Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him) 🦠🤧🧬📑🦟🧀

Australian senator Pauline Hanson condemned for 'blatant racism' over burka stunt Australian senator Pauline Hanson has been condemned for repeating a political stunt when she wore a burka to parliament in her attempts to ban the Muslim garment in public.

Australian senator Pauline Hanson condemned for 'blatant racism' over burka stunt

Another Cop wrecked by fossil fuel interests and our leaders’ cowardice – but there is another way | Genevieve Guenther The fingerprints of Russia and Saudi Arabia are all over the decision text in Brazil. But a group of nations led by Colombia and the Netherlands offer hope, says End Climate Silence founding director Genevieve Guenther

Another Cop wrecked by fossil fuel interests and our leaders’ cowardice – but there is another way | Genevieve Guenther

After “highly productive” talks in Geneva, Kyiv and Washington are aligned, but the proposal is now on a collision course with Moscow’s hard line.

www.kyivpost.com/post/64823

Brazil’s COP ends in disappointment and frustration as India, Saudi and Russia pull the strings. All eyes now on Chris Bowen to see if he can do any better.

No, it REWARDS countries for launching wars and committing atrocity after atrocity.

Wastewater surveillance reveals disease trends in South Africa From COVID-19 to measles, scientists are showing how wastewater surveillance can expose underreported infections and strengthen national health monitoring.

A nice article, highlighting the important work our collaborators in South Africa are doing using wastewater to surveil a bunch of different vaccine preventable diseases (and finding a lot more of them than other reports would make you believe…).

💪🇿🇦

www.nature.com/articles/d44...

Where it's cold..right??🙂

*shut

11 Holodomor questions Russia doesn’t want you asking Stalin faced no consequences for genocide. Neither will Putin—unless the world breaks this cycle of impunity.

So what was the Holodomor, and why does Russia still refuse to admit what really happened? Here are 11 questions Russia doesn't want you asking: euromaidanpress.com/2025/11/22/w...

Death toll in Kharkiv rises to 4 after Russian drone attack‼️ 13 others were injured. 3 houses caught fire.

What the US is committed to: Respect territorial integrity, prosecute war crimes, keep NATO open

What Trump's plan requires: Recognize conquest, grant amnesty, close NATO door

71 direct contradictions.
euromaidanpress.com/2025/11/24/t...

One plan. Six pillars of international law demolished.

Trump's Ukraine plan requires the US to violate 71 international commitments, @EerikNKross has calculated.

It systematically contradicts the legal order America built over 80 years—from the Geneva Conventions to NATO's founding treaty:

Right?

Big brown land.

Same system here. Shit the place up after the slab's been cooled overnight. Amazing difference. Although I'm outside making Christmas lights work so 🤷

Rubio touts Ukraine peace talks after Trump says Kyiv has shown 'zero gratitude' US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says talks taking place between the Washington and Kyiv are "probably the best so far", while Donald Trump criticises Ukrainian leaders for their response to a US-bac...

Again with this gratitude rubbish?

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Rubio touts Ukraine peace talks after Trump says Kyiv has shown 'zero gratitude' US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says talks taking place between the Washington and Kyiv are "probably the best so far", while Donald Trump criticises Ukrainian leaders for their response to a US-bac...

AMAZING what you can achieve if you include the victim in negotiations, not just the aggressor plus an external party that stands to financially gain from their proposal.🤬

"We are much further ahead than when we began this morning."

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

A week of temps from 31'C to 36'C.
Bloody hell.
#Queensland

Here's a seven-point peace plan:

Streets in Kherson are now covered with nets to stop Russian drones, a warning of what many cities, not only in Ukraine, could face if Russia is not stopped.

U.S. Senators Say They Spoke With Rubio About Trump’s Ukraine Peace Plan Who Denied It Is A U.S. Plan Senators said Rubio told them the peace plan Trump is pushing Kyiv to accept is a “wish list” of the Russians and not the actual U.S. plan.

Friday: "Sign this by Thanksgiving or it's all over for you."
Saturday: "This is nothing to do with us, some other boys wrote it." www.huffpost.com/entry/senato...

Trump's participation medal on Ukraine Western allies rush to thank the US president for a peace plan they hate

Paul Wells says what G20 leaders are very tactful about: Trump's participation medal on Ukraine open.substack.com/pub/paulwell...

Air quality in Tehran plunges as forecasters warn of dangerous levels Tehran’s air reached the unhealthy for sensitive groups range on Friday as pollutant concentrations climbed and meteorologists issued an orange alert for six major cities, warning that stagnant condit...

As Tom Lehrer almost sang, "Can't drink the water, don't breathe the air": www.iranintl.com/en/202511218...

Iran’s deepening water crisis nears critical levels in major cities Iran’s worsening drought has pushed water supplies in several provinces to critical levels, with officials in Tehran, Mashhad and Kerman warning that some reservoirs are close to the point where routi...

www.iranintl.com/en/202511227...

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that his government supports the "peace plan" for Ukraine proposed by President Trump.

According to him, the document is "bombastic,"&if adopted,Russia would "emerge as a complete winner - morally and economically strengthened."

The US ultimatum to Ukraine is extortion. The US siding with Russia is clear evidence of Americas decline. The US is a terrorist state.

Zelensky admitting that the pressure Trump is putting on Ukraine to take this grotesque deal is immense.

Iran president says capital move now a necessity as water crisis deepens Iran’s capital must be moved because the country “no longer has a choice,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Thursday in remarks carried by state media, warning that severe ecological strain has mad...

Amazing, but likely not the last time a country will be forced to such measures: www.iranintl.com/en/202511209...

Ukraine AND Russia are part of Europe.
Just not part of the EU. Be more specific and less divisive.

Russia threatens Greece after sea drone deal with Ukraine | Euractiv Greece’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement stressing that threats against sovereign states “are automatically rejected”

www.euractiv.com/news/russia-...