The worldwide peace movement after the end of the Second World War, and especially Germany’s (“Never again war!”), set out fundamentally to end wars as a means of conflict resolution. This goal is shared by all people of good will, as expressed in the United Nations Charter of 1945. The question posed in the following article, which considers the German peace movement as we have it today, is equally committed to this goal. The question is: Does the German movement’s sometimes sharp criticism of Russia for the Ukraine war truly serve peace?

US President Joe Biden has escalated his attacks on Chinese leaders, reportedly telling donors to his re-election campaign that China’s government is run by “bad folks” who may take dangerous actions as their economy teeters on the brink of collapse.

Biden claimed on Thursday at a fundraising event in Park City, Utah, that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government was in “trouble” because Beijing’s economic problems were a “ticking time bomb,” according to multiple media reports. He backed up his assertions with several erroneous claims about China’s economy and demographics.

Elon Musk is clearing house following the rebranding of Twitter last month, putting hundreds of items featuring the platform’s old logo up for sale.

Heritage Global Partners auction house is selling 678 lots of memorabilia, art, and office assets from the company’s San Francisco headquarters, including a giant sign featuring the iconic blue bird logo that adorned the side of the building.

Espresso machines, furniture, musical instruments, fridges, lockers and beer dispensers are also being sold off after the platform changed its name to X last month.

“Plan A” is commonly used to denote a current strategy; “Plan B” is commonly used to denote a backup or alternative strategy in case Plan A does not work.

Plan A

It is dispiriting that the Public Service Act Amendment Bill now before the Parliament says so little about ‘merit’. Nothing about secretary appointments and terminations and only a minor grammatical change to clarify that ministers are not able to direct agency heads about individuals’ employment.

By Andrew Podger

Yet we have:

The lead prosecutor handling the criminal investigation of US President Joe Biden’s son has been given special counsel status, potentially deepening the probe after a federal judge rejected a plea deal that would have enabled Hunter Biden to avoid jail time on tax and gun charges.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the decision to appoint David Weiss, US attorney for the district of Delaware, as special counsel on Friday. Weiss said in a court filing earlier in the day that negotiations on a revised plea agreement with Hunter Biden were at an “impasse,” suggesting that the case may wind up going to trial.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced recently that he and his wife of 18-years, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, were amicably separating, leaving some Canadians jealous that they couldn’t do the same. Immediately, the rumor mill went into overdrive. 

We are under constant bombardment. Hardly a day goes by without some news of a military nature. If it is not about sending more equipment to prolong the war in Ukraine, it is about Australian minerals being domesticated to serve Americas military interests.

YouTube has terminated the account of former US spy [? — WEAPONS INSPECTOR!] Scott Ritter and deleted all of his videos on the platform. According to Ritter, the Google-owned social media giant accused his channel of violating the terms of service.

Writing on X (formerly known as Twitter), Ritter stated that his channel, ‘The Scott Ritter Show’, through which he attempted to “import Russian voices to an American/Western audience,” had been flagged for ‘hate speech’ and taken down without prior warning or any specific examples of the offense.

“There was never any hate speech involved in any of the episodes of ‘The Scott Ritter Show’, unless one views unique content from silenced voices hateful,” Ritter said, calling the move “the latest in a series of actions by YouTube to silence Russian voices.”

Biden gone crazy – Trump
The former US president, facing dozens of felony charges, has accused his successor of political persecution

Former US president Donald Trump slammed his successor Joe Biden as simultaneously insane and inept in a rant on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, declaring the Democratic politician’s policies had nearly destroyed the country.

“What Crooked Joe Biden, who can’t string two sentences together, has done to our once great Country through his Open Borders CATASTROPHE, may go down as the greatest and most damaging mistake ever made in USA HISTORY,” the Republican presidential hopeful wrote, insisting the “INVASION” of the US “MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY.”

“Our country is being destroyed by a man with the mind, ideas, and IQ of a First Grader,” Trump continued in all caps.

A World Health Organization (WHO) official suggested that mass vaccination might be required to combat mosquito-borne illnesses as the infected insects migrate to new countries due to climate change.

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead for COVID-19, made the comments at a recent press conference.

“A lot of this is also about other uses of tools that exist,” she said, “in instances where we have interventions like medical interventions, therapeutics or vaccines depending on the pathogen.” 

“We need to be able to prepare for that.”

It is becoming increasingly unlikely. Julian Assange is in prison; the dissenting voices of Seymour Hersh, John Pilger, Glen Greenwald and Tucker Carlson have been excluded from the mainstream, moving into self-publishing; and Mick Hall has resigned from Radio New Zealand after it tightened control to safeguard the pro-American narrative.

By Tim Beal

“You haven’t been here long enough”.

Mick Hall was an idealistic journalist who had worked in various media outlets in Australia and New Zealand.

Inspired in his 20s, by Hunter S Thompson, the legendary iconoclastic American journalist, Hall had become jaded with corporate media and was excited at the prospect of a new career in Radio New Zealand (RNZ), the state-owned, public service broadcaster which he joined in 2018.

What do you think about the direction the world is heading?

It should come as no surprise that people are growing weary of much of what is going on, and alien technology and close encounters with visitors from another world (aliens) are more in vogue, and with ample justification. It’s all about control and keeping the people in the dark. However, I think that ordinary people are looking for leadership. It has already been a problem, as they are not looking in the right places, especially in the US.

BY Henry Kamens

Recently, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the European Union should double its assistance to Ukraine. She went on to say the EU should create a support fund of 50 billion euros by the end of the year and that everything should be done to ensure victory on the battlefield for the Ukrainians.

BY Phil Butler

France may soon overtake Russia as the world’s No. 2 arms exporter

Reports of new deals to sell French arms to India and Qatar are just the latest sign that France’s defence industry is gaining pace. The news comes as Russian arms exports decline in the wake of the war in Ukraine, leading to speculation that France could soon take its place as the world’s second-largest weapons exporter after the United States.

Text by:Gregor THOMPSON