CANADA - Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has been denounced by a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) over the “tyrannical actions” he has taken against peaceful protestors taking part in the ongoing ‘Freedom Convoy’ demonstrations. Cristian Terhes, a Romanian MEP, has denounced the “tyrannical actions” of Prime Minister Trudeau in regards to his actions against the ongoing Freedom Convoy protest. The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group member went on to say that what Trudeau was doing was “reminiscent” of Communist China, and that the Canadian leader should be “isolated” by the international community over his actions.

ISRAEL - Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican for South Carolina) said Monday in Jerusalem that the Iranians breaking out and acquiring nuclear capability "is the game-changer of all game-changers." "Iran is a theocracy motivated by religion that compels them to purify their faith and have the world submit. The Nazis wanted a master race, and the Iranians want a master religion. People like that cannot be ignored." Graham pushed back against those arguing it is possible to live with a nuclear Iran. "I guarantee you the Jewish people can't live that way. One Holocaust was enough. There will be war. Why can't Iran have nuclear weapons? Because Israelis say, 'Never again.'" He called Israel the country with "the best knowledge and the most skin in the game" when it comes to Iran. "Without some intervention, some course change, [the world is] putting Israel in a very bad spot." He said the terms of the new Iran deal being negotiated in Vienna, on which he has been briefed, are "very unnerving." "Why you would allow the largest state sponsor of terror in the world to have a robust enrichment program, I don't know."

RUSSIA - Fifteen years ago in Munich, Vladimir Putin shook the West with a sharp attack on its efforts to bend the world to its will. The West chose not to listen. As the clouds of war gather over Europe, one has to ask if that was wise. With US officials anonymously briefing journalists that Russia will invade Ukraine within days, one wonders how things came to this. The optimism that prevailed after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union some 30 years ago has been replaced by very real fears of war in Europe. Something went badly wrong. What, precisely?

CHINA - The governments of China and Russia are developing an agreement that would see Beijing purchase 100 million metric tons of coal from Moscow, the Kremlin announced on Friday. “[A]n intergovernmental agreement with the People’s Republic of China is being developed, and the figure is 100 mln tonnes [of coal],” Sergey Mochalnikov — the Head of Department of Foreign Economic Cooperation and Fuel Markets Development at the Russian Energy Ministry — told reporters on February 18. “In the coming years, consumers should receive as much coal as they need,” Mochalnikov said. “Russian coal exports have very good prospects due to reduced supply on the world market,” Mochalnikov noted on Friday.

UK - “It’s like a vegetable treasure hunt,” says Jenni Duncan, 54, ankle deep in mud, looking at the rows of cauliflower plants stretching out in front of her as the Cornish drizzle gets heavier by the minute. This field near Hayle in west Cornwall has already been harvested, but not all the produce met supermarket standards and so some was left unpicked. This is where Duncan and her team of volunteers come in, working down the rows, peeling back the leaves of plants that have been left behind, hoping to find small but perfectly formed cauliflowers still tucked deep inside. They are resurrecting the ancient practice of gleaning – harvesting surplus crops to redistribute to those in need. It was common from biblical times up until the 18th century, when landowners began closing off land and restricting access to fields. This is the first time Cornish grower Simon Whear has invited gleaners into his fields, having been contacted by the local group only a couple of weeks ago. “There’s always some left, and I th ought this would be a good way for people to make use of it. It’s better that it gets picked than just ploughed back into the field,”said Whear.

JAPAN - Japan has reserved the right to conduct pre-emptive air-strikes against enemies, with Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi making the case that such attacks could fall under the country’s strict post-World War II ‘self-defence’ policy. During a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, Kishi said he would not rule out air-strikes on foreign soil if they were necessary to protect Japan from a hypothetical missile attack. Kishi argued that “it would fall within the scope of self-defence” to send Japanese planes into an enemy airspace to strike targets, however he pledged that Japan would not “possess military capabilities that by themselves would annihilate an opponent,” such as intercontinental ballistic missiles. Tensions between Japan and China have been on the rise in recent years, as the two nations are engaged in a long-running spat over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Tokyo has drawn up a draft plan with Americans to jointly defend Taiwan, which Beijing claims is an integral part of Chinese territory.

UKRAINE - Vice President Kamala Harris publicly warned Vladimir Putin of the 'swift and severe' consequences he will face if Russia further invades Ukraine and branded him a 'lying propagandist' after a car bomb destroyed a pipeline forcing the evacuation of 700,000. In a speech early Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, Harris said the United States and its allies were prepared to impose significant and unprecedented economic costs on Russia if it further invades Ukraine, Reuters reported. 'Let me be clear, I can say with absolute certainty, if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States together with our allies and partners will impose significant and unprecedented economic costs,' Harris said at the annual conference of the world's top national security officials. The Vice President said the US and its allies has tried to engage with Russia to find diplomatic solution but their effort have not been met by the Kremlin in good faith. 'Russia continues to say it is ready to talk while at the same time it narrows the avenues for diplomacy,' Harris said. 'Their actions simply do not match their words.'

CHINA - China has doubled down on refusing to stick to its climate pledges by announcing Monday it will be expanding operations of coal-fired power plants across the country. In a Chinese State Council meeting chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, China reaffirmed its position to increase its use of coal powered energy to “safeguard power usage in both production and daily life”, the official Chinese state press agency Xinhua reports. China is the world’s largest polluter emitting an estimated 27 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases in 2019, with the next largest emitter America only releasing 11 per cent of the world’s pollution – less than 50 per cent of China’s total emissions. Over the course of the pandemic, China has increased coal output – hitting a ten-year-high of using over four billion metric tons of coal in 2021. While Western populations are being forced to tighten their belts and deal with the expensive ramifications of green-energy policies, Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his government that any efforts to reduce China’s emissions should not interfere with the nation’s economic growth – indicating China will not be making any meaningful changes to curb its emissions in the near future.

CANADA - Canada Is a police state at this time… it’s like within a police state. There’s no rule of law, it’s now in the hands of …the Emergency Act, which is the War Measures Act… Just by donating $25 to the truckers’ convoy puts you as an enemy of the state. It sounds like Cuba or China, that’s kinda what’s happening in Canada… It’s a civil war is what it is. They will finish this job whatever it takes. I was just talking to a driver who said… guns were drawn…

USA - Thursday, conservative talker Mark Levin railed against the Democratic Party during an appearance on FNC’s “Hannity.” Levin accused those within the Democratic Party of hating America and criticized the party ideology for hurting middle-class Americans.

Levin: I’ll tell you what’s going on in this country. The largest political party in this country hates America. They hate our security. They hate our Constitution. They hate our Founders. They hate our Framers. They hate our monuments. They hate our history. They hate our family structure. The Democrat Party hates our military, hates our cops. The Democrat Party is selling us out to the communist Chinese, the fascistic Russians, the fascistic Iranians, and the inbred over there in North Korea. The Democrat Party is a force for bad in this country. They never promote liberty. They never promote individualism. We now have an individual in Canada who reflects the same ideology. We actually now have a totalitarian regime on our northern border. Let’s not fool ourselves, what that prime minister is doing to the people of Canada is a disgusting disgrace.

EUROPE - Underground gas storage facilities (UGS) in Europe were 95.3% empty as of February 17, Russia’s state energy giant and major gas exporter Gazprom said on Saturday, citing data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. This means that Europe now has only 4.7% of its gas reserves left for the remainder of the winter season. The European Union, however, this week claimed that its supplies were sufficient to last several more weeks in the event that Russia stops its gas flow to the bloc amid tensions over Ukraine. Russian gas supplies to European countries had already started to fall in mid-2021, and the decline accelerated at the beginning of 2022. Gazprom, however, repeatedly insisted that it is still supplying Europe with gas in strict accordance with existing contracts. According to the Commission, until recently, the EU satisfied almost a quarter (24%) of its energy needs with gas, 90% of which was imported. Some 40% of its imports came from Gazprom. Despite this, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Saturday called Gazprom’s supply policy intentionally harmful.

UK - The everyday term has been replaced with “grown-ups” in a bid to avoid discriminating against so-called “non-traditional” families. According to parents from the four primary schools affected by the change in terminology, children have now been left confused over the move. St Luke's Primary School in Brighton states on its website: “We have an Equalities Language Code for staff, for example, to value all families we never refer to mums and dads and instead talk about grown-ups.” Elm Grove Primary School maintains in its Equalities Statement: “We try to talk about our grown-ups rather than our mums and dads to acknowledge the different family groupings our pupils live in.” The same guidance has been implemented into Carlton Hill Primary School. One parent vented their frustration at the move. They said: “It's very confusing for us adults, never mind the kids. They just don't understand why the teachers can't call their mums or dads, mum or dad?” “This is just madness, where will it stop?”

US inflation just hit 7.5 per cent, the highest in 40 years.
UK inflation, now 5.5 per cent and the highest in 30 years, is expected to reach 7 per cent by spring.
EU inflation is 5.1 per cent.
All these indices are headed in one direction. Inflation is often described as a tax, but I have a better word for it: STEALING.

EL SALVADOR - El Salvador's president and the Chinese ambassador traded flatteries this month as they broke ground on a new national library, one of a slew of gifts China has promised this small mountainous nation as part of its vigorous quest to gain influence across Central America. When the seven-storey library is finished, it will loom above San Salvador's central square, a symbol of China's growing presence in the region and a reminder that as the relationship between the US and El Salvador has chilled, El Salvador has found refuge in China's deep pockets and warm embrace. A new Cold War is brewing in Latin America between the US and China amid a shifting global order driven more by economics and technology than by politics and ideology.