United States Donald Trump, during a press conference on Monday (Aug 11), said that he will be going to Russia to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also said that he will know about Putin's intention regarding the Ukraine war in "two minutes." However, his statement saying that he would travel to Russia was quickly picked up on social media, with netizens asking about the 'real' plans. Some also asked if the US is planning to give away Alaska for Putin to stop the Ukraine war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nQ71vTw2bs

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

... "Moscow must remain vigilant, because in this type of bilateral summit, the readability of Washington’s strategic intentions remains, by nature, uncertain and subject to reversibility."

Yalta 2.0: escalation logic and mutual threat perception between Moscow and Washington

BY Mohamed Lamine KABA

The Digital Media Bargaining Code, brainchild of Josh Frydenberg, unopposed by Labor, is lining the pockets of the big end of town. What’s the scam?

The scam has been exposed by Chris Janz, former publisher at Nine Entertainment. Janz told ABC Radio National’s Medialand program last week that the money from (the code) mostly went to the shareholders of Australia’s biggest media companies or was used to pay off their debts.

“…Google and Facebook were encouraged to do deals with effectively the big end of town. The bulk of the cash flowed to the big end of town. I was running one of those at the time. It was fantastic … the reality is, though, the money flowed to shareholders or flowed to retire debt.”

US President Donald Trump has described Russia as a “warring country,” saying Moscow has been engaged in conflicts for centuries and “just keeps on fighting.”

Trump made the remarks on Monday at a press conference, where he talked about his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the US state of Alaska to discuss a possible settlement of the Ukraine conflict.

“Russia is a warring nation. That’s what they do – they fight a lot of wars,” he said.

“A friend of mine said, Russia is tough because they just keep on fighting,” Trump added. “They beat Hitler – so did we. And they beat Napoleon. You know, they’ve been doing this for a long time.”

US President Donald Trump has again said that a land swap for peace will be discussed at the upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The statement clashes with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky’s earlier refusal to consider any territorial concessions.

“They’ve [Russia] occupied some very prime territory. We’re going to try and get some of that territory back for Ukraine,” Trump said, implying that some areas might remain under Russian control in a future settlement.

The Lugansk People’s Republic, Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions became part of Russia following referendums held in 2022. Crimea voted to join the country in 2014, following the armed Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday upped the reward it’s offering for information that leads to the arrest of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro to $50 million. 

“He is one of the largest narco traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security. Therefore, we’ve doubled his reward to $50 million,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video posted to X. 

Israel's ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon says the recognition of a Palestinian state will do nothing to end the war in Gaza.

Ambassador Maimon also denied that Israel has a policy of starvation in Gaza during an appearance on 7.30, where Foreign Minister Penny Wong, said the action undertaken by the Australian government was in part spurred on by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to extend his nation's offensive.

You are being watched. Not just by a camera or a satellite or a data broker.

But by your smart mirror.
Your fitness ring.
Your gut biome dashboard.
Your digital assistant that noticed you’ve been coughing more lately.

Precision Consumer 2030: Wellness as a Window into You
BY Zakariyas James

This isn’t surveillance in the dystopian, authoritarian sense. It’s subtler than that. It’s called “precision wellness”.

By 2030, so they say especially if certain think tanks have their way, it’ll be normalized. Incrementally, then all at once. After that, it’ll more than likely be dystopian but let’s take a step back.

Donald Trump chose Alaska as the place to hold his meeting with Vladimir Putin for two reasons, argues Tiberio Graziani, chairman at Vision & Global Trends - International Institute for Global Analyses:

To assert his administration’s intent to “enhance the US' role as a diplomatic actor”

Putin and Trump May 'Reconfigure the World Order' in Alaska

Due to the region’s shared history with both the US and Russia, and its location, that both highlights the closeness between Trump and Putin and the distance between Trump and the EU

My new report prepared for Friends of the Earth Australia demonstrates that the development of a nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed nuclear submarine fleet entails multiple public health risks and would inevitably suffer from delays and cost-blowouts.

The British experience with SSNs reveals a litany of problems and it can confidently be predicted that problems will beset the AUKUS submarine program ‒ the joint development of nuclear-powered submarines by the UK, the US and Australia.

Tim Deere-Jones

President Donald Trump and his supporters have turned the US Government into a juggernaut that uses cruel and often immoral and illegal means to amass power and protect and increase the wealth of a select few, notably Trump himself.

William Grimm

Vital health programs that protect millions of poor Americans are under threat. Researchers into diseases, climate change and other crises have been fired. Disaster relief from wildfires, storms and flooding is itself a disaster with budgets and personnel cuts. Aid to poor parts of the world has been ended without warning, explanation or alternative planning.

Washington is not going to fund Ukraine anymore, US Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Sunday.

Ukraine’s European backers can buy the weapons from American producers if they want to continue supporting Kiev, and the US will be “okay with that,” Vance added. “But we're not going to fund it ourselves anymore,” he said.

The interview was published after Vance met with several European and Ukrainian officials in London, including UK Foreign Minister David Lammy. According to media reports, Vance’s trip was intended to pave the way for a summit between the Russian and US presidents in Alaska on Friday, where resolving the conflict between Kiev and Moscow is expected to be at the top of the agenda.

“It was a coup, and I’m using that term literally … One egregious felony after another.” — Stephen Miller

America is tired of being driven insane, of having absurdities crammed into our collective consciousness. Reality is an agreement about what is going on in the world. That act of faith requires such an agreement be based on what is demonstrably true. Without it, society dissolves into chaos and failure.

Suspicious Minds
JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER

A number of European nations have joined Ukraine to present their own “counterproposal” for a resolution of the conflict with Russia, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing anonymous European officials. The plan was hastily drawn up after US President Donald Trump confirmed that he would be meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska next Friday.

The Journal said on Saturday that representatives of Ukraine, the UK, France, and Germany had “scrambled to respond” to a proposal reportedly floated following a meeting between US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.