LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Britain ramped up trade sanctions on Russia, targeting luxury goods including caviar, silver and diamonds through import bans and higher tariffs, seeking to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

It’s worse than a beetroot stain on your best white T-shirt: the classic Aussie burger is getting more expensive.

The beef pattie, tomato (or barbecue) sauce, bacon, bread and yes, even the beetroot have all risen in price over the last year, adding pressure on the local takeaway joint to pass those extra costs on to you.

Rabobank senior analyst Michael Harvey said there are factors – including worker shortages, and supply chain issues – that mean prices will stay higher for some time.

“Your burger’s going to be a lot more expensive,” he said.

So let’s break that burger down.

see original at https://guides.lib.umich.edu/fakenews

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW ###########################

In Science, the Magazine of the AAAS, an editorial on the first of April 2022, caught our eyes for being somewhat clumsily bent towards the silly politics of Washington to express a viewpoint on how to solve the “climate crisis”… We have hesitated for a while about trying to explain what the Russian views were on this subject, which is the “military incursion" to de-Nazify and de-militarise Ukraine. Russia has its own problems dealing with global warming, but not as large as that of the USA, while presently something is certain: the world powers are not going to wean themselves from fossil fuels — which are adding an extra dimension to the conflict. 

Liberals once mocked the Bush–Cheney regime’s with-us-or-against-us routines. Now the trans–Atlantic foreign policy cliques have no capacity to see the world differently.

I was interested to read, last December, of the expansive agreements Vladimir Putin and Mahendra Modi signed at the conclusion of a summit the Russian and Indian leaders held in New Delhi. These came to 28 and covered all manner of things — defense cooperation, energy projects, production sharing, technology transfers, investments in a range of industrial sectors India is eager to develop.

The Wilson Center is an apologist for the shenanigans of the US empire. It hides behind an aura of venerable respectability, but, if it is not part of the clever disinformation channels for the CIA, it sure fits the bill nonetheless of cleansing the deliberate mess after the CIA ops and the US administration caca... 

Thus the Wilson Center is mostly involved in checking, countering and destroying annoying information… Its activities are in total contravention to the “freedom of speech” enshrined in the US constitution.

So What is our beef with the Wilson Center today?

pathetic

Thanks to Matt Canavan for drawing our attention to the climate debate (“Nationals reignite Coalition climate war”, April 27). How could we forget Australia’s dismal performance at last year’s COP 26? Our country ranked last out of 193 UN member states for climate action in 2021’s Sustainable Development Report. Now the government is once again under pressure from the Nationals to sideline Australia’s emissions targets. Scott Morrison will need a lot of wallpaper and glue to paper over the cracks in the federal Coalition on climate policy. But first, a large amount of gap-filler will be required. A quick trip to Bunnings may be in order. Anne O’Hara, Wanniassa (ACT)

Since the Russian military operation to de-Nazify and de-militarize Ukraine began in late February, there is a common misperception that the Western left is “split” over the conflict in its response.

Indeed, it is true there has been infighting within organizations such as the U.S.-based Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) between its “International Committee”—whose official statement rightly faulted NATO enlargement for “setting the stage” for Russia’s actions in Ukraine—and local branches of the group which released their own takes distancing themselves from the former.

During a Ukraine 24 TV broadcast on 21 April 2022, the governor of Mykolaiv Oblast, Vitaly Kim, close to President Zelensky, stated: “All traitors will be executed; I am not afraid of this word. It will be like that!."

He defined “traitors” as people challenging the policies of President Zelensky.

The regional police have already arrested citizens caught distributing leaflets calling to celebrate Victory Day, marking the end of the Second World War.

The governor has revealed that a secret force was created to eliminate “traitors.”

READ MORE:

https://www.voltairenet.org/article216641.html

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW............

Russia has denied using natural gas exports as a tool to “blackmail”Europe, a claim voiced by the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the switch to gas trade in rubles stems from the EU's own actions.

“This is not blackmail. Russia has been and remains a reliable supplier, committed to its obligations. The conditions that were outlined in the presidential decree, the need for them was caused by unprecedented hostile steps against us,” Peskov stated, adding that the decision was communicated to natural gas buyers long before it took effect.

We've been robbed of a significant amount of our reserves. And this required a transition to a new system.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the Kremlin on Tuesday for talks revolving around the Ukrainian crisis. The two discussed the situation on the ground, with Putin explaining to the UN chief Russia’s reasons for launching its military operation against the neighboring country in late February.

Moscow’s move to recognize the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk was based on the Kosovo precedent, set up by  a UN-backed court, Putin told Guterres. The republics emerged after people living in Ukraine’s east rejected the Western-backed 2014 Maidan, he explained.

Putin added that the post-coup Kiev government opted for a military solution that led to the eight-year standoff in the Donbass.

When things go wrong, Scott Morrison refuses to take responsibility, blames others, and can’t admit his mistakes.

Bushfires. The bungled vaccine rollout. Not securing enough rapid tests.

Scott Morrison’s mistakes have held Australians back.

Australia can’t risk three more years of Morrison’s mistakes.

Find out below just why you can’t vote for Scott Morrison, the Liberals or Nationals on 21 May.

https://nomoremorrison.com/

Bill Clinton Makes a Pathetic Attempt to Retroactively Justify His Decision to Expand NATO

By Jeremy Kuzmarov

[Bill Clinton] Writes a Deceitful Article in The Atlantic Magazine That Distorts History to Defend His Fateful Presidential Blunder

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is the personification, as well as a harbinger of press freedom in its death throes, with democracy inexorably following – as night the day.

Our founders were justly proud of the First Amendment provision that "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press". Their successors today seem equally proud of flushing that down the toilet, lest truly free journalism expose and document U.S. war crimes. For that is what Julian Assange did, before the U.S. and the UK, with help from vassal Sweden succeeded in corralling him and eventually putting him behind bars.

“War is a racket, wrote US Maj. General Smedley Butler in 1935. He explained: “A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

Gen. Butler’s observation describes the US/NATO response to the Ukraine war perfectly.

The propaganda continues to portray the war in Ukraine as that of an unprovoked Goliath out to decimate an innocent David unless we in the US and NATO contribute massive amounts of military equipment to Ukraine to defeat Russia. As is always the case with propaganda, this version of events is manipulated to bring an emotional response to the benefit of special interests.