Holocaust survivor: 'We never envisaged Australia would become 1930s Europe'

Holocaust survivor: 'We never envisaged Australia would become 1930s Europe'

Itamar Eichner

Holocaust survivor Nina Bassat, a board member of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum Foundation and former president of both the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, testified Wednesday before Australia’s Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

Holocaust survivor Nina Bassat, a board member of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum Foundation and former president of both the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, testified Wednesday before Australia’s Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

In testimony published in part by The Australian Jewish News, Bassat sharply criticized the conduct of the country’s political leaders since the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and warned against the use of the term “genocide” in discussions of the war in Gaza.

She warned that unless Australians could see one another as human beings rather than members of opposing camps, the country would be unable to rebuild the social cohesion it had lost.

For 74 years, she said, Australia had been “a paradigm of multiculturalism,” where people’s backgrounds and religions did not matter and they could simply “get on” with one another.

“But that changed abruptly after October 2023,” she said. “We’ve [Australian society] become very divisive. We’ve put labels on each other. We no longer treat each other as just another human being.”

Bassat was in Israel on October 7, 2023. Two days later, she watched footage of the pro-Palestinian demonstration at the Sydney Opera House and said she struggled to understand how it could take place while Israel was still dealing with the aftermath of the Hamas attack.

“I was shattered, and I couldn’t understand it,” she testified. “I just cannot understand how it could have happened.”

Israel had not yet had time to bury its dead, she said, and was already facing condemnation.

“I couldn’t understand that lack of empathy. I was shattered by the lack of humanity,” Bassat said.

In response to the atmosphere that followed, Bassat joined about 100 other Australian Holocaust survivors in signing an open letter in November 2023 calling on Australians to condemn antisemitism and hatred.

“The atmosphere was so incredibly reminiscent of the rhetoric of Germany in the 1930s,” she said.

Bassat said many in the Jewish community had felt “betrayed” by what she described as the near-total absence of voices from the federal government, state governments and local authorities condemning antisemitism after October 7.

Asked about the idea that silence and inaction are “the best friends of evil,” Bassat agreed and compared it with people who lived near the crematoria during the Holocaust and said nothing.

Rare Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Earth Is About to Hide 96% of the Moon During a Rare Lunar Eclipse That Will Create an Almost Blood Moon

Sarah Jones

Something unusual is about to happen above our heads as the Moon begins a journey through Earth’s shadow. The event will create a striking view in the sky, but timing and location will determine who gets the best spectacle.

This week, a near-total lunar eclipse will be visible across the Americas, Africa, and Europe, as Earth’s shadow blankets nearly the entire Moon. The eclipse will peak at96.3 percent coverage, giving the Moon its characteristic reddish “blood moon” glow.The celestial event will take place on Thursday night and will be visible from a wide region of the planet. Unlike a solar eclipse, this phenomenon can be watched directly without protective equipment, allowing observers to follow the Moon’s transformation with the naked eye.

This eclipse will be the second and final lunar eclipse of 2026, following a total lunar eclipse that occurred in March. It gives sky-watchers another opportunity to observe the interaction between the Sun, Earth and Moon as our planet’s shadow moves across its natural satellite.

NASA reports that the eclipse will be at least partially visible from almost every location in the United States, except for certain areas of Alaska. A visibility map created by the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio shows where the different phases of the eclipse can be seen

The first stage of the eclipse will begin at around 9:23 P.M. EDT on Thursday. The most noticeable phase will start at approximately 10:34 P.M. EDT, when the lunar body begins moving into the umbra, the darkest part of Earth’s shadow. The eclipse will reach its maximum point at around 12:13 A.M. EDT on August 28. At that moment, Earth’s shadow will cover almost the entire lunar surface, producing the near-total eclipse effect visible from the affected regions.

A lunar eclipse happens when Earth moves directly between the Sun and the Moon. The planet blocks direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface, causing the Moon to pass through different sections of Earth’s shadow.

The exact view will depend on location, since the eclipse unfolds over several hours as the Moon crosses Earth’s shadow. Observers in some regions will be able to watch the complete sequence from start to finish, while others will catch only part of the event, whether the beginning, the peak, or the end, depending on whether the satelitte is above the horizon during that particular phase. Local weather conditions and light pollution will also play a role in how clearly the eclipse can be observed.

The reddish color of a blood moon is caused by the way sunlight travels through Earth’s atmosphere during the eclipse. Although Earth blocks direct sunlight, some light bends around the planet and reaches the Moon.

Blue wavelengths are scattered away more easily, while red wavelengths pass through the atmosphere and continue toward the lunar surface. This filtered light gives the earth’s satelitte its distinctive reddish appearance during the deepest phase of the eclipse.

Scientific American explains that this process is responsible for the “blood moon” effect often associated with lunar eclipses. The nickname refers only to the temporary color change created by the interaction between sunlight, Earth’s atmosphere and the lunar surface.

Turkey Prepares for ‘Crisis, Tension, and War’

Turkey Prepares for ‘Crisis, Tension, and War’ as Ankara Watches Israel-Greece Military Partnership Grow

by Ailin Vilches Arguello

With Israel and Greece moving toward increasingly close military cooperation, Turkey is preparing for scenarios ranging from escalating confrontation to outright war, as Ankara assesses the partnership’s growing strategic implications and its potential to dramatically reshape the balance of power in the region, according to an official Turkish government document.

Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said in a letter to a lawmaker in the country’s parliament dated Aug. 10 that preparations for “possible crisis, tension, and war” in the surrounding region are continuing in close coordination among all relevant state institutions.

The letter was first reported by Nordic Monitor, a news site run by the Stockholm-based Nordic Research and Monitoring Network.

In a striking shift in Ankara’s strategic planning, Güler linked Turkey’s preparations for a potential war to growing concerns over Greece’s expanding military ties with Israel, which Turkish officials are closely watching as a challenge to the country’s security and interests in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.

Even without identifying specific agencies or resources, Güler’s language suggests that the preparations extend beyond the military, with multiple state institutions involved in planning for a potentially broad national response to what Ankara appears to view as an increasingly challenging security environment.

The escalation in Ankara’s rhetoric comes amid growing Turkish concern over Greece’s rapid military modernization, including its acquisition of Israeli weapons and air defense systems.

In recent years, Israel and Greece have significantly expanded their defense cooperation through joint military exercises, training, defense technology, and industrial partnerships, with Turkish officials warning that the deepening ties warrant close scrutiny as Ankara assesses their potential impact on its security and regional interests.

At the same time, Turkey is rapidly expanding its naval capabilities, with 47 warships under construction as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pushes to transform the country into a major regional maritime power — a buildup that is drawing close attention from both Israeli and Greek officials.

In his letter, Güler also noted that shifting dynamics in Turkey’s neighborhood could create new opportunities to advance Ankara’s national interests, though he offered no details on what those opportunities might involve.

On Wednesday, Erdoğan said Turkey must remain strong and united in the face of mounting challenges in the region, warning that Ankara would not be swayed from its course by outside provocations.

“When necessary, we can put everything else aside. But when it comes to our homeland and the future of our state and nation, we bow to no one,” the Turkish leader said in a statement. “In this region, we have no choice but to remain strong, united, and standing together.”

“Those who believe they can halt the progress of Turkey and the Turkish nation through provocations and schemes will be disappointed,” he continued. “We will not change our course or be diverted by the provocations of others.”

For Turkey, the growing Greek-Israeli military partnership is transforming the Aegean dispute into part of a much broader regional security realignment, as Israeli weapons, technology, and strategic cooperation become increasingly embedded in Greece’s military posture while the Turkish-Israeli rivalry intensifies from the eastern Mediterranean to Syria.

According to a recent report by Greek media outlet Pro News, Israel may be even considering scenarios in which a potential confrontation with Turkey could spill into the eastern Mediterranean and involve Cyprus. The report alleges that Israel is weighing possible strikes against Turkish military targets in northern Cyprus if Jerusalem determines that Ankara’s military presence on the island poses a threat to the country’s interests.

CBDCs Controlling the Debt Market

CBDCs Controlling the Debt Market

Martin Armstrong

India is preparing to launch its first tokenized corporate bond in September, and this experiment exposes where the digital monetary system is ultimately heading. 

The bonds will be issued by REC, a state-owned power financier, in an offering worth less than 5 billion rupees, or approximately $57 million. The amount is small because this is a pilot program, but the structure is far more important than the size. India’s central bank digital currency will be used to purchase the bonds, which means the government is no longer merely testing digital money for ordinary payments. It is connecting CBDCs directly to the creation, ownership, and settlement of debt.

Reuters reports that investors will require two compatible digital accounts: a wholesale CBDC wallet supplied through a bank and a new electronic securities wallet known as DEMAT 2.0. 

The bonds will not trade through the conventional electronic book-provider system, and subsequent transactions can occur only between participants who possess both approved wallets. The initial investors will be selected, the bonds will have a three-month lock-in period, and a secondary market is expected to be developed by December. This creates a closed financial network in which the currency, security, investor, transaction, and settlement process are all identifiable and controlled within the same digital infrastructure.

The sales pitch will be efficiency, naturally. Tokenized securities can settle almost instantly. The same infrastructure that can settle a bond instantly can restrict who is permitted to buy it, determine where it may be traded, impose holding periods, monitor every transfer, and prevent capital from leaving the approved system. Once currency and securities exist inside compatible government-supervised wallets, compliance no longer depends on investigating a transaction afterward. The rules can be enforced before the transaction is even allowed to occur.

This is how capital controls will emerge in the modern era. There will be no official standing at the airport asking whether you are carrying gold or cash. The restrictions will be embedded inside the currency itself. A transaction can be rejected because the recipient lacks the proper wallet, the security is outside the approved platform, the funds crossed a prohibited jurisdiction, or the investor exceeded a government-imposed limit. Politicians will claim that this prevents fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, and financial instability, but every authoritarian financial restriction has always been introduced under the pretense of protecting the public.

India is not yet forcing citizens to purchase government debt with digital rupees, and this pilot should not be misrepresented as though that has already occurred. Nevertheless, it demonstrates that the technical bridge between CBDCs and tokenized securities is being constructed now. Once that bridge exists, extending it from voluntary investment to regulatory compulsion requires only a political decision. The technology does not care whether participation is voluntary or mandatory.

India’s experiment should therefore be viewed as far more than a technological modernization of the bond market. It is a model for merging money and debt into one controlled digital ecosystem. The public will be promised speed and convenience, while government acquires the ability to see, approve, restrict, and eventually direct the movement of capital. CBDCs were never necessary simply to buy coffee more quickly. Their real value to government emerges when the state can connect programmable money to the debt it desperately needs someone to purchase.

The Day Everything Stopped:

The Day Everything Stopped: The Last Counties Worth Owning in America

Madge Waggy

Most people ask the wrong question entirely. They imagine collapse as a cinematic event—fireballs on the horizon, zombies at the perimeter, some dramatic moment when the protagonist grabs a bug-out bag and flees toward salvation. Reality moves slower. It whispers before it screams. Systems fray at the edges long before they snap at the center, and by the time the average person recognizes the pattern, the exits have narrowed to chokepoints.

Geography determines destiny in ways we prefer to ignore during normalcy. Your address right now—those digits you type into delivery apps—represents a complex bet on the continuity of a thousand invisible systems. The water pressure in your pipes assumes functioning pumps. The silence in your refrigerator depends on an uninterrupted flow of electrons from distant generators. The safety of your sleep presumes that thousands of strangers continue showing up to jobs that maintain order.

When those presumptions fail, location ceases to be a lifestyle choice and becomes a survival calculation. Suddenly, proximity to a Costco matters less than distance from the nearest city of fifty thousand souls. The quality of your local restaurant scene becomes laughably irrelevant while the depth of your groundwater table turns existential.

This examination proceeds from a simple premise: societal collapse unfolds as a process, not an event. Understanding that distinction separates viable locations from death traps.

How Systems Actually Die

Catastrophic failure rarely arrives without prelude. Engineers have documented this pattern across infrastructure types—bridges, power grids, supply chains. Small perturbations accumulate. Redundancies erode through budget cuts and deferred maintenance. Then a threshold crosses, and what appeared stable reveals itself as metastable all along.

Consider the empirical markers that precede visible collapse:

• Supply chains develop persistent friction—delays measured in weeks rather than days, stockouts of specific items that never return
• Energy markets exhibit volatility that outpaces historical norms, with price spikes that damage industrial users
• Municipal services grow inconsistent, trash collection slipping, water quality reports becoming unreliable
• Financial instruments that once traded smoothly develop liquidity gaps, buyers disappearing at critical moments

These signals rarely trigger panic individually. Collectively, they represent a system losing coherence. The critical transition occurs not when disruption begins, but when recovery mechanisms fail. Once a society cannot reliably return to baseline after stress, uncertainty becomes the baseline.

Behavioral adaptation follows. Humans require no official announcement to modify their actions. Perception of instability drives preparation, and preparation itself becomes destabilizing. Stockpiling creates shortages. Relocation concentrates pressure. Alternative security arrangements proliferate. Each rational response at the individual level amplifies systemic stress.

The Human Variable: Density as Multiplier

Environmental conditions remain relatively constant during early-stage collapse. Rainfall patterns persist. Soil chemistry changes slowly. Wildlife populations fluctuate seasonally but follow predictable rhythms. What transforms rapidly—and dangerously—is human behavior.

Population density functions as the primary risk amplifier. Urban environments operate as concentration mechanisms, aggregating demand while masking supply vulnerability. A city of one million represents not merely more people than a town of one thousand, but a qualitatively different organizational challenge. The complexity of feeding, hydrating, and pacifying that population requires continuous inputs that cannot pause without catastrophic consequences.

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