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Before NATO invaded Kursk–and make no mistake, it was a NATO incursion by proxy–the Ukraine was not in any existential danger. Now, however, words this evening from former Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, “you’ll know it when you see it and you’ll see it soon,” make it abundantly clear that the peace will be dictated by Russia.

Full stop.

No third party intercessors, except maybe China. Non-zero chance for India.

But for the West and NATO? How you like that crow you pack of corrupt idiots? Y’all make Tommy “Catastrophic Success” Franks look like a modern day Sherman.

A prominent propaganda outlet in the Balkans, which is directly overseen by a British government agency that Reuters once labeled “an influential soft-power extension of UK foreign policy,” appears to be on the brink of collapse after a major schism between staff members and leadership. Leaked emails reviewed by The Grayzone reveal a “deep crisis” has engulfed the Western-created and funded Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), which threatens to tear the organization apart. A flagship propaganda platform in the arsenal […]

The post Internal crisis shakes Balkan media network run by UK intel, leaked emails show first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Internal crisis shakes Balkan media network run by UK intel, leaked emails show appeared first on The Grayzone.

Two hot air balloonists were blown off course. They descended, floating over a person walking on the street.One of the balloonists leaned out and yelled down: “Where are we?”The man looked up, thought for a moment, then earnestly replied: “You’re in a balloon!”The other balloonist grinned and said: “That person must be a microeconomist…”“How do […]

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Doing real American stuff Just watch it: As Tom Nichols said on twitter: This is what I meant when I said democracy will collapse in small pockets here and there in the country instead of all at once. Imagine this police dept but without the state’s TBI, or DOJ, or a federal government willing to step in. That’s a view of the future.

It’s well documented that Donald Trump Jr loves JD Vance and was instrumental in getting him on the ticket. They are two peas in a pod in so many ways, even beyond the beards. Junior is less intellectually able but that’s not saying much. But JD apparently respects him anyway. A new fact check on JDs lies about Kamala Harris indicate that some of them come directly from Junior. For instance: “She has said things like, ‘it’s reasonable not to have children over climate change.’ I think that’s the exact opposite message we should be sending to our young families.” — Vance, interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Aug. 11 ✅ Follow Fact-checking politiciansFollow This is false. Vance made this comment as he tried to explain 2021 remarks that Harris was one of those “childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and they want to make the rest of country miserable, too.” (Harris has two stepchildren.) To Bash, he said: “I criticized Kamala Harris for being part of a set of ideas that exists in American leadership that is anti-family.

Pat Carta, an extraordinary organizer with Local 34 and one of the great leaders of the unions at Yale, has died. I worked closely with Pat between 1993 and 1996. She trained me as an organizer, and though I don’t think she ever realized this, she felt like family to me. In fact, she reminded me a great deal of my family, particularly my mom. She was tough, warm, smart, loving, difficult, charismatic, powerful, relentless, demanding, honest, fearless. I always wished I could tell her what she meant to me, but she wasn’t someone who invited that kind of disclosure. Unless you said it from afar. As I’m doing now. Though it’s been nearly 30 years now, two things about […]

Almost as soon as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz...

An acoustic experiment reveals that spooky forest sounds may come from above.

The post How the Night Sky Speaks to Us appeared first on Nautilus.

He’s their role model This piece by Josh Kovensky at Talking Points memo is a must read if you hope to understand where the right is going — with or without Trump: The American right’s love affair with Hungary seemingly knows no bounds. Hungarian officials appear at GOP events; CPAC has a Budapest event. Hungarian President Viktor Orbán met with Donald Trump last month, and earned a dilatory shoutout from the Republican candidate at the RNC, where Trump called Hungary a “strong country, run by very powerful, tough leaders — a tough guy.” But if the strength is the draw, then how did Orbán become a strongman? What is it about Orbán that right-wingers are supporting when they say that they like what he’s done in Hungary? TPM spoke with Zsuzsanna Szelényi, a former Hungarian MP who recently wrote a book, Tainted Democracy, about Orbán’s rise to power and the crackdown that followed. Szelényi was once a member of Orbán’s political party, Fidesz, in the early 1990s, before leaving as the party grew more conservative, and eventually founding her own opposition party in 2012.

Former Australian Prime Minister (yep, really), Scott Morrison, has left court after testifying in the Linda Reynolds defamation case, telling friends that he’s relieved to get out of there with his pants not on fire. ”Never good to be in... Read More ›

The ACLU is ringing the alarm bell over S.B. 1287, which the group believes will chill free speech on California campuses.

The post As Students Return to School, a Proposed Law Targets Campus Protests appeared first on The Intercept.

You probably have at least ten tote bags at the back of your cupboard. The humble tote bag has a knack of accumulating in a way like no other. Yet, while these reusable cotton bags may seem good in principle, they have a much larger environmental impact than appears at first glance.

The post Tote Bag appeared first on Progress in Political Economy (PPE).

As a ten-year old, trying to be cool like my twelve-year old sister, I spent one day in September of 1980 rummaging through her album collection—something I would do through my twenties. She had excellent taste in music back then. My very first encounter with rock and roll—aside from hearing Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis in my Dad’s car—was pulling out a record from some band called Van Halen.

Nancy Pelosi said of my recent 7.30 interview ‘it is not in the security interest of the Asia-Pacific region for people to talk that way’ – that is, of my remarks in respect of Taiwan. This is from the former leader of the US House of Representatives who, in a recklessly indulgent visit to Taiwan Continue reading »

Of the international intelligence information that comes to Australian agencies from the Five Eyes, 90% comes from the CIA and related US intelligence agencies. So in effect we have the colonisation of our intelligence agencies These agencies dominate the advice to Ministers  writes John Menadue. Transcript of interview with Michael Lester, 10 August 2024 ML: Continue reading »

When the former Prime Minister, Paul Keating, recently claimed that Australia was losing its “strategic autonomy” and turning into “the 51st State of the United States”, the current Prime Minister froze in the headlights. Possibly caught before his staff could give him a few dot points, Albanese said “Paul was a great Prime Minister – Continue reading »

Understanding the complex relationship between Zionism, Zionists and Jews seems to defeat many of Israel’s critics in articles and opinion pieces. This article explores Zion and its connection to land and to Judaism and its more modern day forms. Continue reading »

Israel and Zionists try to confuse the public by conflating Judaism with Zionism; they commit their crimes and hide behind the Jewish people. Palestinians, on the other hand, distinguish between Jews, Judaism and Zionism and hold the Zionists responsible for the crimes they commit against them, not the Jews. While the Zionists say, “Every Jew Continue reading »

John Menadue’s website adds real value across all aspects of Australia’s governance and policy development. Pearls and Irritations has become an exploratory platform for thinkers and analysts out to both share their insights and knowledge and test themselves against an informed peer group.  In that way, John Menadue’s website adds real value across all aspects Continue reading »