French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday that "Europe can resist the brutalization of the world" and become a third way, as a growing tension leads to a possible US-China confrontation

"The geopolitical challenge of our century is the growing tension leading to a possible confrontation between the United States and China.

"In this equation, there is a variable that can change everything: Europe’s stance. Without seeking confrontation with either side, Europe can resist the brutalization of the world and chart a distinct path: a third way," Barrot told French daily Liberation.

Donald Trump’s “next big thing” is too big. That’s the verdict of some critics who fear the US President’s proposed triumphal arch in Washington DC will dominate and destroy the capital’s skyline.

Trump first unveiled plans last year for the arch, inspired by Paris’s iconic Arc de Triomphe ­and intended to act as a gateway to the city while also marking the 250th anniversary of America’s signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Debate has ramped up over the proposed Independence Arch after the President posted a series of potential new designs on social media.

Polling and worried commentary in the financial press is underscoring the reality that the breakup of the Coalition on January 22 is only the sharpest expression of an historic crisis of the entire two-party set-up that has defended capitalist rule for more than 80 years.

Coalition break-up expresses crisis of Australia’s two-party system

BY Oscar Grenfell

On the first regular sitting day of parliament for the year today, the Liberals and the Nationals, the component parties of the erstwhile Coalition, sat separately. Talks between Liberal leader Sussan Ley and National’s David Littleproud prior to the sitting had failed to reunify the federal opposition.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has announced her conservative party’s mystery new recruit as it enjoys a dramatic resurgence in the polls.

Former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi will be One Nation’s new South Australian leader, heading the party’s legislative team at next month’s state election.

“Cory has strong, sound conservative values that are an excellent fit with One Nation,” said Hanson late on Monday.

“He’s a prominent South Australian keen to make the positive differences in his home state the Liberals just can’t bring themselves to make.”

Newly released Jeffrey Epstein files from the US Justice Department have delivered a barrage of revelations about Bill Gates’ entanglement with the convicted sex offender. Over 3 million pages of emails, notes, and photos paint a troubling picture: Was Gates leveraging Epstein’s shadowy network for global health dominance? 

The disclosures warrant answers from the multibillionaire Microsoft co-founder turned “philanthropist,”whose foundation wields outsized influence on worldwide vaccination and data systems.

Vaccine gatekeeping

The conservative commentariat that didn’t want rate cuts last year is urging the RBA to increase rates tomorrow, but it may not happen, Michael Pascoe writes.

The money market betting is that the Governor Michele Bullock will announce a 25-point rate rise Tuesday afternoon. The herd is following the preferred commentary of the national media, much of which hasn’t forgiven the RBA for cutting rates last year.

India and the US have agreed to a trade deal, President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Monday.

The countries failed to reach an agreement after several rounds of talks in 2025 and Washington imposed a 50% tariff on New Delhi, half of which was a penalty for India’s purchases of Russian oil.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he had spoken with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the latter agreed to “stop buying Russian oil and to buy much more from the United States and potentially Venezuela.” He added that this would end the Ukraine conflict.

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service: France preparing coups in Africa
France is preparing scenarios for neo-colonial coups on the African continent and is looking for opportunities for ‘political revenge’ in the region, TASS reports with reference to the Press Bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of Russia.

According to the SVR, the administration of President Emmanuel Macron is ‘feverishly looking for options for revenge in Africa’. In recent years, Paris has lost influence due to the rise to power in a number of former French colonies of patriotic movements that put the interests of their peoples above and refuse to be tools of the French globalists. “Macron has authorised his special services to launch a plan to eliminate the 'undesirable leaders' of Africa," the intelligence report said.

A half-dozen masked and unidentifiable Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents killed a 37-year-old federal employee, a nurse, on Jan. 24 by spraying pepper spray into his eyes, pushing him to the ground, stealing his lawfully owned and carried handgun, and then shooting him nine times in the back. 

American Gestapo/American Psycho

The U.S. has a government devoid of social virtue and bent primarily on demonstrating its power over persons, says Andrew Napolitano. 

The thugs from ICE whom the federal government has sent to Minneapolis have produced murder and mayhem on a scale far more violent, disruptive and disturbing to human life than have the immigrants residing there without papers. 

For Sarah Ferguson and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, this latest drop of Epstein emails will only add to their embarrassment.

Welcome to the age of psychological manipulation…

As I write these words, I am indulging in the process. It’s unfortunate… It is unavoidable as it becomes harder and harder to pinpoint the borders between truth, reason and beliefs. What’s new is the array of modern means in which we are propagandised — methods that are becoming more sophisticated and targeted to our more refined prejudices. This creates confusion, even in the strongest of focused minds. Your choice is to trust me or not. And this is not new.

The CIA and the KGB — and the French SDECE, before it tanked in 1969 — have been masters of disinformation. it is hard to know which one placed its front foot first… Probably a spy at Jules Caesar’s service… or the guy who ran the first marathon (490 BC)…

One CIA chief told us:

Any time things heat up with an empire-targeted government I always get people demanding to know why I’m not critical of that government.

“Why don’t you criticize Iran? You spend all your time criticizing the west and Israel; you’re a hypocrite if you don’t criticize Iran.”

“Why Don’t You Criticize Iran??”

It flabbergasts them that I’m not saying harsh things about the latest Official Bad Guy of the Day.

BY Caitlin Johnstone

Europe and China are natural allies in the world’s emerging bloc of electro-tech economies.

Both are large net importers of oil and fossil fuels. Both have a strong incentive to end this dangerous vulnerability as fast as possible.

Trump is pushing China and Europe together to create a new world order

BY Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

The new line of strategic cleavage in global affairs is the clash of interests between those betting on total electrification, led by China, versus those betting on the old energy order, now led with ideological fervour by US President Donald Trump’s America.

Three quarters of humanity live in countries that run fossil deficits on their trade accounts and are bleeding their national wealth to the other quarter, which collects the rent.

Germans should adopt a tough stance against “enemies of democracy” at home and uncomplainingly embrace the continuation of costly aid for Ukraine, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has insisted, invoking a maxim on “happy farts.”

Speaking at a Social Democratic Party (SPD) convention in the city of Koblenz on Saturday, Pistorius branded the opposition right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD), and anyone voting for it, the “enemies of democracy.”

The minister urged Germans to “stand up for this democracy” more forcefully.

“A happy fart never comes from a miserable ass,” Pistorius declared, quoting 16th-century German theologian Martin Luther, a key figure in the Protestant Reformation. The phrase suggests that one’s mindset ultimately shapes outcomes.