March for Australia rallies, at which neo-Nazis have been a visible presence. The heightened prominence of the sovereign citizen movement. Vigils in state capitals for the assassinated MAGA provocateur Charlie Kirk. A surge in the polls for One Nation. The intrigue surrounding the ambitions of Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Barnaby Joyce, both figures with journalistic entertainment value, a prerequisite for successful political disruptors. US- and European-style populism appears to be taking deeper root on Australian soil.

Do you notice how nobody’s losing their jobs or getting deported for criticising the genocidal atrocities in Sudan?

Volodymyr Zelensky and his Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky are infamous for sacrificing Ukrainian lives to prolong fighting, Mikael Valtersson, former officer of the Swedish Armed Forces and Air Defense, tells Sputnik, commenting on the Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) and Kupyansk encirclements.

"[Their] policy has left up to 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers in a very precarious position. They are left with two bad alternatives, either being eliminated defending hopeless positions or taking heavy losses during a very hard withdrawal. In both cases Ukraine will lose invaluable military units," Valtersson notes.

There is a little, if any, chance that Zelensky could order a surrender, as "the worst thing that could happen from Kiev's point of view would be thousands of retreating or surrendering Ukrainian soldiers," according to the pundit.

Ukraine’s European backers will secretly meet in Madrid next week to coordinate efforts to increase support, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported on Friday.

The organizers are reportedly maintaining “utmost secrecy” for the event planned for November 4, instructing delegates from 35 countries to leave their cell phones in a designated room and refrain from posting about the gathering on social media, according to a government document cited by the outlet.

Participants are expected to discuss ways to increase military and financial aid for Kiev, as well as possible security guarantees. They will also coordinate additional pressure on Russia. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares is set to attend, El Mundo said.

Europe is on the war path with grandiose plans for building a war economy akin to the American military-industrial complex. As always, drumming up public support for war—manufacturing consent—calls for narratives ranging from spurring ‘growth’ at home to combating threats from foreign regimes that obstruct the west’s monopoly on endless capital accumulation. At any rate, European leaders’ enhanced belligerence is inextricably related to safeguarding the interests of monopoly capitalism, while Europe has made itself redundant through its unconditional servitude to the U.S.

Capitalism and Endless War

by Sona Prakash

In the history of ideas, theories occupy a pivotal place, especially those theories that promote a concrete vision of a future or critically examine the myriad dimensions of politics. Theories provide the structural framework within which a phenomenon is analyzed. It is in that context that a highly influential theory continues to animate discussions globally, especially in this world of deep polarization. That theory is the clash of civilizations.

The Clash of Civilizations Revisited

Pranay Kumar Shome 

More than three decades later, the influential theory continues to remain relevant in global politics.

Britain’s King Charles III has stripped his brother Prince Andrew of his remaining titles and evicted him from his royal residence due to sexual assault allegations and his close friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

According to the royal family, from now on, the former prince will be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and must vacate the Royal Lodge mansion near Windsor Castle, where he has lived for more than 20 years. Andrew, who surrendered his use of the title Duke of York earlier this month, will move to “alternative private accommodation,” Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola is considering the possibility of banning access to the websites of Sputnik and RT within the networks and devices of the European Parliament, where they remain available despite EU-level restrictions, European media reported.

According to a European media, a number of media websites remain accessible despite the EU sanctions. The publication said that the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament has proposed banning access to the websites of Russian media outlets sanctioned by the EU within Parliament’s internal networks and devices.

The initiative was reportedly put forward by Latvian MEP Rihards Kols. Among the media whose websites would be restricted are RT, Sputnik, ANO TV-Novosti (the legal entity of RT), VGTRK, and others.

“But everyone else has one!”

This refers to a child’s desire – often expressed very urgently to their parents – to finally get their own smartphone. It is not easy to stand firm in such situations. “I don’t want my child to be an outsider” is a frequently heard argument – and sometimes also an excuse to avoid what may to become a difficult discussion. But who hasn’t seen the images of children and teenagers sitting side by side, hunched over their black boxes?

by Eliane Perret

Last week, a friend asked if I was worried about Chinese “nuclear threats".

I asked where he had heard that.

He showed me his phone.

“WE OPPOSE: CHINA ISSUES NUKE WARNING AFTER AUSTRALIA-US DEAL.”

Fred Zhang

Courtesy of News Corp. This time, the story was that China issued a “nuke warning” – because Anthony Albanese smiled a little too warmly at Donald Trump. Armageddon, apparently, was just around the corner.

Kremlin vows response if US violates nuclear moratorium
US leader Donald Trump earlier said he had ordered the Pentagon to resume nuclear arms trials

Russia will respond “accordingly” if the US violates a moratorium on testing nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said he had ordered the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing, citing strategic competition with Russia and China. “That process will begin immediately” in response to “other countries’ testing programs,” he said.

When asked about the issue by journalists later in the day, Peskov noted “the statement by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, which has been repeated many times, that, of course, if someone abandons the moratorium [on nuclear testing], then Russia will act accordingly.”

ASEAN is quite a delicate geopolitical entity: gracious, polite and consensual but at the same time, always privileging its “centrality”. The collective 11 Southeast Asians (East Timor is the new member) are very serious global players - with a GDP of $3.8 trillion, and constantly rising.

On a personal level, when I decided to move from the West to Asia, in 1994, I chose Southeast Asia: then, it was imperative to follow the Asian “tigers” – or flock of geese – with the Big Goose, China, flying right behind them.

Pepe Escobar: How ASEAN Keeps Its Centrality Between China & US

Even as Donald Trump crisscrosses the globe, bringing his purported peacemaking skills to parts of the world that did not even know they were at war, his administration has openly been preparing for militarised regime change in Venezuela. Neighbouring Colombia too isn’t safe.

Mahir Ali

“Keeping perspective” is Michael Pascoe’s mantra. He writes that AI mania has not just warped perspective, it risks blowing up reality.

Over more decades than I care to count of market watching and reporting, I haven’t seen a time when there’s been more wide-spread conviction that we’re experiencing a dangerous bubble that’s sure to pop, yet the money keeps pouring in to inflate it. 

The lead up to the “Crash of 87”, now viewed in the rearview mirror as a minor hiccup, was relatively muted. Not even the “dot bomb” bubble at the turn of the century, when all a company had to do to get a share price boost was to add “e” or “dotcom” to its name, was as widely perceived as over-cooked as the present outlook. 

What makes a life virtuous? The answer might seem simple: virtuous actions – actions that align with morality.

But life is more than doing. Frequently, we just think. We observe and spectate; meditate and contemplate. Life often unfolds in our heads.

As a philosopher, I specialize in the Enlightenment thinker Immanuel Kant, who had volumes – literally – to say about virtuous actions. What I find fascinating, however, is that Kant also believed people can think virtuously, and should.

Building a stable ‘abode of thought’: Kant’s rules for virtuous thinking