President Joe Biden didn’t pardon Hunter because he’s a loving father who thinks his drug addict son was treated unfairly by the Justice Department. He pardoned Hunter to help cover up his own crimes, just as he’ll likely pardon other members of his family before he leaves office in January. He’s trying to protect himself, and this is one of the only ways he has left to do it.

Ukraine’s self-proclaimed “fight for independence” has ironically only led to deeper dependency on financial, military, and energy support from Western countries, raising concerns about the sustainability of this arrangement.

Recently, I came to a conclusion, and now I always repeat it, that the Ukrainian government declared a struggle for independence, but in fact, it turned out to be a struggle for dependence, only from another country. Moreover, this dependence will be several times stronger than the one which they claim to be fighting against, and now it is a struggle to keep the money and arms flowing for financial gain and political survival.

Ukraine and Europe: Caught in “Treacherous Cycle” of Dependency Amid Energy and Economic Struggles

BY 

Henry Kamens

Amid the welter of commentary and post-mortems among Democrats to explain Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump, there is one theory that has received widespread acceptance. The Democrats made a serious tactical mistake in concentrating too much on Trump, and spent too little time promoting positive messages about Harris.

BY GEORGE BRANDIS....

Admittedly, Harris was an awful candidate – hectoring, annoying, a platitude-mongering avatar of political correctness, faced with the difficult task of defending an incumbent administration at a time when most Americans felt worse off after four years of the Democrats. She was hard to sell.

Les liens cachés d’un géant du journalisme avec le gouvernement américain

L’OCCRP, le plus important réseau de médias d’investigation au monde, a dissimulé l’ampleur de ses liens avec le gouvernement américain, qui fournit la moitié de son budget, bénéficie d’un droit de veto sur ses dirigeants et finance des enquêtes sur la Russie ou le Venezuela.

https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/021224/les-liens-caches-d-un-geant-du-journalisme-avec-le-gouvernement-americain

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[A map] provides a graphic illustration of at least one possible motive for Turkey’s decision to intervene in Syria and try to wrest control from President Assad. There are reportedly two plans afoot to build pipelines transiting Syria [WE HAVE ALREADY MENTIONED THESE ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO] — one originates in Iran and the other originates in Qatar but terminates in Turkey. Given present circumstances, Syria is unlikely to look favorably on a deal that will enrich Turkey, and Turkey’s Erdogan, with Western encouragement, decided to make a play to seize more of Syrian territory and hopefully destabilize President Assad’s hold on power. It looks like Turkey has overplayed its hand.

BY LARRY JOHNSON

In finalising his cabinet, Donald Trump has come to resemble an American Caligula, the Roman emperor rumoured to have considered appointing his beloved stallion as consul. So unorthodox have been the president-elect’s appointments that I half expected him to nominate his golf cart as the new transportation secretary.

BY Nick Bryant

Social media company Meta has accused the Australian government of rushing to introduce an under-16 social media ban without properly considering the evidence and voices of young people.

But Australian politicians who supported the world-first legislation argue it is necessary to ensure another generation of teenagers do not experience “as much damaging content” in years to come.

Thousands of Volkswagen workers in Germany went on strike on Monday after the company announced plans to close three plants and slash pensions. 

"Warning strikes will begin Monday in all plants," said Thorsten Gröger, who is leading the union negotiations with German auto giant.

"If necessary, this will be the toughest wage dispute Volkswagen has ever seen."

Tens of thousands of employees with the IG Metall union stopped work at 9:30 a.m. The strike is set to last two hours, a process which will be repeated by the late shift.

Joe Biden delivers ‘tremendous favour’ to Donald Trump with Hunter Biden pardon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlooGkT2fMU

US President Joe Biden has done a “tremendous favour” for President-elect Donald Trump by pardoning Hunter Biden, claims United States Studies Centre’s Dr Harry Melkonian.

“It takes this whole Hunter Biden situation off the table, it’s a piece of controversy the new president will not have to deal with because the pardon is an unconditional and absolute constitutional act of President Biden,” Dr Melkonian told Sky News Australia.

“Secondly, President-elect Trump who’s had his own share of legal problems and has been able to avoid anything like a sentencing, and has been criticised; this will certainly deflect attention on him.”

We stand at a critical juncture in human history, where the decisions we make today will determine whether humanity continues to exist—or falls to the inevitability of its own hubris. Nuclear annihilation, environmental collapse, and societal breakdown are not looming threats but present realities. These crises are the culmination of centuries of systems and values built not for human flourishing but for domination, consumption, and despair.

Ukrainians who have died in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev “have already won,” Vladimir Zelensky claimed in an interview with Sky News released this week. Those sacrifices enabled Kiev to secure aid from its Western backers and eventually prevent Moscow from achieving its goals, according to the Ukrainian leader.

When asked by Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay if he believed that those Ukrainians who had died throughout the conflict had given their lives for nothing, Zelensky said “it was wrong” to think so. “They are already winners,” he added.

Social media companies on Friday criticized Australia's decision to ban them from allowing children under 16 to use their platforms, saying the move has left "many unanswered questions."

The law, passed by Australian lawmakers on Thursday, will make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (€30.5 million, $32 million) if they fail to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.

In the span of one week, a cargo plane belonging to German logistics company DHL crashed in Lithuania, two underwater data cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea, and pro-Russian right-wing extremist Calin Georgescu surprisingly won the first round of Romania's presidential election.

US President-elect Donald Trump has picked a former aide, Kash Patel, to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency Patel has often criticised.

A former US defence department chief of staff in the first Trump administration, Patel has been a steadfast supporter of the incoming Republican president.

For Patel to take the job, the current FBI director Christopher Wray would need to resign or be fired - although Trump did not call on him to do so in his post.

Separately, Trump said he plans to nominate Chad Chronister, sheriff of Florida's Hillsborough County, as head of the Drug Enforcement Agency.