Screenshot from the War On The Rocks article linked to by the OP. Test is "In the absence of political clarity, operational actions could escalate into a broader regional war without clear purpose or attainable goals - precisely the path that doomed the British effort in 1915."
Fabulous and horrifying article.
Clear, insightful analysis by ABC News' @johnthelyonsden.bsky.social. #Israel #USA #Iran #auspol
The winner of the shiniest shoes in Munich award goes to Ilham Aliyev president of Azerbaijan… winner of previous awards on corruption and dictatorship… also the only world leader to be married to the vice president … quite a guy. But those shoes - wow. The arm and wrist power that went into that!!
Wonk factor eleventy banillion.
Best avoided, for now at least!
Well done Canberra
#CBR
#Herzog
#Genocide
#FreePalestine
Lovely
The live-streamed genocide continues for the 847th day. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues for the 8th decade.
Videos compiled from IG: nahed_hajjaj99 yousef_alzanoun leena_ahmed108 mahmoud.z.aliwa aymanalhesi m.saed.gaza shuoli hassan.salem.gaza ahmed_kaheel0
Superb, thank you Antony.
In 2009, I was a Marine in Helmand province during the height of the shift to counterinsurgency operations. We were heavily armed and trained for violence, as Marines are expected to be. But when we encountered local Afghans, we took off our helmets. We removed our sunglasses. We put a hand over our hearts, we looked the Afghans in the eye and said Salaam Alekum, or “peace be upon you.” If the situation allowed, we sat down. We drank tea. We talked. This wasn’t weakness or wokeness. It was strength, discipline and strategy. We were still Marines. When it was time to fight, we did so decisively. But we also understood something essential: You cannot intimidate your way into lasting security. You cannot terrorize a population into cooperation. And you cannot claim moral authority if your posture communicates only contempt or fear.
That approach was a reflection of guidance from the strategic and operational levels. Our senior leaders understood that how we looked, spoke and behaved at the tactical level mattered enormously. Tone was policy. Posture was strategy. I reflect on those lessons as I watch an anti-immigration agenda in the United States that has gone badly off course. Masked officers in military-style gear, conducting raids with theatrical dominance rather than measured authority. Communities treated as hostile terrain rather than neighborhoods. I find this not only disturbing but also strategically incoherent. In Afghanistan, we understood that showing up as faceless, armored enforcers was a fast way to lose the population’s trust. We knew that intimidation buys compliance only temporarily, and resentment compounds faster than control. If Marines could understand this in a war zone, we should be able to understand it in our own country.
A letter to the editors of the Washington Post, 28 January 2026, from ex-US Marine Gus Biggio, Wooster, Ohio. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
It was beautiful.
I like Tangerine Fascist, too.
Thank you, David.
Shame on them.
Is there any avenue for appealing this disgrace in the High Court? Implied freedom of political communication?
I hope there is some avenue for a High Court challenge to this law.
Vale.
Share of children with diarrhea receiving oral rehydration therapy. Horizontal bar chart showing percentage of children under five with diarrhea in the two weeks prior to the survey who received oral rehydration therapy (data for 2020 or most recent year). Values by country: Chad 17.4%; Cameroon 17.9%; Madagascar 19.6%; Central African Republic 23.4%; Senegal 26%; Rwanda 28%; Zimbabwe 32.8%; Sierra Leone 85.3%. Key point: Sierra Leone's share is much higher than the others, which cluster around 17 to 33 percent. Data source: Demographic and Health Surveys via World Bank (2025). License: CC BY.
Many children who could benefit from oral rehydration therapy for diarrhea still don’t receive it—
In 2021, around 1.25 million people died from diarrheal diseases. Around a third of these deaths were children.
I know it's dumb to rank these things, but I think the execution of Renee Good might be the most consequential step we've seen on this journey to hell.
If someone had explained to me a decade ago that vaguely mainstream sort of folks would willingly retain their accounts on such a fucked up social media platform I'm not sure I would've believed them.
Our Solar System is orbiting the center of our Galaxy at about 220 km/s so in 2025 we collectively traveled something like 7 billion kilometers across the Milky Way. Once in a while, when you have a moment, it’s worthwhile to take a look around, see where you are, and appreciate how far you’ve come.
Dear @albomp.bsky.social please expel Israel's Ambassador to Australia
Doctors without Borders (MSF) speaks with @sstephanietrann.bsky.social about Netanyahu expelling 37 humanitarian orgs from Gaza.
michaelwest.com.au/israel-bans-...
Thanks for your fine work.
Magnificent!
Magnificent.
Magnificent
Fab 😟
What a lovely thing to be able to do. My mum used to go to Electric Shadows by herself for a matinee. There was a bar / caff above called the Terrace. She'd have coffee after and sometimes chat with strangers who were doing the same thing about the film they'd watched.
Three people tried to get into the lift as I tried to exit at the ground floor the other day. Shambles.
“Before I give you any food you have to fulfil the mutual obligations I have set out that are administered by a for profit organisation. Failure to do so will result in starvation and certain homelessness. I’m off to do a photo op at the Kmart Wishing Tree”
Labor Jesus
This made me think of that wonderful Kev Carmody spoken word piece, beautifully covered by the Herd, Comrade Jesus Christ.
I thought ads for prescription things were illegal, but maybe that just was never a thing!
