In January, an Australian child innocently brought home a couple of handfuls of garden mulch from near a playground in Sydney's inner west. 

Looking at the mulch, the child's parent was horrified to spot what looked like chunks of bonded asbestos.

Russia must allow an international investigation into the death of opposition activist and anti-corruption campaigner Alexey Navalny, EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell has said. The 47-year-old Navalny unexpectedly died on Friday in a Russian prison, where he was serving a lengthy sentence stemming from several criminal convictions.

“Russia must allow an independent and transparent international investigation into [the] circumstances of his sudden death,” Borrell said in a statement on Monday.

He added that the European bloc “will spare no efforts to hold Russia’s political leadership and authorities to account,” and threatened to impose more sanctions on Moscow. He reiterated that the EU has been “outraged” by Navalny’s death.

Canada will donate more than 800 SkyRanger R70 drones to Ukraine, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair announced on Monday. Kiev has relied heavily on commercial and military UAVs during its conflict with Russia, which will enter its third year on February 24.

“These drones are going to help Ukraine’s front line troops assess targets and threats quickly with accuracy and effectiveness,” Blair stated at a press conference in Toronto.

The R70s can be used for reconnaissance missions and are capable of carrying payloads of up to 3.5 kilograms.

The UAVs are a part of the $370 million aid package pledged to Kiev by the Canadian government in June 2023. Overall, Ottawa has provided $1.78 billion worth of assistance since February 2022, including tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery.

HALLE, Belgium (AP) — The writing of angry farmers was on the Paris-to-Brussels highway in giant yellow letters visible from up high: “Ursula, We are here!” 

It was chalked onto the road with an equal measure of defiance and desperation, warning European Commission Ursula von der Leyen not to ignore farmers’ concerns for better prices and less bureaucracy.

The Western Ruling Elite: Its Development and Its Betrayal

THE PROBLEM WITH THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE BY FINN ANDREEN IS SIMPLE: IT IGNORES THE FACT THAT RULING ELITES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OLIGARCHIC. YET IN SOMEWAY, IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE SOME ATTEMPTS AT STUDYING (AND SOLVING?) THE “PROBLEM” OF ELITISM IN DEMOCRACY — FROM AN ELITIST PERSPECTIVE….

BY Finn Andreen

The Western ruling elite has become oligarchic in nature; its political and economic influence is disproportionate and even harmful to society. It is necessary, therefore, to review its historical evolution and expose its current goals.

Back in the 1960s and 70s, the media was referred to as ‘The Fourth Estate’. The media played a role as a check and balance against government abuse of power, corruption, and overreach. The media was an integral part of any healthy democracy.

Ursula von der Leyen will formally announce her candidacy for a second term as president of the European Commission on Monday, German tabloid Bild has reported. Von der Leyen has already hinted that she seeks a second term, promising on Saturday to appoint a dedicated “defense commissioner” if she holds on to her office.

To secure a second term, von der Leyen will first have to be nominated by her faction in the European Parliament, the centrist European People’s Party (EPP). Speaking to Reuters last month, EPP lawmaker Daniel Caspary said the party would nominate von der Leyen at a congress in March, “if that’s what she wants.”

US President Joe Biden’s efforts to punish Moscow over the Ukraine crisis have failed, and his rhetoric and weak leadership have only encouraged more aggression by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, ex-White House aide John Bolton has claimed.

Bolton made his comments in a NewsNation interview on Friday, after Biden and other US officials rebuked President Putin over the death of opposition politician Alexey Navalny in a Siberian penal colony. The former US national security advisor argued that contrary to statements by the Biden administration, Navalny’s death does not demonstrate weakness in Putin’s government.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has seemingly agreed with American investor David Sacks, who believes that the Ukraine conflict will end in a heavy defeat for Kiev, but that the West will try to spin the narrative in a way to sweep the truth under the rug.

On Sunday, Sacks published a post on X (formerly Twitter) entitled “A war of lies,” arguing that the Ukraine conflict is based on falsehoods and deceit about “how it started, how it’s going, and how it will end.”

The entrepreneur stated that citizens of Western countries are being told that “Ukraine is winning when in fact it is losing” while being lied to that Kiev’s main problem is a lack of US funding, while in reality it is the “fact the West can’t produce enough ammunition.”

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has offered to give Donald Trump a tour of Kiev’s battlefront with Russian forces, saying America’s leading opposition presidential candidate should see the conflict with his own eyes before making policy decisions.

“If he will come, I’m ready even to go with him to the frontline,” Zelensky said on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. “I think if we are in dialogue how to finish the war, we have to demonstrate to people who are decision-makers, what does it mean – the real war, not in Instagram.”

"In order to preserve life and encirclement, I have withdrawn our units from Avdiivka." 

Media reports recently offered a rare glimpse into the shoulder rubbing and deal making that takes place at gatherings of Europe’s most secretive organization – the Institut International d’Etudes Bancaires. However, sensitive issues related to global policymaking are hardly the prerogative of this gilded banking society.

France and Ukraine signed a bilateral security pact on Friday during President Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to Paris. While President Emmanuel Macron did not offer Kiev any ironclad military commitments, he promised another €3 billion in aid over the rest of 2024, as well as “cooperation” in the area of artillery.

The agreement states that France views the prospect of Ukraine’s accession to NATO positively, as “a useful contribution to peace and stability in Europe.” The largely symbolic deal is designed to help “pave the way towards Ukraine’s future integration into the EU and NATO,” French media noted, citing officials.

American politics are often seen through the lens of lame comedy… Some news channels try to explain some serious angles but most of them are biased along party lines — and battle for or against the gutter trickeries of the government in place… This creates a containment of the idea of democracy that pleases the establishment channels — the CIA, the FBI and the NSA… and the elites who foment and control the trickeries of rules.

SEE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpBPm0b9deQ

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People in the West are Gaza-war weary. You see it in fewer reports, articles and commentary. It is an understandable by-product of the complicity-cum-impotence of Western civilisation in the face of Israeli barbarism.

The non-Israeli barbarians of the world are taking note at what they can now get away with.

The vile and pointless Hamas terrorism of a single day, 7 October 2023, gave way to a week, then weeks, then months of continuing Israeli revenge in the form of mass murder and wholesale destruction – in short, a war of alleged genocide.