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Bizarro Earth

Trump: Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to hold immediate ceasefire talks


The Straits Times
Sun, 27 Jul 2025 20:17 UTC
thailand Phumtham Wechayachai prime minister border clash cambodia
© Associated PressPresident Trump is also planning to speak with Thailand’s acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai (above) in an effort to broker peace with Cambodia, July 26, 2025
As President Donald Trump said on July 26 that the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand had agreed to meet immediately to quickly work out a ceasefire, as he sought to broker peace after three days of fighting along their border.

Thailand's acting prime minister, Mr Phumtham Wechayachai, thanked Mr Trump and said Thailand "agrees in principle to have a ceasefire in place" but "would like to see sincere intention from the Cambodian side".

Mr Phumtham was responding in a Facebook post to a series of social media posts by Mr Trump during a visit to Scotland.

Mr Trump said he had spoken to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Mr Phumtham and warned them that he would not make trade deals with either if the border conflict continued.

Comment: A larger view. More 'fun and (Great) games'?:

Full text:

The Thailand-Cambodia war isn't just about temples. It's a geopolitical fault line and the target may be China's Pan-Asian Railway.

Since July 24, artillery has fallen, airstrikes have escalated, and over 30 are dead. More than 170,000 have fled their homes. Thailand blames Cambodian incursions. Cambodia says it's resisting Thai aggression. Trump has inserted himself as mediator, using trade threats and leverage, but the real stakes may lie beneath the tracks.

China's Belt and Road megaproject, the 6,000+ km Pan-Asian Railway, is set to transform Southeast Asia. High-speed lines are underway from Kunming to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. The China-Laos line is operational. The China-Thailand line is under rapid construction, with the Bangkok-Nakhon leg on pace for 2026 and full connection to Nong Khai by 2030. Cambodia's lines are next, linking Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok, and ultimately to China.

But that junction, the Cambodia-Thailand border, is exactly where the war just broke out.

China's vision is seamless connectivity: freight, tourism, multipolar trade. A physical alternative to maritime chokepoints and Western control. But every nation along this railway tells a deeper story. Cambodia is a Chinese ally. Thailand is a U.S. treaty partner with joint military drills and weapons contracts. Myanmar's China rail is frozen in conflict. Vietnam's China line was delayed by Japanese failures and is now quietly being restarted by Chinese firms.

Who benefits if the network stalls?

In this context, the outbreak of war looks less like spontaneous escalation and more like disruption, a possible proxy move in the broader U.S.-China contest. Analysts have called it a "new Cold War flashpoint" in Southeast Asia. Western powers cannot match China's infrastructure scale, but they can sabotage it. Stir conflict. Delay links. Keep ASEAN fragmented and dependent.

China blames "the colonial legacy." The U.S. calls for restraint while signaling support for Thailand. And the railway, once a corridor for peace, may now run through a battlefield.

Peace here isn't just about borders, it's about who builds Asia's future.


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Attention

Tehran's new war plan: Build an anti-NATO

Farhad Ibragimov
RT
Sun, 27 Jul 2025 12:15 UTC
Lavrov arrives
© Sputnik/Russian Foreign MinistryRussian FM Sergey Lavrov arrives to attend a meeting of Chinese President Xi Jinping with foreign ministers and heads of standing bodies of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) • Beijing, China
At the SCO summit, Iran laid the groundwork for a Eurasian security bloc - and the West panicked.

What if the next global security pact wasn't forged in Brussels or Washington - but in Beijing, with Iran at the table?

This is no longer a theoretical question. At the mid-July meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers in China, Iran made it clear: Tehran now views the SCO not just as a regional forum, but as a potential counterweight to NATO. In doing so, it signaled a profound strategic pivot - away from an outdated Western-dominated system and toward an emerging Eurasian order.

The summit highlighted the increasing resilience of multilateral Eurasian cooperation in the face of growing global turbulence. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who also met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping - an encounter that underscored the strength of the Moscow-Beijing axis. On the sidelines, Lavrov held bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of China, Pakistan, India, and notably, Iran. His talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi focused on diplomatic solutions to the nuclear issue and emphasized deepening strategic coordination.

The Iranian side used the platform with purpose. Araghchi expressed his appreciation for the SCO's solidarity amid Israeli aggression and stressed that Iran views the organization not as symbolic, but as a practical mechanism for regional unity and global positioning.
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Arrow Up

Trump wants new nuclear talks with Russia


RT
Fri, 25 Jul 2025 22:12 UTC
Donald T
© Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesUS President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
A landmark treaty limiting the number of warheads will expire in February.

US President Donald Trump has hinted that he would resume negotiations to maintain the existing restrictions on nuclear weapons with Russia.

The president made his remarks as the New START treaty, which limits the number of warheads and the means of their delivery, is set to expire on February 5, 2026.

"That's not an agreement you want expiring. We're starting to work on that," Trump told reporters outside the White House before a trip to Scotland on Friday, according to Reuters.

"When you take off nuclear restrictions, that's a big problem," Trump said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this year that "dialogue between Russia and the US on arms control is necessary, especially concerning strategic stability." He stressed, however, that it would require "an appropriate level of trust," which needs to come with the normalization of bilateral ties severed by the Biden administration in 2022.
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Arrow Down

Turns out the Kremlin hates von der Leyen about as much as EU lawmakers do

Rachel Marsden
RT
Sat, 26 Jul 2025 11:31 UTC
Von der Leyen
© Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesEuropean Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen
Apparently, trying to hold Ursula von der Leyen accountable is now a Russian op, reports Der Spiegel, citing a new NATO-linked think tank report.

The study treats elected oversight and European lawmakers whose job, ideally, involves more than clapping like trained seals every time an unelected Eurocrat lights public money on fire, like elements of some kind of Russian infiltration plot.

"Massive support for this effort was also found by pro-Kremlin media outlets, bloggers, and online influencers, as the Lithuania-based organization Debunk.org specializes in analyzing disinformation and Russian propaganda, which is seen as part of Russia's hybrid warfare against the EU." Spiegel wrote, describing Russian-linked media "fueling" a recent von der Leyen non-confidence vote in the EU Parliament. "Among the larger portals were those of the Russian propaganda channel RT..."

According to the advance copy of this report seen by Spiegel, the study reviewed 284 articles from Russian-linked media. Exactly how many of those articles expressed something like only von der Leyen's ouster could save Europe? 90%? 75%? Maybe half? Nope, just 35%. Roughly the same percentage of voting EU lawmakers who favored ejecting her (32.7%). So by this logic, the Kremlin is about as supportive of Ursula as Brussels is. Awkward.
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USA

America's Syrian civil war

Ron Paul
Mises Institute
Thu, 24 Jul 2025 00:00 UTC
map syria
© AdobeStockSyrian Civil War
As Syria descends into full-scale civil war, with more than a thousand people killed in just the last few days, it may be a good time to remember the phrase, "Assad must go." That was the slogan the regime-changers rolled out some 14 years ago during the "Arab Spring" that was supposed to usher liberal democracies into power throughout the region.

From Tunisia to Egypt to Libya and on to Syria, the plan was to remake the Middle East according to the will of Washington's "master planners." The State Department, the media, the Pentagon, and the think tanks fed by the military-industrial complex were all enthusiastically on-board the program because making war and overthrowing governments is their bread and butter.

If the United States pursued a foreign policy of non-interventionism as laid out by our Founders the massive "national security state" would cease to exist. We would return to being a republic and they would have to return to honest work.
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NPC

The smear campaign playbook: How the AP's Brian Slodysko became Senator John Cornyn's useful idiot

@amuse
@amuse on X
Fri, 25 Jul 2025 22:12 UTC
Brian Slodysko Associated Press
© @amuse on XBrian Slodysko writes for Associated Press
Anatomy of a political hit job

The dirtiest secret in American politics is that the truth does not matter. It is not necessary to win an argument, only to win the news cycle. The smear, not the substance, is what lingers. When this cynical calculus is combined with a willing press, the result is something that can only be called a political hit job.

Senator John Cornyn, facing a surging primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, recently executed one with surgical precision. What unfolded was not an accident, not a misunderstanding, and not journalism. It was a carefully planned operation designed to smear a political rival with a narrative too timely and too tantalizing for the Associated Press to resist, even if the facts were flimsy and the allegations false.

Here is how it worked.

First, Cornyn's campaign identified a vulnerability in the zeitgeist: mortgage fraud. In recent months, Democratic figures like New York Attorney General Letitia James and Senator Adam Schiff have been dogged by allegations that they improperly claimed multiple homes as their "primary residence," allowing them to game interest rates or tax exemptions. The public already smells blood. The narrative was primed.
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Attention

Will an Iran cyber attack panic usher in a new Patriot Act?

Nicholas DeSimone
Mises Institute
Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00 UTC
Iran flag cyberattack
© Unknown
In a 2007 interview, retired General Wesley Clark revealed that the Pentagon had a plan to "take out seven countries in five years" — Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran. Over the following two decades, the first six were bombed, destabilized, or collapsed into civil war. Only Iran remains standing — resistant to Western central banking, culturally hostile to global usury, and guarding some of the world's most ancient archeological sites.

Now, major media outlets such as Fox News and the Independent warn of a looming cyberwar, and we're told to brace for a potential Iranian cyberattack on the US or its allies, aimed at critical infrastructure such as power and water systems. But rather than ask how to defend against it, we should ask something more: Is Iran really the culprit? Or is it the designated scapegoat for an event designed to advance elite control both abroad and at home?

Recent history provides a clear pattern: When crises erupt, state and corporate power rapidly consolidate. After 9/11, the US government ushered in the Patriot Act, warrantless surveillance, and indefinite detention, all in the name of security. The 2008 financial collapse delivered historic bank bailouts and accelerated economic consolidation. In 2020, the covid pandemic normalized lockdowns, QR-code health passes, and calls for digital identity systems tied to medical records. In the wake of the Capitol riot, proposals exploded for increased censorship, AI-powered surveillance, and policing of online speech. As the author Naomi Klein outlined in her seminal work, The Shock Doctrine, elites routinely exploit crises to fast-track policies that populations would otherwise reject.

Comment: Good Question! One way or another, the writing is on the wall - it just remains to be seen.

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Star of David

Israel just drew a new map - without saying it out loud

Elizabeth Blade
RT
Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:17 UTC
Netanyahu
© Amir Levy/Getty Images/FileIsraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu • Israeli parliament • December 29, 2022 • Jerusalem, Israel.
The Israeli Knesset has voted to apply sovereignty over settlements, drawing fears of de facto annexation.

In a significant yet non-binding move, the Israeli legislature has overwhelmingly approved a declaration urging the immediate extension of Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley.

The motion, which passed by a vote of 71 to 13, was backed by right-wing and center-right factions including Likud, Shas, Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, and Yisrael Beiteinu.

The text declares that the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas — referred to in Israeli political discourse as the "Simchat Torah Massacre" — proves that the creation of a Palestinian state poses a mortal danger to Israel's existence. The resolution reads:
"The Knesset declares that the State of Israel has the natural, historical, and legal right to all parts of the Land of Israel. The Knesset calls on the Government of Israel to act without delay to apply sovereignty... over all areas of Jewish settlement in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley."

Comment: The good and well-meant suggestions have no basis in current reality. Without international involvement, turn-around by taking on Israel is not an option.

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Hammer

The US is about to drive a massive stake into the South Caucasus

Timur Tarkhanov
RT
Wed, 23 Jul 2025 23:08 UTC
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan
© Getty Images/Getty ImagesPrime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan
A leaked claim about control of the Syunik corridor may or may not be true - but the conditions for it are rapidly falling into place.

A recent report from the Spanish outlet Periodista Digital made waves by claiming that Armenia may be preparing to hand over control of a strategic corridor in Syunik province to an American private military company.

If this report is true, the consequences will be profound as it would mark the entry of a Western security actor into one of the most sensitive regions in Eurasia. Armenian sovereignty would be significantly diminished. The strategic calculus of Iran, Russia, China, and Turkey would shift. And the South Caucasus, a region held in balance by conflicting pressures, would face a serious realignment.

The Armenian government has denied the report. But the idea that such a scenario could emerge is not far-fetched. Over the past year, the United States has expanded its institutional presence in Armenia. It has signed a Strategic Partnership Charter, introduced border and customs reforms, and deepened security cooperation. American contractors and advisors are already on the ground. These developments suggest a deliberate effort to secure long-term influence - framed as technical assistance, but carrying clear geopolitical weight.
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Attention

Kiev kleptocracy... Stench of corruption fouls NATO regime's endgame


Strategic Culture Foundation
Sat, 26 Jul 2025 17:53 UTC
Blood on his Hands
© Public Domain
Previously, any observer who had pointed out the rampant corruption that is endemic in the Kiev regime was automatically denounced by Western governments and media as a peddler of Russian disinformation.

Hilariously, though, this week, the Kiev kleptocracy burst open in such a spectacular way that even the American and European apologists for the regime could no longer maintain the worst-kept secret of their charade.

The fiasco exploded after the self-appointed President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, passed a law that stripped two anti-corruption agencies of their independent powers.

Citizens took to the streets of Kiev and other cities in furious protest against what they openly lambasted as an autocratic regime trying to prolong its corrupt racketeering. The demonstrations were the largest seen on the streets of Ukraine despite the country being at war with Russia for over three years. As the Wall Street Journal reported: "The protests exposed long dormant divisions between the government and society."

Zelensky, whose official presidential mandate expired last year, was stunned by the upsurge in public anger. By the end of the week, he was backtracking on the move to close the anti-graft agencies and was claiming, somewhat unconvincingly, that he was drafting a new bill to return the investigative powers. It was damage-limitation mode and largely prompted by the alarm of his Western backers.

It is not clear if the U-turn will appease the Ukrainian public, who appear to have reached a pivotal level of disgust with the Kiev regime, not just over its endemic corruption but also over the grinding war with Russia and forced mobilization of reluctant military recruits.
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