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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 06:55 Source

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said Israel is ahead of the US in developing cutting-edge weapons.

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 06:22 Source

 

The vicious and sustained campaign mounted against Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, by Israel and the U.S. now includes the German, Italian, French, Austrian and Czech foreign ministers demanding her resignation.

 

The Increasing Attacks on Francesca Albanese Presage a New Dark Age

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Your Democracy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 05:44 Source

Palantir Technologies has been hacked, according to well-known blogger Kim Dotcom. The company develops software for intelligence and big data analysis. 

Palantir (named after the magical ‘seeing stones’ from ‘The Lord of the Rings’) doesn’t engage in surveillance in the conventional sense using spies, cameras, or bugs. Instead, it develops software that is sold to government agencies, military organizations, and large corporations.

 

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MacroBusiness Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 00:01 Source

The media release accompanying the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) recent interest rate decision noted that “growth in private demand has strengthened substantially more than expected, driven by both household spending and investment”. The RBA’s Statement of Monetary Policy (SoMP) also noted that “the pick-up in consumer durables inflation was stronger than expected in the

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Renew Economy Wednesday, February 18, 2026 - 00:01 Source

 Someva Renewables.New South Wales to run an additional tender for firmed generation capacity to plug forecast gaps in supply left by retiring coal plants and "extended lulls" in solar and wind.

The post NSW announces extra tender for more firmed renewables capacity to fill looming coal gap appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Renew Economy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 23:59 Source

If Angus Taylor thought there was "too much wind and solar" on Australia's grid back when he was federal energy minister in 2018, have we got news for him in

Read more Views: 30
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 23:09 Source

 BHP.BHP expects energy transitioning industries to supercharge its copper business - just don't expect any new detail on what it is doing to decarbonise.

The post Energy transition delivers fresh growth for BHP, but decarbonisation stays on the back-burner appeared first on Renew Economy.

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Your Democracy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 22:18 Source

It is not a glitch (that nothing gets resolved). It’s a feature. For it opens rather, a path for ‘Business’ to be done – for ‘stakeholder’ deals to be cut, and for billions to be shared out in payoffs. This is Trump’s geo-political transactional model: Business displaces traditional negotiation (at least while the money flows); Money is the politics.

 

Read more Views: 30
Your Democracy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 17:32 Source

Have someone repeat the word "white" very quickly and for a long time, then ask them what a cow drinks. Answer: "Milk." Ha! Ha!

Have journalists and elected officials repeat "rise of anti-Semitism" all day long, then ask them if criticism of religions is acceptable. Answer: No.

Have Muslims denounce the Muslim religion all day long, then ask Muslims if criticism of religions is acceptable. Guess the answer.

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Your Democracy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 16:26 Source

Here’s how Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie responded on Sunday, during ABC’s “This Week,” to a question about the Trump regime’s handling of the Epstein files:

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Renew Economy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 14:55 Source

cropped-GundarySolarLightsourcebpNSW.jpgMelbourne based renewables developer begins community engagement for a proposed solar farm and battery energy storage system in NSW Southern Tablelands.

The post Locally developed solar-battery project with four hours of storage joins NSW planning pipeline appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 44
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 14:51 Source

Transgrid is asking consumers to foot the bill for almost all of the $1.5 billion cost blowout from building the interconnector between South Australia and NSW.

The post Transgrid seeks $1.1 billion in extra transmission costs for interstate interconnector appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 40
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 14:46 Source

OptiGrid founder and CEO Sahand Karimi on the ever evolving art of battery optimisation and the huge untapped value of the sub-5 MW "community" storage market. Plus news of the week.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: Zen and the art of battery optimisation appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 33
Renew Economy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 14:43 Source

Broken Hill solar farmA consortium of companies led by Tilt Renewables wants AEMO to factor in a massive, up to 10 GW inland REZ to its 2026 blueprint for the national grid.

The post Solar and wind titans reboot push for huge inland renewables zone, as “least-regret pathway” to coal-free NSW appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 38
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 13:30 Source

There is an immigration cult in Canberra. It has nothing to do with national interest and everything to do with self-interest. Because population growth adds to GDP, pollies don’t need to pursue reform to drive growth. And it lifts their property portfolios. Too easy! They can just lie that the economy is growing for you,

The post One Nation is pro-immigration appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 13:00 Source

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has reduced the official cash rate (OCR) by 3.25% since mid-2024, which has driven a sharp decline in mortgage rates to around pre-pandemic levels and a significant improvement in mortgage affordability: Normally, such a sharp reduction in mortgage rates would deliver a strong rebound in home values. However, no

The post New Zealand’s housing crash restores affordability appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 12:30 Source

My friend and colleague, LVO,  has done an excellent job of outlining how China and India have been commissioning large amounts of coal power. What he has not done, however, is examine the underpinnings of multilateral agreements to cut emissions over time. International agreements on carbon emissions acknowledge the historical right of poorer countries to

The post It’s per capita emissions that matter appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 12:00 Source

Earlier this month, I reported on China’s insatiable appetite for coal-powered electricity. China is by far the world’s largest carbon emitter, which has been driven by its insatiable appetite for coal: China has a significant number of new coal mines in development: More than 50 large coal units—individual boiler and turbine sets with generating capacity

The post India doubles down on coal generation appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 38
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 11:00 Source

Commentators like Greg Jericho from The Australia Institute argue that the Howard Government’s decision to halve the rate of capital gains tax (CGT) in 1999 was the primary driver of Australia’s house price boom and affordability crisis: While there are good reasons to reduce the CGT discount on equity and budget sustainability grounds (explained here),

Read more Views: 27
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 10:30 Source

Société Générale uses options markets to read psychological pivots for precious metals. Gold:Fast up, fast down.As we wrote last week, we remain bullish on gold as we believe the fundamental rationale for precious upside remains despite one area of uncertainty being removed–namely lower Fed institutional chaos. We always believe a correction can be very healthy.

The post Gold $20k or sell? appeared first on MacroBusiness.

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Renew Economy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 10:09 Source

The first stage of one of the biggest batteries under development in Australia has started commercial operations, on track to becoming a 780 megawatt, more than 3 gigawatt-hour behemoth.

The post First stage of Australia’s second-biggest battery starts commercial operations in the Sunshine State appeared first on Renew Economy.

Read more Views: 37
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 10:00 Source

We have repeatedly warned that Victoria is headed toward financial ruin. Victoria has the highest per capita debt and the lowest credit rating among the states. In November, the Victorian Auditor-General warned that debt, deficits, and infrastructure cost blowouts pose long-term dangers to the state’s financial viability. Victoria’s liabilities currently surpass $150 billion, with debt

Read more Views: 34
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 09:30 Source

Bondi was horrific, but it was not this. Naveed Akram has appeared in court for the first time since allegedly committing Australia’s worst terror attack. “Australia’s worst terror attack” was the Bali bombings, which took 88 Australian lives and 202 lives altogether. It clearly targeted Australians. This is deliberate misinformation. It’s wrong, politicised, and disrespectful

Read more Views: 35
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 09:00 Source

Following the leadership spill that saw then Opposition Leader Sussan Ley lose the leadership of the Liberal Party and, by extension, the Coalition, there were swift allegations that it was driven by sexism, that it took 80 years for the Liberal Party to have its first leader and that her time came to a rather

The post Quantifying Sussan Ley’s utter failure appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 44
Your Democracy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 08:51 Source

Don’t believe what you see and hear. It’s not true! This week on The West Report, Angus Taylor takes the Liberal leadership just in time to knock police violence and the Herzog visit off the front pages.

Read more Views: 34
MacroBusiness Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 08:30 Source

China is closed for CNY for a week. SGX is closed for two days. Steel profits have improved, and we will probably see a decent rebound in output post-holiday. However, I expect this will only serve to drive steel prices lower amid stalling (and contracting) steel export growth plus weak domestic demand. On the supply

The post Even more iron ore appeared first on MacroBusiness.

Read more Views: 32
Your Democracy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 06:55 Source

 

Someone wondered aloud on a social media platform the other day, “Where is Pete Hegseth these days?”

What a good question. Let’s consider it. Figuring out where Pete Hegseth is keeping himself will tell us something important about the Trump regime and how it operates — or, better put, who actually operates it in the Trump White House’s name.

 

PATRICK LAWRENCE: Serial Buffoon at the Pentagon

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Your Democracy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 05:44 Source

 

As the SA Premier basks in the campaign glory of a $3.9 billion downpayment on shipyard for nuclear subs, the Federal Government is kicking the nuclear waste can down the road.  Rex Patrick reports.

Read more Views: 40
Your Democracy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 05:33 Source

To a current US cabinet secretary from a former one.

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Your Democracy Tuesday, February 17, 2026 - 05:22 Source

 

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has launched another public attack against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, just hours after disparaging him during an address at the Munich Security Conference.

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