It is difficult to reconcile new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s expressions of concern for the security of his country with his advocation of an Asian version of NATO.

The two ideas are contradictory to say the least.

 

We need PM Ishiba’s NATO like we need a hole in the head…    By Teow Loon Ti

 

Whoever owns the narrative owns the world – and things just got a lot tougher for those of us opposed to the metastasising brain cancer known as US influence campaigns – or “perception management”.  

 

US is spending $28 billion on Sinophobic propaganda to colonise your brain    By Eugene Doyle

 

CBS News has said that it edited US Vice President Kamala Harris’ ‘60 Minutes’ interview to make her seem more “clear, accurate, and on point.”However, the broadcaster denied former President Donald Trump’s claims that doing so was “deceitful.”

In a preview of the interview aired on ‘Face the Nation’ earlier this month, interviewer Bill Whitaker asked Harris if she believed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not listening to the US amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Harris gave a rambling reply, telling Whitaker that “the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.”

The US Congress task force investigating the July 13 attempt on the life of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has confirmed that the Secret Service and local law enforcement did not coordinate properly.

Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when a bullet nicked his ear. One rally-goer was killed and two more seriously injured before the Secret Service neutralized the attacker on the roof of a nearby factory.

“Put simply, the evidence obtained by the Task Force to date shows the tragic and shocking events of July 13 were preventable and should not have happened,” said the preliminary report published by the bipartisan body on Monday.

A reception of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in the Parliament House in Canberra has been interrupted by an obscene rant from an indigenous Australian lawmaker.

After the British monarch finished his address to the gathering on Monday, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe stepped forward and confronted him.

“You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us back what you stole from us: Our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land,” she shouted.

The lawmaker, who was wearing a native fur cloak, demanded that a treaty be agreed with First Nations peoples. Australia remains one the few countries in the British Commonwealth that has not signed an agreement between the state and the indigenous peoples. “Give us a treaty, we want a treaty in this country,” she said.

Elon Musk has hit back at German magazine Der Spiegel, after it branded the billionaire “public enemy No.2” and claimed he is working with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to “decompose liberal democracy.” In response, Musk insisted that he is a staunch defender of democracy.    

The German outlet published an article on Sunday with a cover depicting a close-up of the tech mogul with Trump’s features emerging through part of his face. The piece noted that the X owner and Tesla CEO has amassed huge economic clout and a prominent media profile. 

Retired American generals Philip Breedlove and Ben Hodges have claimed that a tiny German force in Lithuania could defend the country against a large-scale Russian invasion, citing opaque “war games” conducted in Washington.

The II BRICS+ Fashion Summit took place in Moscow on October 3-5, 2024. Who attended, what are their expectations from BRICS and why is the summit such a huge cultural phenomenon?

 

The East with a love for fashion: the faces of the BRICS+Fashion Summit    BY Ksenia Muratshina

 

BRICS plus the rest of the world

“O-o-o-o, Malaysia – truly Asia!” quoting a famous slogan, a tall, broad-shouldered Indian waves cheerfully at the Malaysian delegation. “Nice to meet you!”

Paris seeks UNESCO cultural heritage status for distinctive zinc rooftops

The French culture ministry wants to etch the unique zinc-plated rooftops of Paris and their workers in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Though iconic, the roofs are often criticised for their inadaptability to hot temperatures brought on by climate change.

The zinc covering the roofs of central Paris has given the French capital's skyline its distinctive grey hue for almost two centuries.

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/10/20/watch-cn-live-brics-rising/

 

Vijay Prashad: A World Without Context

 

Providing an excess of information that comes without proper, democratic analysis and is almost entirely controlled by a small oligarchy is its own form of censorship. And it eliminates knowledge and wisdom.

 

By Vijay Prashad
Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

 

 

A victory for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris could usher in a crackdown on freedom of speech in the US, tech billionaire Elon Musk has warned.

Speaking at a rally for Republican candidate Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday, the Tesla and X CEO was asked what kind of administration he would expect to see from Harris if she wins the November election. 

“We’ll see a lot of censorship under a sort of Kamala regime. Kamala is really just a puppet, frankly. If the teleprompter breaks she doesn’t know what to say,” Musk said, adding that he prefers to think of the administration as a “big government machine” that puts on a certain face to appeal to voters.

France would work to rally Western countries behind Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s “victory plan,”French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said during his visit to Kiev on Saturday. 

“A Russian victory would be a consecration for the law of the strongest and would push the international order towards chaos,”Barrot told reporters during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrey Sibiga. 

“That is why our exchanges must enable us to make progress on President Zelensky’s victory plan, and to rally as many countries as possible around it.”

The diplomat reiterated that Paris would “support, again and again, Ukraine’s resistance against Russian aggression.” 

CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM NEW ZEALAND (EMIRATES)

As entertainment and distractions have become playgrounds for sponsors, WE THE PEOPLE ARE UNDER CONTINUOUS CONTROL…

IT’S NOT NEW….

SINCE THE DAWN OF CIVILISED TIMES, CIVILISATION HAS NEEDED TO CONTROL PEOPLE BY VARIOUS MEANS. 

WHAT DOES CONTROL MEANS? DOES IT MEAN THAT WE HAVE TO PREVENT US FROM KILLING EACH OTHERS, PREVENT US US FROM ROBBING EACH OTHERS, AND MAKE SURE WE ALL SING FROM THE SAME SONG SHEET?

SURE, BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE OF “CIVILISED” PEOPLE’S EXISTENCE IS TO SERVE THE MASTERS TO MAKE MONEY AND DIE ON THEIR BATTLEFIELDS — GLORIOUSLY AND IN THE NAME OF KINGS (OR RICH DUDES) AND GOD — FOR COUNTRY AND ULTIMATE CONQUEST OF THE WORLD…

Every two years, a musical feat of world standard is achieved by a young Australian in an unlikely Victorian country town. Shepparton, home of irrigation and stone fruit, population almost 70,600, or an average AFL crowd, hosts it.

Those who have recently accomplished this stupendous achievement are unknown. Have you heard of Alex Zhang or Oliver She or Tony Lee? And you won’t have heard of Joshua Han, too, who on Saturday, 12 October, won this year’s Australian National Piano Award, taking home $41,000 in prize money.

 

Country town showcases world-standard young pianists    By Stephen Downes

 

Israel succeeded in what it is good at destroying, killing children and women and assassinating leaders, in killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. But the Israelis are only deceiving themselves if they think that through their crimes, they can accomplish success for their colonial project and force the Palestinian people to surrender.

 

Will Israel learn from its history or be doomed to repeat its mistakes?    By Ali Kazak