After some hesitation, it seems the United States has decided to contemplate Ukraine's pressure to allow it to use US-supplied long-range missiles against targets defined as "deep" into Russian territory. The lobbying has come as Kyiv faces one setback after another on the battlefield, with Putin's forces now advancing on almost every front with some critical battles lined up.

By the time I woke up on Tuesday morning, by the evening of Monday in the US at least six of those bills had already passed, deliberately fighting shots at all angles of US-China economic cooperation, and moreover being cheerled by the absolutely deranged "Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party", a McCarthyist setup that has absolutely no serious knowledge or understanding of anything pertaining to China, only seeking to spread fear, conflict and hate.

It goes without saying that under Elon Musk, Twitter, or now better known as "X" has become a cesspit of racism, far-right politics and even outright Nazi apologism. Although I disliked Jack Dorsey's management of the platform precisely because it cooperated with Anti-China organisations, and actively sought to suppress pro-Chinese voices, the platform's decline in quality under Musk has been a sight to behold which has without a doubt unleashed political instability throughout the world, especially through the return of previously banned or "no-platformed" voices.

Several weeks ago, Ukraine launched a counter-invasion of Russia's Kursk oblast. The surprise attack, involving Kyiv's best troops, armour, and equipment, took Moscow by surprise and they quickly occupied a handful of settlements. Naturally, the mainstream media in the west lauded the attack and quickly sought to paint the situation in pessimistic terms for Vladimir Putin.

On the evening of August 26th Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would be following the United States in introducing a 100% tariff on the import of Chinese-made (made, not just brands) electric vehicles into the country, as well as a 25% levy on steel.

British China hawks are up in arms, the new government headed by Keir Starmer has taken several steps to reset the country's relationship with China. First and most significantly, the Prime Minister engaged in a telephone conversation with Xi Jinping last week, effectively pledging to talk.

The Chinese produced role playing gameBlack Myth: Wukong, has proved to be a phenomenal success. The game, inspired by the famous Chinese novel "Journey to the West" and its character the "Monkey King" (Sun Wukong) has been met with positive reviews and become one of the most downplayed and played games on the commercial gaming platform Steam. The game is undeniably the biggest exposure many people in the west will have had to the Chinese literary tradition, with Journey to the West being well known in China, but typically unknown outside of Asia.

For all the drama that has characterized the past few years, US-China relations have been awfully quiet and uneventful over the past month or so. Although there is the usual China-bashing from various political figures, there have been no high-level incidents or escalations in tensions for the most part. Even as the potential threat of Donald Trump looming remains on the horizon, there has been an odd sense of "quiet" about things.

Earlier this week Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced he would be resigning. Marred by a series of scandals within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), falling personal popularity and and a lackluster economy, his decision to quit is hardly unconventional in the face of Japanese politics, yet it will not in any way be a political game changer.

A key aspect of Ukraine's war strategy in resisting Russia's invasion has been the use of public relations, or in other words media and propaganda. Aiming at the West, and backed by a media that will unquestionably and uncritically report everything they say, Ukraine has angled its defense on repeatedly attempting to create the impression that it is able to defeat the Russian Federation, and therefore keep the flow of aid continuing as a worthy investment from western capitals.

American culture is competitive to the extreme. If one thinks of the term "competition" with respect to the USA, you are immediately conjured with the imagery of brutally successful capitalist firms, or on a local level, aggressive sports teams, and your stereotypical high school jock.

On Friday evening my hometown Sunderland was engulfed by a violent riot. Far-right demonstrators, aggrieved at a mass stabbing of little girls in Southport, Merseyside, the previous week, destroyed property and vehicles, started fires, and clashed with the police. Despite claiming that the march was to "protect our children" it proved to be nothing of the sort as it sought to indiscriminately unleash hate and violence in all directions.

Israel has assassinated the leader of Hamas. The political leader of the group Ismail Haniyeh, was killed while visiting Tehran, Iran. Just hours before, Israel also killed a senior Hezbollah commander, before then later killing the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (again). The killings have shattered any hopes that the Israel-Gaza war would be coming to an end soon, as Benjamin Netanyahu obviously sought to foil, and moreover, it is widely believed Israel will pursue war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In 2020, a skirmish emerged on a disputed border between China and India on the Himalayas. The unresolved dispute, which has lasted decades, saw unarmed melee combat between the two Asian giants leading to deaths on both sides, and China seizing territory. However, the world has changed many times since 2020, and it is with a sudden surprise that, following recent elections whereby the Hindu nationalist BJP found its majority weakened, India has decided to reset its relationship with China and re-think its entire strategy.

On Monday night I landed in Hong Kong for a trip. I'm a nostalgic person so even as I visit new places, I also gain a great deal of value and sentiment out of visiting places that I feel emotionally attached to and of significance in my life. It will soon be 9 years since I lived in Hong Kong as an exchange student at HKU. The city has changed tremendously in some aspects since that time, especially if you only go by the mainstream media.