You’ve heard many tributes to Helen Haines. You’re about to hear many more. Don’t be fooled. Australia is on the brink of missing the moment. If so, nothing significant will change. We’d not be returning to business as usual. We’d be descending into violence as foretold.

Anthony Albanese must call Angus Taylor stat, and here’s what he must say

BY Peter Hartcher/SMH

What we’ve heard about so far today — and will continue to hear about — is not a collection of separate problems. It’s all one problem: the deep state of the world is trying to consolidate the entire world into a one-world government and has developed many different mechanisms of control to achieve that end. A major part of that initiative is to cause all our institutions to fail us. 

Deep State of the World

BY MERYL NASS

What you’ve heard about the fundamental problems in education, healthcare, agriculture, government regulation, the news media, censorship, and propaganda is all part of that same agenda, in my view.

A number of American lawmakers intend to block the Trump administration’s deal to ease sanctions on Russian diesel through April and are threatening action against US companies involved in the trade. The bipartisan group is also planning to block the US Treasury from issuing such a waiver in the future. 

US President Donald Trump announced the deal earlier this month, as US diesel prices hit a record $6.50+ per gallon in September and prices in parts of California topped $8. Under the waiver, struck just weeks ahead of the impending November midterm elections, Moscow agreed to immediately put 300,000 tons of diesel into the market, and commit to further releases.  

Over the past week, mass protests and strikes have spread across Europe and internationally. In France, more than half a million people marched on October 17, as “yellow vests” protesting fuel prices joined high school students who have blockaded their schools for a month. On Wednesday, students, teachers and doctors marched in some 50 Greek cities. Protesters clashed with police in Milan, workers marched in Lisbon and Porto, Albanian students clashed with police, and Serbian students marched on Belgrade.

The global rebellion of youth and workers and the war frenzy of the ruling class

BY WSWS Editorial Board

Students and workers also took to the streets in Chile, India and Mexico. In Canada, over 9,000 autoworkers voted by 97 percent to authorize a strike against Stellantis.

The main theme of the Russia-Ukraine conflict this year has been the so-called ‘war of cities’, characterized by mutual strategic strikes on targets in the rear. In the first half of the year, Kiev had managed to bolster its strike capabilities and even attempted to pressure Moscow into accepting its terms for a ceasefire.

What’s on Russia’s target list – and why?

From ammunition depots to digital infrastructure, a closer look at Moscow’s expanding air campaign against Ukraine

BY Sergey Poletaev

FULL: 'Double Standards...': John Laughland Uncovers Shocking EU Lies On Russia War | NDTV World

John Laughland exposes how European leaders push contradictory war propaganda while turning diplomacy into pure coercion against Russia.

European Narrative Paradox: Political analyst John Laughland points out the logical impossibility pushed by European leadership—claiming Russia is losing in Ukraine while simultaneously asserting Russia will invade Europe.
Failure of Diplomacy: Laughland asserts that diplomacy with Europe is currently impossible because European states treat diplomacy not as an avenue for peace, but as coercion by other means.
Cognitive Dissonance in Foreign Policy: The address highlights how Western institutions have abandoned strategic realism and factual analysis in favor of moral dogmatism and forced compliance.

"Being the ambassador to Russia was probably the hardest assignment of my career," Lynne Tracy, who represented the US in Moscow from 2023 to 2025, tells the BBC.

US, UK and European diplomats once played a crucial role in Russia, defusing tensions even at the worst moments of the Cold War.

Surveillance and 'constant paranoia': Western diplomats tell BBC of life in war-time Moscow

BY Liza Fokht

Russia remains ready to negotiate a lasting settlement in Ukraine but will achieve its objectives regardless, Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalist Pavel Zarubin on Thursday. He also outright rejected “schizophrenic” claims in Western media that Moscow could be seeking a war with Europe.

Putin’s comments followed nearly three hours of talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. Witkoff brought new peace talk proposals following his own discussions with Vladimir Zelensky, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s Chief of Staff Bjoern Siebert, and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Oslo.

One Nation wants to restart native forest logging in Victoria, but decades of losses, shrinking timber supply and a $402 million legal claim show why the industry ended.

One Nation has released its policy to bring back native forest logging in Victoria. The numbers don’t support it.

Years of financial losses, not politics, had already put Victoria’s native forest logging industry in trouble.

David Lindenmayer

Senator John Kennedy’s pointed question to a top Marine official, “Who do we want to win that war?”, has drawn attention amid President Donald Trump’s changing stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The exchange has renewed focus on America’s position in the war, its support for Ukraine, and the administration’s approach toward Russia. The hearing is attracting attention across political and social media discussions.

‘WHO DO WE WANT TO WIN?’: Kennedy’s Question Goes Viral Amid Trump’s Changing Russia Stance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i148xZKMqgk

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I don’t really fit in with any group. Too woo-woo spiritual for the Marxists. Too angry for the Buddhists. Too political for the nondualists. Too much of a liberal-hating commie for the witches. Too radical for the socdems or demsocs. Too grown up for the anarchists.

I Love You Guys

I don’t know what kind of future we’re moving into — could be very, very bad, could be very, very good. But I’m glad we’re moving into it together.

BY Caitlin Johnstone

Framing the Pacific as a permanent contest with China overstates the symmetry between the two powers, underestimates Pacific agency and risks producing the very outcome Australia fears.

In June 2024 Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the ABC that Australia had lost the chance to be the Pacific’s “only partner of choice”. According to Wong, Australia was therefore locked in a “state of permanent contest” in the region.

As diplomacy resumes, a proposed settlement would combine Ukrainian neutrality and EU membership with an armistice line, limits on NATO enlargement and a new European security framework.

The war in Ukraine can be ended permanently on terms that protect Ukraine’s statehood, meet Russia’s security concerns, and lay the foundation for a durable European security order.

Jeffrey D. Sachs

A huge global survey found Israel is the least popular country on Earth, following its genocide in Gaza. Another poll shows 67% in dozens of countries oppose Israel. Even 62% of Americans dislike it.

Ben Norton PopularResistance.org

Comprehensive global polls show Israel is now the most unpopular country on Earth, following its thoroughly documented genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.