A leak has revealed new details about Dialog, a secret society started by billionaire Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel — and man, does it sound weird.

With the details of the signed Memorandum of Understanding still unclear, it does appear, for all intents and purposes, that the United States has lost the war with Iran. That means Pete Hegseth, the first Secretary of War, has lost a war.

As if the US couldn’t look more foolish, the MoU gives the US nothing it wanted when it comes to the military objectives it was pursuing in Iran.

The First Secretary of War Loses A War

MAC SLAVOSH 

President Donald Trump’s Energy Secretary has downplayed the threat of rising temperatures at a fossil fuel industry-funded event in London, even as millions in the UK, France, Spain, and Italy endure a deadly record-breaking heatwave.

Trump’s Energy Secretary Says ‘Cold Is Larger Killer’ During Record European Heatwave

Chris Wright, a former oil and gas executive, urged the UK to embrace fossil fuels at right-wing Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London.

By Adam Barnett

The United States expanded its Entity List to slow China's technological rise, expecting restrictions to weaken Chinese semiconductor ambitions. But what if those sanctions ended up accelerating something else entirely?

This [AI] video explores how export controls, blacklists, and chip restrictions may have unintentionally created demand for hundreds of Chinese suppliers that previously struggled to compete against established foreign companies.

From SMIC and YMTC to semiconductor chemicals, specialty materials, industrial equipment, and localization efforts backed by China's Big Fund, we examine whether Washington's strategy is preserving America's technological lead or encouraging China to build a more resilient industrial ecosystem.

Did America successfully slow China's progress?

Or did it simply show Beijing exactly which industries needed to be developed first?

As the EU flushes its first $3.7 billion tranche from a roughly $105 billion set to be funneled over the next two years to Ukraine, Russian Special Envoy Kirill Dmitriev offers up the hard math.

This EU “generosity” announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - along with the over $234 billion already EU-provided to Ukraine - has European pensioners tightening their belts, workers struggling with energy bills, and industries bleeding out, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund points out on X.

As Dmitriev neatly pointed out: add the ~$3.5 trillion EU self-inflicted wound from rejecting Russian gas, and suddenly every EU household is down minus roughly $19,300.

But war hawk Ursula gets her to do her victory lap.

Originating in the United States, the term "think tank" refers sometimes to a "reflection group," sometimes to a "laboratory of ideas." Here, at least, behind the scenes of parliamentary politics, they claim to be thinking. The question remains: what are they thinking about, and on whose behalf?

Qu’y a-t-il dans le crâne des think tanks ? La politique à l’américaine...

What's going on in the SHITTY PIGEON LOFTS* of think tanks? American-style politics.....

Julie Lescarmontier [CHARLIE HEBDO]

THE FOLLOWING VIDEO MAKING PREDICTION ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE IS WRONG. IT IS WRONG FOR MANY REASONS BUT THE MAIN ONE IS THAT PUTIN IS NOT AFTER AN EMPIRE, NOR ABOUT THE DEFEAT OF UKRAINE BUT ABOUT MORE SERIOUS OUTCOMES THAN CONQUEST OF THE ENTIRE UKRAINE — NOR OF EUROPE AS OFTEN IS REPORTED BY MEDIA MALIGNERS.

PROFESSOR JIANG XUEQIN MAKES THREE BASIC MISTAKES: THE TERRITORIES UNDER THE CONTROL OF RUSSIA DEMAND THAT RUSSIA CONTROLS THESE TERRITORIES NOT THE REVERSE.

PUTIN IS NOT NAPOLEON, NOR HITLER, BUT A MODERATE LEADER FIGHTING AGAINST THE ENTIRE WEST, WHICH HAS WOWED TO DESTROY RUSSIA SINCE 1917. THE AGGRESSOR IS NOT PUTIN BUT THE WEST, SO ACCORDING TO THE GAME THEORY, THE WEST WILL LOSE.

As I wake up this morning, something strange has happened. My bed is made of soft mud and grass. Quite comfortable though… But this is the least of my worries. The people who talk to me, if you can use the word talk when you hear grunts, do not make any sense… They seem more curious than friendly, they are grossly unkept — men are unshaven and women are, dare I say, ugly… 

I did not mean ugly, really. I mean they are not lookers like Hollywood stars, and one can hardly make a difference if their armpits are hairy or the bear fur — it looks like bear fur I’d say — is a tight fit under their arms. Eyebrows are definitively non-plucked. Great make up.

The air smells of organic decomposition — like my garden compost when I upturn it. There is also a fragrance of mouldy venison that could be coming from unwashed body sweat. 

I speak: “Where am I?”

It is surely one of the greatest hustles of our time – the way that podcast bros declare themselves freedom of speech warriors. Karl Stefanovic attempted this swindle on Friday, when, having been sacked from the Today show, he declared himself “free”.

When Stefanovic accepted the Logie for most popular television personality in 2011, he paid tribute to legendary political journalist Laurie Oakes.

Karl Stefanovic is free! To delete the podcast he made in the name of free speech

Jacqueline Maley

Columnist and senior journalist [SMH]

A new book examines how to deal with the complex problems caused by natural and humanitarian disasters, technological failures and geopolitical tensions.

Rarely a day passes without headlines describing national, regional or global crises. The world is disrupted by war, climatic extremes, geopolitical tensions, the risks of untamed technology, disease outbreaks, populist policy upheavals, tariffs, trade chokepoints and more.

Steve Dovers

The EU has signed on to ‘Pax Silica’, a US initiative seemingly designed to shut China and others out of the global AI supply chain and extract resources from Europe for the benefit of Washington’s military-industrial complex.

“America and Europe belong together; our histories are braided, our destiny intertwined,” US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg declared at a summit in Washington on Tuesday. “But we share more than a past. We share a purpose - to build a future that answers to our values and is worthy of our inheritance.”

Wired for War: Pax Silica is AI slavery disguised as strength

Palantir stands to emerge as the biggest winner in the US push to subjugate Europe and exclude China

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed America's proposals on Ukraine at the Alaska summit and they were accepted by the Russian side, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued that the Russian-American summit in Alaska had produced only proposals on Ukraine and not agreements.

"When my counterpart Marco Rubio says that in Alaska there were only proposals and no agreement, I have a question about what we actually mean by 'agreement.' If one side—in this case, the United States—placed its settlement proposals on the table, outlining how to approach this crisis, and the other side expressed agreement with those proposals, then to say that there was no agreement strikes me as not very elegant." Lavrov told reporters.

Community Strong Australia might not be the strongest name, and its logo less than transfixing, but Michael Pascoe reckons CSA senators are on the way.

With all eyes on One Hanson’s polling and the short-shift horserace media generally give the community independents movement, Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have launched the Community Strong Australia non-party party. It faces a tough battle to reach official minor party status, but that doesn’t mean it won’t.

The antipathy of traditional media towards the “teals” and the general conservatism of political coverage will make it hard for the unconventional party to gain much coverage, although that’s not the way community independents have succeeded anyway.

So let me get this straight. Top Iran critic, former Trump National Security Advisor, John Bolton, has successfully cut a deal on spying-related charges with the US government for $2.25 million and to have any prison time capped at five years max – after Iran got ahold of a treasure trove of top secret intelligence thanks to him? And is confident that a judge would just go along with it?

Nothing sticks to John Bolton

A spy scandal, a plea deal, and maybe no jail: Bolton’s latest escape act shows how Washington protects its most connected failures

BY Rachel Marsden