Tuesday 21st of April 2026

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the rise of the self-appointed victims....

The swell in support seemed to happen "from 2008 - and particularly in 2011, when the banking crisis turned into a sovereign debt crisis", he said.
It was a rare occasion when an elite class - the wealthy bankers - could be identified as more or less directly responsible for a crisis which affected the majority of society.
'I am the people'
In his book The Global Rise of Populism, Dr Moffitt argues that there are other traits associated with the typical populist leader.
One is "bad manners", or behaving in a way that's not typical of politicians - a tactic employed by President Trump and the Philippines' President Duterte.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-43301423?ysclid=mo7nud3n4f587891003

 

defence procurement for a white elephant....

Defence is supposed to provide ‘cradle to grave’ costings for proposed capability before a procurement is approved. That doesn’t seem to have happened for AUKUS nuclear waste storage and disposal. Transparency Warrior Rex Patrick is pursuing answers.

A simple request

Imagine for a moment that you were the defence minister, and knowing that all defence capabilities must be costed from cradle to grave, you asked the Australian Submarine Agency for the latest cost estimates for a solution for the treatment and storage of high-level radioactive waste from AUKUS.

You’d expect that it might take a day or two to get the message to Defence and to get a response back to the ministerial wing of Parliament House.

poisoned chalice and vanity of power....

 

US Vice President J.D. Vance faces a classic bind: Loyalty to President Donald Trump ties him to a presidency that is bound to fail, yet distancing himself invites charges of disloyalty. Either course imperils his prospects of becoming the next president. His latest assignment as chief negotiator with Iran has only compounded this predicament.

 

Prof. Schlevogt’s Compass No. 54: Vance’s VP dilemma – the poisoned chalice and taint of power

Trapped between loyalty and survival, Vance must escape Donald Trump’s design or risk becoming the face of its failure

breaking the information blockade.......

 

Despite US efforts to suppress Iranian perspectives since 2021, Iran has challenged Washington’s information blockade by using innovative communication tactics to present its narrative worldwide during the ongoing conflict.

 

LEGO – Style Revolution: How Iran Broke Out of an Information Blockade

BY Simon Chege Ndiritu

 

Washington’s Policy: Bombing, Insulting, and Threatening

the arse of the deal.....

Of all Donald Trump’s instincts, perhaps his keenest is leverage. He knows how to use the power gifted to him – whether it be America’s economic size or military strength – to heap pressure on friends and adversaries.

The military campaign in Iran has been about maximising leverage ahead of a deal: essentially, bombing them into submission, and then negotiating with whoever’s left.

 

Talks, ceasefire in peril as Trump grapples with Iran’s new sheriffs in town

bird brains, one notion and the gifts of aussie values.....

Pauline Hanson is different, she claims, because of her “resilience”, “integrity” and “honesty”.

“This country is ready for change, they’re fed up with the two major political parties,” she told Andrew Bolt on Sky News last year. “They don’t trust the politicians. They’re sick of the lies, they have had enough of everything.

 

Pauline Hanson keeps forgetting to declare gifts from Gina Rinehart. Please explain

BY Sarah Martin

 

“They want someone who is going to be upfront and honest with them and I have always been that.”

"no more mr. nice guy" said the devil....

The US negotiating team is heading to Pakistan for the next round of Iran peace talks on Monday, President Donald Trump has announced, while renewing his threat to strike Iran’s infrastructure if no deal is reached.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump accused Tehran of violating the temporary ceasefire – set to expire on Wednesday – with reported attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz amid a renewed blockade of the waterway.

“Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz – a total violation of our ceasefire agreement! That wasn’t nice, was it?” he wrote, claiming French and British vessels were targeted. Before declaring that his “Representatives are going to Islamabad…for negotiations.”

a monument to an ageing strategic imagination.....

 

As warfare shifts decisively toward autonomous and distributed systems, Australia’s massive investment in nuclear submarines risks locking in a costly and inflexible strategy.

Richard Marles gave a polished performance at the National Press Club. Smooth, confident, practised. He spoke about drones, autonomy and the changing character of war. He sounded modern. But beneath the language of innovation sat an older and much heavier reality: Australia is still tying itself to one of the slowest, most expensive and least adaptable military projects in its history.

That is the contradiction at the heart of AUKUS.

rethinking australia’s foreign policy....

 

P&I today begins a major new series - rethinking Australia’s foreign policy. The United States is becoming more erratic and less reliable, and Australia must respond by insulating itself – strengthening regional ties, rethinking defence settings, and reducing strategic dependence, according to John Menadue. 

 

John Menadue

Plan B: insulating ourselves from the US

 

Trump and Netanyahu are the most dangerous persons on the planet. US policy in the Middle East is not driven by oil. It is driven by Netanyahu. And allies in the Gulf are paying a very heavy price for allowing US bases on their soil. The same fate might be ours with northern Australia becoming a US military colony.

good but can do better....

The Greens need to get out of their own bubble and do some very serious soul searching if they are ever to have broad appeal, argues a co-founder of the Queensland and Australian Greens, Drew Hutton.

 

Drew Hutton

How the Greens could win 25 per cent of the vote

 

sydney uni's pressure to silence israel critics.....

University of Sydney’s appointment of pro-Israel academic Michael Abrahams-Sprod as antisemitism adviser has exposed management to an embarrassing conflict in its approach to freedom of expression. Wendy Bacon reports.

 

Antisemitism or anti-Zionism? Sydney Uni pressure to silence Israel, apartheid critics

by 

 

closed again.....

TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz from Saturday evening until the United States completely lifts its naval blockade, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy Command said on Saturday.

"As a result of the violation of the ceasefire regime, the Strait of Hormuz will be closed from the evening of today [Saturday], until the US lifts the naval blockade," the IRGC Navy said, as quoted by Iran's state-run IRIB broadcaster.

The IRGC also warned of strikes on any vessels that attempt to approach the waterway, which will be considered as "cooperation with the enemy [the US]."

the anti-trump missionary preaches against exploitation....

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday downplayed his feud with US President Donald Trump over the Iran war, saying his remarks have been misinterpreted.

conflict of interests for the alleged corrupt son-in-law....

 

The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee on Friday morning announced a “sweeping” probe into alleged self-enrichment by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump who has served as a high-profile White House envoy in the Middle East while also, according to Congressman Jamie Raskin, “soliciting billions of dollars from Gulf monarchies for [his] private business ventures.”

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