Thanks to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, we indeed seem to be rushing headlong into a major war—possibly a World War Three, possibly the world’s first (and perhaps last) nuclear war. Ukraine leadership and their Western backers seem hell-bent on fighting to the last man, and Vladimir Putin, as an old-school Cold Warrior, seems equally determined to press ahead until achieving “victory.”

'This is just a lie': How Jeff Bezos' Washington Post twisted a report about Donbass refugees to fit its narrative

 The American newspaper disregarded the testimonies of volunteers to support its consistently anti-Russian stance

Last week, the Washington Post published an extensive article titled ‘Ukrainian refugees in Russia report interrogations, detention and other abuses’. 

Bias against Russia is nothing new for the newspaper, owned by the oligarch Jeff Bezos. However, this particular story – authored by its former Moscow bureau chief Michael Birnbaum and reporter Mary Ilyushina (known as Maria when she worked in Russian domestic media) – appears to have gone even further than its usual [shitty] output.

Two years in, the Labour leader’s war on the left has shifted to ideological tests that even Pope Francis and Amnesty International would fail

Middle East Eye – 16 May 2022

The local authority election results earlier this month in the UK were as bleak as expected for Boris Johnson’s government, with the electorate ready to punish the ruling party both for its glaring corruption and rocketing high-street prices.

BY Jonathan Cook

According to UN torture expert, the UK and US have colluded to publicly destroy the WikiLeaks founder – and deter others from exposing their crimes

Middle East Eye – 4 May 2022

The British home secretary, Priti Patel, will decide this month whether Julian Assange is to be extradited to the United States, where he faces a sentence of up to 175 years – served most likely in strict, 24-hour isolation in a US super-max jail.

He has already spent three years in similarly harsh conditions in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison. 

A Ukrainian officer who at one point commanded the notorious neo-Nazi Azov regiment has gloated on social media over graphic photos of dead members of an opposition party. The activists “disappeared” from the Ukrainian-held city of Severodonetsk in early March and appear to have been extrajudicially executed, with Maksim Zhorin implying such a fate awaits all “traitors.” 

“This is what the ‘Patriots for Life’ from Severodonetsk look like now,”Zhorin said in a Telegram [warning: Graphic images] post on Wednesday. “They disappeared on March 7, and now their new photos have appeared. They look like that,” he added with a smirking-face emoji.

Last week Defence Minister Peter Dutton announced that, what he called a Chinese spy ship, had been discovered off the Western Australian coast farther south than any similar vessel had ever previously been seen. He didn’t inform his public that it had been observed 250 kilometres offshore and therefore 50 kilometres outside Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone and in international waters.

But the minister described it as an ‘aggressive act’. It was just one example of ‘acts of aggression from the Chinese leadership and from the Chinese government.’ The ANU’s Professor John Blaxland observed that ‘it was right for the Defence Minister to call out the presence of the Chinese ship.’ The timing of the calling out in the middle of an election campaign did not seem to trouble the professor.

Most Italians do not support the decisions to slap Russia with sanctions or send weapons to Kiev, an Italian independent investigative journalist, Matteo Gracis, told RT last week, arguing that Rome is acting against its own interests as it follows the lead of Brussels and Washington.

On May 9, Gracis published a video on YouTube in which he appealed to Russian government officials and ordinary Russians. “It is important that you know that Italians are not against you,” said the journalist, who has authored three books and founded the online media outlet L’Indipendente. “Our democracy is much less real than [the officials and the media] want us to believe,” he said, claiming that the actions of Rome do not reflect the will of the people.

Australian households are suffering the worst cost-of-living squeeze in more than two decades, with real wages now falling at the fastest pace since the GST was introduced in 2001.

At just 2.4 per cent, wages growth was less than half the rate of inflation over the year to March, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Wednesday.

Adjusting for inflation, real wages fell 2.7 per cent annually, meaning many households saw their purchasing power go backwards.

Ever since the withdrawal of the last US troops from Afghanistan and the fall of the country to the Taliban (a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation), Washington has been unable to come to terms with the loss of its influence in the region. It is therefore doing all it can to turn the Central Asian nations into geopolitical rivals of the major regional powers – Russia, China and Iran – and their allies. It is also making an effort to preserve its control over major cross-border processes in a bid to dominate world politics.

BY Valery Kulikov

The Russian Ministry of Health announced Tuesday that McDonalds’ decision to leave Russia is expected to add more than four years to the average Russian’s life expectancy.

Turkey’s list of demands for NATO and its prospective members Finland and Sweden includes the removal of sanctions imposed on Ankara over its purchase of S-400 missile defense systems from Russia, as well as re-inclusion in the F-35 advanced aircraft program, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing “three senior Turkish officials.”

On May 15, Finland and Sweden officially announced their intention to join NATO in the wake of the ongoing Russian military offensive on Ukraine. To make it possible, all members of the alliance would have to unanimously support their bids. Turkey, however, said it would not say “yes” to Helsinki and Stockholm because they do not have “a clear unequivocal stance” against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front (DHKP/C), groups that Ankara considers terrorist organizations. 

This is the final Part 8 of a series titled ‘Propaganda and the Media’, the first 7 parts of which were published earlier, and available here:[1]

 The entire series will now be combined into an eBook in .pdf format, available on bluemoonofshanghai.com (in the books section).

This is primarily an article about lies, about the people who tell them, and about their methods of telling them. This essay, long as it is, is only a brief introduction to only a minor aspect of this subject.

bulldozer

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has used his description of himself as a “bulldozer” to defend his record on COVID, saying it served Australia well – despite the country’s pandemic death rate edging closer to 8000. InDaily’s Stephanie Richards reports from the election campaign trail.

Campaigning in the marginal Labor-held electorate of Corangamite in regional Victoria on Wednesday, Morrison faced a barrage of questions about Australia’s spiralling COVID death toll and infection rate.

Australia reported 28,794 cases of COVID-19 and 37 deaths on Wednesday, from NSW, Victoria and Tasmania and the ACT. South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory are still to report their latest statistics.

Revisiting Gus's comments....

The war on terror has gone cold…

The only place terrorism is still significant is in Central Africa (Mali et al)… where the Wahhabi Jihadists are still active. 

Russia and China have managed to escape the clutches of the Empire — and not only this, China is also influencing many third world countries to be more independent economically.

Scott Morrison offers lucrative $300,000 incentive to retirees who downsize their homes so young families can buy their first property - and claims the incentive will free up 1.3million houses

Prime Minister said it will make up to another 1.3million houses available for sale

Proposal also features a two year grace period before asset testing for a pension

Mr Morrison said it's designed to help 'free up larger homes for younger families

A Productivity Commission survey of Australians over 60 found 70 per cent said moving to a smaller property with less upkeep was the reason for selling their house. Pictured is an older couple looking at a lap top computer...

READ MORE: