With AUKUS, the pride of politicians has become an obstacle to reaching the best solution to the ‘national security’ conundrum. In the end, it could be that ego-driven reluctance to shift from entrenched positions results in the Australian people being delivered a disaster.

For my own purposes, I have been keeping a record of articles I have read under the topic ‘AUKUS’. There are now some 300 such items on my spreadsheet – nearly all of them finding fault of one kind or another with this extraordinary project.

The four-day, twice-a-decade plenum of the Communist Party of China that took place last week in Beijing, designing an economic road map all the way to 2029, was a stunning affair in more ways than one.

Let’s start with continuity – and stability. There’s no question after the plenum that Xi Dada, or The Big Panda, will stay on the helm until 2029 – the end of the current five-year economic drive.

China has achieved escape velocity: it is now unstoppable

BY PEPE ESCOBAR

A few days ago, candidate Trump was riding an incredible campaign dynamic, following the attempted attack of which he had been the victim, his image had improved in the minds of Americans outside his traditional electoral base. His coronation during the Republican convention in Milwaukee in mid-July and the “ticket” that he now embodies with the very conservative JD Vance ensures him a plebiscite among right-wing voters.

NATO’s plans to establish a foothold in Asia to counter China better is nothing more than a sure recipe for disaster. Coming to Asia and beating war drums against a country that has not attacked anyone is akin to pushing it to take any and all necessary steps to protect its interests. NATO, thus, is pushing China to shun its regionally focused pacificism in favour of a more belligerent stance.

Salman Rafi Sheikh

A more aggressive China will, in NATO’s calculation, push Asian countries to move more towards the US out of their common fear of Beijing as the hegemon. However, Asian countries are not readily buying the US narrative. They remain sceptical, even as they are still committed to maintaining a balance between China and the US to avoid getting trapped in the ‘Cold War 2.0’.

A high-level EU foreign affairs summit scheduled for August will be moved from Hungary to Brussels, the bloc’ top diplomat, Josep Borrell, confirmed on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference in the Belgian capital, Borrell said the bloc must “send a signal, even if it is a symbolic signal,” to punish Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his Ukraine “peace mission,” which brought him to Moscow, Kiev and Beijing. EU officials have condemned Orban's initiative as contrary to the bloc’s policies.

Hungary currently holds the rotating EU presidency, and the bloc’s foreign and defense ministers were due to gather in Budapest late next month. Politico earlier reported that EU officials were planning to boycott the meeting in the Hungarian capital.

The Western nations should “wake up”to the threat of a potential major conflict they are facing, Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s former military commander-in-chief, told a British military conference on Monday. The governments should make sure their nations are ready to “mobilize” and sacrifice their liberties in the name of what he called “survival” if such a conflict does break out, said Zaluzhny, who in May became Kiev’s ambassador to London.

People must agree to give up freedoms for survival – Kiev’s ex-top general
Ukraine’s former military commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, was fired by Vladimir Zelensky in February and made an envoy in May

In any alternative media space, you are sure to find much talk about US dollar dominance, as well as optimistic forecasts of its imminent decline. This is also true in the radical right, where nationalists pine after an end to US imperial hegemony and the rise of a more multipolar world.

Often though, this hope is little more than wishful thinking, with unlikely challengers to US power much overhyped. This is especially true concerning US dollar hegemony, a topic that is ripe for misunderstanding at the best of times.

The Shadow Money System That Rules the World
And why the dollar isn't going away*

Has Andrew Forrest's green hydrogen dream evaporated?

Even for the most begrudging, it's difficult, at least on some level, not to admire Andrew Forrest.

The indefatigable defiance, boundless energy and enthusiasm, combined with an unwillingness to concede defeat, have helped him build a business empire almost from scratch.

BY Ian Verrender/ABC

With Biden out of the 2024 race, what’s the Deep State’s next move?
The deeply unlikeable Kamala Harris has been tapped to get the Democratic nomination. Can her victory be ensured behind the scenes?

The 81-year-old US head of state has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be picked as the Democratic Party nominee for the upcoming elections. Will this controversial shift drive a wedge between liberals long into the future?

BY ROBERT BRIDGE

If you are one of the world's two superpowers and you receive a clear and specific challenge from the other power, essentially a threat to your existence, how do you respond? China did it in an unexpected and very Chinese way. Basically: which of us is stronger, difficult to say, but we are smarter and therefore we will win.

NATO challenges Beijing, China provides unexpected response

BY Dmitri Kosyrev

This is what happened at the recent NATO summit in Washington. And the “third plenum” of the CPC Central Committee that concluded on Thursday, announced in advance by almost all of the world's media as a momentous event for the entire world, not just China.

After one year of operation, the National Anti-Corruption Commission has spent $65 million on organising itself, pretty presentations, and rejecting submissions of obvious corruption. What’s the scam?

The scam is how the Labor Government colluded with the opposition to set up an anti-corruption body to honour Labor’s election promise, but designed it to avoid investigating each other’s rorts. Party politics at its very worst.

The NACC, the Notionally Avoiding Corruption Commission, turns one. What’s the scam?
by Michael West and Kim Wingerei

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said that he does not expect Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack US President Joe Biden during his address to US legislators on Wednesday.

White House officials were reportedly concerned that the speech could include public jabs at the administration.

The US paused its delivery of 3,500 bombs to Israel in early May amid calls for West Jerusalem to scale back its assault on the densely-populated city of Rafah in southern Gaza. In June, Netanyahu publicly criticized Washington for “withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel” for several months, calling it “inconceivable.”

The Israeli leader could stage a “diplomatically complicated and politically dicey spectacle for a president running for reelection,” Politico reported in June.

US President Joe Biden has ended his bid for re-election, opening the way for another Democratic candidate to take on Republican Donald Trump in November’s election.

On Sunday afternoon (US time) Mr Biden declared it was in the “best interest” of the Democratic Party and the country for him to drop out of the 2024 US presidential race. He also endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him on the ballot.

The most powerful companies in the world have united against free speech, and they’ve deployed your tax dollars to fund their mission.

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee released a report on the little-known Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and its pernicious promotion of censorship. GARM is a branch of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), a global association representing over 150 of the world’s biggest brands, including Adidas, British Petroleum, Nike, Mastercard, McDonald’s, Walmart, and Visa.

By Brownstone Institute