Blow the Truth

Anti-Semitic riots at Makhachkala Airport  Russia Police conducted home searches and confiscated phones to identify those who took part in the storming of an airport in the southern Russian region Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced the arrest of 83 people in connection with Sunday’s anti-Semitic riots at Makhachkala Airport in the Republic of Dagestan. Police have warned that any attempts to provoke further unrest in the Muslim-majority region will be suppressed.  In a statement on Telegram on Monday, the ministry said officers had conducted over 50 searches and had seized mobile phones and other equipment to be used as evidence against those suspected of organizing and participating in the riot.   The investigation is being led by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Investigative Committee (SK). The MVD described the “operational situation” in Dagestan as being under control but warned against any attempts to destabilize

China Rail Photo YouTube Russia is committed to building railroads to China, as the two countries are boosting business ties and mutual cargo flows are growing rapidly. Two railway corridors – from Kemerovo Region and Krasnoyarsk Region – are part of the strategy for economic development of Russia’s Siberian Federal District, according to a document that was published on the government’s website on Monday. One of the proposed lines will see the construction of the North-Siberian railway, which would run through Altay Region to Urumqi – the capital of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Feasibility studies, including an investment assessment, are due to be completed in 2025. Earlier this month, presidential aide Igor Levitin said that the North-Siberian line would connect the Eastern Polygon, which is part of the Trans-Siberian Railway transport corridor between Europe and Asia, passing through Siberia, with the Northern Sea route. The estimated cost of the planned 1,900km (1180-

  The young climate activist was accused of posting an anti-Jewish image Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was accused of spreading anti-Semitic messages online after she voiced support for the Palestinians on X (formerly Twitter). She deleted her original post after taking flak on social media.  On Friday, Thunberg shared a photo of herself and three other women holding posters with pro-Palestinian slogans.  “Today we strike in solidarity with Palestine and Gaza,”  she wrote, calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East, as well as  “justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected.” However, some quickly spotted that one of the women had a small blue stuffed octopus perched on her knee and drew parallels with anti-Semitic cartoons depicting Jews as menacing octopuses with long and far-reaching tentacles. Such images have been used in Nazi Germany and elsewhere to promote myths and conspiracy theories surrounding the Jewish people and Judaism. The activist soon dele

  PM Anthony Albanese Grattan on Friday: Anthony Albanese had good motives but his referendum has done much harm The National Anti-Corruption Commission the other day issued its weekly statement about its work program. The government legislated for the NACC late last year, it began operations on July 1, and it’s now going full steam. What if Anthony Albanese had taken the same approach to the Voice? The Senate would have passed the legislation. The Voice could be operating right now. Instead, the Voice is dead and reconciliation is, at least for the moment, a wasteland. In medicine they say “do no harm”. Albanese was well motivated, but a great deal of harm has been done. The prime minister and others will say, the Indigenous people wanted a Voice in the constitution, not simply a legislated Voice. How could he ignore that, when he made his pre-election promise to pursue the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full? It sounds a compelling argument. Except when you consider the

Hamas launches major attack on Israel Militants have launched rockets from Gaza into southern and central Israel on Saturday morning, the IDF said. At least five people have reportedly been killed.  “Hamas carried out a combined operation involving rocket fire and infiltrations by terrorists into Israeli territory,”  the IDF said in a statement.  At least five people are believed to have been killed by the missiles. Four fatalities were reported in the town of Kuseife, and another one in the Gderot area. Information coming from medical institutions across the country suggests that more than 100 people were wounded. Soroka Hospital in Beersheba said it had been treating 80 patients, some of whom were in a serious condition. According to Israeli media, some projectiles hit Ashkelon and Tel Aviv. Rocket sirens have also been heard in Jerusalem and Beersheba. Hamas has claimed that it fired some 5,000 rockets at Israel in just the first 20 minutes of the attack.   The IDF has declared  “a

  Photo QLD Police Dash Cam Media outlets across Australia have carried headlines about a “youth crime crisis” in recent months. While drawn from actual events, often involving serious criminality and antisocial behaviour, these often sensational reports have the same narrative subtext. The story is one of “bad kids” doing bad things in otherwise “good communities”. Our understanding, as a society, of who we are is informed in part by the media. What the youth crime crisis is and who we understand young offenders to be corresponds with media framings of these individuals and their actions. More often than not, the reports present a “good-bad” binary: where “bad” young people who do bad things should be locked up to protect “good” people. It’s a basic, albeit understandable, reaction that makes sense in terms of a logic of punishment and retribution. For the Youth Community Futures research project, we have been working with groups of young people to explore how they engage with

  Victoria First Peoples’ Assembly Victoria’s newly elected First Peoples’ Assembly has taken its seat in the Parliament of Victoria for the first time, with new members who will negotiate the historic statewide Treaty – giving Victoria’s First Peoples true self-determination in matters that affect their communities. After First Nations Victorians voted in record numbers in the second Treaty Elections, Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister for Treaty and First Peoples Gabrielle Williams today attended the new Assembly’s first meeting on Wurundjeri Country, congratulating members and newly-elected co-Chairs, Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg. Ngarra Murray is a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, Dhudhuroa and Wiradjuri woman with extensive experience in human rights and community development, having led Oxfam Australia’s First Peoples’ programs for a decade. Rueben Berg is a proud Gunditjmara man with experience in government through his role as the Commissioner for the Victorian Envi

  Governments have failed to properly share decision-making with Indigenous people to accelerate Closing the Gap, despite formally undertaking to do so, according to a scathing indictment by the Productivity Commission . The commission says too many government agencies consult Indigenous people “on a pre-determined solution, rather than collaborating on the problem and co-designing a solution”. The broad-ranging criticism is contained in the commission’s first review of the 2020 “ National Agreement on Closing the Gap ”. The Albanese government will use the findings to reinforce its pitch for the Voice – which is that Indigenous people are not being properly heard on what needs to be done to tackle the problems in health, housing, employment, education and other areas of disadvantage. The review says: “There appears to be an assumption that ‘governments know best’, which is contrary to the principle of shared decision-making in the Agreement.” The national agreement was put i

Miss Italy Photo YouTube A patron of the Miss Italy beauty pageant has ruled out the possibility of transgender entrants being permitted to compete, saying that competitors  “must be a woman from birth.” The rule, which comes shortly after the Netherlands crowned its first-ever transgender winner of a similar beauty pageant, comes in contrast to other beauty events seeking to generate media attention by including non-traditional participants, according to Miss Italy official patron Patrizia Mirigliani. “Lately, beauty contests have been trying to make the news by also using strategies that I think are a bit absurd,”  Mirigliani, the daughter of the late Miss Italy founder Enzo Mirigliani, said to Radio Cusano this week, as reported by Newsweek. Television personality Mirigliani added:  “Since it was established, my competition has foreseen in its regulation the clarification according to which one must be a woman from birth.” She further explained that Miss Italy’s decades-old rules to

The Great Awakening Photo: Mikki Willis Mikki Willis Filmmaker  embarked on an incredible journey with   Plandemic 3: The Great Awakening , and it’s hard to believe that the premiere is now behind us. But the adventure doesn’t stop there!  This is the movie that everyone needs to see! The last few years finally start to make sense, as The Great Awakening assembles the puzzle pieces before your eyes. To keep supporting the film, please promote  The Great Awakening  on social media, and in conversations with your loved ones. Remember, the truth will always prevail. -Mikki Willis  Filmmaker