Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward tells the revelatory, behind-the-scenes story of three wars--Ukraine, the Middle East and the struggle for the American Presidency.

War is an intimate and sweeping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in presidential politics and American history.

We see President Joe Biden and his top advisers in tense conversations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. We also see Donald Trump, conducting a shadow presidency and seeking to regain political power.

Will the government save us in a fuel security emergency? After a long FOI fight, the Federal Government’s plan has been made public, and it’s not comforting. Rex Patrick reports.

After a year-long $150K Freedom of Information (FOI) fight to keep secret their plans for dealing with a fuel security emergency, the Australian Government has been forced to come clean and hand them over. Should we be reassured or alarmed?

There’s no single fuel emergency scenario. Australian Governments rightly ‘wargame’ all sorts of possibilities to see how they, the Australian economy and people might cope with a major disruption of liquid fuel supplies. Australia still predominantly runs on petroleum products, without which our nation would come to a crashing halt.

President-elect Trump reportedly joked about annexing Canada during last week’s talks with Justin Trudeau, citing the looming impact of a potential trade war on Canada’s economy. Why isn’t Canada already the 51st state, anyway? Or maybe it is, and Canadians just don't realize it?

The 8,891 km US-Canadian border, long hailed as the “longest peaceful border” in the world, hasn’t always been so peaceful, with the US invading twice – in 1775 and 1812.

The first invasion targeted Quebec, seeking to seize the mostly French-speaking province 16 years after its 1759 British conquest from France. The invasion failed due to poor organization, illnesses among troops, and a surprise decision by local residents and Native tribesmen to side with the British.

Bernie Sanders has expressed his support for Donald Trump’s planned new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Bernie Sanders recently expressed his support for Donald Trump’s planned new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The lefty senator even admitted that “Elon Musk is right.”

Democrats nationally are wrestling over who will lead their party post-election. But in the Senate, they’re largely staying the course.

In a closed-door party meeting on Tuesday, Senate Democrats elected leadership for their return to the minority, including tapping Sen. Chuck Schumer for another term as caucus leader, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was also elected to another term as whip, the No. 2 spot.

It’s been a mere three weeks since Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate former Fox News personality Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense. 

President Joe Biden didn’t pardon Hunter because he’s a loving father who thinks his drug addict son was treated unfairly by the Justice Department. He pardoned Hunter to help cover up his own crimes, just as he’ll likely pardon other members of his family before he leaves office in January. He’s trying to protect himself, and this is one of the only ways he has left to do it.

Ukraine’s self-proclaimed “fight for independence” has ironically only led to deeper dependency on financial, military, and energy support from Western countries, raising concerns about the sustainability of this arrangement.

Recently, I came to a conclusion, and now I always repeat it, that the Ukrainian government declared a struggle for independence, but in fact, it turned out to be a struggle for dependence, only from another country. Moreover, this dependence will be several times stronger than the one which they claim to be fighting against, and now it is a struggle to keep the money and arms flowing for financial gain and political survival.

Ukraine and Europe: Caught in “Treacherous Cycle” of Dependency Amid Energy and Economic Struggles

BY 

Henry Kamens

Amid the welter of commentary and post-mortems among Democrats to explain Kamala Harris’ loss to Donald Trump, there is one theory that has received widespread acceptance. The Democrats made a serious tactical mistake in concentrating too much on Trump, and spent too little time promoting positive messages about Harris.

BY GEORGE BRANDIS....

Admittedly, Harris was an awful candidate – hectoring, annoying, a platitude-mongering avatar of political correctness, faced with the difficult task of defending an incumbent administration at a time when most Americans felt worse off after four years of the Democrats. She was hard to sell.

Les liens cachés d’un géant du journalisme avec le gouvernement américain

L’OCCRP, le plus important réseau de médias d’investigation au monde, a dissimulé l’ampleur de ses liens avec le gouvernement américain, qui fournit la moitié de son budget, bénéficie d’un droit de veto sur ses dirigeants et finance des enquêtes sur la Russie ou le Venezuela.

https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/021224/les-liens-caches-d-un-geant-du-journalisme-avec-le-gouvernement-americain

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[A map] provides a graphic illustration of at least one possible motive for Turkey’s decision to intervene in Syria and try to wrest control from President Assad. There are reportedly two plans afoot to build pipelines transiting Syria [WE HAVE ALREADY MENTIONED THESE ABOUT TEN YEARS AGO] — one originates in Iran and the other originates in Qatar but terminates in Turkey. Given present circumstances, Syria is unlikely to look favorably on a deal that will enrich Turkey, and Turkey’s Erdogan, with Western encouragement, decided to make a play to seize more of Syrian territory and hopefully destabilize President Assad’s hold on power. It looks like Turkey has overplayed its hand.

BY LARRY JOHNSON

In finalising his cabinet, Donald Trump has come to resemble an American Caligula, the Roman emperor rumoured to have considered appointing his beloved stallion as consul. So unorthodox have been the president-elect’s appointments that I half expected him to nominate his golf cart as the new transportation secretary.

BY Nick Bryant

Social media company Meta has accused the Australian government of rushing to introduce an under-16 social media ban without properly considering the evidence and voices of young people.

But Australian politicians who supported the world-first legislation argue it is necessary to ensure another generation of teenagers do not experience “as much damaging content” in years to come.

Thousands of Volkswagen workers in Germany went on strike on Monday after the company announced plans to close three plants and slash pensions. 

"Warning strikes will begin Monday in all plants," said Thorsten Gröger, who is leading the union negotiations with German auto giant.

"If necessary, this will be the toughest wage dispute Volkswagen has ever seen."

Tens of thousands of employees with the IG Metall union stopped work at 9:30 a.m. The strike is set to last two hours, a process which will be repeated by the late shift.

Joe Biden delivers ‘tremendous favour’ to Donald Trump with Hunter Biden pardon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlooGkT2fMU

US President Joe Biden has done a “tremendous favour” for President-elect Donald Trump by pardoning Hunter Biden, claims United States Studies Centre’s Dr Harry Melkonian.

“It takes this whole Hunter Biden situation off the table, it’s a piece of controversy the new president will not have to deal with because the pardon is an unconditional and absolute constitutional act of President Biden,” Dr Melkonian told Sky News Australia.

“Secondly, President-elect Trump who’s had his own share of legal problems and has been able to avoid anything like a sentencing, and has been criticised; this will certainly deflect attention on him.”