Kaja Kallas Says It’s Time for Booze

EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas has privately suggested that the state of the world might make it a “good moment” to start boozing, Politico reported on Wednesday. 

The comment comes as Kallas faces direct calls to step down over her handling of the bloc’s foreign policy. 

The Estonian reportedly made the remark during an informal discussion with leaders of political groups in the European Parliament, according to Politico which cited two people who were present. According to the sources, Kallas (right) said that even as a teetotaller, the current global situation could justify starting. Poor woman, methinks, it's an open admission of personal stress.

Her ‘joke’ comes amid heightened tensions across the globe, including US threats towards Denmark's Greenland, Iran and Venezuela, the ongoing Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, and mounting criticism of Brussels from within the EU. 

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (left) stated last week that “we must replace the European Union’s High Representative for Policy, Ms. Kallas”, arguing that the bloc is in an unprecedented crisis and that the leadership is incapable of solving problems, knowing only how to “hate Russia”.

Meanwhile, some Western European leaders were recently caught up in a drug-abuse controversy after a video went viral in May supposedly showing French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with objects speculated to be drug paraphernalia during a train journey to Kiev, Ukraine. 

Macron’s office have vehemently denied the claims, stating the object in question was a tissue and calling the story “disinformation” spread by “France’s enemies”. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, however, suggested at the time that if the suspected objects were indeed drug-related, it would explain “a lot of recent ideas and proposals” coming from Kiev’s European backers. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova also commented on the footage stating that it “opened the veil of the stinking Sabbath” of Western politics, adding that “the fate of Europe is decided in every sense by drug addict placeholders”. She also recalled a Western ambassador telling her in 2022 that it was “normal” to take drugs in the EU and that many Western leaders used cocaine.

Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan's defensive frailties once again came into focus as the world No. 2 were clearly outplayed by Japan's Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto in the semi-finals of the India Open today. 

The Malaysians fell 21-16, 21-13 to the world No. 6 Japanese as Yuki-Mayu's attacking exposed gaps at the backcourt. 

Thinaah admitted that they struggled to cope with their opponents' pace and intensity, particularly during rallies. Despite producing flashes of quality, the duo were often forced into passive positions, allowing Yuki-Mayu to dictate play with sharp angles and quick interceptions at the net. 

The Malaysians' next mission is the Indonesia Masters next week.

Donald Trump Sings Sanctions

US President Donald Trump (right) switches songs; he's abandoning tariffs to sing sanctions now! 

This time, he has promised to sanction Russia, but only if all NATO allies agree to completely halt buying oil from Moscow and impose their own sanctions on Russia to pressure it to end its more than three-year war in Ukraine. 

“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA”, Trump thundered in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday, which he described as a letter to all NATO nations and the world.

Trump proposed that NATO, as a group, place 50-100 percent tariffs on China to weaken its economic grip over Russia.

He also wrote that NATO’s commitment “to WIN” the war “has been far less than 100%” and that it was “shocking” that some members of the alliance continued to buy Russian oil. As if speaking to them, he said, "It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia". 

NATO member Türkiye has been the third-largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India. Other members of the 32-state alliance involved in buying Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. 

If NATO “does as I say, the WAR will end quickly”, Trump bragged again. “If not, you are just wasting my time”. 

But Trump should know better. Sanctions hadn't worked before and they're not going to work now. 

Really, I'm amazed at his capacity to spout boundless BS; he doesn't seem to tire of his endless pontification of farcical bunkum. 

Yesterday, unconvincing Celtic had to wait for a spot-kick to beat Kilmarnock 2-1 in a Scottish Premiership game. 

Daizen Maeda scored first for the Glaswegian side in the 56th minute, prior to the Killies levelling on 83 minutes. 

And debutant Kelechi Iheanacho converted a VAR-awarded penalty in added time to seal the match for Celtic. 

The latter now lead Hearts on goal difference after five games.

May 09 is Russia’s Victory Day

Foreign leaders from 27 countries graced Russia’s Victory Day parade on Friday. 

[Two Heads of State, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith did not turn up – the former pulled out at the last minute and the latter due to illness]. 

As well as military contingents from 13 countries – Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Egypt, Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam – joined in to march alongside Russian forces on the day of the parade. 

The May 09 event commemorates 80 years since the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in the Second World War (referred to by the Russians as the Great Patriotic War). 

[Notes: The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the Great Patriotic War (40% of all human losses in World War II), with civilian deaths accounting for the larger part of these losses. According to data of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders, the German troops destroyed fully or partially over 1,700 cities and towns, more than 70,000 villages and settlements in the USSR. 

And Western revisionists are deliberately downplaying the USSR's vital contribution to World War II. Partly because of the Cold War rivalry but more due to a Western bias to focus on the Western front and American and British victories]. 

The twenty-seven leaders who came: 

In case you're wondering, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are "separatist" regions of Georgia in the Caucasus. Most countries recognise them as part of Georgia, while Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria regard them as independent.

No Air Defense, No Air Force, No Money, Complains Slovakia

Slovakia’s continuous military aid to Ukraine under the previous government has left the country’s own defense posture badly damaged, with “years” now needed to fix it, the current Slovak Defense Minister Robert Kalinak admitted.

 

“The former government left us without our own anti-aircraft defenses, without combat aviation, and we don’t even have the promised 700 million for MiGs, which the government also handed over to Ukraine”, he complained.

 

The minister (left), who assumed office back in October under the new government led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, accused his predecessors of simply surrendering key military assets to Ukraine without coming up with any plan to secure their replacements. [Note: Slovakia had sent military aid in thirteen packages worth 671 million euros ($718.24 million) to Kyiv since Russia's Special Military Operation in February 2022 before Fico's appointment].

 

The defense ministry had effectively been run by “people with qualities of pugs rather than wolves”, Kalinak told the Standard newspaper on Thursday.

 

Upon his electoral victory in September, Fico (left) had immediately halted the country’s military aid to Kiev, as well as pledged to block Ukraine’s potential accession into the US-led NATO bloc. 

 

The new PM has repeatedly criticized the Western approach to handling the Ukraine conflict, arguing that the enduring support of Kiev turned into a “futile waste of human resources and money”, which only prolongs the hostilities and fills Ukrainian cemeteries with “thousands of dead soldiers". 

 

Fico wrote in Slovakia’s Pravda newspaper last week, promising that he will no longer be subject to stupid liberal and progressive demagoguery. Regrettably, much of Europe is very much caught up in this farcical foolishness – and it will be at their peril.

 

Methinks, Boeing are cursed! 

 

On Friday, a Boeing 747 cargo jet in the US flying from Miami, Florida to Puerto Rico caught fire while it was still above Miami, prompting a stunned witness on the ground to shout, "Oh my God, it's on fire. Oh my God!"

 

Fortunately, the Atlas Air flight, with five people on board, safely returned to Miami International Airport. 

 

A preliminary report by the FAA says the plane experienced "engine failure" and that a "post flight inspection revealed a softball-size hole above #2 engine".

 

Stay tuned for more Boeing mishaps.