We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.

Against the backdrop of France’s recent blatant failures on the African continent, whose inhabitants are increasingly determined to throw off the shackles of modern French neocolonialism, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided to seize the moment and use the French vacuum in Africa to strengthen Germany’s position there.

For the past two years, the US has been actively trying to rally the Arab world around Israel, to solve the “Palestinian issue” in American terms and to force Palestine to resolve the conflict with Israel through Donald Trump’s “deal of the century,” which has a clear bias in favor of the Jewish state.

Washington does not support the Palestinian authorities’ desire to resolve the issue through EU, Russian and UN mediation, insisting on the US-Palestinian-Israeli format of negotiations.

BY Vladimir Odintsov

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has welcomed the EU agreement on a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow but called for a “pause” until the impact of the measures is known.

Earlier on Tuesday, EU Council President Charles Michel confirmed that the bloc’s member states had agreed in principle a sixth round of anti-Russia sanctions, which include a partial embargo on Russian oil. The sanctions are being imposed in response to Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.

Speaking to journalists ahead of day two of the EU summit in Brussels, De Croo said the impact of oil sanctions would be “enormous” and thus “a pause” is needed.

“For Belgium, this package is a big step forward, let’s stop there for now and see its impact,” the prime minister said.

The first Eurasia Economic Forum, held last week in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, should be regarded as a milestone in setting the parameters for the geoeconomic integration of the Eurasian heartland.

Sergei Glazyev, Russia’s Minister in Charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), is coordinating the drive to design an alternative monetary-financial system – a de facto post-Bretton Woods III – in cooperation with China.

Washington’s proxy war in Ukraine is the globalist scheme to transcend the continuity of history, culture, and geography embodied in the nation-state.

For the reasonably reasonable people among the 36 per cent of Australians whose first preference was for another three years of Liberal-National Coalition government, relax – Australia is just doing its regular rebalancing act around the centre.

Civilisation as rational conservatives imagine it is not coming to an end. History shows we are much better for “changing the curtains” from time to time, for our balancing act.

That thought will provide no comfort for the carnival barkers on Sky After Dark but, hey, they have tickets they need to sell to their Murdoch freak show.

By Michael Pascoe

Peter Dutton’s election to lead the Liberal Party was no surprise at all (“Dutton to woo vote of ‘forgotten’ city fringes”, May 31). After a few minor readjustments, it was back to Abbott-era dog whistling for the Liberal Party. Power price concerns will be the reason to continue the do-nothing policy on climate change while the “forgotten people” is the classic resentful/outrage talking point. Incidentally, why didn’t the Coalition remember the “forgotten people” during the past nine years 

Tony Mitchell, Hillsdale

The conflict in Ukraine has many frontlines. The world is mostly focusing on the hostilities, but an even more serious conflict is unfolding inside the Ukrainian camp. This standoff between Ukrainians and Russians as two political nations has been developing since 2014, but it entered a new, decisive phase after Russia began its military offensive, three months ago. 

Modern Ukraine was built on an anti-Russia foundation, but a large part of the country refused to play along

Ukraine's divisions will help Russia consolidate the territory it now controls. But there's a lot of challenges ahead

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

In 2016, the United States committed to arming Ukraine to fight and win a war against Russia. Subsequently, the US Department of Defense organized a biological research program in Ukraine, and then huge amounts of nuclear fuel were secretly transferred to the country. These data change the interpretation of this war: it was not wanted and prepared by Moscow, but by Washington.

RISING TENSIONS (20)

The secret Ukrainian military programs

by Thierry Meyssan

One recalls that when war fever surged demanding intervention by Imperial Britain in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, a song became popular in the music halls which included “We don’t want to fight, But by Jingo if we do, We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too.” If the refrain sounds familiar, it should as the United States has been experiencing extreme “jingoism” since 2001.

Most of us will feel confident the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s clutch of recent reports has now delivered a globally dependable well researched path to carbon neutrality. After all its the product of thousands of the world’s scientific experts.

Recent media reports that the introduction of Amtrak’s new Avelia Liberty trains (If it’s America, it’s always ‘liberty’ or ‘freedom’) manufactured by France’s Alstom are facing yet another delay of 18 months, pushing the total delay to more than three years. The cause? Surprising, to say the least. To begin, under new instructions to ban everything Chinese, the company had to turn to France to purchase their rolling stock, but what Amtrak has purchased is 3 generations old in China, at the very bottom of anything that today would be termed “high-speed rail”, and is old in France as well. Reading between the lines, it seems Alstom agreed to reproduce some older-technology equipment to match America’s abilities, but things haven’t gone so well.

Vladislav Ugolniy: Ukraine's unity is crumbling amid serious military losses in the Donbass and Zelensky is feeling the heat

The recent advances of the Russian army have taken their toll on society and are a major setback for the leadership's motivational efforts

By Vladislav Ugolniy, a Russian journalist from Odessa based in Donetsk

Ukrainians appear to be losing unity amid military defeats in the Donbass and the economic crisis in the rest of the country. The surge of patriotism that arose when the Russian army was close to Kiev appears now, in the last days of May, to have been exhausted. Along with it, the national consensus that saw all political groups rallying behind the Ukrainian army, rather than struggling against President Volodomyr Zelensky seems to have disappeared.

David Littleproud will lead the federal Nationals in opposition after a partyroom vote in Canberra.

• Barnaby Joyce has been dumped as Nationals leader after a post-election vote
• David Littleproud has become the new leader, with Perin Davey his deputy
• Mr Littleproud said the party would uphold its net-zero climate change commitment

Senator Perin Davey has been elected as deputy leader of the Nationals.