The US Wants To Be Left Alone

With the second exit from the Paris Agreement on January 27 (as per Executive Order 14162 which Donald Trump signed on January 20, 2025) and a withdrawal from 66 international organizations, the United States just floored the accelerator on "Self-Interest".

Forget multilateralism. Forget cooperation. Forget global responsibility. 

The US wants to be left alone; kindly let it be! 

[Except when it selectively chooses to poke its nose into countries like Iran, Venezuela, Greenland, Canada and others].

Qarabağ FK visited Anfield yesterday. They were the Reds’ opposition in their eighth and final match in the league phase of this season’s Champions League. And Liverpool routed the Azerbaijani club 6-0 to automatically reach the last 16. 

At 15 minutes, Alexis Mac Allister bundled the ball home after Hugo Ekitike and then Virgil van Dijk flicked on a corner. 

At 21 minutes, Florian Wirtz succeeded with a well-taken effort after combining with Ekitike, finding the bottom corner from the edge of the area. 

At 50 minutes, a quick Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick ended with Mohamed Salah bending one home. 

At 57 minutes, Ekitike touched down a Van Dijk clearance and bullied two defenders before firing in emphatically.

At 61 minutes, a poor clearance landed at Mac Allister's feet in the box, and he dribbled around the keeper and slotted.

At 90 minutes, Federico Chiesa converted a through pass, courtesy of Van Dijk.

There Will Be No NATO Without Donald Trump

Since the turn of the year, Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned NATO’s willingness to support the US. 

“I DOUBT NATO WOULD BE THERE FOR US IF WE REALLY NEEDED THEM”, he blasted on Truth Social on January 07. “We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us”.

Then in a post on Truth Social on January 20, 2026 👇

👇In response, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a severe diplomatic ultimatum and threatened to dismantle critical pillars of the United States' presence in Europe. 

Meloni’s proposal includes the potential closure of vital strategic hubs such as Aviano Air Base and NAS Sigonella, which would effectively cripple American military projection across the Mediterranean and North Africa. Alongside military shifts, her stance calls for a full alignment with European Union trade suspensions and a symbolic boycott of iconic American brands like McDonald's to reject US cultural soft power. 

This defiance from a traditionally conservative ally signals a unprecedented unification of European political factions against Washington’s current foreign policy, marking a potential collapse of long-standing transatlantic security and economic alliances.

😂😂😂 I doubt she will actually carry out her threat!

Malaysia's top squash player Sivasangari Subramaniam’s run at the Tournament of Champions came to an end in the quarter-finals on Tuesday. 

The world No. 6 fell to world No. 4 Olivia Weaver, who won 11-5, 11-8, 5-11, 11-8 in 52 minutes. It was the American’s ninth win over Sivasangari in 10 meetings.

Google’s Sergey Brin Admits He’s Hiring Workers Without Degrees

Whether it’s Nike’s Phil Knight, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, or Google’s Sergey Brin, many of the world’s most influential business founders can trace part of their success back to Stanford University. Nestled in the foothills of Silicon Valley, the school has long functioned as a launchpad for tech’s elite. 

But the rise of artificial intelligence is challenging long-held assumptions about the value of higher education. As tech reshapes entry-level work and companies rethink traditional hiring pipelines, the payoff of a four-year degree – especially from elite institutions – is increasingly up for debate. 

Still, Brin (right) doesn’t regret his own academic path. Speaking to Stanford engineering students last month, he said his decision to study computer science was not driven by a fixation on credentials. 

“I chose computer science because I had a passion for it”, he said. “It was kind of a no-brainer for me. I guess you could say I was also lucky because I was also in such a transformative field”. 

Even in an era when AI can write code, Brin cautioned students against chasing – or abandoning – fields of study based solely on automation fears. 

“I wouldn’t go off and switch to comparative literature because you think the AI is good at coding”, he said. “The AI is probably even better at comparative literature, just to be perfectly honest anyway”. 

Brin met Google cofounder Larry Page in 1994 during his second year of graduate studies at Stanford. Together they developed PageRank, an algorithm they later renamed Google and would become a company in 1998. 

Google’s hiring practices today reflect how dramatically the industry has shifted. The tech giant is now embracing workers without college degrees. 

“In as much as we’ve hired a lot of academic stars, we’ve hired tons of people who don’t have bachelor’s degrees”, Brin said. “They just figure things out on their own in some weird corner”. 

Between 2017 and 2022, the share of job postings at Google requiring a degree dropped from 93% to 77%, according to analysis from the Burning Glass Institute. And Google aren't alone: companies including Microsoft, Apple, and Cisco have reduced degree requirements in recent years, signaling a broader industry shift toward skills-based hiring. 

That’s forcing a broader reckoning over what a degree actually signals and whether it’s still a reliable proxy for talent.

“I don’t think necessarily because you go to an Ivy League school or have great grades it means you’re going to be a great worker or great person”, said JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in 2024. For many roles, skills matter far more than credentials, he added: “If you look at skills of people, it is amazing how skilled people are in something, but it didn’t show up in their resume”.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp has made a similar case, despite holding three degrees (including a JD from Stanford). He’s been outspoken about the pressure young people face to pursue elite credentials – and dismissive of how much they matter once on the job. 

“If you did not go to school, or you went to a school that’s not that great, or you went to Harvard or Princeton or Yale, once you come to Palantir, you’re a Palantirian. No one cares about the other stuff”, Karp said during an earnings call last year. 

That mindset is spreading beyond Silicon Valley and Wall Street, according to Great Place to Work’s CEO Michael Bush. 

“Almost everyone is realizing that they’re missing out on great talent by having a degree requirement”, Bush told Fortune. “That snowball is just growing”. 

For Brin, the implications ultimately go beyond hiring. With credentials losing their gatekeeping power, he said universities themselves may need to evolve: “I just would rethink what it means to have a university”.

Iranians Must Stay Strong

My January 22 post titled "20 Things You Need to Know About the Protests in Iran" refers.

I have no doubt that accounts of the violent Iranian protests as reported by the mainstream media were mostly misinformed and misguided, if not filled with blatant inaccuracies. 

This is public:

In fact, Reza Pahlavi has not set foot in Iran since his family was ousted during the 1979 revolution. Yet, he still clings to the delusion that he is the heir apparent. In 1980, he even declared himself the rightful king! 

It is well-known that the pretend "crown prince" who openly calls for regime change in Iran is an enthusiastic instrument of the Israeli regime! I'm sure Benjamin Netanhayu already has him on a short leash!

On January 21, 2026, TASS divulged that forensic examinations in Isfahan, Iran identified Israeli military-grade bullets in the body of an 8-year-old girl killed during protests. 

Iranian state media also recently reported that several victims were killed with 7.63mm Tokarev bullets, a rare Soviet-era caliber. Authorities stated that this caliber is not used by Iran’s armed forces or police.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (left) in a speech Thursday accused the United States and Israel of stoking the protests as a "cowardly revenge... for the defeat in the 12-Day War". [Refer my posts pertaining to Iran in June 2025].

Foreign powers (obviously the US and Israel), together with the active collaboration of some traitorous locals want to effect regime change.

But it won't happen because a clear majority of the Iranian people don't want their country to be a vassal state of the West, period.

To the Iranian people, stay strong!

Canadian Army Prep for a Potential US Invasion

Canadian media outlet The Globe & Mail uncovered that the Canadian military has been modeling what an American invasion might look like. 

Of course, modeling isn't the same as having a battle plan – nonetheless, it points out that Canada cannot stop a southern invasion. In fact, within hours, American military superiority would crush any resistance.

However, occupying Canada becomes the real problem. Canada is massive. No nation has the numbers to dominate and hold it sustainably. Even if the government surrendered, military and civilian resistance could disappear into the wilderness or rural areas where hunting them down would prove difficult. 

The CAF model suggests Canadian forces could continue fighting using 'unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military or armed civilians would resort to ambushes, sabotage, drone warfare or hit-and-run tactics'. 

Sound familiar? Think Taliban in Afghanistan or Vietcong in the 1960s and 1970s. Hit-and-run attacks, IEDs, blending into the civilian population – tactics that proved nightmarish to counter. You can't measure success or predict where the next ambush comes from. 

With NATO countries sending troops to Denmark's colony, that is Greenland, to counter Donald Trump's annexation threats, other formerly friendly nations are reconsidering what to do if America comes knocking.

Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam kept the country's hopes alive at the Tournament of Champions 2026 after producing a gritty comeback to reach the quarter-finals in New York. 

The fifth seed overturned a two-game deficit to shut the door for homester Amanda Sobhy, winning 6-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-4 in a thrilling 55-minute second-round clash on Sunday.

The Kedah-born player will next take on fourth seed Olivia Weaver,

If You Kill a Cockroach

A commonly cited, often paraphrased quote attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche regarding moral subjectivity is "If you kill a cockroach, you're a hero; if you kill a butterfly, you are evil. Morals have aesthetic criteria". 

This quote sums up society perfectly. It's not about the act; it is actually about the victim. 

The rules always bend to beauty, power and perception.

Liverpool gloom deepens! Their Premier League winless streak hit five games – their longest of the season – following an error-filled 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday. 

Cherries pounced to score in the 26th minute after a Virgil van Dijk error, and quickly added a second, seven minutes later. 

Van Dijk redeemed himself when he steered a header into the back of the net from Dominik Szoboszlai's corner in the 45th minute. Then, Rio Ngumoha won a free kick on the edge of the penalty box and Mohamed Salah's planned back-heel opened up the angle for Szoboszlai to curl his effort around the Cherries' wall in the 80th minute. 

But a long throw at the death saw the Reds come unstuck again as a scramble in the six-yard box led to the inevitable, with Bournemouth ending Liverpool's 13-game unbeaten-but-underwhelming run (6 draws and 7 wins). 

You can say they got what they deserved because Bournemouth generated far more xG (2.3 to 0.83), created more big chances (6 to 1) and won more duels (38 to 33) as they dominated proceedings throughout.

And yesterday, Hearts of Midlothian hosted Celtic in top-of-the-table Scottish Premiership clash. 

And the two sides fought out a thrilling 2-2 draw that leaves the table leaders still six points clear of the reigning champions. 

Benjamin Nygren's stunning free-kick gave Celtic the lead on seven minutes. But the Jambos headed a deserved equalizer in the 48th minute. 

New signing Tomas Cvancara's low cross into the six-yard box was tapped home by Yang Hyun-jun in the 62nd minute. But the Jambos fired home inside a crowded goalmouth to level with four minutes of normal time remaining. 

And Celtic find themselves in a rare third place at this stage of the season after Rangers beat Dundee 3-0, also yesterday.

It was a day of twists and turns in what is becoming a fascinating three-way fight for the title.

The Lego x Crocs Collab

Get ready to unleash your inner child, because Crocs and The Lego Group have teamed up for a collaboration that’s pure, unadulterated fun: the Lego® Brick Clog. 

This isn't just another shoe; it's a vibrant, imaginative new silhouette that perfectly blends the quirky comfort of Crocs with the boundless creativity of the iconic Lego brick. Designed to inspire you to "build, rebuild, and reinvent", this is footwear that practically begs you to play. 

Each oversized pair is a love letter to Lego, featuring four chunky studs proudly stamped with the Lego logo. A pivoting heel strap keeps them snug on your feet, while the sole cleverly mimics the anti-stud pattern on the bottom of a Lego brick. 

And the fun doesn’t stop there. Every pair of these collector's clogs comes with its very own tiny partner-in-crime: a Lego minifigure decked out with four of its own miniature Lego Brick Clogs. 

Think of it as your creative sidekick, ready for any adventure you can dream up.  Actually, they're more of a novelty, rather than serious footwear!

Available in a bold, can't-miss-it red, these clogs are the ultimate statement piece for anyone who believes you're never too old to play. It's time to wear your creativity proudly. 

World No. 2 Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan clinched their 7th World Tour title after being crowned Indonesia Masters champions without having to step onto court. 

The Malaysian pair were due to face Japan's newly formed duo Arisa Igarashi-Miyu Takahashi in Sunday's final, but were awarded a walkover after Takahashi was sidelined by a fever. 

Despite the anti-climactic ending, the title provided sweet redemption for Pearly-Thinaah, who finished runners-up at last year's Indonesia Masters after losing to South Korea's Kim Hye Jeong-Kong Hee Yong. 

FYI, Vivian Hoo-Woon Khe Wei last won the title for the country in 2011.

Malaysia also earned two more titles. Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani won the men's doubles and Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei won the mixed doubles. 

A historic treble – the first time the nation has won three titles at a Super 500 event or above since the World Tour era began in 2018.

China's Economy Grew by 5% in 2025

Sorry to disappoint the naysayers but China's economy grew by a very respectable 5% in 2025.

Five percent growth on the basis of 140 trillion yuan (about $20 trillion) equals adding the annual output of a medium-sized economy. It also sustains China's around 30% contribution to global growth in recent years.

The numbers speak for themselves: China remains a powerhouse the world will benefit from. 💪

Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam, who received a first round bye, marked her birthday with a stylish win over world No. 26 Georgia Adderley of Scotland to enter the second round of the Tournament of Champions in New York. 

She took just 28 minutes to beat Adderley 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 on Friday. 

The Malaysian, who turned 27 on Saturday will take on world No. 11 Amanda Sobhy of the United States for a place in the quarter-finals.

TDIYS-TPOYS Combo Sales Predominate

TDIYS-TPOYS combo sales again predominate and it suits us fine! Every time we interest someone to get a set means our sales automatically double.

We're not complaining; on the contrary, we celebrate! 😀😀😀 

FYI, our books' sales todate:

We really encourage everybody to get the two books. Honestly, they're worth your time to read! Books are always a wise investment!