They like the bedtime story: Europe was peacefully humming along in its post-history spa — open borders, cheap energy, NATO as a charity, Russia as a gas station with a flag… and then, one day, the barbarian kicked the door in for no reason at all.

That story is not just dishonest. It’s operational. It’s the propaganda you tell yourself so you can keep the addiction going without ever admitting how self-destructive it is.

By Gerry Nolan

Because the truth is uglier and far more incriminating:

UNITED STATES Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave the green light to European leaders for a new era of colonialism. 

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Mr Rubio offered partnership between the US and Europe to recolonise the global South.

Rubio gives green light to new era of US-European colonialism

BY Roger McKenzie

He said: “For five centuries, before the end of the second world war, the West had been expanding — its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.”

The “woke, decadent” EU is not facing a decline regardless of what critics say, and some people, including nearly half of Canadians, “still want” to join it, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has claimed.

Kallas made the remarks at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, as she urged the bloc to “reclaim agency”and seek a “stronger role in the world.”She dismissed concerns that the EU may be facing an “erasure” altogether, hitting out at unnamed critics.

“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure. In fact, people still want to join our club. And not just fellow Europeans. When I was in Canada last year, I was told that over 40 percent of Canadians have an interest in joining the EU!” Kallas insisted.

In his new book Geoffrey Robertson argues the UN Security Council can no longer defend democracy and proposes a new alliance of democratic states. The diagnosis is compelling – the path forward far less clear.

The indictment in Geoffrey Robertson’s latest book, _World of War Crimes_, is long, thoroughly evidenced and impregnable to rational challenge.

Andrew Fraser

Australia’s political and media establishments are struggling to adapt to a world where narratives can no longer be tightly managed. And attempts to restore authority through censorship, moral panic and regulation are deepening public alienation rather than restoring trust.

Scott Burchill

Australia’s political and media elites are slowly realising that outside their hermetically-sealed echo-bubble, the world has changed.

From curbing protests to controlling what can be said, state and Federal Labor governments are becoming authoritarian. Next in line is the thought police entering campus, Nick Riemer reports.

In December, the NSW Labor government gave itself the power to ban street marches for an indefinite period. We saw what that meant on February 9 as violent police charged, maced, beat and arrested protesters against Herzog’s visit.

In January, the federal ALP introduced new hate speech laws, which confer unprecedented discretion on the government to criminalise speech and groups to which it objects. Now, in a further stride down its authoritarian road, the federal government is reported to be proceeding with plans for political training for Australian university staff.

Set ups like the CIA and MI6 are not dilettante organisations. They not only advise the administrations of their respective countries, they also control the narratives that appear in the media. And they are VERY powerful — more powerful than Presidents or Prime Ministers that come and go, though Donald Trump is a handful and keep trampling the petunias that have been so carefully cultivated. 

The CIA and MI6 — and Mossad — are engaged in wars of disinformation and in ACTIVE terrorism nearly everywhere in the world. 

British state broadcaster, the BBC, has announced sweeping cuts, citing financial pressures. The move comes as the network faces mounting reputational issues and a $10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump.

The broadcaster told staff on Thursday of an impending 10% cut to its annual cost base over the next three years, and that the reductions would affect all parts of the corporation including its license fee-funded public service arm, according to The Telegraph.

”In a rapidly changing media market, we continue to face substantial financial pressures,” the outlet cited a BBC spokesperson as saying.

The BBC’s operating costs stood at just over $8 billion last year, meaning the savings would amount to around $800 million, the paper noted. The broadcaster had previously pledged $953 million of cutbacks under an existing cost-cutting program.

Steve Bannon, a former White House adviser to US President Donald Trump, discussed opposition strategies with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein against Pope Francis, with Bannon saying he hoped to “take down” the pontiff, according to newly released files from the US Department of Justice.

Move aside, Melania -- Donald Trump's White House is celebrating Valentine's Day with some cheeky cards that applaud the administration's accomplishments ... while mocking the left.

Check out the V-Day cards the White House posted to ring in the holiday -- the first shows handcuffed and blindfolded Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro being flown out of Venezuela after the U.S. captured him in January, with the saying ... "You captured my heart."

BHP has accused coal miner Simon Turner of making “wild accusations” but refuses to say what they are. Michael West, also named in the court case, reports.

Simon Turner, a coal miner who has locked horns with mining giant BHP in the courts over wage theft, cannot afford a lawyer. 

In fact, he sleeps on his garage floor and has to get the train down from Newcastle to Sydney to tackle BHP, and the five other large corporate defendants, and their phalanx of lawyers. 

It was some ten against one – one man without legal counsel – at the hearing before Justice Needham in the Federal Court last Thursday.

Angus Taylor ousting Sussan Ley as leader of the Liberal Party reinforces longstanding perceptions about the Party’s treatment of women. Aleta Moriarty reports.

The 2025 election showed a widening chasm in the composition of two-party preferred voting, with the Coalition attracting 9% more votes from men than women, with women voters less likely to vote for the Coalition than at any time in recent history. 

In particular, young and middle-aged women have abandoned the party; only 19.8% voted Coalition (less than 1 in 5). 

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said he had a conversation with a dog during his latest trip to Kiev, as he argued for continued military aid for Ukraine. He made the remarks during a joint panel with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

Rutte visited the Ukrainian capital in early February, where he vowed that Western nations would continue their support, potentially including deploying troops to Ukraine – which Moscow has called unacceptable.

On Saturday, he recalled his visit, including a meeting with a bomb-sniffing dog named Patron – whose name means ‘bullet cartridge’ in Ukrainian.

The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival for the Chinese people. As it approaches, the joy of reunion and anticipation for the future are transforming into the most vivid expressions across China: the millions of travelers heading home in the great Spring Festival migration, the bright red couplets adorning every household door, and the warm greetings of "Happy New Year" exchanged among neighbors.

The Spring Festival brings a touch of warmth to the world: Global Times editorial

By Global Times