You have to admire the PRC Ambassador, Xiao Qian. After the uncivil behaviour, and gotcha questioning, and the visible personal animus journalists gave him at the National Press Club four weeks ago, he’d have been forgiven if he declined to make himself available to speak to Australian media for a while. Or at least, if he did so, only on agreed terms of civility.

In its muddles with the history of Ukraine, the West is NEVER mentioning the composition of this “country”. The West acts as if the Russians in Ukraine don’t exist or never existed. It’s like ignoring the Irish. 

So what is “Ukraine”? It’s not a monolith but the West acts as if it was a singularity. It’s not. And this is why there were the “Minsk Agreements” between the Kiev Government and the Donbass regions. There was a similar growing split between England and Ireland — and there could be one between Scotland and England, soon if the Scots become cleverer than the average badger…

Despite three brutal weeks in which his legacy collapsed and his character and leadership style were condemned as deceitful, controlling and strange, Scott Morrison is showing no signs of remorse.

The former PM will face an inquiry led by a former High Court Justice after he was revealed to have secretly taken on the powers of much of the Australian cabinet across five portfolios, assumed without telling all but one of the colleagues who had been the responsible minister.

Could you imagine being sent to prison for three years if you dared to set your thermostat above 66 degrees Fahrenheit?  As you will see below, this is a proposed regulation that is actually being considered in a major European country right now.  If you have not been paying much attention to what is happening in Europe, you need to wake up.  Natural gas in Europe is seven times more expensive than it was early last year, and that is because of the war in Ukraine. [GUS: NO. IT'S DUE TO THE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA].  

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Washington’s aid has succeeded in its essential purpose, enabling Ukraine to defend its independence. Now the allies should indicate to Ukraine that their backing is not open-ended. U.S. and European support for Kiev should be tied to realistic war aims with an emphasis on reaching a stable peace settlement. 

Indeed, as part of this process the Biden administration should give Brussels the lead in aiding Ukraine and negotiating with Russia. Nearly eight decades after the conclusion of World War II and three decades after the demise of the Soviet Union, it is well past time for the Europeans to take over primary responsibility for their own defense. They will act like children as long as Washington treats them as children.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has pledged another $2.2 billion in long-term military financing to Ukraine and 18 neighbor states and territories “potentially at risk of future Russian aggression,” pending approval by Congress, Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed on Thursday during an unannounced visit to Kiev. 

Blinken met with President Vladimir Zelensky and other senior officials to discuss the details of the $2.2 billion package, of which $1 billion will go to Ukraine. The rest will be divided among “regional security partners” in order to help them “deter and defend against emergent threats to their sovereignty and territorial integrity” through strengthening their coordination with NATO and combating “Russian influence and aggression,” according to the State Department.

Tesla tycoon Elon Musk slammed Amazon Prime Video’s hotly-anticipated new ‘Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power’ series in a cluster of tweets on Monday, suggesting the series’ original author J.R.R. Tolkien was “turning in his grave.”

The SpaceX CEO explained that “almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both,” with only Galadriel – a female warrior elf – managing to be “brave, smart, and nice.” The series, the first two episodes of which premiered on Thursday, is the most expensive TV show ever made, costing $715 million for the first season alone – seven times as much as one season of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’.

Therese Coffey conceded that there was some validity in criticisms of her appointment as Britain’s new secretary of state for health and social care. She is known for having some unhealthy habits in her personal life.

The issue came up on Wednesday in an interview with the radio station LBC. Host Nick Ferrari quizzed the new secretary about her well-documented fondness for cigars and alcohol and suggested jokingly that both of them “could do with losing a pound or two.”

“My focus is on how we deliver for patients. And I appreciate I may not be the role model,” Coffey said, adding that “Chief Medical Officer [Chris Whitty] and others, I am sure, will continue being role models in that regard.”

With Queen Liz II gone, and with the shenanigans of her representive in Aussieland, it's time to proclaim a republic...

Vale Lizzie....

At the moment the Queen died, the throne passed immediately and without ceremony to the heir, Charles, the former Prince of Wales. 

In the 1970s, I met one of Hitler’s leading propagandists, Leni Riefenstahl, whose epic films glorified the Nazis. We happened to be staying at the same lodge in Kenya, where she was on a photography assignment, having escaped the fate of other friends of the Fuhrer.
She told me that the “patriotic messages” of her films were dependent not on “orders from above” but on what she called the “submissive void” of the German public.

By John Pilger
Special to Consortium News

Did that include the liberal, educated bourgeoisie? I asked.  “Yes, especially them,” she said. 

I think of this as I look around at the propaganda now consuming Western societies. 

A peace treaty was only finally signed by a Russian diplomat and the the Mayor of Berwick in 1966. As the mayor said at the time: "You can tell the Russian people that they can now sleep peacefully in their beds". 

Berwick's early story was as one of the most important towns and ports in Scotland for a period of 250 years from 1018. But in 1296 Edward I of England sacked the town and slaughtered 8,000 of its residents. This marked the start of two centuries during which Berwick changed hands between Scots and English on average every 15 years. This was not an environment that encouraged business to flourish and the town's fortunes inevitably waned as a result.

As Kiev has banned journalists from the frontlines of the ‘offensive’ in Kherson Region, the Washington Post sent a reporter to a hospital in the rear area, where wounded Ukrainian soldiers told a harrowing tale of fighting against the odds. Wednesday’s piece about plucky underdogs who just need more weapons, ammunition, and equipment appeared just ahead of a US-led meeting of Ukraine’s arms suppliers in Ramstein, Germany.

Liz Truss has won the role of prime minister, and must navigate her party – and Britain – out of the mess her predecessor left behind.

Months of controversy and a mass exodus of ministers prompted Boris Johnson to announce his resignation as British prime minister in July, which started the race to find a new Conservative Party head.

Ms Truss, who was foreign secretary, narrowly beat her last remaining competitor Rishi Sunak, chief financial minister, with 57 per cent of 81,326 votes from Conservative Party members.

Coercion is a word that sits between beliefs and persuasion. The psychological nature of coercing people to do certain things is very complex as one needs to know many parameters — from the weakness and strength of the person being coerced to the extend of why someone would be “changing an opinion” or “doing something unknowingly/knowingly unsavoury” even under threat.