In this news round-up of the week, while testing Europe with drones, Russia's President Putin gives a major speech where he makes a substantial pivot in how he treats Trump's United States in relation to Ukraine. The US government is shut down, and both sides are trying to blame the other for what follows. YouTube gives Trump lots of money to spend on his ballroom. And I answer a Patreon supporter's question about Keir Starmer's Digital ID proposal in the United Kingdom. Let's jump in.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had his email read by a cameraman with a zoom lens, and it exposed the fury going on behind the scenes over President Trump's $20 billion support for Argentina's populist leader Javier Milei. At a time when Trump's tariffs and trade war with China has resulted in American soybean farmers being thrown into crisis, they can't help but notice one thing that has really added insult to injury. Let's discuss.

Pete Hegseth insisted on bringing together the very top brass of all the US military into one room so he could ... lecture them on grooming. And the Warrior Ethos. And then President Trump took over, to give a rambling rant about - well, all the things he usually rants about. Plus a few pointers on using the military within the US against American protestors, and giving permission for the use of lethal force. But mostly it was about anti-woke, and insisting that if they didn't like it, they should resign. In exactly the way that authoritarians through time immemorial have done, but just a lot less competently. Let's discuss.

The Ryder Cup made headlines this weekend - because the MAGA crowd barracked the opposing team, hurled abuse at the players, offensive insults at their wives, even threw beer over Erika McIlroy, and tried to put the European team off their stroke by calling out as they were taking their swing. Ugly, despicable behaviour, just hours after Trump had visited to show his support. Maybe it's a one-off, but it feels more like the MAGA movement is making cruelty a feature of America's face to the world. And this event is therefore more symbolic of the change that's happening than it might appear at first glance. Well, let's discuss.

When President Trump and Stephen Miller argue that heated rhetoric encourages political violence, you might think it is a fair comment point of view. And yet, it's impossible not to note that both utilise more inflammatory language than almost anyone else. And their opponents frequently point this out ... to almost zero effect. This video is about why the blatant hypocrisy works as a device for preparing the population for authoritarian acts of impunity. It matters, because if the opposition is to be effective, they have to stop falling into the traps set for them. So let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week, we cover the Trump DOJ move at last to put into practice the boss's public instructions to get an indictment. Even if this case stands little chance of success, it is a new front and will be the first of numerous attempts to come. Also we discuss Tulsi Gabbard abandoning future-looking Intelligence reports because the facts don't fit the current ideology. RFK Jr's puzzling harangue of the United Nations on health. YouTube's admission that it was put under pressure by the Biden Administration to censor content, and Albania's new AI initiative that we might not want to follow. Oh, and I answer a couple of comments / questions.

After his big moment berating the United Nations, President Trump met with President Zelensky and had things to say on the Ukraine war that nobody was quite expecting. Not only was Zelensky astonished, the Europeans stunned, but Russia's administration reacted with a sharpness that we've not seen in reaction to Trump so far this year. Something has changed - but does it actually mean anything? And why has the US quietly paused selling weapons to NATO countries? Well, let's discuss.

Just when it looked like the Trump Administration could just demand whatever it wanted and all the institutions, all the corporations, all the politicians would ultimately just quietly fold - finally at least one corporation - for now - has stood back up again. And the result of that move by Disney / ABC is that the Jimmy Kimmel Show is back on air from tonight. But this is the beginning of the fight, not the victory. The local affiliates who pulled the show from their areas are still not distributing it. The FCC Chair is swearing he didn't intend to threaten anyone, but we will see if anyone takes that remotely seriously. But if the question asked a couple of days ago on this channel - has Trump overstepped the mark? - is perhaps being answered here, it could go into some very interesting places.

We all know about China's surveillance state - it's pretty terrifying, but it was built more or less from the ground up to suit the authoritarians. Every other autocrat - or would-be autocrat - will have to retrofit the technology onto existing internets that were built by private companies following demand, rather than any kind of state-sponsored plan. Russia is now leading the way - with a three-tier plan that is being executed right now. And when you look at what it's doing - well, there's some spooky parallels with things that Trump is doing in the very different environment of the US. Let's discuss.

The Charlie Kirk memorial today marked the inflection point that MAGA believes the event of his assassination represented. As a result, the administration has ramped up its move against President Trump's opponents. Yesterday, Trump accidentally told the world that he is pushing the Attorney General Pam Bondi towards bringing prosecutions against key political figures. It could not be more blatant - but blatant is suddenly becoming the standard operating practice. Is MAGA mistaking the moment - thinking that Kirk's death has given them permission to go further and faster than they really have? Which is why suddenly even some of Trump's biggest supporters are looking alarmed at the real face that they're seeing? Let's discuss.