“Watch your step,” says the soldier as he and a medic lead a hostage over a mound of corpses labeled “Over 40,000 Palestinians killed…” The caption reads, “Some Israeli Hostages Are Home After Years of Merciless War.” This cartoon by Jeff Danzinger (Rutland Herald, 1/20/25) was selected by editorial page editor Tony Doris to run in the Palm Beach Post (1/26/25).

A crime of aggression, under which politicians and military leaders can be held individually responsible for invasions and other major attacks, comes into force at the international criminal court, reviving global legal powers last exercised at the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crimes trials of the 1940s.

Claims alleging that armed force has been used against the “sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence” of another state can, from Tuesday, be taken to the tribunal in The Hague.

The new offence cannot, however, be enforced retrospectively over conflicts such as the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Faced with dwindling church congregations in Germany, spiritual leaders are getting creative in their efforts to attract young people. The numbers of people leaving both the Catholic and Protestant Churches have been on the rise for years, reaching a new high in 2022: about 900,000 people turned their backs on their church - over half a million of whom were Catholics.

One could say the purpose of Nature on planet Earth is to create more of itself in various formats under given conditional environments. 

In order to achieve optimum survival, many of the species in nature develop defence against other species to avoid annihilation, as life needs to acquire (steal) proteins from another being — from the smallest to the biggest, relative “food chain”.

Defence will include sacrificial random numbers (POPULATION), aggression, adaptation and hiding.

These are the skills we humans have perfected in our military tactics.

MEANWHILE, WE ARE TOLD by Roger Pielke Jr, professor of environmental studies in the Centre for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado and author of The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics : 

The center-right and center-left parties seeking to form Germany's new government have said they will invest "whatever it takes" in Germany's defenses. That could include modernizing the Bundeswehr on a massive scale. But what would that mean in detail?

How the Bundeswehr will spend hundreds of billions of euros
Nina Werkhäuser
Germany has paved the way for massive defense spending. What does the Bundeswehr need most urgently?

Ukrainian government is raising its own cannon fodder for the war against Russia from a very young age.

Here's how:

▪️A doll in Ukrainian military uniform without a leg BLEW UP minds on social media. Should such a toy prepare Ukrainian children for the same fate in the future?

▪️In December 2024, at a kindergarten party in Lvov, parents were advised to dress their children in costumes of 'Ukrainian heroes': Nazi collaborators Bandera, Petliura, and others.

▪️In September 2024, the subject "Defense of the Fatherland" was introduced in Ukrainian schools, starting from 10th grade. The theory of combat operations is mandatory for Ukrainian teenagers.

The phrase “changing world order” has become a familiar refrain in international affairs. But what’s often missed is how rapidly that change is now unfolding – and who is accelerating it.

Dmitry Trenin: Liberalism is dead, this is what comes after
In Trump’s world, great powers don’t preach – they compete

There’s a scandal exciting American mainstream media and minds, and it has to do with bombing. Yet there is an important nuance: it is not the bombing itself that is so scandalizing.

What is troubling many Americans is neither what Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin has rightly called the Israeli genocide of the Palestinians with US bombs and support nor the renewed American air campaign against Yemen.

Labor’s pre-election budget provides well-targeted cost of living relief within the bounds of responsibility, but the restoration of living standards is some way off.

As widely anticipated Labor’s budget contained no surprises, except for the small income tax cuts. Apart from these, all the other major new policy proposals had been announced prior to the budget over the last couple of months.

The revelation was somewhat sudden, but it shocked the entire French government and a section of the European elite at once: to make munitions, to make cannons and airplanes, to train men and prepare them for war, it now seems undeniable that a hell of a lot of money is needed.

Once the shock has passed, let us acknowledge that our leaders have a certain alacrity in their almost reflexive response to what must then be done: large sums of public money must therefore be mobilized, quickly, in order to launch as quickly as possible this essential production of arms, munitions and training for the armies of Europe, ♩ before of course ♪ making it a large ♫ and beautiful European Army ♬. Send the fanfare, it must vibrate!

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a big-name supporter for a possible presidential run in 2024: Elon Musk. 

Musk came out for the sunshine state gov in a brief Twitter conversation Friday night with the account @ProudElephantUS, who asked if he would back DeSantis.

“Yes.” Musk replied, before adding, “But Twitter as a platform must be fair to all.”

https://nypost.com/2022/11/26/elon-musk-backs-ron-desantis-for-2024-presidential-run/

2016

Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk spoke up against Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump on an interview Friday.

In Tehran, Iranians are anxiously wondering whether, once their economy is exhausted and they can no longer defend themselves, the Israelis and the United States will bomb them. Under these circumstances, should they or should they not negotiate with the enigmatic President Donald Trump?

After Ukraine, Iran?
by Thierry Meyssan

IMAGINE YOU’RE A BRAND NEW YOUNG ADULT WHO HAS JUST BEEN GIVEN A WEAPON: THE RIGHT TO VOTE. In Australia, it’s also an obligation.

In just a few short days, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their most obsequious supporters attempted to shift from America First to Empire First in a shocking rebranding of globalism that would make transnational institutions like the World Economic Forum, Council on Foreign Relations, and Bilderberg Group proud.

Stars & Stripes Globalism: Donald Trump’s Plan for a New World Order

By Stuart J. Hooper   January 20, 2025