspicuous traits: Most them are between the ages of 30 and 60, and they are predominantly male. Lusatia, a region in eastern Saxony and southern Brandenburg, is an AfD stronghold. The far-right party picked up 30% of the vote there in Sunday's state elections. Lusatia suffered in the economic downturn that followed German reunification in 1990. Coal mining — practically the only major industry left in the region — has been especially hard hit. Polls show that in areas like Lusatia that struggle economically, voters often choose the AfD.

CHINA - The trade war between the United States and China is increasingly weighing on the global economy, but unfortunately it does not appear that it will end any time soon.  Many pundits in the US originally believed that the trade war would be short because the economic pain would be too much for the Chinese to handle.  But the truth is that the Chinese are not nearly as motivated by short-term concerns as we are.  They have always been long-term planners, and they are not afraid to set goals that may take multiple generations to achieve.  So they are not going to allow an angry American president that may be voted out of office by the end of next year to greatly alter their long-term economic strategies.

USA - Wallops Island — a remote, marshy spit of land along the eastern shore of Virginia, near a famed national refuge for horses — is mostly known as a launch site for government and private rockets. But it also makes for a perfect, quiet spot to test a revolutionary weapons technology.

USA - President Trump's trade war has led to even bigger trade deficits with China, even though it was intended to improve the trade balance. But it's not just China — the deficit has increased with most of our other major trade partners, too. Why it matters: While economists agree that trade deficits aren't a good way to measure a trade relationship, they are the metric Trump fixates on, made campaign promises about and uses to evaluate relationships with other countries. Throughout his campaign, Trump vowed that he would wipe away the US's trade deficits: "You will see a drop [in the trade deficit] like you’ve never seen before.” Reality check: Among the US's 15 biggest trading partners, the trade balance has moved in the wrong direction for Trump in 10 of those countries between 2016 and 2018, while the aggregate trade deficit has jumped from $503 billion to $628 billion.

ISRAEL - The polls still show that Netanyahu and Benny Gantz of the Blue and White are about even and what seats they would get. But Prime Minister Netanyahu made an agreement this week with the Zehut movement that’s headed by Moshe Feiglin. He’s a right wing politician, an Orthodox Jew, and very much an advocate for rebuilding the Temple on the Temple Mount. The Prime Minister said he would go along with that and he would appoint Feiglin as a minister in his government. He’s very much an advocate for rebuilding the Temple and this time he has an agreement with the Likud. So that will add 1 or 2 seats to the Likud meaning the right wing will be strengthen and that’s what Netanyahu is ultimately after.

USA - Pro-life Americans believe in the inherent dignity and right to life of every human, regardless of race or ethnicity, declares a hard-hitting essay in the Wall Street Journal Monday. WSJ writer Bill McGurn cites a tendentious Washington Post op-ed alleging that “antiabortion politics” can provide “cover for white nationalist sentiments” and then goes on to show that the Post has it exactly backwards. Heading into 2020, the Democrat party has made it clear they support “federally funded abortion on demand up to the moment of birth — and even after birth, if necessary,” McGurn notes, a procedure that overwhelmingly affects blacks and minorities. “The pro-life proposition is simple: Human life begins at conception, and every human life is equal in dignity and worth," Mc Gurn declares, which is “incompatible with white supremacism.”