Last weekend, after Donald Trump posted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on Truth Social, my first thought was: “Who is Taylor Swift?”

Of course, I jest—but only a little. Yes, I am aware of a person named Taylor Swift who writes and sings pop songs, performs in outrageously over-the-top stage shows, sells an inconceivable number of albums, periodically attends NFL games featuring her football-star beau, and inspires widespread devotion among the hoi polloi—at least those not voting Republican in November.

Taylor Swift, Harbinger of Senescence
Where are the superstars of yesteryear?

BY Peter Tonguette

On the eve on the UN International Day of Peace, I searched ministerial websites for media statements that might reflect the Australian Government’s commitment to this year’s theme “Building a Culture of Peace” but I found no indication that the Albanese Government has a vision of its role as a middle power working to support international law and prevent the ravages of militarism.

After attending the UN General Assembly high-level week, U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will head to Washington where they will discuss Zelensky’s request for permission to use Western long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russian territory. The Biden administration has asked Zelensky for an accounting of how such strikes would advance a Ukrainian military victory.

   The outline that has emerged in the press is a repetition of old demands.

BY Ted Snider

The Anglo-Saxon Empire has morphed from its English/Germanic origins to an American/European/Anglo world domination FASCIST machine. It’s a history of deception and slavery to control other nations.

One has only to look on the behaviour of the West (aka the American Empire) to see that despite its claim to spread “democratic values”, it is fully dedicated to world domination using any ways possible, including “regime change", coups and wars.

Presently, the United Kingdom, that of Charlie the Third, seems to be benign, tucked away in various do-gooding activities, including GREENISH spinach cultivation, but it swims in a modernisation of “ideologies” THAT has been made to MAINTAIN the central premise of ANGLO/SAXON WORLD DOMINATION at any cost to any one else… 

Israel stepped up its censorship of Al Jazeera on Sunday as soldiers raided the Qatar-based news network’s Ramallah offices in the occupied West Bank and ordered a 45-day closure of the bureau. This comes after the Netanyahu government banned the network inside of Israel in May under a new media law giving authorities broad power to censor foreign outlets deemed to be security threats.

We talked about the need to develop criteria for evaluating countries different from existing Western ones (according to which most states today do not want to be evaluated) and raised the issue of expanding the professional army in our country, as well as trying to figure out what should be the basis for the Declaration of Civil Society, which will be presented in Kazan.

Read about this and much else in our exclusive interview. 

Those espousing our embrace of America’s war against China start with the assertion that it is China’s aggression and aim for regional hegemony which must be resisted. No doubt China sees that in reverse – America as an overbearing, deeply hostile power perched on the edge of Asia pursuing hegemony at each end of the Eurasian continent. Blustering and freely admitting that it alone is not sufficiently powerful, pressuring “allies” for its ends – ruthlessly demanding more defence expenditure and economic and trade sacrifices. Australia is not alone – ask Japan and the Philippines. 

Zelensky ‘greatest salesman in history’ – Trump
Every time the Ukrainian leader comes to the US he walks away with $60 billion, according to the former president

ladimir Zelensky wants Kamala Harris to win the election “so badly,” former US President Donald Trump told a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

The comment comes after the Ukrainian leader cast doubt on the Republican candidate’s claims that he could promptly end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Trump has insisted that he would tell Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky to “make a deal” to end the hostilities.

“I think Zelensky is the greatest salesman in history. Every time he comes into the country, he walks away with $60 billion,” Trump told his supporters.

The Israeli military carried out a series of airstrikes on Lebanon on Monday, reportedly killing over 500 people, including 50 children and 94 women. The strikes, which have been described as the deadliest since the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah war, come amid the Jewish State’s expanding campaign against the Lebanese militant group.

Lebanese authorities have reported that over 1,800 people have been injured. The country’s Health Minister Firass Abiad has claimed that the strikes have hit hospitals, medical centers and ambulances.

The government has ordered schools and universities across the country to begin preparing shelters as thousands of people flee from the southern regions of Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has claimed to have struck over 1,500 targets, describing them as Hezbollah weapons sites.

Turkey’s interest in joining BRICS stems from several reasons, primarily rooted in its geopolitical ambitions. The country is frustrated with its stalled EU accession process, which has seen little progress over the past few decades. Moreover, Turkey seeks to diversify its alliances, reduce its reliance on the West, and strengthen ties with emerging powers like China, Russia, and India.

Last week the world narrowly escaped likely nuclear destruction, as the Biden Administration considered Ukraine’s request to allow US missiles to strike deeply into Russian territory. Russian president Vladimir Putin warned, as the request was being considered, that because these missiles could not be launched without the active participation of the US military and NATO, Russia would consider itself in a state of war with both NATO and the US should they be launched. It was a Cuban Missile Crisis on a massive scale.

    by Ron Paul

President John F. Kennedy is heralded in some circles as a pacifist anti-imperialist whose assassination was triggered by neo-conservative hawks intent on escalating the war in Vietnam and supporting Israel to the hilt in its wars with neighboring Arab states and the Palestinians.

 Jeremy Kuzmarov

Death toll nears 500 in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, health ministry says
At least 492 were killed and 1,645 wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Monday, the Lebanese health ministry said, after the Israeli military said its air strikes had hit more than 1,300 Hezbollah targets in the past 24 hours. Tens of thousands of people are fleeing southern Lebanon "due to Israeli atrocities", Nasser Yassin, the Lebanese minister coordinating the crisis response, said. Read our liveblog for the latest news on the conflict in the Middle East.

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240923-%F0%9F%94%B4-israeli-military-launches-fresh-strikes-on-hezbollah-in-lebanon-urges-civilians-to-evacuate

Russian President Vladimir Putin was joking when he endorsed US Vice President Kamala Harris’ election campaign, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. The outcome of the election doesn’t matter, Lavrov added, because Washington is controlled by the “deep state.”

The most recent QUAD summit concluded in the United States late last week, where the group's member states particularly focused on expanding mutual maritime security cooperation.

"The SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization] is what really matters in Asia these days, including Russia, Iran, India, most of the "Stans," with Belarus, Afghanistan and Mongolia in the breech, while 14 other Asian and African nations are participating as observers. It makes America’s QUAD look like an anemic midget," Jeff J. Brown, author of The China Trilogy, told Sputnik.