Talks at the Russia-US summit in Alaska have formally begun, following the arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart, Donald Trump, in Anchorage.

The negotiations at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Friday, will focus on finding a settlement to the Ukraine conflict. According to Moscow, global “peace and security” as well as “further development of bilateral cooperation” in the economy and trade will also be on the agenda.

In addition to Putin, the Russian delegation includes Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, and presidential economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who has been a key figure in the Ukraine settlement process.

Moscow is ready to present a clear stance at the upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, which will mainly focus on the Ukraine conflict, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

In an interview with the Russia 24 broadcaster released on Friday, Lavrov – who has reportedly already arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, where the talks are set to take place – declined to speculate on potential results of the summit. 

“We do not predict anything in advance. We know that we have arguments, our stance is clear and well-defined. We will present them,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal reports on Tuesday that U.S. President Donald Trump's White House is keeping an eye on the Smithsonian Museum to ensure that its exhibits on display for the United States' 250th anniversary "align with" the president's personal "interpretation of American history."

White House to Vet Smithsonian Exhibits to Ensure They 'Align With Trump's Interpretation' of US History'
Smithsonian exhibits should be "accurate, patriotic, and enlightening—ensuring they remain places of learning, wonder, and national pride for generations to come," the White House demanded.

BY BRAD REED

Those who accuse the Albanese Government of breaking with a historic Labor position of opposing recognition of a Palestinian state are wrong.

Labor has a long-held ambition of a two-state solution to the Palestinian Israeli conflict.

Craig Emerson

It is not surprising that the Whitlam Government supported what has become known as a two-state solution before the phrase was coined – the right of Israel and Palestine to co-exist in peace.

But no Labor prime minister has been more avowedly pro-Israel than Bob Hawke.

Donald Trump has had meetings with EU leaders, NATO and Zelensky yesterday. He has reassured the Europeans that he won’t negotiate Ukraine’s territory with Vladimir Putin, ahead of the Alaska meeting. The EU leaders are willing to remove sanctions on Russia following a 15 day ceasefire, but they’re not willing to negotiate territory before that. It is being reported that Donald Trump will incentivise Vladimir Putin by offering Alaska’s natural resources.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ZtRRIDEgk

When asked to comment on reports that US President Donald Trump said he will impose a 100 percent tariff on imported goods such as semiconductors, and claimed TSMC will build world's largest wafer fabrication plant in Arizona backed with $300 billion, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, stated on Wednesday that when TSMC previously announced an additional $100 billion investment in the US, it sparked panic and public discontent in Taiwan; a $300 billion plan would further erode the island's economic vitality and autonomy. The DPP authorities are the biggest accomplice to the US in hollowing out Taiwan's industries.

The so-called "coalition of the willing" has opposed any restrictions on the Ukrainian armed forces as part of the deal on settling the Ukraine conflict ahead of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, a joint statement read.

"Ukraine must have robust and credible security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Coalition of the Willing is ready to play an active role, including through plans by those willing to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries. Russia could not have a veto against Ukraine‘s pathway to EU and NATO," the coalition said in a joint statement published by the office of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday.

The ANZUS Treaty is America’s instrument of political, diplomatic, and military coercion. And it is a clear and present danger to the strategic security of Russia and friends of the Russian people.

ANZUS and the dangers to Russia

BY Simon Westwood

WHAT FOLLOWS IS NOTHING NEW... TO SOME EXTEND IT IS ERRONEOUS BY GENERALISATION OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE. WE HAVE TO SAY SOME HUMANS HAVE THE CAPACITY TO UNDERSTAND AND LEAD WHILE OTHERS "COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE"... THIS HAS BEEN THE CASE SINCE HOMO SAPIENS FELL FROM ITS TREE AND WALKED THE GRASSY PLAINS....

Evidence is piling up that the human brain can no longer keep up with the overshoot crisis which human greed has engendered.

sapiens has reached a point where our technology has outpaced our ability to comprehend what it delivers, let along do anything purposeful to correct it.

Julian Cribb

Zelenskyy and Europe agree five principles for peace deal with Russia

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Ukraine's European allies have agreed on five main requirements for a peace deal with Russia.

"We want President Donald Trump to be successful in Anchorage on Friday," Merz said following the virtual call he organized ahead of Trump's Alaska summit with Putin.

"We want negotiations to take place in the right order," said Merz, alongside the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin.

The European Commission is plotting to help oust Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over what it considers his overly independent policy, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

The Hungarian leader has repeatedly clashed with Brussels in recent years, opposing EU military aid to Ukraine and Kiev’s bid to join the bloc.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “is seriously studying regime change scenarios” in Hungary, the SVR press service said in a statement on Wednesday.

Brussels intends to bring Peter Magyar, leader of the Hungarian opposition Tisza Party – seen as “loyal to globalist elites” and “the main candidate for the post of Prime Minister” – to power in the 2026 parliamentary elections, “if not sooner,” according to the SVR.

111 years ago the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria became the pretext for the butchery of World War I. 

A teenage Serbian revolutionary shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the presumptive heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie on their visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

BY GUS LEONISKY

The way India manoeuvres reflects the key features of both the current global landscape and the ongoing process of its transformation. This process began almost immediately after the Cold War ended, but in recent years, it has accelerated at an unprecedented pace. In turn, the rapid transformation of the world order inevitably injects various factors of uncertainty into the political arena.

India Manoeuvres Amid Foreign Policy Uncertainties

BY Vladimir Terehov

The Australian Jewish Association and its charity arm, the Australian Jewish Association Tzedakah Incorporated, are facing a landmark legal challenge after more than a year of alleged racial and religious vilification targeting Palestinians and Muslims.

Mohamed Ainullah

On Wednesday 6 August 2025, the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW has formally accepted a 58-page complaint lodged by Kassem Chalabi, a Palestinian Muslim man from New South Wales, accusing the organisations of conducting a sustained campaign of hate speech between July 2024 and February 2025.

Ukraine is preparing a new provocation to disrupt negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

A group of foreign journalists has already been taken to the city of Chuguev in Kharkov Region, in order to “prepare a series of reports about residents of the city in the frontline zone,” the ministry said. The Ukrainian Army is plotting a provocative strike using UAVs and missiles on one of Chuguev’s densely populated residential areas or a hospital, which will be “immediately recorded by the Western journalists brought in.”