From the very first minutes, the anniversary celebrant stunned our editorial delegation with an unexpected confession:

– July 10, 1926, that’s the date of my birth as recorded in my birth certificate. But in the church registry book, a record was preserved that I was born on July 25, 1925. So I was born twice (laughs).

– So you’re actually not 100, but 101?!

– Yes, 101. Both dates were celebrated by the whole village in my hometown.

President of the Association of Russian Diplomats and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Pogos Akopov: “Today the entire developing world is with us”

BY Ksenia Muratshina

Palestinians in the West Bank village of Madama say they fear further violence after Israeli MP Zvi Sukkot smashed a local memorial with a sledgehammer as IDF soldiers stood by. The military later insisted the incident was neither authorized nor anticipated.

A far-right lawmaker known for confrontations with Palestinians and a member of the ultranationalist Religious Zionist party, Sukkot traveled to Madama, south of the city of Nablus, on Tuesday, ostensibly for a tour.

The other night, I watched a documentary called Coup 53, a brilliant treatment of the Anglo–American operation that deposed Mohammad Mossadegh as prime minister of Iran in the year the film notes in its title. 

Taghi Amirani, the director, has produced a superb piece of work, narrated in part by the estimable Steve Kinzer. Aug. 19 marked the 73rd anniversary of Operation Ajax, as M.I.6 and the C.I.A. named their covert assault on Iran’s first democratically elected government. 

Patrick Lawrence: The US Seeing Itself & Others as They Are

Imagine the consequences for the empire’s managers were Americans to understand others and have some grasp of how they look upon the world.

The US-Canada trade war is reaching the bathroom, with tariffs on paper products threatening to push up prices for toilet paper and other everyday essentials for Americans.

Trade talks between the two neighbors collapsed last Friday, with both sides accusing the other of making last-minute changes to a proposed comprehensive deal. US President Donald Trump immediately imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, including wine, cement, plywood, and clothing. Not to be outdone, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to respond “dollar for dollar,” with Ottawa announcing duties of up to 50% on around 700 American products on Tuesday.

The US military has just announced that it has carried out two more murders on the high seas near South America. This now brings the military’s high-seas murders to more than 200 people.

Mind you, in its announcement, the military did not use the term “murder.” The announcement stated that the military is simply enforcing the US drug war. But make no mistake about it: What the military is doing is engaging in state-sponsored murder, which is ordinarily a felony offense.

More Military Murders on the High Seas

by Jacob G. Hornberger

Beijing — When US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled “Operation Economic Outcast,” threatening damaging new sanctions on countries that refuse to stop doing business with Iran, he didn’t name the one country that could decide its success or failure: China.

Israel will continue building illegal settlements in the West Bank in preparation for a “major” wave of Jewish immigration, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Israel’s most recent settlement expansion triggered rebukes from its Arab neighbors and Western partners.

“Today, many of our brothers and sisters around the world understand: This is our land and it will remain ours,”Netanyahu said in Jerusalem on Tuesday. “And when I say our land, every Jewish man and every Jewish woman, the door is open. We are waiting for you. We are preparing the door for major Aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel).” 

The US national debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, reaching the milestone months earlier than expected as Washington’s borrowing accelerates amid persistent deficits, rising interest costs, and military spending.

The debt was expected to reach the milestone next year, but it has jumped by $1 trillion since March. For comparison, it took nearly 200 years for total US debt to reach $1 trillion for the first time, in 1981.

Treasury Department figures released Wednesday showed total outstanding debt reaching about $40.05 trillion, equivalent to roughly $119,000 for every person in the country or more than $366,000 per federal taxpayer. The debt has doubled since January 2017, when it stood at roughly $20 trillion.

The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has travelled to Moscow for unannounced talks, the BBC's US news partner CBS has reported.

John Ratcliffe reportedly arrived in the Russian capital earlier on Tuesday. Neither Washington or Moscow have confirmed the nature of the visit or who he was due to meet.

In-person talks between high-level American and Russian officials are rare.

Flight tracking data confirmed a large US military aircraft travelled to Russia from the US via Latvia on Tuesday. It departed later on Tuesday.

Behind a glass display case at a resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is a locked box.

Inside it sits a recording of an unreleased Dolly Parton song.

The tune has been kept secret since 2015, when Parton opened the resort as part of her eponymous theme park, Dollywood.

The idea was that nobody would hear it until the country music legend's 100th birthday, more than 30 years later.

"I don't know if I want to live to be 100 or not. But you never know. I might," she joked.

"And if I do, I'm going to be at that opening."

Moscow has mocked a German journalist’s claim that a Russian missile strike near Kiev the day before German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul visited the Ukrainian capital amounted to a “clear affront” to Berlin.

The strike reportedly near Borispol airport – some 40 km to the east of central Kiev – destroyed dozens of trucks that had been converted into concealed launch platforms for long-range drones, as revealed by images of the aftermath released by the Ukrainian authorities, which were later scrubbed from official accounts.

When asked about Welt correspondent Christoph Wanner’s claim that the strike had crossed a certain diplomatic threshold, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Izvestia on Tuesday that Germany “gets insulted on a regular basis.”

Much of Australia’s lobbying industry remains hidden from public view, with new research exposing major gaps in the federal register and calls for stronger transparency.

Lobbyists may not all be “nocturnal creatures”, as former Coalition minister turned lobbyist Christopher Pyne says, but ABC Four Corners this week exposed their privileged access and new research reveals how much of Australia’s lobbying remains hidden from public view.

Christian Slattery

The head of the Vatican’s diplomatic service, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, is visiting Moscow from August 24-28. 

This visit is part of the Holy See’s diplomatic efforts on humanitarian issues and the discussion of ways to resolve the Ukraine conflict. This is reflected in the fact that the Vatican, together with the authorities of several states, including Bulgaria, Hungary, and Italy recently contributed to keeping Patriarch Kirill off the latest EU sanctions list.

Vatican envoy in Moscow: Why does the Holy See want a seat at the Ukraine talks table?

The Pope is expanding Vatican diplomacy over Ukraine as the Holy See seeks a place in peace talks while protecting its finances and reaching out to Moscow

BY Ksenia Smertina

Ted Cruz Has A LOT Of Explaining To Do!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAgWaJ2EL8Q

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….