In an astonishing “Fuck you” to the survivors of the 1945 US nuclear bombing of Nagasaki, several Western countries including the US, Australia, Canada, France, Italy and the UK have just dropped a bombshell: announcing their ambassadors are shunning this week’s commemorations in solidarity with Israel.

Last week the mayor of Nagasaki, Shiro Suzuki, rescinded Israel’s invitation to the annual peace ceremony. It was a gentle but pointed diplomatic message: Lest we forget what it was - and still is - all about.

The headline above is outrageous and incendiary – it is also unquestionably true. We have a duty to bear witness to what the Palestinians must endure.

The great Israeli journalist Gideon Levy wrote powerfully a couple of days ago about the rape culture that is part of the Israeli war machine. Riots occurred at the Sde Teiman Israeli detention centre this week in support of soldiers arrested by the Israeli military police in connection with rape, torture and murder.

“A fairer multipolar world order is being born”. Eight words that sum up what is being created at pace and yet is being largely ignored by the Western media. “Tectonic shifts” indeed are happening as the countries that represent the bulk of Eurasia’s landmass, economy, population and military might come together in an alliance that not only is linking the vast region that stretches from Europe to the Sea of Japan, but will transform global power dynamics for the coming century and push the demi-gods of the Western World out of the driver’s seat and back into the ranks of humanity.

Very few people have tuned into the fact that what is happening isn't “NATO” moving into the Asia Pacific region – it’s actually far bigger than that. The US is creating a super-bloc, a super-alliance of client states that includes both the EU and NATO, the AP4 (its key Asia Pacific partners Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan) and other partners like the Philippines (now the Marcos dynasty is back at the helm).

Geopolitical tensions are again rising to boiling point; the nuclear treaties have been abandoned, nuclear weapons are again in high production, and all the lessons learnt, the visceral fears felt in decades past have been lost. The US will start stationing long-range missiles in Germany from 2026, a massive escalation that Russia has promised to respond to. What’s next?

Once upon a time the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken booked a nice hotel room with a Queen bed and invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to share it with him. They went there to launch a diplomatic initiative to try to end the war in Ukraine and to put to bed, so to speak, the idea of violent confrontation between the two superpowers.

It may be time to think the unthinkable: all the signs are pointing to the West preparing to launch a proper war in Europe. Once started it could bring, for the first time in living memory, millions of Western civilians into uniform and see the cities of the West attacked. Preposterous? Jumping the Shark? Listen to what the leaders in the West are saying. The time to stop the madness is now, not once the elites drive us into the abyss and civilians are stripped of all rights to oppose.

The most powerful weapon in the US arsenal is not F-16 jets, Himar missiles, or any of the other conventional war toys. Real US power resides in the US dollar. By increasingly weaponizing the dollar and access to the dollar-denominated global trading system, America has taken to the greenback with a blowtorch that will trigger a reckoning for the ages.

Daniel Everett Hale killed lots of innocent people. He went to jail, not for killing people – he was paid to do that by the US government – but for revealing the truth behind it. Recently released, he has an astonishing story to tell - and what we need to understand about why shooting the messenger is a key strategy for anti-democratic forces.

The Armavir Incident - the destruction on 23 May of a key part of Russia’s nuclear defence - means the Doomsday clock is ticking closer to midnight. Our media is keeping us in a deep, deep sleep. We need facts, analysis and an insistence on dialogue and diplomacy before it is too late.

Have we now come to an epoch-making tipping point? The recent actions by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court could shatter the Shield of Impunity - the idea that international institutions are there as tools for the West to attack their enemies and can never be used against the US and its allies.

As the New Zealand and Australian media fuss and bother over tourists stranded in New Caledonia, the Kanaks are gripped in an existential struggle with a heavyweight European power determined to keep the archipelago firmly under the control of Paris. We need better, deeper reporting from our media – one that provides history and context.

Before New Zealand decides, by joining AUKUS Pillar 2, that we want to be America’s Friend with Benefits (cyber warfare tools, missiles, etc), we should at least pause for a moment and consider who we are getting into bed with. Australia also has time to reconsider its hasty AUKUS tryst.

Jeremy Rose is founding member of Alternative Jewish Voices. He responds to the mass killing of journalists by the Israeli army with this powerful article centred on the life of one journalist, Ahmed Alnaouq.

New Zealand’s government has been considering joining Pillar 2 of AUKUS – a military alliance aimed firmly at China, our biggest trading partner. The Americans haven’t hidden their delight at New Zealand’s perceived shift in stance. Will New Zealanders have a say?

Marwan Barghouti. He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today - and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that we are spoon-fed every day.

The former New Zealand Prime Minister – the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory – gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held in Parliament’s old Legislative Chambers on April 18.

Is Hamas a resistance or a terrorist movement? It is time for the West to stop demonising Hamas and understand, in their own words, what drives them. Hamas has the support of the majority of the Palestinian people who have lived through events far worse than October 7th - but with little support from the international community.

When Middle East analyst Annelle Sheline turned her back on her dream job at the US State Department and resigned in protest this week at the US war on Gaza, she joined an elite group of human beings: those who have the courage of their convictions.

Anyone who remembers the Black September attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics or the various protests, boycotts and expulsions of recent games may, in the shadow of today's Gaza, wonder whether Paris 2024 could be a long hot Summer Games.