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Europe & Ukraine Aren’t At the Peace Table, That Mean They’re On It

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Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 23:03
Europe & Ukraine Aren’t At the Peace Table, That Mean They’re On It

Russia and America are going to have a peace summit about the Ukraine war without Ukraine or any European country. This is slightly less ridiculous than the previous peace summit which didn’t include Russia since Russia can fight on without anyone but China’s support, while if the US decides to stop supporting Ukraine, it’s cooked.

Well, sort of. Ukraine is cooked any way you look at it. It was always going to lose the war, and that hasn’t changed.

What’s amusing about the what’s being floated is that Europe is supposed to send the peacekeepers and pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine and the US is supposed to… well, maybe get some of Ukraine’s wealth, though Zelensky has quite rightly refused to sign that deal.

On Elite Education and the Rise of Maga

https://crookedtimber.org/2025/02/17/53748/
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 17:00
Today’s post focuses on the contribution of elite higher education to the rise of Trump. This may seem in bad taste because it is also clearly targeted by MAGA, and so our impulse is to circle the wagons. But if you wish to develop a defensive posture you must understand the territory. Here I presuppose […]

Socialism at the Milk Bar

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2025/02/socialism-at-the-milk-bar/
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 16:00

In the centre of the Polish capital, Warsaw, is a street called Nowy Swiat — New World Street. Built in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in a neoclassical style and reconstructed very meticulously to something like its original appearance after Warsaw’s near-total destruction by Nazi Germany in 1944, it is the very heart of bourgeois […]

Britain and its fiscal rule death wish

https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=62361
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 13:19
Governments that adhere to the mainstream macroeconomic mantras about fiscal rules and appeasing the amorphous financial markets have a habit of undermining their own political viability. As Australia approaches a federal election (by May 2025), the incumbent Labor government, which slaughtered the Conservative opposition in the last election, is now facing outright loss to a…

A five-minute scroll

https://johnmenadue.com/a-five-minute-scroll-87/
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 11:46
Bisan Owda shares how Israel is violating the ceasefire from Gaza. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in London, marching for Palestine. Gideon Levy writes in response to Palestinian prisoners on their knees wearing Israeli T-shirts stating “we will not forget nor forgive”. UK Palestine Mental Health Network says there is no PTSD Continue reading »

Trump Tower II, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

https://digbysblog.net/2025/02/16/trump-tower-ii-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 11:30
This isn’t the most important thing in the scheme of things but it’s telling. Trump is taking over the Kennedy Center to create a new MAGA cultural center, no doubt based upon his fabulous playlist of Pavorotti and The Village People. And now he apparently wants to literally turn the White House in mar-a-Lago so he can hold court exactly as he does at his hideous gilded palaces. He truly thinks he’s a king: He has told associates that he wants to rip up the grass in the Rose Garden, one of the White House’s most iconic and meticulously maintained spots, and replace it with a hard surface to resemble a patio like the one he has at Mar-a-Lago. Designers have drafted options for how to remake the surface of the Rose Garden, which sits just outside the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. Mr. Trump has discussed whether it should be limestone or an easily interchangeable hard surface, with the possibility of installing hardwood floors for dancing, according to four people briefed on the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. […] Mr. Trump has other plans for the West Wing.

Greenland! Canada! The Panama Canal! The Gulf of America! Gaza!

https://tomdispatch.com/greenland-canada-the-panama-canal-the-gulf-of-america-g…
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 09:29

A few years ago, I came across an old book at an estate sale. Its title caught my eye: “Our New Possessions.” Its cover featured the Statue of Liberty against stylized stars and stripes. What were those “new possessions”? The cover made it quite clear: Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. The subtitle made it even clearer: “A graphic account, descriptive and historical, of the tropic islands of the sea which have fallen under our sway, their cities, peoples, and commerce, natural resources and the opportunities they offer to Americans.” What a mouthful! I’m still impressed with the notion that “tropical” peoples falling “under our sway” offered real Americans amazing opportunities, as did our (whoops — I meant their) lands.... Read more

The problem of God

https://johnmenadue.com/the-problem-of-god/
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 04:59
In a recent post Eric Hunter asked: “Why doesn’t God save the world?” (P&I, 10 February 2025). It’s an interesting question, usually framed under the rubric of “the problem of evil.” Hunter prefers to believe in science rather than to believe in God. So why did he post about God in the first place? There Continue reading »

Thousands of Australian pets may soon have ‘useless’ microchips. It’s a symptom of a bigger problem

https://johnmenadue.com/thousands-of-australian-pets-may-soon-have-useless-micr…
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 04:56
Late last year, rumours swirled online that HomeSafeID, a private Australian pet microchip registry, had stopped operating. On 5 Feburary 2025, a notice appeared on the HomeSafeID website, ostensibly from the site’s administrator. It states the website “is likely to go offline” soon due to unpaid bills. This means the database of information stored on HomeSafeID would also Continue reading »

Pitt may not be best fit as ambassador to the Holy See

https://johnmenadue.com/pitt-may-not-be-best-fit-as-ambassador-to-the-holy-see/
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 04:55
Diplomatic appointments usually don’t get much news coverage unless it’s a retiring politician getting appointed. Apparently Australian ambassador to the Holy See is one such plum job. Since last Friday rumours have been circulating in the media that former Coalition minister, Keith Pitt, will soon be off to Rome to precisely this position. If true, Continue reading »

Demonisation of the Palestine movement fuels anti-Muslim and Arab racism

https://johnmenadue.com/demonisation-of-the-palestine-movement-fuels-anti-musli…
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 04:53
The spate of anti-Muslim racist attacks around the country are being fuelled by the anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian policies of mainstream politicians. Political attempts to undermine the Palestine movement and bipartisan support for Israel’s genocide are causing this. Mariam Tohamy, a member of Teachers and School Staff for Palestine NSW, was the victim of a vicious, racist Continue reading »

First AUKUS meeting of Trump 2.0: Business as usual

https://johnmenadue.com/first-aukus-meeting-of-trump-2-0-business-as-usual-pic-…
Created
Mon, 17/02/2025 - 04:52
February 7 saw the first AUKUS meeting held between officials of the Trump administration and their Australian servitors since the changing of the guard in the White House. In attendance was the US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and his unbearably compliant Australian counterpart Richard Marles. From all general appearances, the sense was that a change Continue reading »