Germany’s economy will shrink this year as part of a wider eurozone slowdown triggered by higher inflation and the dampening impact of rising interest rates, the European Commission has said.

In its interim quarterly update, the commission said Europe’s powerhouse economy would be the worst-affected major country in the 20-nation single currency bloc and would record a 0.4% contraction in 2023.

Marise Payne’s tenure as Australia’s Foreign Minister was rightly marked with criticism. Australia’s international and strategic interests went backwards during her time. But was she really Australia’s worst Foreign Minister as some commentators assert? It’s important to consider the root cause of the damage done to Australia’s national interests: the belligerent interference and harm done by Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton.

 

By Gregory Andrews

 

Preparations for the United States to launch a war against China are far more advanced than many people realise. And when you look at just how much work has been done, it no longer looks like a matter of “if”, but more of a question of “when”.

Quietly, the United States has gone through a multi-step preparation process in Asia.

 

Here’s what the U.S. is doing to prepare for war in Asia     By Phill Hynes

 

First, frame China as the problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwNt4uyK7aw

Zelensky "Offensive started too late" & Black Sea War Games w/Larry Johnson fmr CIA

 

--------------------

 

On 2 February 1943, the surrender of Field Marshall Friedrich Paulus to the Russians at Stalingrad was the turning point of World War II. After that, the Germans never advanced further east and, after the Battle of Kursk, were driven all the way back to Berlin.

For the sake of America, Ukraine, Russia, and the world — we need immediate diplomacy, not reckless commitments to prolong the war in Ukraine forever.

That's why, in the Maine Senate today, I called out the propaganda of the corporate media and the Washington war machine.

Senator DROPS Ukraine TRUTH BOMBS In HISTORIC SPEECH

Sen. Eric Brakey 

@SenatorBrakey

Mar 10

  

————————————

 

BY GUS LEONISKY:

 

TO BE A RULER OF THE WORLD, IGNORANCE (OR DISTORTION THEREOF) OF HISTORY IS A PREREQUISITE.

SECOND, THE WILL FOR DOMINATION IS ESSENTIAL.

Switzerland: A proxy state, predatory, bank of the Anglo-Saxon comprador oligarchy

"There are people with whom we must never be reconciled, traitors and deceivers". (Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles; 1750)

 

by Amar Djerrad

 

During our youth, the pronunciation of the word "Switzerland" brings us back to small fresh cheese, but also to the word "bank" from hearing stories of stolen money hidden in "Switzerland"!

THE ORIGINAL CARTOON PUBLISHED IN 1911, ABOUT AN INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW, HAS BEEN MODIFIED BY GUS TO MODERN STANDARDS.... IT WAS NOT SO MUCH ABOUT WHICH TYPE OF PROPULSION TO REPLACE HORSES, BUT ABOUT ANNOYING MECHANICAL TROUBLES AS THE SALESMAN WAS UNDER THE CAR FIXING SOMETHING GONE WRONG, PUZZLING THE FARMER WHY A COUPLE OF LEGS WERE PROPPING FROM UNDER THE VEHICLE.... BUT THE FLAGS ARE TELLING ABOUT THE ALREADY FIERCE COMPETITION BETWEEN CAR MAKERS: ENGLAND, AMERICA, JAPAN, FRANCE, ETC....

BUT AS WE KNOW, DESPITE THE OIL BARONS, THERE WERE CAR MAKERS TRYING TO SELL ELECTRIC CARS AND STEAM ENGINE CARS (STANLEY'S IN THE USA). NOWADAYS, THE ELECTRIC CARS HAVE BECOME MORE PREVALENT AND THE FRENCH ARE FUMING ABOUT CHINESE ELECTRIC CARS EXPORT....

The campaign to sink the Voice has instructed volunteers to use fear and doubt rather than facts to trump arguments used by the Yes camp.

In an online training session, the national campaigning chief for leading No activist group Advance, Chris Inglis, detailed the anti-Voice movement’s core strategy of playing on voters’ emotions.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-campaign-s-fear-doubt-strategy-revealed-20230910-p5e3fu.html

 

 

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW..............

Vladimir Putin’s warmongering* land grab has pushed European Union leaders to make their own plans to expand. Moves are now under way to bring as many as eight new members into the 27-country bloc. 

But the historic drive for enlargement poses its own risks for the EU. 

Adding new states — potentially including the agricultural powerhouse of Ukraine — would open a Pandora’s Box of challenges. Sweeping internal reforms would be required, and that would likely trigger years of toxic infighting between current EU members. 

https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-vladimir-putin-more-land-eu-enlargement-growth/

 

President Joe Biden has denied that the US is attempting to stem China's international influence, after signing a new historic deal with Vietnam. 

More than 50 years since the last American soldier left Vietnam, Mr Biden travelled to Hanoi to sign the agreement that will bring the former foes closer than ever before.

State-owned Forestry Corporation’s latest effort to start logging Oakes State Forest is threatening the NSW Government’s promised Great Koala National Park. It’s attracting local consternation and global condemnation, Sue Arnold reports.

Gigantic logging trucks and bulldozers tearing down trees, big old growth giants, fauna habitats, destroying endangered flora as the operation tramples everything in its path. All witnessed by devastated, angry people, desperate to end the annihilation.

Indigenous leader Marcia Langton says a no vote in the referendum would be “a mandate to cause us even further harm” while raising fears about setbacks to reconciliation.

Rejecting claims the consultation body would divide the nation, Prof Langton, the author of an influential co-design report suggesting a model for the voice, said the exact details of the Indigenous committee would have to be set by the parliament, including politicians opposed to the body, such as the opposition leader, Peter Dutton.

At a political fundraiser in Utah on 10 August, U.S. President Joe Biden described China’s economy as a “ticking time bomb”, adding that “That’s not good because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things”. It’s not only an unusually undiplomatic comment, but an unfair one that borders on the ridiculous. 

 

By Colin Mackerras

 

Journalists from other countries were not allowed to attend the press conference of French President Emmanuel Macron in New Delhi. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the decision was taken to protect freedom of speech. The French government has not commented on the decision.

The decision was made to protect the freedom of the press, according to the Russian foreign ministry. The issue was raised in a meeting of the Union of Journalists of Russia (UJ) in Moscow. The UJ said the decision to not allow journalists to attend was taken on behalf of the French government.

Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia (UJR) Vladimir Solovyov commented in an interview with RT on the message about the non-admission of journalists to Macron's conference.Solovyov called this case "extremely unpleasant."

By now, it’s clear to almost everyone that the West versus East policy train wreck we are witnessing is as much about personalities and warped ideals as it is about hard truths, reality, or anything quantifiable. The Western world is a broken rollercoaster of paid or converted geopolitical psychopaths. Here are some of the latest churnings from the Washington asylum, with my comments.

 

BY Phil Butler