President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Participants in the plenary session, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

I am glad to welcome you all in Sochi at the anniversary meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club. The moderator has already mentioned that this is the 20th annual meeting.

Pearls and Irritations has posted an outstanding series of articles by Percy Allan on the so called ‘China Threat‘. He highlighted that America is deeply divided and that promoting the China threat helps unite Americans; that unlike the UK and the US, China has no imperial legacy; that unlike the Soviet Union, China is not exporting ideology; that China is concerned about managing its large ethnic and religious minorities; and that surrounded by scores of US bases, China’s military is defensive.

Most important of all Percy Allan emphasises that China’s focus is economic.

By John Menadue

Historical revisionists are now trying to argue that actual Nazi soldiers were just anti-Soviet resisters. 

We knew that it was coming. It was only a matter of time. And now attempts to whitewash the actions of actual Nazis from WWII have begun – all because a bunch of ignoramuses in the Canadian parliament cheered one alongside Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, and it all just makes Ukraine and its Western supporters look bad.

Quoting RT plays into Putin's hands – Hillary Clinton
The former secretary of state has claimed Moscow is working to foment US political divisions over support for Ukraine

Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin is “thrilled”by the growing political divide in Washington over aid to Ukraine. She also alleged that the Russian leader “scores points” whenever Americans reference views shared by outlets such as RT.

In an interview with PBS’s Geoff Bennett released on Tuesday, the former secretary of state and principal architect of the Russiagate conspiracy theory was asked how she thinks Russia perceives the growing opposition among US lawmakers to funding for Kiev. 

Washington is positioning its assets at chokepoints across Central Asia to block critical rail corridors that link Beijing to Europe. It’s part of a US plan to isolate China from western markets following an outbreak of hostilities in Taiwan.

Judge Jeanine: These are stunning comments from the judge in Trump’s case

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISD3mEAf0mI

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....

let’s be serious for a moment…

RUSSIA HAS HAD THE MORAL DUTY TO DEFEND THE RUSSIANS IN UKRAINE. Until 24 February 2022, the deal was simple: NO NATO IN UKRAINE AND THE DONBASS (Russian) REPUBLICS WERE TO BE AUTONOMOUS IN UKRAINE. CRIMEA, RETAKEN BY RUSSIA IN 2014, WAS NON-NEGOTIABLE. THE NAZIS IN KIEV COULD HAVE BEEN TOLERATED TO A POINT…

Simple.

The same offer was made till the peace agreement of March/April 2022 which Boris Johnson sunk by telling Kiev’s merchant of death, Julius Volodymyr Zelensky, that the West/NATO would support him, if he reneged on the deal…

The West and Zelensky went for war — TO DESTROY RUSSIA…

Russia had two choices: give up the Donbass, let NATO come to its border — or fight back.

The rest is history….

The British government will ditch an “absurd” EU rule on the sale of abnormally curved bananas, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey announced during a Conservative Party conference on Monday. 

Speaking at the Tories’ annual get-together in Manchester, Coffey declared that “bent or straight, it’s not for the government to decide the shape of bananas you want to eat.” 

With a population of 1.4 million, Chinese-Australians are the largest ethnic minority community in Australia and our say has weight. From the perspective of that community, an important objective must be playing our part in seeing Australia lift its game to match world standards of acceptance of minorities and particularly of its indigenous peoples.

By Kingsley Liu

Rep. Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building on Saturday morning, shortly before the House was scheduled to vote on a government funding bill, an incident the New York Democrat said was an accident.

The incident was first revealed by House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, a Republican from Wisconsin, who said in a statement that an investigation is underway.

There was a decade of popular uprisings from 2010 until the global pandemic in 2020. These uprisings shook the foundations of the global order. They denounced corporate domination, austerity cuts and demanded economic justice and civil rights. There were nationwide protests in the United States centered around the 59-day Occupy encampments.

My mates and I, growing up in our happy, homogenous and very white suburbia in the 1960s and 70s, would probably not have met an indigenous Australian but for playing footy. Without our great game, we might, at least as kids and teenagers, have remained stuck in the fearful ignorance that was pretty common at the time.

By Andrew Fraser

The two guys we got to meet played first grade at our club, one a gentle-giant ruckman and the other a speedster on the wings and flanks. They were both absolute gents. They copped a bit from sections of opposition crowds and it was instructive to watch how it was rarely their actual opponents who went in for the racist taunts. It was instructive, too, to watch how their team-mates stuck up for them.

CANADA HAS LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG: FASCISM AND NAZISM ARE ALIVE AND WELL....

but first...:

On July 15, 1944, during the Lvov-Sandomierz operation, which was carried out by the First Ukrainian Front, our troops met an “ersatz division”, which was called the 14th Grenadier or Ukrainian SS Division “Galicia”. This was one of the first formations of the SS troops, which were not created from Germans or “racially related” peoples. Initially, only natives of the western regions were recruited into the division, those who were not citizens of the USSR before 1939. Mostly they were Galicians, a few were from Volyn.

Isn't it rich?

Are we a pair?

Me here at last on the ground,

You in mid-air,

Where are the clowns?

Isn't it bliss?

Don't you approve?

One who keeps tearing around,

One who can't move,

Where are the clowns?

There ought to be clowns?

Just when I'd stopped opening doors,

Finally knowing the one that I wanted was yours

Making my entrance again with my usual flair

Sure of my lines

No one is there

Don't you love farce?

My fault, I fear

I thought that you'd want what I want

Sorry, my dear!

But where are the clowns

Send in the clowns

Don't bother, they're here

Isn't it rich?

Isn't it queer?

Losing my timing this late in my career

But where are the clowns?

There ought to be clowns

Well, BUGGER ME, I AM THE CLOWN...

On October 14, we can change our Constitution to recognise the original inhabitants – now one of the most disadvantaged groups in Australia. Their suffering stems from the autocratic decisions made about and for them by Colonial and Australian governments. But how can we decide which way to vote? Here is a decision-making model that can help.

By Sue Wittenoom