Concerns are growing that a serious incident could soon occur between the Australian Defence Force and the Chinese military as strategic tensions grow in the Indo-Pacific.

Canada’s efforts to counter disinformation - Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Farmers in the Netherlands are protesting on a scale unheard of in their country. They are furious about a government proposal that may put many of them out of business. Dutch farmers argue the government’s true aim is to seize their highly valuable farmland. They are protesting under the slogan “No farmers, no food” to warn of the dangers of giving up domestic food-supply independence to rely on imports instead.

The origin of the crisis is a 2019 ruling by the highest administrative court in the Netherlands. It ruled that measures the Dutch government had taken to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and nitrogen ammonia were not in compliance with European Union rules.

BY Emma Freire

Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton took credit for attempting to oust foreign leaders, claiming he played a role in prior regime change efforts while suggesting ex-President Donald Trump lacked the foresight to carry out his own putsch at home.

Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper following Tuesday’s congressional hearing into the January 6 riot, Bolton insisted the former commander in chief could not have pulled off a “carefully planned coup d'etat,” as “that’s not the way Donald Trump does things.” 

A petition calling on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to commemorate American pornographic actor Billy Herrington with a monument in Odessa has passed 25,000 votes and must now be considered. Activists want Herrington’s likeness to replace that of Russian Empress Catherine the Great.

Launched in May, the petition passed the threshold of 25,000 votes this week. Describing Catherine II as a “controversial historical figure whose actions caused great damage to Ukrainian statehood and culture,” it calls on Zelensky to ensure that her statue is torn down and replaced with one of Herrington sitting “at the bar with a bottle of beer.”

“The American Century Is Over.” So claims the July 2022 cover of Harper’s Magazine, adding an all-too-pertinent question: “What’s Next?”

What, indeed? Eighty years after the United States embarked upon the Great Crusade of World War II, a generation after it laid claim to the status of sole superpower following the fall of the Berlin Wall and two decades after the Global War on Terror was to remove any lingering doubts about who calls the shots on Planet Earth, the question could hardly be more timely.

BY Andrew Bacevich

In February 1941, as Adolf Hitler’s armies prepared to invade the Soviet Union, the Republican oligarch and publisher Henry Luce laid out a vision for global domination in an article titled the american century. World War II, he argued, was the result of the United States’ immature refusal to accept the mantle of world leadership after the British Empire had begun to deteriorate in the wake of World War I. American foolishness, the millionaire claimed, had provided space for Nazi Germany’s rise. The only way to rectify this mistake and prevent future conflict was for the United States to join the Allied effort and

The result of the French presidential and legislative elections weakens both the Executive and the Legislative branches and blocks the political situation. The voters refused to support the regime and endorse its decisions. Since 2005, they have been saying what they were fighting against while their leaders ignored them. What could restore the country is thus perfectly identified, but the majority of elected representatives want to be right and not to serve their people.

The French need to talk to each other

by Thierry Meyssan

The French, who have historically been the forerunners of political change in Europe, surprised their neighbours in the presidential election (April 10 and 24,2022) and the legislative elections (June 12 and 19,2022).

According to the BBC, Bojo was (is) .... a flamboyant character... He appeared on the BBC's Have I Got News for You programme, and was pictured being taught to dance by television presenter Ulrika Jonsson. And a lot more polished flamboyance....

https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-62085538

But beware of the ignorant idiotic female who wants to be the next "Clown of the Crown" as they say in Hollywood. See also:

https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/44813#comment-90685

As the Pentagon authorizes an additional $400 million for Ukraine’s defense on Friday, bringing estimated total U.S. security spending on Ukraine under President Biden to a staggering $8 billion, we speak to Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News, about the pressure on news media to follow a single approved narrative on the Ukraine war.

The independent media outlet recently had their PayPal account shut down and received notice from NewsGuard, a fact-checking group, that they are under review for publishing fake news. “American and European audiences have been fed the idea that Russia has been failing in this war and that Ukraine still has a chance to win, but I think we’re starting to see reality seep into the reporting,” says Lauria.

 After Adam and Eve were created by godot, the world-order became iffy, starting with Cain killing Abel… We will skip the catalogued fictionalised story of humanity in the bible until we arrive at Jesus Christ, orator “exceptionel” who urged Christianity to go and teach the word of god to all the people on earth and died on a bit of wood to erase our sins as long as we believe. I don’t, but this is beside the point.

 How do you teach the word of god if you don’t bash people on the head first? Exactly. 

So this was an invitation to conquer the planet on behalf of a fake idea that is totally unscientific in regard to evolution of the human species from the tree of monkeys, the apes.  

Decades of exceptionalism, ideological obsessions and a deep-rooted sense of superiority is catching up with the United States.

The world needs to appreciate the rapid shifts in the global order arising from the US’ toxic domestic situation, and how its political elite distracts people from its decline with an aggressive foreign policy anchored in outdated doctrines

US President Joe Biden visited Asia last week and triggered panic across the region when he spoke out of turn and unproductively about war with China.

The Chinese special administrative region of Macau, known as the world’s largest casino city, has been put on lockdown for the first time in more than two years following a new Covid outbreak.

According to the city government’s statement on July 9, operations of “all industries and commercial companies and venues in Macau” will remain suspended from Monday until July 18, except for those “deemed essential to the community and to the day-to-day lives of the members of the public.”

Police patrols have been deployed to ensure public compliance with the new measures.

Many G20 diplomats are more concerned with their own national interests than punishing Russia with economic sanctions for attacking Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said. He claimed the West was being accused of double standards and had failed to win a “battle of narratives” in relation to Ukraine.

“The global battle of narratives is in full swing and, for now, we are not winning,” Borrell remarked on Sunday in a blog post describing his participation in last week’s meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Indonesia. The solution, he said, is to “engage further to refute Russian lies and war propaganda.”

‘Would it not be wondrous for this whole nation to be destroyed like a beautiful flower?’ General Anami trying to persuade the Japanese leadership not to surrender after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

‘[Payne’s book is an] extended reminder of just how fortunate we probably were to survive the Cold War. He rubs our noses in the unarguable fact that nuclear deterrence is all theory, and much of it is not very convincing theory at that… When we consider the Soviet/Russian and U.S. strategic nuclear postures as complex somewhat interdependent systems, especially in their full political, military, human, social, and technological contexts, it is hard to resist the judgment that we are fortunate to be here today. Complex systems have ‘normal accident’ rates.’ Colin Gray, leading scholar of nuclear strategy.