Western nations’ hegemonic aspirations and dismissal of Russia’s security concerns have led to the ongoing standoff between Moscow and the West, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released on Sunday. Ideological differences are only a pretext to advance the West’s geopolitical interests, he claimed.

Putin added that he expected the collapse of the USSR to alleviate tensions between Russia and the West.

“I also thought that key disagreements [between us] were ideological in nature,” he stated. “Yet, when the Soviet Union was gone… the dismissive approach to Russia’s strategic interests persisted.”

On July 6, BRICS member states signed the Joint Declaration of the 17th BRICS Summit, “Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance”, in Rio de Janeiro.

Similar to the game-changing Kazan Declaration, this year’s BRICS declaration serves as a manifesto for the Multipolar World Order. Containing 126 commitments, the document reads like a Bill of Rights against the global tyranny of the Collective West.

US President Donald Trump has pushed back against claims of a cover-up in the Jeffrey Epstein case, defending his administration’s handling of the release of files related to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender’s death in jail.

Some of Trump’s allies, including journalist Tucker Carlson and former adviser Steve Bannon, have criticized a report by the Department of Justice and the FBI, which found no evidence of a list of powerful individuals to whom Epstein trafficked underage girls. The report also found no signs of foul play in Epstein’s 2019 death at a Manhattan correctional facility, which was ruled a suicide.

Why Lee Jae-myung Did Not Attend the NATO Summit

Konstantin Asmolov

How the Summit Went

Staying within the bounds of what can be commented on, here are several noteworthy points:

– The main issue discussed was defense spending. The United States proposed that allies raise their military budgets to 5% of GDP.

CALL AGAINST WAR
European leaders are preparing for war. A vast rearmament program is underway. And it is the working class they will ask to pay the price for their weapons and their wars, through taxes, cuts to our social benefits, a decline in our living standards, and our blood and sweat.
The order established after World War II is disintegrating—politically, financially, and militarily.

Not a cent, not a weapon, not a single life for war!

As summer warms Istanbul's waters, the megacity's authorities are having to battle a noxious algal bloom dubbed "sea snot".

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart on 10 July that Beijing and Moscow should strengthen strategic coordination to promote peace in West Asia.

According to a statement by China's Foreign Ministry, Yi said the two countries should push for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear issue during a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Kuala Lumpur. “Peace cannot be achieved through force, and applying pressure won't solve problems.”

Dialogue and negotiations were the solution to the conflict, Yi added.

The two foreign ministers also discussed China–Russia coordination with the countries comprising the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

https://therealnews.com/thousands-protest-donald-trump-tariffs-interfere...

Membership of the Chinese Communist Party has just exceeded 100 million. It has long been the largest political party in world history.

When Prime Minister Albanese meets President Xi Jinping, he is not only meeting the head of the second largest economy in the world in nominal dollars, and by far the largest in purchasing power parity terms, but also the head of the biggest political party the world has ever seen. This matters.

Geoff Raby

Western Europe is “losing” the economic competition with its main rivals, China and the US, and is struggling with a shortage of globally competitive companies, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has said.

Since 2022, when the EU imposed sweeping sanctions on Russian energy over the Ukraine conflict, growth across the bloc has stagnated. Germany, once its economic powerhouse, is now experiencing its third year of economic downturn. 

Europe is losing – JPMorgan CEO
The region’s economic competitiveness is dwindling, Jamie Dimon has warned

Moscow has argued that EU restrictions are self-defeating, causing surging energy prices and weakening the bloc’s economy.

The US has removed Syria’s al-Qaeda franchise from its list of designated terrorist organisations just days after the UK added nonviolent activist group Palestine Action to its own list of banned terrorist groups.

The Western empire will surely find ways to be even more hypocritical and ridiculous about its “terrorism” designations in the future, but at this point it’s hard to imagine how it will manage to do so.

Caitlin Johnstone

Britain and France have unveiled a new agreement to coordinate their nuclear arsenals more closely, citing what they see as heightened “threats”to security in Europe. Moscow has called the move part of NATO’s overtly anti-Russian policy, warning it would factor the agreement into its military planning.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the two governments said that British and French nuclear weapons are aimed at protecting the two nations’ vital interests, adding that “our nuclear forces are independent, but can be coordinated and contribute significantly to the overall security of the alliance.”

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

America just made a decision that could change the entire future—and hand China the upper hand for decades to come. While China is investing billions into clean energy, dominating industries like solar, wind, electric vehicles, and battery storage, the United States is doubling down on oil and gas. In today’s video, we break down the biggest energy race of the 21st century: how Beijing is using clean technology to expand its global influence, while Washington is clinging to the past.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claimed he had no idea about the atrocities committed by the Ukrainian Nazi collaborators during the World War II until confronted on the issue by Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, the latter has told the Polish RMF24 broadcaster.

According to the president, Zelensky’s claim shows that Ukrainians are kept in the dark about their nation’s dark past. “He said to me: ‘Andrzej, I've never heard of the murders, the killing of Poles in western Ukraine, in Volhynia. They didn't teach us about it in school’,”Duda said, recounting one of his meetings with the Ukrainian leader.

This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a flooding: With apologies to T. S. Eliot

Every year the UN runs a Climate Change Conference – the next is scheduled for November in Brazil. High on the agenda will be the plight of Pacific Islanders seeing their homes drown. There’s an equally pressing need close by, but the solutions seem doomed.

Duncan Graham