Heading into the final weeks of the hiking season, I knew I had limited opportunities to view Mt Fuji up close, I had to take my chance, so I did. This was not a planned trip, this was impromptu, this idea was put together at the last moment.

I had viewed Mt Fuji from afar on my first trip to Japan more than twenty years ago, the mountain is pretty much a symbol of Japan along with cherry blossoms, bonsai trees and geisha girls. It was incredible that I had viewed Mt Fuji from a distance, this was my opportunity, you never know when another opportunity arises.

It is generally accepted to allow five and a half hours to get to the peak of Mt Fuji. When I started hiking in a Billabong T-shirt, denim shorts and half a bottle of water, I hadn’t planned to head to the summit. Although I was wearing hiking boots, this was just a lucky confidence, this turned out to be great luck. 

I was constantly quizzed to make sure I wasn’t planning on heading to the peak and I answered a resounding no, I wasn’t planning that at all. Clearly, they were concerned as the temperatures are sub-zero on the summit even during summer but that wasn’t a problem. I had to push a quick pace, no chance of getting cold, I was covered in sweat. I spent 45 minutes at the summit, that was enough time to enjoy the amazing views, rest and recover so the descent wouldn’t be a problem. 

But, there is always a but – once I got going, I wanted to see the summit. So I knew I needed to crank up and that is what I did, in under 3 hours I was gazing over the temple and through the clouds. It is never that simple, the race to the summit was a challenge of personal endurance. I was making some fast progress, I was overtaking people and really cranking up the pace. 

Lisa Wilkinson took the stand in the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial and did not disappoint, Lisa is indignant and although she identifies as a journalist, she is woefully unknowledgeable on the use of technology so was apparently duped by Brittany and the bruise on her leg. She claims she does not know what metadata is, not much of an investigative journalist, yet she got upset when referred to as a junior journalist.

Both Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins have provided contradictory testimony, Lehrmann’s contradictory evidence relates to why he was a parliament house at that time – he had three different stories for three different people. I would argue Higgins has provided the least reliable testimony, her statements were full of misrepresentations. Anyone who has any dealings with Brittany Higgins has been stained, absolutely no one escaped the Higgins saga – she is contemptible. Fiona Brown has had her life destroyed by the Brittany Higgins saga, she fundamentally did nothing wrong.

Linda Reynolds has now frozen Brittany Higgin’s assets now that she and David Sharaz have moved to Lunas in the south of France. Senator Reynolds has sought an injunction in the Supreme Court of Western Australia to prevent further funds transfer. Higgins was repeatedly warned to stop the defamation of Senator Reynolds on social media, she did not and now finds herself having legal action taken against her. She might be coughing up some of that $2.44 windfall she was gifted.

The Albanese government’s payment of $2.44 million to Higgins was rushed, only a day deliberation with the David Sharaz connection to Katy Gallagher is problematic and may face corruption charges. Justice Michael Lee has compared David Sharaz to the prophet of Elijah, there is a place at the table but he never shows up – ha ha. The barristers for the defendant Channel 10 have to prove on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Higgins in parliament house in 2019.

It shocked the world, the lifeless body of Shani Louk paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists, spitting on her after no doubt abusing her and generally acting as a low life loser terrorist. Whilst some terrorists can be sophisticated, it would be the ones higher up, oganising funding and performing planning duties. Not that I am trying to romanticise terrorism, but there are planners an then there are the low-life monkeys that carry out attacks and that is what we are focusing on here.

The terrorist who paraded her around the streets of Gaza and spat on her body has been neutralised by the Israeli Defence Forces. Whilst I do not believe in revenge, it would appear justice has been served. Defiling her body and shouting Allahu Akbar, the monster will not be going to heaven like he thought, he is no longer living, this is a positive outcome for the world. Whilst the death of Shani’s tormentors has been reported, the IDF has not released how he died or the operation that led to his death.

Hungarian President Viktor Orbán is a wannabe dictator and Putin puppet. Not only does Orbán look up to Vladimir Putin, he is seen shaking hands with Putin at a Chinese Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing. Despite Putin being under an ICC arrest warrant, Orbán was happy to meet with and shake hands Putin in China – one of the few countries he can travel to.

The decision by EU leaders to offer Ukraine EU membership is historic, that was until Orbán stepped in. Having had €10.2 billion of funding unfrozen that was previously blocked for Orbán’s blocking of the rule of law, he is now blackmailing the EU for further concessions. Despite abstaining on Ukraine’s EU membership, Viktor Orbán blocked €50 billion of aid funding just hours after the European Union announced their decision.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin congratulated Viktor Orbán for his efforts, that is an endorsement I would never want. Orbán has an authoritarian vision for Europe based on his far right views. Europe is swinging right with the Netherlands electing Geert Wilders as their Prime Minister with Hungary, Slovakia, Holland and Poland all moving to right-wing nationalist policies.

After witnessing an extraordinary attack on Israel’s sovereignty, more than 240 people were taken hostage with women, children, elderly and even a holocaust survivor. Ok, women I understand, they need females to rape, parade around Gaza as a trophy of their attack and to humiliate. They are animals, this is the level of their intelligence, you can’t expect much from Hamas.

The recent ceasefire suited Hamas, this worked for them. It gives them time to regroup, they are clearly getting belted by the Israeli Defence Force, that was plain for all to see. It is amazing the tunnel network built under Gaza, the video footage of transporting Israeli hostages through the Al-Shifa hospital is telling. Infrastructure such as hospitals should and must be off limits. If Hamas wants to set up operations in or around a hospital, then this Infrastructure loses its protected status. The hospital is now a legitimate target and is free to be flattened.

I am viewing the carnage for the Palestinian people, it is devastating. They were happy to have Hamas as their leadership, this was the elected government of Gaza and it is clear this was a mistake. What Hamas has brought to Gaza is untold misery, there has been discussion Gaza could have become the Singapore of the middle east. Whilst I do not believe that for one minute, with all the funds flowing into Gaza, what did they do with it? They built tunnels, they dug up water pipes to use as missile tubing and they undermined the infrastructure.

The hospitals were command structures for military operations, Israeli hostages were bought through the Al-Shifa hospital. Tunnels have been broadcast on Israeli programs where tunnels end in private housing and apartments. The Israeli Defence Forces have also uncovered a large tunnel headed towards the Erez border crossing capable of driving vehicles through. This tunnel was planned to attack Israel, there is no other requirement for such a large tunnel capable of transporting vehicles to attack Israeli forces. Palestinians were also transported through this tunnel network, they had knowledge of the tunnels and apparently used them frequently.

Is Russia killing its own wounded soldiers to prevent them being captured? There are Russian videos uploaded with Russian soldiers claiming exactly that. Russia is using drones to eliminate wounded Russian soldiers to prevent them being captured.

The Moscow Times and the Kyiv Post are reporting the Russians are using drones to kill their own wounded. They have long used reserve soldiers to prevent their own soldiers retreat, they prevent soldiers deserting. They have shelled their own troops so many times, they have meat attacks where they launch infantry against trenches without artillery or tank support.

Russia does not want their POWs back, the rising number of desertions has swelled prisoner numbers in Ukraine. The embarrassment in Russia, the claim of traitors and the exchange of Ukrainian prisoners are all issues. Russian soldiers have seen the truth of what is happening in Ukraine, they know how they have been treated by their commanders and they know the treatment by the Ukrainians are far superior and that embarrasses Russia.

I followed Warthog Defense daily for the last couple of years to keep me updated about Ukraine war updates. So when I couldn’t find any recent updates I was wondering what happened. Then I tried to check out some of their older videos and I knew YouTube had got them. I finally found an explanation on Sunday from Professor Gerdes Explains that they had officially been removed and the reason why. 

The reason was bullshit, Warthog Defense is not impersonating any channel, this is a cop out and everyone sees through it. But one has to ask, why has YouTube invoked such a silly provision? I would suspect there were constant complaints from Russian based sources until they finally succeeded under sheer weight of numbers.

I had similar issues with my blog Observations in an undemocratic world from blogger, without notice Blogger deleted a number of my posts after complaints without notice. I worked out pretty quickly that I was beholden to Google and had no recourse. You can use the analytics and there was plenty of Russian traffic leading up to the complaint. 

It really cost me page views too, to this day, I still have plenty of page views for a blog I have not posted to since May 2021. Moving to WordPress, it costs me a subscription unlike Blogger but also gives me freedom to write what I want to write. While YouTube gives Warthog Defense viewers, should they move to a new platform then they can take those loyal viewers with them. I will follow Warthog Defense to their new delivery platform, they create quality content and should YouTube uphold their decision, then onto a new video platform.

I read an article in The Australian written by columnist David Penberthy, he detailed the story of a former military surgeon who is assisting not only medics in Ukraine, he is field operating on severely wounded soldiers to save their lives. Dr Craig Jurisevic has plenty of experience in war zones, he is offering his specialised services to save brave Ukrainian lives – I have the utmost respect for this guy.

Dr Jurisevic is highly complementary of the Ukrainian soldiers, he has nothing but respect for both their courage, tenacity, their resourcefulness and their motivation. Based on the article, he stated that they know they are going to win, it is not a war of their choosing, they have to win as it is a war for their existence. I do like the self-belief of the Ukrainians, they brave, they are resourceful, they are willing to fight Russian aggression and they have performed better than most expected.

What the surgeon reported was these soldiers with horrific injuries only required small amounts of pain relief compared to what patients normally require. He said he saw patients sitting in a hospital bed a day after major operations, this is their level of motivation. I am guessing this pain relief is in short supply, so they get by with what they have. They just get on with it, they are mentally strong and they are committed.

Dr Craig Jurisevic stated the soldiers are different in Ukraine that other theatres of war he served. In one case, a soldier who lost a leg was returned to the front lines six weeks later with a temporary artificial leg flying drones. Their injuries are severe, losing limbs after stepping on mines, some have lost both legs and an arm. This is amazing, they are defending their people, their land, their way of life and they are preventing annihilation.

I fully believe, against all odds, that Ukraine will prevail here, as long as the US and European governments continue to support Ukraine with weaponry and punish Russia with sanctions. Ukraine does the fighting to liberate their country, the rest of the world chips in with support. Furthermore, the sanctions on the Russian state and Russian oligarchs should be increased to reduce and erode oligarch support for Putin. Despite being a dictator, he still requires the support of the Russian ruling class to maintain his hold on power.

We are all aware of the Israeli military doctrine, any response to attacks or aggression will be disproportionate. If you start a fight with Israel, everyone knows they will apply intense pressure, you will pay. Israel values the lives of their citizens, they will spare no expense and effort to free their citizens. Israel will flatten Gaza to get the 250 hostages back, this is clear.

I have been following the media briefings on YouTube by Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, when he gets questioned in an aggressive manner and is forced to defend the actions of Israel, he fires up. Driving to work one morning I heard the news headlines of the Israeli rocket attack on the Al-Shifa Hospital. I was a little surprised by these headlines, Israel does not normally target hospitals. So I asked myself, was this an Israeli missile that missed a target, an iron dome intercept missile that fell to the ground or some other scenario I did not envision.

As the morning played out, I had my headphones on in our open plan office to drown out the chatter and background noise. Then the Al Jazeira video footage was published, this was a Hamas missile fired over the hospital that failed to ignite and fell into the carpark killing the people camped there for protection. The condemnation of the world on Israel was lifted, the world instead saw Hamas were firing missiles over a hospital, but seriously, what does one expect from a terrorist organisation?

I understand Glen does not like this nickname, The Big Show just became The Biggest Show. It was around 11 pm and I was falling asleep. Australia was in serious trouble at 7-91 chasing down Afghanistan’s total of 5-291 in the 19th over. Glen Maxwell was coming off a big innings against the Netherlands, scoring an amazing 106 off of 44 balls.

I turned the cricket on for the final stages of Afghanistan’s innings, they put on a pretty decent display. At the 40th over, they were around 200, then they accelerated away in the final 4 overs to post a decent total of 291. I was cooking garlic prawns for my late dinner, Mitch Marsh was hitting fours and sixes and Australia looked well on its way to running down this total.

It was looking like a feasible run chase with Marnus Labuschagne at the crease; however, Marnus was dozing when Glen called a quick single and he nearly made his ground. Then Inglis, Stoinis and Starc all got out in a short time leaving Australia highly vulnerable, defeat seemed inevitable. It was late in the evening, I had to work the next day so I went to bed close to midnight seeing a victory unlikely.

Maxwell was having back spasms and leg cramps, he had difficulty running so quick singles were out and boundaries and sixes were required. So not only was Glen battling Afghanistan, he was fighting himself. I missed the news on the radio when I got up and got ready, so I was in my vehicle on my way to work the next morning when the 7am news came on the radio, Australia had booked a place in the semi-final against South Africa and Maxi scored 201 not out. I could not believe it, this was a comeback for the ages, this was the point where the belief became real.