Russia Has No Right to Exist

Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief, Major General Mikhail Drapaty (right), declares that Russia has no right to exist.

On Wednesday, the YouTube documentary channel Ukrainer W released an interview with Drapaty originally recorded in 2023. 

Speaking to journalist Karina Pilyugina, the general said that he had long anticipated a war with Russia. 

“We see that you cannot call them neighbors. It is a nation, together with its leadership, that has no right to exist. Over thousands of years, nothing has changed there in civilizational terms – neither its mentality nor its imperial ambitions”, he said.

Vladimir Putin's Special Military Operation in Ukraine is already 4 years, 5 months, and 3 days. It is taking forever. Regrettably, his military strategy in Ukraine is one of calculated moderation. 

Putin should stop pulling his punches!

This is the exact opening statement made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, July 23, 2026, to reporters on the sidelines of the ⁠ASEAN meeting of foreign ministers in Manila, Philippines. 

"The problem with Iran is every time they make a deal, the people that are in charge there either break it or want to change it. It looks like they're not ready to make a deal. So they're going to continue to pay a price. Every night the price gets higher and higher, and that's what's happening now", he added emphatically, when addressing escalating US-Iran tensions and open military conflict.

Oh, really? 😆😆😆

A SAL Mind Your Language Speech

Apologies in advance for my post today about Thursday's SAL meeting; expect it to be brashly bombastic, proudly pompous, and vainly verbose! 😂😂😂

The catalyst for this lexical extravagance is my delivery of a discourse on the CSL1(8) "Mind Your Language" curriculum, during which I engineered a deliberate manifestation of sesquipedalian loquaciousness to celebrate reaching the milestone of Competent Speaker Level 1.

On that day, an exceptionally esteemed gathering of seven vocabulary virtuosos assembled to release a torrential downpour of linguistic architecture. Every grandiloquent syllable was meticulously engineered to shatter the boundaries of simple comprehension, leaving the captivated audience utterly drowning in an opulent sea of monumental oration.

My speech title was "From Page to Podium" and I was third in line out of five to present.

I started off by introducing myself as a logophile, a lover of words. A lexiphile. A verbivore. A wordsmith. All these big words carried the same meaning. 

To top it off, I confessed to being a lectiophile, which is just a fancy way of saying I'm obsessed with reading. Naturally, that also makes me a proud bibliophile with an ever-growing book collection.

Reading makes you smarter by physically rewiring your brain. It strengthens neural pathways related to memory, visual processing, and language, while expanding your vocabulary, improving focus, and building your capacity for critical thinking and empathy. 

From reading, I progressed to public speaking. Always, promoting the versatility, vibrancy and vitality of language, I have continued to speak and unleash the power of words since then.

For the legendary "That's One Minute" challenge, six brave souls faced the intransigent word "adamant", followed by an intense session of raw, emotional self-reflection from five heroic project speakers.

This bloated post is truly, a verbal peregrination of exaggerated intentions. 😁😁😁

A visual chronicle of our merry meeting:

Iran Threatens Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump made the threat to send Iran back to the Stone Age on April 01, 2026. He delivered this statement during a prime-time address from the White House. 

Six days later, he issued a second apocalyptic threat against Iran. Ahead of an 08:00 PM Eastern Time deadline regarding the Strait of Hormuz, he declared on social media that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again". 

Now, Iran has unveiled giant billboards in Tehran sending a direct counter-threat to Trump. 

A giant hoarding showing him lying inside an open black coffin was erected July 15, 2026 in Tehran’s Enghelab Square (Revolution Square), with graffiti-style text reading “We Will Kill Trump” written across the image in both Persian and English. 

The display also featured an inscription reading "In memory of Minab's children", referencing the massacre at an elementary school that was struck by US missiles in the southern Iranian city of Minab. 

Another one, at Palestine Square in Tehran, displaying headshots of Trump and members of his family, including Melania, Ivanka and Don Jr, on top of coffins draped with US flags, was unveiled around mid-July 2026 (specifically reported by international news outlets on July 16–17). 

Iran’s state media, Fars News Agency, even published an English-language video across multiple social media platforms, including the agency's official Telegram channel on July 17 titled “Where Do We Kill Trump?” purporting to show the motorcade route to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, USA. 

It was later removed from X. 

Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, warned Saturday of “unforgettable lessons” if the US continued its attacks on Iran.

For sure, at some point, the Americans will get what they deserve!

I'm only interested to know: the Iranians can talk the talk, but when are they going to walk the walk?

CW Kee's Durian-themed Cartoons

Malaysian cartoonist CW Kee has been delighting readers with his Kee's World comic strips in The Star since 1981, frequently using durians as a satirical backdrop to depict daily Malaysian life. A former editorial artist, Kee famously introduced the weekly strip It's a Durian Life in 1985. 

Here's a selection of durian-themed cartoons:

What Everyone Gets Wrong About "Money Can't Buy Happiness"

American actor and film producer Samuel L Jackson’s most famous quote about money is: "Those who say that money can't buy happiness never had any". 

Whether you agree or not, it reflects the reality that money eliminates fundamental stressors like penury, debt, and chronic insecurity. Without these burdens, people have the freedom and agency to pursue a higher quality of life. 

Jackson's truism challenges the age-old "wisdom" by pointing out that financial stability provides practical comfort and freedom. It’s a popular sentiment that reminds us that having your basic needs met makes life significantly easier. 

While some may want to insist that money can't buy happiness, the fact remains that it buys the freedom to choose a far better class of problems. Meaning you can finally afford to be absolutely miserable in style. 😝😝😝

Or another way of putting it:

😀😀😀

At the quarter-finals (Round of 8) of the China Open yesterday, Pearly Tan-Thinaah Murlaitharan were eliminated after losing to Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto. 

The Malaysian duo lost in straight games with a score of 16-21, 16-21.

Pearly-Thinaah's head-to-head record against the world's No. 3 pair is now tied at 5-5. Meanwhile, the China Open marked their fourth consecutive defeat to the Japanese duo. 

The Malaysian duo admitted they lost out to Fukushima-Matsumoto in fitness. 

Pearly, whose recurring back injury kept her off the World Tour earlier this year, said she is still lacking in terms of fitness, although there were positives to take from their defeat.

"...One thing I've learned is that even in a difficult situation, we still managed to find a way to compete and put up a fight despite the defeat. We communicated well on court and knew the game we wanted to play".

Thinaah felt that the quarter-final defeat was an indication of the hard work that they need to put in to get back to their best. 

"Overall, there are definitely a lot of things we still need to work on because it's been some time since both of us were back on court", said Thinaah.

Let's see how they fare at the Taiwan Open next week.

WSC's Fifty-seventh Meeting

Like clockwork every month, World Speakers' Coalition Kuala Lumpur had their meeting. This July was our 57th meeting. 

There was a surprisingly good attendance with eleven members and one guest gathering at a new venue in Lorong Kurau, Taman Bangsar Pertama. 

Muhendaran, the organizer and host, chose Kedai Nombor 7, a neighbourhood bar hidden away in this quiet part of Bangsar.

The meeting theme was "World Cup", which concluded Sunday. But the football aficionados among us were still harbouring strong views about the football we witnessed on screen and which we still felt compelled to vent about.

Suriakumar had considered it one of the worst World Cup in the history of all World Cup history! And so, he felt the need to cleanse his soul through "spirited" endeavour. And on Tuesday, the cleansing started unapologetically. 🥃🍹🍺🍻🍸🥂🍷

Truth be told, many of us agreed and so, the whiskey, beer and stout liberally flowed. 

Except for Yen who was taught Football 101, the rest of us talked openly about the games we saw and the teams we rooted for.

I'm surprised nobody supported England or France.

Photos of the said meeting: 

#publicspeaking

#theartandscienceofrhetoric 

#confidentcommunication 

#communicationinnovations 

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