Federal agents convinced a naïve, violence-inclined 21-year-old Bangladeshi that he was a member of “al Qaeda,” giving the dupe fake bombs to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before swarming in and arresting him on October 17. As has become typical, government officials scrambled to put out press releases patting themselves on the back for their work protecting the “Homeland.”

In reality, however, there was no al Qaeda, there was no threat, there were no bombs, and the only alleged “plot” the FBI “foiled” was the one it helped hatch with its dupe, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis.

Libyan rebels backed by the Obama administration and NATO governments committed a wide range of war crimes, including, in one case, summarily executing and torturing dozens of prisoners of war, possibly including strongman Muammar Gadhafi and his son, the non-profit group Human Rights Watch said in a newly released report. The new Western-backed government ruling parts of Libya out of Tripoli, meanwhile, has failed to investigate or prosecute the well-documented abuses.

As lawmakers seek to use federal courts to force disgraced Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to hand over documents on the deadly Fast and Furious gun-running scandal, the Obama administration filed a motion this week claiming that the judicial branch has no power to interfere. According to the Department of Justice, a ruling in favor of Congress and its oversight authority would violate so-called “executive privilege.” But lawmakers are not buying it.

As the growing economic crisis continues to wreak havoc throughout the European Union, the armed forces of tiny Switzerland are preparing to deal with a potential EU disaster that could see refugees flood across the borders amid widespread unrest and chaos. Top Swiss officials have warned that if escalating turmoil were to spill across the border, Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU, will be ready to tackle it.   

Voters in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington State will vote on proposals next month to nullify unconstitutional federal statutes by legalizing marijuana for recreational use, setting up a potential showdown between the Obama administration and state governments that could increase interest in the U.S. Constitution’s Tenth Amendment. While the fate of Oregon’s measure remains uncertain, polls suggest Amendment 64 in Colorado and Initiative 502 in Washington State may well pass.   

Despite playing a key role in advancing climate change hysteria, the United Kingdom’s National Weather Service, known as the Met Office, quietly released a report last week conceding that so-called “global warming” actually stopped more than 15 years ago. The startling admission shows once again that United Nations theories and climate models are wildly inaccurate at best, experts say, meaning multi-trillion dollar schemes to deal with alleged human-caused “climate change” are at the very least severely misguided. 

The Obama administration has now publicly announced that it deployed U.S. troops near the Syrian border in neighboring Jordan without ever seeking congressional permission, supposedly in an effort to help the Jordanian government deal with refugees from Syria while ensuring that the civil war does not spill over into the broader region. Concerns about chemical and biological weapons falling into the “wrong hands” were also cited to justify the latest deployment, but some lawmakers are upset, warning that the United States is now even closer to overt military intervention in Syria.

After having recently left thousands dead from overthrowing the governments ruling Libya and the Ivory Coast, the United Nations, urged on by the new Socialist French government and assorted African regimes, is already plotting its next invasion to deal with the fallout. This time Northern Mali is in the UN’s crosshairs after the country was taken over by Islamists and nomadic rebels amid a military coup d’état that ousted the government in the South.

A congressional investigation highlighting national security threats posed by two Communist China-based telecommunications equipment companies, Huawei and ZTE, is being seized upon by lawmakers and at least one of the firms to push for more government control at the national and international level. The final report found that the companies pose multiple risks to the United States and should be avoided.

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle claimed the danger could be lessened. However, to do that, lawmakers alleged, Congress must approve the controversial so-called “cybersecurity” bill forcing private companies to help the federal government spy on Americans under the guise of protecting “the Homeland.”   

Separately, one of the two Communist Chinese companies blasted in the congressional investigation as a national security risk responded to the allegations by essentially calling for a planetary regulatory regime.

Amid an imploding economy, runaway inflation, shortages of basic goods, electricity blackouts, surging violence, and widespread accusations of voter fraud in Venezuela, socialist strongman Hugo Chávez allegedly won a narrow victory in Sunday’s presidential election, according to the nation’s National Electoral Council (CNE). Though the Venezuelan regime has a ban on publishing the results of exit polls, a widely cited survey conducted by the consulting firm Varianza showed opposition candidate Henrique Capriles ahead by a slim margin as the vote was coming to an end.   

News reports and accounts from witnesses in Venezuela indicated that Chávez had ordered tanks and over 100,000 AK-47-wielding troops into the streets as fears about potential violence grew – the despotic self-styled socialist revolutionary had previously warned of civil war if he lost the election. On Twitter, meanwhile, angry Venezuelans accused Chávez of blatant voter fraud and threatened to leave the country.