In The News:

Is Protective Gear Inadequate To Stop Ebola?

I’m not an microbiologist or epidemiologist, but as some of my readers are aware, I did work for many years under a few of the most renowned infectious disease experts (microbiologists, immunologists, and epidemiologists) on the planet. As such, I picked up a lot – and what I picked up makes me more alarmed than most Americans at what I am seeing with regard to the procedures and precautions being used to protect Americans from the Ebola virus here and abroad – as well as how it came to be a threat to America in the first place.

As widely reported, the first patient to break with Ebola in the U.S., Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian visiting family in Dallas, Texas, died this week. Half a dozen more Westerners are being observed for possible symptoms of Ebola; this does not count the hundred or more in Texas being observed whom Duncan may have infected directly or indirectly.

Perhaps even more disturbing is the Spanish nurse who recently contracted Ebola while treating aid workers who had been flown from Africa to Spain for treatment.

Sound familiar?

No one seems to have any idea how she contracted the disease, particularly given the fact that she was working in a developed Western nation, presumably with all of the technology and precautions available. Prior to this week, we’d all been told that one had to come in direct contact with bodily fluids in order to contract the disease.

Now, as reported by WND, we hear that the World Health Organization has admitted that Ebola could be transmitted through coughing or sneezing.

This does not surprise me, because we know that Ebola is a disease that propagates very prodigiously in so many mucous membranes in the human body, it would be astounding if it was not transmissible via this route.

Given this revelation, I am also inclined to disagree with the contention of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases that one cannot transmit Ebola if they are asymptomatic (not yet displaying symptoms). All of our lives, we are told that not only can many of the infectious diseases against which we are warned be transmitted when the carrier is asymptomatic, but that they are often more contagious during periods immediately prior to an infection presenting itself.

Yet inexplicably, like so much of the government bafflegab that is being ascribed to Ebola, conventional wisdom seems to have gone out the window.

But on to the major reason I believe Ebola is going to spread in the West…

Israel At Risk If U.S. Overthrows Assad, Senior Iran Official Warns

A senior Iranian official warned the U.S. that Israel’s security would be at risk should the U.S. and its allies seek to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian confirmed that his country and the U.S. exchanged messages over the fight against the militant Islamic State group.

Iran has backed Assad during Syria’s three-year civil war. The U.S. has called for Assad to resign and rules out cooperating with his government in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Abdollahian’s comments were the first time a senior Iranian official confirmed that Iran and the U.S. had discussed fighting the Islamic State group.

Police Close Temple Mount To Visitors

Police closed the Temple Mount to visitors and closed off streets around the Old City to vehicular traffic Sunday as thousands of Jewish worshipers descended on the Western Wall for holiday prayers.

The closure comes on the heels of clashes between police and masked rioters at the Temple Mount Wednesday morning before the start of the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Many Jews have the custom of visiting the Temple Mount on holiday eves, ramping up tensions on the contested site

The Mughrabi Gate, the lone entrance for non-Muslims to enter the compound, has been the site of frequent clashes between Israeli security forces and Muslim worshipers.

Wednesday saw violent clashes in and around the Temple Mount compound ahead of the Sukkot holiday.

Five policemen were lightly injured during fighting with protesters, who hurled stones, Molotov cocktails and shot fireworks at Israeli forces.

Several protesters holed themselves up in the al-Aqsa Mosque on the site after being chased by police, who said flammable material was sprayed at them and a fire was started.

Palestinian sources said dozens of Palestinians were injured in the clashes.

The fighting came amid an uptick in inter-ethnic violence in Jerusalem over the past several months, with incidents of East Jerusalem rioters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails and using fireworks as a weapon.

UN Warns Of Looming 'Massacre' In Kobani

Kurdish fighters halted a thrust by Islamic State jihadists toward the heart of the Syrian border town of Kobani Saturday, after the UN warned thousands of civilians risked massacre if it falls.

The pre-dawn attack came after the IS militants captured the defenders’ headquarters Friday, sparking fears they would cut off the last escape route to neighboring Turkey.

Meanwhile, US officials warned that while attention is focused on Kobani, the jihadists have been piling on pressure in Iraq.

US military planes dropped ammunition, food and water Friday and Saturday to Iraqi troops under pressure from IS in north Iraq, the US Central Command said.

The move marked the first time that coalition aircraft airdropped supplies to Iraqi government forces. Similar drops were previously part of humanitarian missions for civilians, such as Yazidis and Turkmen.

Meanwhile British soldiers are in Iraq training the Kurdish peshmerga forces battling Islamic State jihadists, the Ministry of Defense in London said Saturday.

Also see:

Syrian Kurds Repulse Islamic State Militants In Kobani

Analysis: The Real ISIS To Ukraine Connection

Second 'Snowden' Leaking Classified Data