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Foreign Bacall

@absolutelyahha.bsky.social

729 followers 317 following 8.9K posts

Euro-Australian. Born and live on Yalukit Willam land, never ceded. Ukraine hawk, NAFO before NAFO. Democracy advocate, #TrumpIsATraitor #TrumpMustResign. Let’s be kind to each other.

Posts Replies Media

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“We’re trying to build a second plane, both Canada and NATO in our different ways. We’re trying to build a second plane even as we’re flying the first one, and we’re hoping we can transfer onto the second plane just before the first one smashes into the ground.”

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441. Can Canada Take On the US? Mark Carney, Trade Wars, and the Battle for Sovereignty

Podcast Episode · Battleground · 30 September · 41min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“People have to understand how singular Trump is & viewing him through any normal lens in terms of motivation is a mistake. Not just is he not bound by any usual norms of law, morals or civil conduct between countries, but a lot he does makes no sense even from a rational self-interest standpoint.”

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441. Can Canada Take On the US? Mark Carney, Trade Wars, and the Battle for Sovereignty

Podcast Episode · Battleground · 30 September · 41min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“The Trump administration put out impossible terms for any Canadian prime minister to accept. I don’t think that was accidental. A deal would mean they commit & live up to their commitment in exchange for whatever concessions they extracted. But they lose leverage & continually raising the ante. 1/2

podcasts.apple.com

441. Can Canada Take On the US? Mark Carney, Trade Wars, and the Battle for Sovereignty

Podcast Episode · Battleground · 30 September · 41min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

“The issue of whether NATO can stand up to Russia without the US: it may just have to anyway. The main hope is the US wouldn’t intervene on the side of the Russians. When you look at how severely Trump has tilted towards Russia on so many fronts, I don’t think you can say that with any certainty.”

podcasts.apple.com

441. Can Canada Take On the US? Mark Carney, Trade Wars, and the Battle for Sovereignty

Podcast Episode · Battleground · 30 September · 41min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“The Dutch Central Bank has shifted gold reserves from New York and Ottawa to London, citing concerns about increasing global geopolitical unrest.”

Netherlands Secretly Moved Tons of Gold Bars Out of US

YouTube video by Bloomberg News

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

“By telling Claude it’s conscious, you’re shaping its incentives, its behavioral structure and the way that it responds to the world around it in a way that it doesn’t happen with a kettle. There may be situations in which Claude might refuse to do something. That’s not true for a kettle.”

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Mustafa Suleyman: Is AI Actually Conscious?

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 27 September · 1hr 2min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“Witkoff & Kushner don’t classify as a serious diplomatic process. That’s not how processes have ended long, bloody wars. They begin at a much lower level & build up to a summit. You need a process that is continuous, usually held in the same place with the same people who develop relationships.”

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Red Lines and Reality: The West's Escalation Dilemma in Ukraine

Podcast Episode · Russian Roulette · 25 September · 43min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“We don’t know exactly how Putin, Russia would respond if there were to be a serious diplomatic process because there hasn’t been one.”

podcasts.apple.com

Red Lines and Reality: The West's Escalation Dilemma in Ukraine

Podcast Episode · Russian Roulette · 25 September · 43min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“Until Putin sees that negotiating hurts less than every other option, it’shard to see why and if he will come to the table.”

podcasts.apple.com

Red Lines and Reality: The West's Escalation Dilemma in Ukraine

Podcast Episode · Russian Roulette · 25 September · 43min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“Diplomacy and coercive pressure are not choices. That’s been a big problem Western countries’ approach: they have not been linked together; you haven’t seen a cohesive strategic coercive bargaining process, which is what ultimately I think will be required to bring this war to an end.”

podcasts.apple.com

Red Lines and Reality: The West's Escalation Dilemma in Ukraine

Podcast Episode · Russian Roulette · 25 September · 43min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“Putin has made all the escalatory moves. He started the full-scale invasion. He started terror bombing cities. He introduced foreign forces. Helping Ukraine undertake long-range strikes, which Russia has done from the start, is not escalatory & it’s not threatening large-scale invasion of Russia.”

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Red Lines and Reality: The West's Escalation Dilemma in Ukraine

Podcast Episode · Russian Roulette · 25 September · 43min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Trump: “Upon taking office, I immediately opened negotiations with Iran & offered them full economic cooperation in exchange for ending their nuclear program & support for terror but they absolutely refused.” v JCPOA which was sanctions relief only & which Iran AGREED to—but was also somehow worse.

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Iran offers Strait of Hormuz deal as Trump calls off Houthi strikes at last minute

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 22 September · 36min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Trump: “The US Navy has recently escorted more than 1 billion barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz, and more oil is flowing than at any point since the start of the war.” 1. So it IS a war then. 2. Trump’s war is the only reason oil stopped flowing.

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Iran offers Strait of Hormuz deal as Trump calls off Houthi strikes at last minute

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 22 September · 36min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

“A survey of Australians as young as 13 found misogyny can predict extremist violence more strongly than ideology, religion or time online.”

pursuit.unimelb.edu.au

Hostile attitudes toward women are driving extremism in young Australians

A University of Melbourne survey of Australians as young as 13 found misogyny can predict extremist violence more strongly than ideology, religion or time online.

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

“AI will create a world we can’t understand. We'll be like the other animals. If you tell a cow, your life is being managed by something called the financial system, & the company that owns you has gone bankrupt so now they’re killing you, the cow will say, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

podcasts.apple.com

The Greatest Threat Humans Just Can’t Stomach with Yuval Noah Harari

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 17 September · 40min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

“This is the first time we’re creating agents, not tools. In the Industrial Revolution we created steam engines, etc; they were tools in our hands: we still made the decisions on how to use them. AI is not a tool. It is an agent. An agent can make decisions by itself & invent new ideas by itself.”

podcasts.apple.com

The Greatest Threat Humans Just Can’t Stomach with Yuval Noah Harari

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 17 September · 40min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

To what extent is the profound frustration of the body politic due to politicians overselling — overestimating — their ability to effect change on any scale that makes a perceivable difference in people’s lives?

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

“The same is true why we probably won’t do enough about AI safety, why we will underestimate the risk posed by Putin and underestimate the risk with Trump or China: because not doing something is cheaper and easier.”

podcasts.apple.com

The Greatest Threat Humans Just Can’t Stomach with Yuval Noah Harari

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 17 September · 40min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

“AI is really an alien intelligence. It’s not alien coming from outer space, of course, but it’s totally alien to our way of thinking and understanding the world. [Just like the Aztecs when they met Cortés,] we have never in history met anything like it.”

podcasts.apple.com

The Greatest Threat Humans Just Can’t Stomach with Yuval Noah Harari

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 17 September · 40min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Russian culture is bestial. “Almost every prisoner of war was subjected to sexual violence amounting to torture. It’s quite extraordinary. One victim of beatings and electric shocks to the genitals said one of the perpetrators said, I will beat everything out of you so you can’t make children. 1/3

podcasts.apple.com

'We'll throttle your war machine': US lawmakers finally pass major Russia sanctions bill

Podcast Episode · Ukraine: The Latest · 17 September · 57min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“We have heard from deserters & see in our own findings sexual violence is a systematic practice known to commanders & superiors. We’re not talking of a one-off person in charge of a detention centre who is unusually cruel: we’re talking of a systematic practice deployed to humiliate & intimidate.”

podcasts.apple.com

'We'll throttle your war machine': US lawmakers finally pass major Russia sanctions bill

Podcast Episode · Ukraine: The Latest · 17 September · 57min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“There are examples of many women having miscarriages as an result of this kind of assault. In one testimony, a woman said she kept repeating to the soldiers that she was pregnant and begged them to spare her. She had a miscarriage a few days later. 1/2

podcasts.apple.com

'We'll throttle your war machine': US lawmakers finally pass major Russia sanctions bill

Podcast Episode · Ukraine: The Latest · 17 September · 57min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“The UN Independent International Commission’s reports are submitted to the Russian Federation, so it is very much within their knowledge that there are many, many incidents of sexual violence as a war crime. But we have not heard of a single instance of accountability being sought from anyone.”

podcasts.apple.com

'We'll throttle your war machine': US lawmakers finally pass major Russia sanctions bill

Podcast Episode · Ukraine: The Latest · 17 September · 57min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“At the highest level, there are risks of AI takeover. Even Hitler had to sleep because he was an organic entity.”

podcasts.apple.com

Trump’s Next Middle East Crisis and Reform’s £72m Megadonation

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 16 September · 53min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“These same AI leaders who 2.5 years ago were calling me a Luddite for calling for a pause are now themselves calling for a pause. We’ve got maybe 6 to 18 months before these things are genuine dangers to humanity, and it doesn’t feel as though anybody’s politics is moving to regulate.”

podcasts.apple.com

Trump’s Next Middle East Crisis and Reform’s £72m Megadonation

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 16 September · 53min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

“Suleyman warned against firms continuing to create AI systems capable of setting their own objectives, earning money and owning assets, ‘essentially seeding a new silicon species’ which could ‘no doubt compete with us for resources’.”

Uncontrolled AI could lead to 'silicon species' rivalling humans, warns Microsoft

Mustafa Suleyman says he believes rival AI firm Anthropic is in effect teaching Claude it "may be conscious".

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

“In this time of social media, people think that it is a accomplishing a political task to ‘like’ something. It is not.”

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How Putin's War Changed Finland Forever (Sanna Marin)

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 13 September · 55min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

“Most of these guys are government welfare kings but the idea of government interferes with their myth of self-made greatness. Business depends on a strong public sector, a government that builds roads, infrastructure, maintains safety, national security. You can’t have what we have without those.”

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The Nerd Reich | Gil Durán

Podcast Episode · Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs · 12 September · 1hr

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

“Peter Thiel to this day is described as libertarian. How can you be a libertarian against government power and intrusion and be a government surveillance contractor? Even basic terminology evades journalists. He gets to be a libertarian and a massive government welfare king.”

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The Nerd Reich | Gil Durán

Podcast Episode · Secrets and Spies Podcast: Espionage | Global Issues | Current Affairs · 12 September · 1hr

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

“General Mattis famously said, whenever I hear about cuts to the State Department, I begin to order more ammunition.”

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Trump’s Houthi Red Sea crisis, Pentagon chaos and 9/11’s legacy: Gen Ben Hodges on the US-Iran war

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 11 September · 39min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The American narrative frames the Stamp & Townshend Acts as British tyranny. In fact, the taxes were perfectly reasonable. A secondary myth is that the US system offers unparalleled ‘individual liberty’ & economic opportunity. This is nonsense.

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Ukraine “are making so many drones, 8 million a year, that they could actually use even double that if they had the number of pilots.” There are myriad roles in which Ukrainians fleeing military serice could serve their country that bear zero frontline risk.

podcasts.apple.com

The Future of War: How Autonomous Systems Are Reshaping Conflict

Podcast Episode · Global Security Briefing · 9 September · 24min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“When you break a taboo, the taboo is never as strong as it had been before it was broken.”

podcasts.apple.com

Roman Civil War: Rise of the General (Part 1)

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is History · 30 August · 1hr 3min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“Watching a YouTube video uses more water than a ChatGPT query. Meat uses far more water than a data centre.”

podcasts.apple.com

Who Really Benefits from AI and Will Data Centres Decide the Midterms?

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 1 September · 59min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“Many, many people are beginning to see social media in the same way as we once saw tobacco and fossil fuels.” 1/2

podcasts.apple.com

Who Really Benefits from AI and Will Data Centres Decide the Midterms?

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics · 1 September · 59min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

“Everyone has political views, but being a member of a political party is just a stamp on your political views. It doesn’t transform them into an irrational, rabid partisanship—or at least it shouldn’t. It really shouldn’t.”

podcasts.apple.com

Will a Wealth Tax Actually Fix Britain? (Dan Neidle)

Podcast Episode · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 30 August · 1hr 3min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

“In July 2026, 364 civilians were killed in Kherson. That’s more than 10 civilians a day. Most were killed by Russian first-person and fibre-optic drones as they were walking on the street, going to get groceries, sitting on balconies at home.”

podcasts.apple.com

431. Hell in Kherson – Life under the Drones & CIA's Secret Moscow Mission

Podcast Episode · Battleground · 27 August · 57min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Interviewer: President Putin, why did you invade Ukraine? Putin: Because Ukraine doesn’t exist. I: Seriously? P: Lenin invented it. I: Is that why you invaded it? P: Ukrainians and Russians are one people. I: So you’re saying the Ukrainian nation doesn’t exist? P: It doesn’t. 1/3

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Trump making a ‘tactical’ nuclear attack on Iran would embolden and legitimise Putin doing so in Ukraine.

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“Wildberries took out its biggest loans with VTB Bank and Sberbank, both of which are more than 50 per cent owned by the Kremlin. It means any financial trouble at Wildberries would likely set off a chain reaction that affects its creditors, and ultimately, the Russian government.” 1/3

'People are losing everything': Ukraine's drones could crash Russian banks

On the outskirts of Russian cities, warehouses belonging to the country's largest online retailer are being struck by Kyiv's drones, with some analysts saying it could lead to a financial crisis.

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“The Russians aren’t exceptional at information operations: they just throw a lot of things at a wall, see what sticks, and then do a lot more of it because they’ve got the number of people to have to do it.”

podcasts.apple.com

US vows indefinite blockade & how China became Iran’s 'ventilator'

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 14 August · 40min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“The Chinese respond to strength, they respond to transactionalism, and they respond to clarity of message. At the moment, we are not doing those three things.”

podcasts.apple.com

US vows indefinite blockade & how China became Iran’s 'ventilator'

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 14 August · 40min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“China has said that they will not allow Russia to fail when it comes to Ukraine. They are not an ally. They are threatening us at home. They are threatening our democracy.”

podcasts.apple.com

US vows indefinite blockade & how China became Iran’s 'ventilator'

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 14 August · 40min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“Xi Jinping has said that China is not capable of peaceful transitions of power. He is already planning the fact that he expects his own country to fall into some state of civil war or conflict, should he no longer be leader.”

podcasts.apple.com

US vows indefinite blockade & how China became Iran’s 'ventilator'

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 14 August · 40min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“People’s willingness to be on weaponised platforms like TikTok: get off it: you are just enabling someone who is threatening our country. People don’t take personal responsibility.” 1/3

podcasts.apple.com

US vows indefinite blockade & how China became Iran’s 'ventilator'

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 14 August · 40min

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“Ukrainian authorities have introduced safety checks after explosive devices were reportedly discovered multiple times among bodies returned from Russia since June.” Russia is an uncivilised barbarian nation without concept of honour or dignity.

podcasts.apple.com

Ukraine 'destroys North Korean missiles 6000km inside Russia' & huge explosion rips through Italian munitions factory

Podcast Episode · Ukraine: The Latest · 14 August · 49min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

“One of the great ironies is the war saved a dying regime. It was losing credibility among the Iranian people. And now you’ve ended up with a military regime rather than the clerical regime, and nd one that’s very tight knit, very hard line, and absolutely determined to develop nuclear weapons.”

podcasts.apple.com

China steps in as Iran war drains US oil reserves to 40-year low

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 13 August · 29min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Russian political prisoner Andrei Trofimov is a hero. He has not been granted contact since April. ‘Honourable court, everything the prosecution says I wrote online, I did indeed write. I did the right thing, I admit no guilt and I have no regrets. I publicly justify, strongly approve of and 1/4

No contact with political prisoner Andrei Trofimov since April - Political prisoners support. Memorial

There has been no contact with political prisoner Andrei Trofimov since April. He has not responded to letters and has not been brought out to meet with a lawyer.

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Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

“He’s now in the extraordinary position where his war aim is to restore the situation that prevailed before he started the war. And I —really, it’s extraordinary — I struggle to fathom just how much of a mess this has all become from America’s point of view.”

podcasts.apple.com

US ‘runs out of missiles’ as Trump halts Iran strikes

Podcast Episode · Iran: The Latest · 27 July · 19min

Foreign Bacall @absolutelyahha.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

“One of the big reasons for the growth of TV as America’s dominant entertainment medium is racism. In the 30s & 40s, waves of black people moved from rural areas to cities in search of work. After WWII, there was a corresponding period of white flight where white people moved away from cities 1/3

podcasts.apple.com

Episode 88: “Cathy’s Clown” by the Everly Brothers

Podcast Episode · A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs · 2 July 2020 · 1 sec

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