The great English literary personality Samuel Johnson (1709-84) had just completed his great dictionary of the English language, which he had been toiling away at for eight years. A coalition of seven London booksellers had commissioned the project eight years previously, at a fixed price of £1,575. At that time Johnson had issued a plan for the work, in the hope of bringing in more funds from patrons.

Reports that Labor is in talks with Peter Dutton over the looming Federal Integrity Commission laws have spread alarm Anthony Albanese might walk back on his pledge for a credible anti-corruption body. Callum Foote reports on the timing, the critical detail, the delays and the latest scare.

Call it what you like: a Federal ICAC, a Commonwealth Integrity Commission or Bloody Well About Time, the introduction of an anti-corruption body to root out the dodgy business which has plagued Australian federal politics for years, and increasingly so, was one of the major issues at the 2022 election. 

by Callum Foote

As the Queen, Elizabeth number 2, is buried at her favourite location, St George's Chapel, Windsor, United Kingdom, we should tread on the non-royal theatre of her bawdy "majestee", Aphra Behn... .We have mentioned this clever woman with Rousseau, the noble ultra-misogynist philosopher. Though Ms Behn died quite a few years before he was born, the two had a connection: he "borrowed" one of her stories to invent "the noble savage". Apart from this Ms Behn knew life, Rouseau imagined life. And we mention Aphra because she is honoured by a burial site inside Westminster Abbey. 

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Declassified Australia’s Peter Cronau flags and analyzes a report by researchers at Stanford University and Graphika about a massive secret propaganda operation being run out of the U.S.  The report, from late August, has been buried by the Western media.

A covert online propaganda operation said to be the world’s largest promoting “pro-Western narratives” has been found to be operating primarily out of the United States, targeting Russia, China and Iran.

On Monday, Ukraine slaughtered 16 civilians, including two children, with 155mm NATO shells, according to the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin. The projectiles hit two adjacent neighborhoods, decimating residential and commercial areas – including a market that had previously suffered fatal attacks.

“A crime has been committed against Ukraine and we demand just punishment” against Russia, President Zelensky said while addressing the UN General Assembly via video message. Unable to travel to New York, the leader had obtained this exceptional authorization from the Member States of the United Nations.
In his speech, which ended with standing ovations and applause from the representatives present in the room, Mr. Zelensky launched a virulent diatribe against Russia for its aggression against Ukraine.
"We will not let this entity prevail over us", he launched, dressed as always in a khaki green T-shirt, and calling for the creation of a special tribunal to judge Russia "for its crime of aggression against our state.

The EU’s von der Leyen is completely wrong about anti-Russia sanctions, and here’s why

The bloc’s joint figurehead claims Moscow is presiding over an economy in ‘tatters,’ but we have heard that before

By Ivan Timofeev, Valdai Club Programme Director & one of Russia’s leading foreign policy experts.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has, as could be expected, called for new sanctions against Russia in connection with the forthcoming referendums in Donbass and two regions of Ukraine. These concern the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics – which have been de-facto self-governing since 2014 – and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial draft mobilization on September 21 and vowed to defend the right of the Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions to hold referenda on joining Russia, as the latter continues its special military operation to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine.

As against all this emotional talk there is need to point out again: praxeology and economics, its up-to-now best- developed branch, are neutral with regard to any moral precepts. 

They deal with the striving after ends chosen by acting men without any regard whether these ends are approved or disapproved from any point of view. The fact that the immense majority of men prefer a richer supply of material goods to a less ample supply is a datum of history; it does not have any place in economic theory. 

As against all this emotional talk there is need to point out again: praxeology and economics, its up-to-now best- developed branch, are neutral with regard to any moral precepts. 

They deal with the striving after ends chosen by acting men without any regard whether these ends are approved or disapproved from any point of view. The fact that the immense majority of men prefer a richer supply of material goods to a less ample supply is a datum of history; it does not have any place in economic theory. 

Economics neither advocates capitalism nor rejects socialism. It merely tries to show what the necessary effects of each of these two systems are. He who disagrees with the teachings of economics ought to try to refute them by discursive reasoning, not by abuse, insinuations, and the appeal to arbitrary, allegedly ethical standards.

Some lawmakers worry partial cancellation of student debts will harm military recruitment and they’ve written to the president and defense secretary about it. 

By Caitlin Johnstone
CaitlinJohnstone.com

Neither Moscow nor Beijing are seeking to rule the world – unlike some other countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

“In implementing their bilateral relations, Russia and China do not lay claim to ruling the whole world,” he told Russia’s Rossiya 1 channel on Sunday. However, “we know that some other countries have this tendency,” he added.

Moscow and Beijing also have “absolute similarity” in their views regarding “all sorts of provocative actions” by the US, according to President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson. He added that both countries consider Washington’s “destabilizing behavior” to be “unacceptable.”

The remark comes shortly after Putin met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit last week.

French President Emmanuel Macron has described the upcoming Donbass votes on whether to join Russia as “another provocation” of Moscow’s and said that this “parody” on democracy might be funny if it weren’t tragic.

The French leader was speaking to journalists on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, soon after the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, announced that they would hold a vote on joining Russia on September 23-27.

In Macron’s opinion, holding referendums in a region “that has been bombed, where people have had to flee” is a “signature of cynicism.”

“If it weren't tragic, we could laugh about it,” Macron said.

The volume of German imports from Russia has risen over the first seven months of this year by 32.6% in annual terms, amounting to $27.9 billion, the Russian Trade Mission in Berlin told RIA Novosti on Monday, citing data from Germany’s federal statistical office, Destatis.

According to the Russian trade representative in Germany, Andrey Sobolev, the rise in imports of fuel and energy products through July was 40.5%. Purchases of Russian gold have risen more than tenfold, while the volume of silver imports jumped by almost five times. The EU country has also boosted purchases of other metals from Russia, including copper, aluminum, and nickel.

The report also indicated that German exports to Russia decreased by 43.6% to $10.2 billion compared to the same period last year. Declining exports caused a $17.7 billion trade imbalance for Germany.

Donald Trump, the 45th US President, has claimed that FBI agents violated his constitutional rights and wreaked havoc in his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. The agency searched Trump’s premises in early August in connection with a probe into the former president’s handling of classified documents.  

Taking to Truth Social on Sunday, the Republican firebrand said that he would “soon be heading” to Mar-a-Lago to check on the “unnecessary ransacking of rooms and other areas of the house.” 

According to a post published on the social media platform, which was launched by Trump in February, the former head of state felt “totally violated” by the law enforcement’s intrusion.