Washington: Australia’s reputation among US conservatives went from “beloved to shot” during the COVID pandemic, MAGA stalwart Steve Bannon says, but the relationship has been resuscitated under Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese.

Bannon said Australia’s geostrategic importance in the Indo-Pacific was well understood within the Trump administration, which was recognised when the US president firmly recommitted to the AUKUS submarine agreement in October.

UAE, Belarus, Bahrain join Trump's Board of Peace alongside US rivals China, Russia
Norway was invited to serve on the board as well, but refused the offer. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry did not provide an immediate explanation.

The United Arab Emirates and Belarus accepted the invitation to join US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" on Tuesday. 

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed the agreement to join on Tuesday afternoon, stating that he looked forward to becoming a "founding member" of the organization. 

Demand for survival supplies and long-lasting food products has soared in Greenland’s capital city of Nuuk, CNN reported on Monday, citing local retailers. The surge comes amid growing concerns over possible US interference on the Arctic island.

In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump has intensified his push to bring Greenland under Washington’s control, which he has pursued since his first term. He argues the move is vital for US national security to counter Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic – a claim rejected by both Beijing and Moscow.

Tensions escalated further last week after Trump vowed to impose an additional 10% tariff in February on US trading partners in Europe that refuse to back his push to acquire the Arctic island. He also said the tariffs would rise to 25% in June and remain in place until a “complete and total purchase.”

Global ice is melting fast, with major sea level rise and extreme heat locked in unless emissions fall sharply. The window to act is closing.

Having just achieved the hottest three years in recorded history, humans are well on the way to returning the planet to the ice-free state it experienced when dinosaurs last ruled.

Julian Cribb

Denmark has sent additional troops to Greenland after US President Donald Trump threatened European countries with tariffs unless he is allowed to purchase the self-governing Arctic island.

Trump has long sought to acquire Greenland from Denmark, citing national security concerns and the need to deter the influence of Russia and China in the region. European NATO members have rallied in support of Copenhagen, which has rejected Trump’s offer.

A new batch of Danish soldiers landed in Greenland on Monday. Major General Soren Andersen, commander of Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command in Greenland, told local media that at least 100 troops were stationed in the island’s capital Nuuk, with another 100 deployed to Kangerlussuaq.

Western European leaders are exchanging messages in a group chat to coordinate a response to US President Donald Trump’s “wild” foreign policy, Politico reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Dubbed the ‘Washington Group’, the chat reportedly includes leaders from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, and the EU.

Over the past year, they have established a routine of texting whenever Trump does “something wild and potentially damaging,” the outlet said.

“When things start moving quickly, it’s hard to do the coordination, and this group [chat] is really effective,” a person familiar with the matter told Politico. “It tells you a lot about the personal relationships and how they matter.”

Across the West, economic dislocation and demographic change have triggered a demand for strong leaders. This surge of populism is more than an emotional backlash; it encourages a political structure that threatens liberal democracy. While populism accepts principles of popular sovereignty and majoritarianism, it is skeptical about constitutionalism and liberal protections for individuals.

The Populist Challenge to Liberal Democracy

William A. Galston

April 2018

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned Democrats on Monday against moderating their economic agenda to cater to the demands of wealthy donors ahead of the 2026 and 2028 election cycles.

Instead, Warren said during a speech at the National Press Club, Democrats should embrace “full-throated, economic populist ideas” and reject the idea that the Democratic party lost in 2024 because its platform was “too progressive.”

The high-powered folks of Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Washington, according to Warren, “want the Democratic Party to respond to the 2024 losses by watering down our economic agenda and sucking up to the rich and powerful, claiming that a less progressive Democratic Party will win more elections.”

Trump’s Washington runs on proximity, power and unpredictability. Australia’s next ambassador must be chosen for clarity, skill and seriousness.

Whoever Anthony Albanese appoints to replace Kevin Rudd as Australia’s ambassador to the US is likely to have a tough task explaining to the White House why Australia stands with Europe to resist Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland.

James Curran

The EU leaders have held an emergency meeting over Trump’s tariffs threat over Greenland. After the meeting was concluded the EU officials have stated that the EU would respond with tariffs of their own and some have even suggested the Anti-Coercion Instrument, a tool which hasn’t been used before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIa8DO-9WyE

Just like during all the recent Iran protests, the language used by Western politicians and media follows a familiar script: “freedom,” “democracy,” and “support for the protesters” is what Europe and the US present as their priorities. Washington and London present themselves as moral actors, standing on the side of the protesters against an oppressive state. 

They don’t care if you die: How Iran’s protests became a bargaining chip for oil and power
The story of the 1953 Iran coup that cost Washington less than $100,000, took just six days, and left hundreds of Iranians dead while reshaping the Middle East for decades.....

By Elizaveta Naumova

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has launched a fresh critique of German work ethic, questioning why employees take an average of “almost three weeks” of sick leave annually instead of working harder to boost the country’s dwindling economy.

Campaigning in Baden-Württemberg last week, Merz took aim at the system of telephone sick notes, introduced during the coronavirus pandemic, wondering “does it still make sense today?”

Paul Ritter was born in Prague on 6 April 1925 to Jewish parents Carl Ritter and Elsa (née Schnabel).[3] In 1939, at the age of 13, Ritter was evacuated from Czechoslovakia to England via the Kindertransport.

You can always tell how murderous the U.S. empire is being from day to day from the expression on warmongering senator Lindsey Graham’s face, and right now he looks like he just found his mother dead in the bathtub.

Caitlin Johnstone: Just Read Lindsey Graham’s Face

Lindsey Graham’s long face is encouraging. Maybe war with Iran really has been put off for the time being.