John Bolton makes prediction for Ukraine conflict

Biden has “made mistake after mistake” in handling the crisis, the hawkish Republican and former US national security adviser says.

US President Joe Biden had failed to deter the Russian offensive in Ukraine and now has no idea what to do with the ongoing conflict, former US national security adviser John Bolton has said. Bolton also claimed that a deal between Moscow and Kiev seems to be unlikely at the moment.

The Republican politician, who is a staunch critic of Russia and one of the most hawkish figures on the American political scene, appeared on CBS on Saturday, claiming that Biden had “made mistake after mistake” in handling the Ukrainian crisis.

Western arms supplied to Ukraine offered on darknet – RT investigation

RT’s journalists were able to swiftly agree the purchase of a US-made Phoenix Ghost kamikaze drone

The lavish deliveries of ‘lethal aid’ from the US, UK and other NATO countries to Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia have led to marketplaces where some of those weapons can be purchased popping up on the dark web, RT Russian has learned.

The Ukrainian traders claim to offer not just small arms or body armor there, but also such sophisticated hardware as Javelin and NLAW anti-tank systems or Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade explosive drones.

Author and law professor Maurice Stucke explains why the practices of Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple are so dangerous and what’s really required to rein them in. Hint: Current proposals are unlikely to work. 

Google. Amazon. Facebook. Apple. We live within the digital worlds they have created, and increasingly there’s little chance of escape. They know our personalities. They record whether we are impulsive or prone to anxiety. They understand how we respond to sad stories and violent images. And they use this power, which comes from the relentless mining of our personal data all day, every day, to manipulate and addict us. 

BY Lynn Parramore

Fourth of July celebration canceled over deadly police shooting

Police officers in the US city of Akron fired almost 100 rounds at a black man during a chase earlier this week

The American city of Akron, Ohio, has canceled its Independence Day celebrations following a high-profile police shooting earlier this week, which saw several officers firing almost a hundred of rounds at a young black man they were chasing. The man died after more than 60 rounds struck his body.

THE Play-House is an Inchanted

Island, where nothing appears

in Reality what it is, nor what it

should be. 'Tis frequented by Persons

of all Degrees and Qualities

whatsoever, that have a great deal of

Idle Time lying upon their Hands,

and can't tell how to employ it worser.

Here Lords come to Laugh, and

to be Laugh'd at for being there, and

seeing their Qualities ridicul'd by every

Triobolary Poet. Knights come

hither to learn the Amorous Smirk,

the Ala mode Grin, the Antick Bow,

the Newest-Fashion'd Cringe, and how

Emmanuel Macron and Anthony Albanese have formally reset relations between their countries, with the French president saying Australia’s new prime minister was not to blame for the submarine row.

The two leaders shared a warm public exchange in the courtyard of the French presidential palace, along with their partners, in what Mr Albanese said was a “new start”.

The relationship repair came nine months after former Prime Minister Scott Morrison infuriated the French by scrapping a $90 billion submarine deal with France’s Naval Group to pursue the AUKUS security alliance.

Mr Macron publicly accused Mr Morrison of lying about the contract after France was blindsided by Australia’s decision to buy UK or US nuclear-powered subs.

Above: Lawrence's portrait of Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (cropped).

As West blames Moscow for 'food crisis', ships sail from Mariupol with Moscow's help while Ukraine holds vessels in its ports

Western media and state officials keep blaming Russia for the ‘food crisis,’ but Moscow is trying to reopen Ukrainian and Donbass ports

Without much notice in the West, on June 21, the first foreign ship departed from the Port of Mariupol since Ukrainian and foreign mercenary forces were fully forced out of the Donbass city a month prior. Escorted by Russian naval boats, the vessel’s departure set the precedent for a resumption of normal port activity to and from Mariupol.

By Eva Bartlett

The Labor government has yet to say how it’ll “fix” the NBN, while the other telco giants are variously courting and badgering the ACCC about the use of mobile spectrum. It’s the game that never ends in the land of Australian telecommunications, reports Kim Wingerei.

In the time-honoured tradition of corporations, when the economics of their market-driven business model doesn’t quite work, they run to government for help. In this case, it is Telstra and TPG which want to increase their joint use of mobile phone spectrum for mutual benefit.

TPG claims it will be truly wonderful for consumers who will be getting “higher service quality, better coverage, more choice and faster access to 5G for customers in regional areas.“

It is unclear how Telstra’s alleged share of the spoils to the tune of $1.8 billion, will equally be to consumers’ benefit.

Increasingly, it seems, Americans have an anger problem. All too many of us now have the urge to use name-calling, violent social-media posts, threats, baseball bats, and guns to do what we once did with persuasion and voting. For example, during the year after Donald Trump entered the Oval Office, threats of violence or even death against lawmakers of both parties increased more than fourfold.

Erich Kästner, the great critic, humanist, and antimilitarist, once said, “You must never sink so low as to drink from the cocoa you are being dragged through.” As the German government seeks to sweeten the €100 billion in special debt it plans to take on for ad hoc rearmament — changing the constitution to this end — it’s worth taking a critical look at the “cocoa” it’s ladling over us.

US Markets Lost up to 30% This Year Amid Soaring Inflation, Fuel Prices, Sanctions Backlash

The global economy started facing troubles during the coronavirus pandemic recovery, with countries reporting soaring inflation in November 2021. Woes exacerbated in 2022, with growing oil, gas and fuel prices, and were further worsened by the economic aftershock of anti-Russia sanctions.

The first half of 2022 was hardly a rally for investors, as global markets recorded drops not seen in over half a century.

This year’s G7 leaders' summit in Germany was described as a great disappointment by Politico, which compared the meeting's results to Swiss cheese due to “gaping holes”. Even the first spouses mostly ignored it, showing the irrelevance of the meeting, it argued.

Britain’s military knew that fighters from an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization were benefiting from the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, but continued to support NATO airstrikes in Libya for another two months.

The revelation raises serious questions about British foreign policy and whether the U.K.’s then Prime Minister David Cameron misled Parliament. 

In early September 2011, Cameron updated the House of Commons about the situation in Libya, telling MPs: 

“This revolution was not about extreme Islamism; Al-Qaeda played no part in it.”

Australian journalists are at war with their audience and the audience says 'enough'!

ONE OF THE ODD revelations from Dr Tim Dunlop’s recent article surveying certain prominent Australian journalists on public dissatisfaction was how little people in the media understand their audiences.

But not only that, how little they respect – especially when it comes to Twitter − their readers' understanding, knowledge and potential expertise.