A ban on TikTok is now almost inevitable in the US as President Joe Biden signs legislation banning the app unless the Chinese-based parent company ByteDance sells the app to an approved buyer. 

Mr Biden's signing sets a January 19 deadline for a sale  — one day before his term is set to expire — but he could extend the deadline by three months if he determines ByteDance is making progress.

Here's the latest: 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday went after China for its trade relationship with Russia, saying Beijing must reduce its trade with Moscow to have good relations with the West.

Western officials often accuse China of supporting Russia’s military, but there’s no evidence of Beijing shipping weapons. Instead, they point to China’s export of semiconductors and raw materials.

By Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmz4nzcsx-4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcdallrJDYc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGVK2HTN4xA

One of the European and American myths is that fascism was defeated during the Second World War by liberal democracies, and in particular by the United States. While the record suggests that far from being eradicated at the end of World War II, fascism was in fact repurposed, or rather redeployed, to fulfill its primary historical function: to destroy atheistic communism and its threat to THE mission — capitalist civilizer. The various national security agencies ensured that fascism, far from being defeated during the Second World War, was successfully internationalized.

BY Robert GIL

WASHINGTON — The war in Gaza spurred large protests outside a glitzy roast with President Joe Biden, journalists, politicians and celebrities Saturday but went all but unmentioned by participants inside, with Biden instead using the annual White House correspondents' dinner to make both jokes and grim warnings about Republican rival Donald Trump's fight to reclaim the U.S. presidency.

An evening normally devoted to presidents, journalists and comedians taking outrageous pokes at political scandals and each other often seemed this year to illustrate the difficulty of putting aside the coming presidential election and the troubles in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Biden opened his roast with a direct but joking focus on Trump, calling him "sleepy Don," in reference to a nickname Trump had given the president previously.

GUS: Putin is smarter than the average american president....

John Subba: I have read stories on Putin's life.

He may have never been tested on any of the standardized test, but I project his IQ to lie somewhere around 145 - 160 range.

Some of his astoundingly praiseworthy activities that indicates high intelligence are:

The Ukraine conflict has become a great boon for American Big Five defense contractors, sending their stocks up and boosting their profits.

Before adopting the latest $61 billion package, the US Congress had passed four Ukraine spending bills totaling $113 since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022.

The lion's share of the entire spending initiative, or $61.8 billion (54.7%), went to the US Department of Defense which granted its major contractors lucrative new contracts.

As Peter Dutton, Coalition media and the security apparatus ramp up efforts to censor the internet, Michael West checks in on anti-China think tank, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. 

Self-described as “Australia’s top security research institute”, ASPI has managed to eke out one report on Gaza since the Hamas attacks of October 7 while churning out 50 reports on China. On that metric alone, ASPI’s raison d’etre is clear, but that has not stopped the think tank from parading itself as “Australia’s top security research institute”.

The corporate propaganda media, NYT, WaPo, that got Biden elected in 2020, are crying foul because Biden won’t give them any interviews… Yes, Joe Biden — that broken down crippled demented old fool is a farting monkey incapable of saying two intelligible words together….  And “he is ready to debate Trump”… This is the state of politics in America… But fear not [pause], Stephen Colbert is there to make sure Biden is seen as a silent wisdomy god, while showing Donald Trump as a babbling baboon… We know, but sometimes a baboon is far better than a sick warmongering memory-deficient senile Joe Biden….

FOUR MORE YEARS OF JOE BIDEN? ARE YOU SERIOUS, WE DEMAND OF THE EMPIRE….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXjR8xD2Yuc

If you've been wondering why the UK acts as it does towards Israel, wonder no more & ask why you didn't know about this already.

ENTRY POINT ONE, DELAWARE: Burisma was founded in 2002.[11][12] Consolidation of the Burisma Group took place mainly in 2006 and 2007.[13] 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has lashed out at Russian President Vladimir Putin for quoting iconic German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Speaking on Tuesday at an event marking the 300th anniversary of Kant’s birth, Scholz accused Putin of trying to “poach” the great thinker as well as misrepresenting his ideas.

Kant was born in 1724 in Koenigsberg (present-day Kaliningrad), which belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia before later becoming part of the Russian Empire. The philosopher is famous for his work on ethics, aesthetics and philosophical ontology, and is considered one of the pillars of German classical philosophy.

Here’s what makes Blinken’s job in China especially difficult
“Overcapacity” and “dual-purpose trade” are catchphrases to hide the fact that Washington is getting trounced in the economy of the future

French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned the word "paradigm" roughly 20 times in a speech pushing for more European integration Thursday.

"We have a rendezvous with history — Europe could die," Macron warned, standing in front of hundreds of listeners in the amphitheater of the Paris Sorbonne, one of Europe's oldest universities.

The president called for more European integration; a new, common commercial industry and a proper European defense strategy — possibly with its own missile defense shield.