RUSSIA - Vladimir Putin has boasted to European leaders that his forces could sweep into Kiev in two weeks if he wanted. The Russian president reportedly made the threat to the European Commission president during talks on the Ukraine crisis. Mr Putin told Jose Manuel Barroso: “If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks,” Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper reported, implying this could be the result if the EU stepped up sanctions against Russia. His comments, relayed by Mr Barroso to colleagues at last weekend’s EU summit, emerged as Nato announced it would build a new “spearhead” rapid reaction force of up to 4,000 troops that can be flown into eastern Europe in 48 hours to respond to possible Russian aggression. The EU’s new head of foreign policy, Federica Mogherini, also warned there was no military solution to what is now Europe’s biggest crisis in decades.

RUSSIA - The term revolution has multiple meanings dependent upon the perspective of the rebels seeking it, and the establishment trying to keep it from occurring. But throughout the annals of history, revolution has never come easily, and almost inevitably is achieved through violent action, or in many cases, all-out war. As President Putin’s adviser Sergei Glazyev ascertained on Thursday of last week, the revolution to change the global financial system will come by war, as it has in almost every single instance in history. “The world today is going through a year of overlapping cyclical crises. This is a period when the global economy is changing as the structure that has driven economic growth for 30 years has exhausted itself. The world needs to transition to a new system and transition has always come about through war…”

UK - Emergency measures to fire up mothballed power stations could be used to keep the lights on this winter, after a series of power plant fires and closures left Britain more vulnerable to blackouts. National Grid announced on Tuesday that it would begin recruiting idle or mothballed power plants, which would be paid to ensure they could fire up if needed as a "last resort". The Grid had said in June that the emergency plan to boost power supplies would not be needed this year. However, it has resorted to using it because five of the power plants it had expected to be running this winter are now shut down or are in doubt.

UK - A researcher who raised the alarm over the sexual abuse of teenage girls in Rotherham more than a decade ago was sent on a 'ethnicity and diversity course' by child protection bosses who refused to act on her evidence. The researcher, who was seconded to Rotherham council by the Home Office, was told she must "never, ever" again refer to the fact that the abusers were predominantly Asian men.

MIDDLE EAST - Militant group Hamas would sweep Palestinian elections if they were held today after its support soared during seven weeks of war with Israel in Gaza, an opinion poll published on Tuesday found. The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research said the poll showed Islamists clearly leading presidential and parliamentary polls for the first time since Palestinians last voted eight years ago, when Hamas won power in Gaza. Most Palestinians surveyed said they preferred Hamas's strategy of armed struggle against Israel rather than peace negotiations, which are favored by Fatah, once the dominant Palestinian political movement and one backed by the West.

USA - Where is the justice? Since 1997, Monsanto has filed 145 lawsuits, or on average about 9 lawsuits every year for 16 straight years, against farmers who have “improperly reused their patented seeds.” The biotech giant hasn’t lost a single case, either. Not one. This includes when farmers tried to sue Monsanto over cross-pollination of their organic crops with GMO seed. For example, a federal court dismissed one of those cases, saying that it couldn’t protect Monsanto against unfair lawsuits should they side in the farmers’ favor. What about unfair business practices? What about 92% of people saying they want their food labeled if it contains genetically modified ingredients? What about the right of farmers to grow food from seed that hasn’t been altered to turn it into a DNA freak show?

AFRICA - Many small-scale farmers across Africa face the threat from "failed seasons", a report has warned. The 2014 African Agriculture Status Report says the vital food producers face a risk of being overwhelmed by the pace and severity of climate change. The authors called for the adoption of "climate-smart agriculture" that will help make crops more resilient to future extreme weather events. The findings were presented at a major conference in Ethiopia. "In order for our farmers to be productive and ensure food security, we need to build resilience to help them mitigate the onset of climate change," observed report editor David Sarfo Ameyaw. "We are talking about when the rain does not come at the right time or the length of the [growing] season, which should be about 180 days, is shortened as a result of drought," he told BBC News.

MALTA - A huge wave that lifted 70-tonne boulders as if they were grains of sand hit the island of Malta in the recent past and could do so again with devastating consequences, a study has found. Scientists have found the first evidence of a highly destructive tsunami in this part of the Mediterranean which was probably caused by an earthquake with an epicentre focused near Sicily or Greece. The researchers found that large boulders at more than two dozen sites in the north-east of Malta had been moved in land by up to 100 metres from the seabed as a result of a massive ocean wave. It is the first time that Malta has been directly linked with a Mediterranean tsunami and the scientists have already warned the Maltese authorities about the possibility that a similar event could occur in the future.

USA - Real estate magnate and reality TV star Donald Trump told Breitbart News that Americans feel “embarrassed” by the lack of leadership from President Barack Obama with the assortment of global and domestic crises dominating the news right now. “They are so disappointed in their country,” Trump said in a phone interview when asked how Americans feel when they see the unsecured US border with Mexico, the global threats from ISIS, and the way the president is handling these and other crises. “They’re disappointed in their leadership, and they’re very embarrassed.” Trump said it “would be a terrible thing for the country” if President Obama proceeds with his stated intention to use an executive order to grant amnesty to what some suspect may be up to or more than 5 million illegal aliens.

PAKISTAN - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was clinging to power Monday as protesters stepped up their assault on government buildings while the capital was gripped with fear and confusion about whether the country’s powerful military will step in to defuse the tension. As the demonstrations calling for the prime minister’s resignation enter their third week, Sharif is trying to navigate Pakistan’s worst political crisis in more than a decade. With the violence increasing, what started as a routine demonstration has morphed into concerns that the government of a nuclear-armed country could collapse.

SYRIA - A record 4.1 million people in Syria received food rations in August due to more convoys being able to cross front lines and borders from Turkey and Jordan, the UN's World Food Program (WFP) said on Tuesday. "We are reaching more people every day with urgently needed food assistance – many of them have been going hungry for months," Muhannad Hadi, WFP's regional emergency coordinator for the Syria crisis, said in a statement. Over the last six weeks, WFP and partner agencies have crossed front lines to reach more than 580,000 people, over four times the 137,000 reached in the preceding six weeks, it said.

MIDDLE EAST - Pope, patriarchs and prelates are crying out for intervention. Where are the presidents and prime ministers? I've known Maronite leader Monsignor Sharbel Maroun for many years, talked with him on radio in 2006 after Telelumiere was nearly destroyed in the Lebanon War that summer, and many times before and after then about the ongoing work of unity and mutual respect of Christians and Muslims in the Middle East. He just returned from Lebanon recently, we talked again this week, and he is despondent.

EUROPE - Strong criticism of German predominance in last weekend's new appointments to EU top positions is being raised in France. The EU's designated Juncker/Tusk/Mogherini triumvirate "undoubtedly" carries the German signature, according to a longtime renowned EU political observer. After having imposed its austerity dictates on the EU over the past few years, Berlin has now actually taken over the designation of EU leadership personnel.

SAUDI ARABIA - A British businessman living in Saudi Arabia was set upon and beaten up by members of the country’s religious police after using a women-only cash till with his wife at a local supermarket. Peter Howarth-Lees, who is married to a Saudi woman, was knocked to the ground and kicked by three members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, known as the Mutawa, who followed the couple out of the shop. “While I was on the ground all three of them proceeded to kick me repeatedly in the head and back and then one of them stamped hard on my face,” he said in a statement to a local website. “On seeing this, my wife got out of the car and somehow managed to push them off me and I managed to stand up.” His wife was kicked in the stomach.

USA - The Argyle, Texas Independent School District has armed many of its educators for the upcoming school year. “Please be aware that the staff at Argyle ISD are armed and may use whatever force is necessary to protect our students,” a sign on all independent campuses reads. At the Argyle schools, any teacher who wishes to carry a firearm in class must first undergo special weapons training and pass a psychological test, ensuring that he is properly vetted and trained before carrying in the classroom.