Vivek Ramaswamy, a candidate for Republican nominee for US president in 2024, inspired accusations of taking the rightwing talking point about “draining the swamp” too literally when his microphone appeared to broadcast himself urinating during an X Space conversation with Elon Musk, Alex Jones, Andrew Tate, Matt Gaetz and others.

On the same day that Musk welcomed Jones – the notorious conspiracy theorist – back to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that banned Jones in 2018 for abusive behavior, Musk invited him to speak with a constellation of far-right media figures and politicians.

The US House and Senate have passed a sweeping military spending bill worth more than $886 billion; it includes $300 million in additional aid for Ukraine. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the measure into law.

Congress voted 310 to 118 to approve the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Thursday, which also passed through the Senate in a 87-13 vote. The bill authorizes a wide range of military spending, from pay raises for troops to funds for new weapons, and represents a 3% increase in the US defense budget compared to last year.

US Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira was arrested in April for allegedly leaking classified documents in a Discord chat room. The docs included internal US evaluations of Ukraine’s military capabilities, besides other national security matters. The military intel disclosure is deemed one of the largest since the WikiLeaks release in 2010.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s top advisers warned the Ukrainian president against divulging war plans to US counterpart Joe Biden in September, The Washington Post reported.

US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter has refused to comply with a subpoena ordering him to testify before a Republican-led committee investigating his father’s involvement in his business dealings. House Republicans are expected to formalize impeachment proceedings against President Biden later on Wednesday.

The House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to Hunter Biden last month, ordering the president’s son to testify at a closed-door hearing on Wednesday. Along with the House Judiciary Committee, the Oversight Committee is leading an impeachment probe against President Biden and has released evidence suggesting that Hunter took tens of millions of dollars from foreign clients in exchange for access to his father while the latter was vice president of the US.

I do not believe that anything I say about what is happening in Gaza will affect Israeli or American policy in that conflict. But I want to be on record so that when historians look back on this moral calamity, they will see that some Americans were on the right side of history.

With Ukraine's counteroffensive obviously failing, the United States has taken up a new rallying cry, which is to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from winning in Ukraine so that "NATO is not conquered," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

“After the collapse of the so-called counteroffensive, [people] in Washington stopped talking about Russia’s strategic defeat on the battlefield and, during Zelensky’s latest visit, activated a new mantra: 'don't let Putin win in Ukraine', otherwise all of NATO will be conquered and then America won't sit through it," Lavrov said during the “government hour” in the Federation Council, upper house of the Russian parliament.

“The world looked away during the World War, and Jews, 6 million of our people, were murdered in that looking away…  It is incumbent upon humanity to look at what is happening in Gaza now and to say we will not accept this. We will say no. Not in our name.” – Louise Adler

The decision last week of three actors in the Sydney Theatre Company’s new production of the Chekov play The Seagull to wear the Palestinian scarf known as the keffiyeh during curtain call sparked a frenzy of condemnation from members of the Jewish community, resignations from the STC board, and withdrawal of donor support.

On the eve of International Human Rights Day when invited to support the existing international rules-based order the United States’ leadership failed. Not only did their veto prevent a cease-fire in Gaza, but this powerful nation could not even offer an alternative path to protect humanity. Does the United Nations matter to the Australian Government? Will Prime Minister Albanese have the courage to confront Australia’s friend and ally about its diplomatic intransigence? 

By Margaret Reynolds

IMMIGRATION OFFICER: "...Now, could you, as an alien, become Prime Minister of Australia?

APPLICANT FOR NATURALISATION: "Mista, yoo haf excoosa me, plees... I gotta da good job already at de gassworks...."

The federal government is set to unveil a major new migration strategy on Monday that aims to dramatically cut Australia's intake. 

The Ukrainian president has displayed a penchant for appearing at various events around the globe to ask for money and weapons over the past two years. He now traveled to Argentina to attend the inauguration of the recently-elected President Javier Milei.

Zelensky has flown to Buenos Aires for the swearing-in ceremony of Argentina's new president, Javier Milei. The Ukrainian previously congratulated Milei on winning the election last month and praised him for his support of Ukraine.

US military experts are openly questioning Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin's rationale behind continuing to support the Ukrainian military despite Kiev's failures on the battlefield.

BY EKATERINA BLINOVA

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin's December 2 claim that Russia poses an immediate threat to Europe is absurd, according to retired Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, a senior fellow for defense priorities at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

AMMAN, Jordan — Palestinians in Gaza are facing mass starvation amid a punishing Israeli offensive that has “stripped families’ options for survival,” aid groups warned Saturday, a day after the United States vetoed a U.N. cease-fire resolution that the groups said would have facilitated the delivery of food and other emergency supplies.

From Paul Keating to Kevin Rudd and John Howard, Australian ex-PMs have been waxing lyrical about a man who, perhaps more than anyone else, is responsible for the myth of a rules-based world order.

Paul Keating credits him with the One China policy, “the pivotal organising idea which underwrites the equilibrium between the world’s two greatest powers, the United States and China.” Kevin Rudd wrote how “he believed in the rhythms of history,” a sentiment echoed by John Howard who said Kissinger “well understood the arc of history.”

Zelensky’s wife pleads for more US cash
Ukraine is in “mortal danger” without billions more dollars from Washington, Elena Zelenskaya told the BBC

Ukraine “will die” without continued US military aid, President Vladimir Zelensky’s wife, Elena Zelenskaya, has told British state broadcaster, the BBC. Zelenskaya’s plea came a day after US Republicans shot down a bill that would have given Kiev more than $60 billion worth of arms, ammunition, and training.

In an interview taped on Thursday, Zelenskaya claimed that she sees “signs that the passionate willingness to help [Ukraine] may fade.”

Poll shows Republican candidate with biggest edge over Biden

Nikki Haley has opened up a far bigger lead than Donald Trump holds in a hypothetical 2024 matchup with the incumbent US president

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has built a double-digit lead over US President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 election matchup, quadrupling the margin held by the top-polling Republican candidate, Donald Trump, a new Wall Street Journal survey has found.