china

Many leaders were shocked at America’s disastrous abandonment of Afghanistan. One who was not? China’s President Xi Jinping.

He has long been convinced of the inevitability of US decline and Chinese ascendancy: “The East is rising,” he likes to say, “and the West is declining.” He is setting China up to be the world’s leading power and he’s well on the way.

blame

Scott Morrison warns leaders not to break Covid reopening ‘deal’ as states call for new vaccine modelling

The prime minister says states and territories must not backtrack on the plan to ease restrictions once 70% and 80% vaccination targets are met.

Peep on the other side of the Guardian firewall to see the rest of this story... Meanwhile or beforehand:

amusing

The vice president has a nervous habit of laughing when faced with tough questions about serious political topics.

Before Harris went to the U.S.-Mexico border — 93 days after President Joe Biden assigned her the immigration crisis — she chuckled during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt when pressured about her delay in visiting.

Holt stated, “You haven’t been to the border.”

dino

Liberal-turned-independent politician Craig Kelly has jumped ship to Clive Palmer’s political party, promising the mining magnate will pour tens of millions of dollars into the next election campaign.

Mr Kelly, who was forced to quit the government for his support for discredited COVID “treatments” and opposition to COVID measures, claimed he would set United Australia Party policies, focusing on an anti-lockdown platform.

clay

The Prime Minister has warned state and territory leaders they must not be afraid of COVID-19 cases rising once enough of the population is vaccinated against the virus.

hi...

As the IPCC, full of its serious scientists and massive computer models tell us that WE are cooking the planet, The Heartland Institute is organising a gamblingfest on global cooling in Las Vegas. 

making progress

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Monday and repeated a call for progress on human rights.

A State Department statement said Blinken and the Saudi minister discussed regional security and the attack last month on the tanker Mercer Street in the Arabian Sea, which Washington blames on Iran, and other regional issues.

we've got duplicates...

[August 14] The U.S. embassy staff in Kabul has been told to start destroying sensitive material, underscoring that the Biden administration is preparing for the possibility that the embassy will be overrun by the Taliban despite public assurances that the building remains in operation.

reset

drought

There is a "new" global warming kid* on the block. Not that new, but recently promoted again by media heavies...

And this global warming kid* has credentials. Heavy in sciences and graphs — all peer reviewed. This global warming kid* explains that most of the present global warming (now undeniable and noticed by scientists, denialists and luddite alike) is due to the sun. Hoorah! Horror! We’re going to fry if the sun says so!

cards

war merchants

JACK KEANE HAS had a busy week.

The retired four-star general has been making the cable news rounds, offering scathing criticism of the White House in wake of the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, he appeared on Fox News, where he told host Harris Faulkner that the administration “made a terrible mistake in pulling our troops out and giving the Taliban the opportunity to take the country over.”

doc

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a June 16 summit meeting with President Biden, objected to any role for American forces in Central Asian countries, senior U.S. and Russian officials said, undercutting the U.S. military’s efforts to act against new terrorist dangers after its Afghanistan withdrawal. 

no escape...

Curfews, more mask rules, and limits to exercising — the NSW government has introduced a raft of new restrictions as the state's COVID-19 outbreak continues to balloon.

Most of the new rules will come into effect at 12:01am on Monday, August 23.

fried

Australia’s unemployment rate has fallen to 4.6% in July, down from 4.9%, defying expectations the economy would lose jobs due to the greater Sydney lockdown.

In July the Australian economy added 2,200 jobs and the number of unemployed people fell by 39,900, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics has warned the falling unemployment rate is not a sign of a strong jobs market.

Most of the improvement in unemployment was driven by a decrease in the participation rate from 62.2% to 62%, as people dropped out of the labour market.