Barely audible Zelensky dodges Russian response at UN

Ukraine’s president addressed the UN Security Council via a crackling video-link, in breach of protocol

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky hastily left a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday before Russia's representative responded to his claims.

Appearing by video link, Zelensky had argued that that the freedom of the world depended on Ukraine’s independence and accused Russia of threatening a nuclear disaster at the Zaporozhye power plant and being responsible for inflation, hunger and high energy prices.

His speech was barely audible and he closed his connection before Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called out his government and its Western backers for being the principal threat to Ukraine’s independence.

I note the Solicitor General’s advice released publicly today regarding the matter of appointments to administer Departments while I served as Prime Minister.

I note that the Solicitor General found that the appointments were ‘valid’ and that ‘while there is some historical precedent for the publication in the Gazette of appointments to administer particular departments of State under s 64, there is no consistent practice in that regard.”

The world is on the edge of nuclear catastrophe in no small part because of the failure of Western political leaders to be forthright about the causes of the escalating global conflicts. The relentless Western narrative that the West is noble while Russia and China are evil is simple-minded and extraordinarily dangerous. It is an attempt to manipulate public opinion, not to deal with very real and pressing diplomacy.

BY Jeffrey Sachs

There is a video clip making the rounds showing President Biden speaking at a recent NATO summit about the seven billion dollars the US government had - at that time - provided to Ukraine. Attached to that is another clip showing the horrific state of several US major cities, including in Pennsylvania, California, and Ohio. The video of American cities is shocking: endless landscapes of filth, trash, homelessness, open fires on the street, drug-addicted zombies. It doesn’t look like the America most of us remember.

BY RON PAUL

Liberal hegemony is an ambitious strategy in which a state aims to turn as many countries as possible into liberal democracies like itself while also promoting an open international economy and building international institutions. In essence, the liberal state seeks to spread its own values far and wide. My goal in this book is to describe what happens when a power­ful state pursues this strategy at the expense of balance­-of­-power politics.

by John J. Mearsheimer

There is a special irony at the heart of Scott Morrison's secret accumulation of multiple ministries: it started as an exercise in decentralising power, not concentrating it. 

In early March 2020, when the threat of the pandemic was becoming clear, former attorney-general Christian Porter decided to have an audit of the Commonwealth's powers, to understand how the federal government could respond to the health emergency.

All manner of worst-case scenarios were being war-gamed: What capacity was there to protect particularly vulnerable communities such as remote Indigenous townships? Were travel blockades possible? And under which legislative authority?

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ladies and gentlemen,

Esteemed foreign guests, 

Let me welcome you to the anniversary 10th Moscow Conference on International Security. Over the past decade, your representative forum has become a significant venue for discussing the most pressing military-political problems.

Today, such an open discussion is particularly pertinent. The situation in the world is changing dynamically and the outlines of a multipolar world order are taking shape. An increasing number of countries and peoples are choosing a path of free and sovereign development based on their own distinct identity, traditions and values. 

Back in early 1991, few thought the disappearance of the Soviet Union from the political map was likely. The results of a huge national referendum held in March indicated as much. Ukraine’s vote exceeded 70% [TO STAY IN THE USSR], and public discussion of the joint future for all the socialist republics mainly focused on various forms of a federation.

Even the proponents of Ukrainian independence did not really believe this was within reach. But by August things started to unravel and, after a failed coup d’état in Moscow, Kiev proclaimed sovereignty.

By Alexander Nepogodin, аn Odessa-born political journalist, expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union.

Americans’ trust in the media has reached all time lows, with just 11 percent expressing confidence in television news and 16 percent expressing confidence in newspapers. These are the startling findings of Gallup’s latest survey of American attitudes about the media, which since 1972 has tracked the ups and downs of public confidence in the news.

As if you did not know.... 

You are mad yankees, American dopes, clever star&tripists, UnitedStatorologists, guntotters et al, and you known YOUR government is MAD…. because you keep electing mad yankees, American dopes, clever star&tripists, unitedstatorologists, guntotters et al, as presidents and representatives.... no point telling you, YOUR government is MAD….

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....................................................

Copenhagen: Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark joined Tom Slingsby’s Australian SailGP Team in a thrilling ‘royal race’ against His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, who raced on board Nicolai Sehested’s Denmark SailGP Team.

The friendly race between the two teams took place prior to the final day of racing at the Denmark event.

Crown Princess Mary stepped on board Slingsby’s Australia F50 emblazoned with a yellow kangaroo for the royal race, experiencing the power and speed of the Australia F50, known as the ‘Flying Roo’, first hand after taking the wheel during the race.

At a joint press conference with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday, Abbas was asked if he would apologize to Israel on the 50th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team in Munich. Abbas did not give a direct answer, but then said, “Israel has committed 50 massacres in 50 Palestinian settlements since 1947 to this day.” He added, “Fifty massacres, 50 Holocausts.”

Scholz was visibly angered but did not react. The press conference ended immediately after Abbas’ statement. Later, the German chancellor reprimanded his guest via Twitter. “I am deeply outraged by the unspeakable statements of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,” Scholz wrote. “Especially for us Germans, any relativization of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable. I condemn any attempt to deny the crimes of the Holocaust.”

Sweden and Finland will not become NATO members if they continue to ignore Ankara’s extradition demands, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag has said. 

“Until now, none of the persons accused of terrorism, whose extradition from Sweden and Finland was requested by Turkey, have been returned,” Bozdag told reporters on Saturday. 

“Our expectation is not about those accused of fraud. The Swedish and the Finnish governments should understand this very well.” 

Bozdag said the process of Sweden and Finland joining NATO “will not move a step forward” unless the matter is resolved.  

Several Russian soldiers involved in the military operation in Ukraine have been hospitalized with severe chemical poisoning, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

Traces of Botulinum toxin Type B, which is an “organic poison of artificial origin,” have been discovered in samples taken from the servicemen, the ministry said, accusing Kiev of “chemical terrorism.”

The Russian troops were “hospitalized with signs of severe poisoning” after being stationed near the village of Vasilyevka in Zaporozhye Region on July 31, the statement said.

“The Zelensky regime has authorized terrorist attacks with the use of toxic substances against Russian personnel and civilians” following a string of military defeats in Donbass and other areas, the ministry insisted.

The British government has suggested Russia should not be allowed to attend the November G20 summit in Bali.

"Russia has no moral right to sit at the G20 while its aggression in Ukraine persists," a spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said, according to Reuters.

The spokesman also reportedly praised Indonesia, the summit host, for its efforts “to ensure that the impacts of Russia's war are considered in G20 meetings” while welcoming the country’s decision to invite Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to the meeting, despite his country not being a member of the Group of 20 leading economies.

The latest anti-Russia salvo from the UK comes after Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said last month she would be ready to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin at the event.