Modern Western Europe is quickly becoming a real-world demonstration of Hegel’s famous dictum – that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. In the past, the missteps of its leaders could be seen as awkward but forgivable moments against the backdrop of a still-coherent West. Today, farce is becoming the default operating mode for the region’s political elite.

Whether the antics come from small states like Estonia or from former heavyweights like Germany, France, and Britain, the effect is the same: Europe, or more precisely the European Union and its close NATO-aligned partners in the West, is no longer behaving like a serious geopolitical actor. What was once merely weakness has become a lifestyle – a self-parodying style of politics defined by empty declarations, theatrical gestures, and media spectacle.

On Friday, August 13, 2010, just as St. Martin's Press was readying its initial shipment of this book, Operation Dark Heart (2010) by Anthony Shaffer, the Department of Defense contacted us to express its concern that our publication of Operation Dark Heart could cause damage to U.S. national security. After consulting with our author, we agreed to incorporate some of the government's changes into a revised edition of his book while redacting other text he was told was classified. The newly revised book keeps our national interests secure, but this highly qualified warrior's story is still intact. Shaffer's assessment of successes and failures in Afghanistan remains dramatic, shocking, and crucial reading for anyone concerned aboutthe outcomeof the war.

Enough food is produced to meet the needs of 11 billion people. Why do so many of the 8 billion people on the planet go hungry?

I have written this article before. In fact, I could write it every year when a  new Global Report on Food Crises is published. The report rests on four points:

1. The number of people who are hungry is greater now than last year.

2. The amount of food produced this year is greater than that produced last year.

The North West Shelf Extension is the textbook example of everything wrong with Australia’s gas policy. Its approval comes off the back of a dangerous myth that more gas means cheaper prices for Australians.

The first act of a re-elected Albanese Government has been to betray future generations.

David Pocock

Before the final votes are counted, before ministers have even had time to get their feet under their desks, the government has approved one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in our history: the North West Shelf Extension.

The North West Shelf Extension is the textbook example of everything wrong with Australia’s gas policy. Its approval comes off the back of a dangerous myth that more gas means cheaper prices for Australians.

The first act of a re-elected Albanese Government has been to betray future generations.

David Pocock

Before the final votes are counted, before ministers have even had time to get their feet under their desks, the government has approved one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in our history: the North West Shelf Extension.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard much about Joe Biden, hasn’t it? Yet here he is, back in the headlines – not because of some triumphant return to form, but for all the wrong reasons. The former US president has once again found himself at the center of national attention, thanks to a sequence of revealing and deeply troubling events.

The Biden years: When America started to resemble the late-stage USSR
How Washington became a gerontocracy
By Vitaly Ryumshin

It began with Axios publishing the full audio of Biden’s now-infamous interview with special prosecutor Robert Hur. The same interview in which Hur concluded that the then president suffered from serious memory issues. As the recording confirmed, he wasn’t wrong. Biden struggled to recall basic facts – even the date his son died.

As Democrats cast about for a strategy to thwart President Donald Trump’s agenda, rebrand their party and take back power, Sen. Elissa Slotkin recently offered one intriguing idea: Build a shadow Cabinet.

The video criticizes recent comments and actions by U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham following their trip to Kyiv, where they threatened Russia and proposed aggressive U.S. policies. Blumenthal suggested seizing $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets frozen in European banks to fund Ukraine's military and reconstruction, despite such actions being illegal under international law and potentially damaging to global trust in Western financial institutions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J4rAkNMnWo

The speaker argues this would undermine the West's credibility, accelerate the rise of alternative systems like BRICS, and have far-reaching economic consequences.

KURSK, Russia (Sputnik) - The NATO bloc's staff committee had been preparing the Ukrainian armed forces' invasion of Russia's Kursk Region for over half a year, the deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's military-political office, Lt. Gen. Apti Alaudinov, told Sputnik.

"The NATO bloc's staff committee was preparing such a super operation, which in essence had to be guaranteed to be effective. They gathered all the resources that they had, all types of foreign equipment, trained fighters. They had been preparing the operation for more than half a year, with the fighters trained in the United Kingdom and in other NATO countries," Alaudinov said.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces planned to use the territories they had temporarily captured in the Kursk region as leverage in negotiations.

Russia has continued to make billions from fossil fuel exports to the West, data shows, helping to finance its full-scale invasion of Ukraine – now in its fourth year.

Since the start of that invasion in February 2022, Russia has made more than three times as much money by exporting hydrocarbons than Ukraine has received in aid allocated by its allies.

Data analysed by the BBC show that Ukraine's Western allies have paid Russia more for its hydrocarbons than they have given Ukraine in aid.

Campaigners say governments in Europe and North America need to do more to stop Russian oil and gas from fuelling the war with Ukraine.

During this Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June), with the theme Bridging Now to Next, the nation is aware that there is still unfinished business on the national agenda when it comes to the due recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Frank Brennan

US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that he intends to lift all sanctions on Syria stands as one of the most unexpected and controversial foreign policy moves Washington has made in the past decade.

Declared during Trump’s Middle East tour at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, the decision marks a dramatic shift in America’s approach to the region – one that could reshape the strategic landscape for both allies and adversaries.

What is Trump’s game in Syria?
Why has the US president decided to lift all sanctions on Damascus, and how will it shape the future of the region?

Moscow has the means to respond to Berlin’s decision to lift the range restrictions on Ukrainian strikes with missiles provided by Germany, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu has said.

Earlier this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claimed that “there are no longer any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine, neither from the British nor the French, nor from us, nor from the Americans.”

In a separate interview on Wednesday, Merz said deliveries of German Taurus missiles – which have a range of 500km and could potentially reach Moscow – to Kiev is “in the realm of possible.”

Speaking at a conference on Thursday, Shoigu highlighted the inconsistency of Ukraine’s Western backers regarding the use of long-range weapons.

After Merz's speech, von der Leyen was awarded the Charlemagne Prize. 

Shortly afterward, von der Leyen gave an address of what Europe means for her and how she views the way forward for the continent in the future. 

Von der Leyen urged the building of an "independent Europe."

"The next great era, our next great, unifying project must be about an independent Europe," von der Leyen said. 

She said this doesn't just mean the countries in the European Union, but also countries on the whole continent.

In light of "enormous" geopolitical tensions, von der Leyen asserted, "what we once took for granted as an international order has tranformed into international disorder within a very short time."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfN-upExT_4

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R9Yb5tjM_I