Attention to the Unseen

The Guardian reports: Ecuador bankrolled a multimillion-dollar spy operation to protect and support Julian Assange in its central London embassy, employing an international security company and undercover agents to monitor his visitors, embassy staff and even the British police, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Over more than five years, Ecuador put at least $5m (£3.7m) into a secret intelligence budget that protected the WikiLeaks founder while he had visits from Nigel Farage, members of European nationalist groups and…

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Tens of thousands of #Palestinians took to the #Gaza – #Israeli fence in the biggest massive protest in the history of Gaza , our producer in Gaza says more that 80,000 participated in the protest . #GreatReturnMarch pic.twitter.com/GusowmNWQV — Nasser Atta (@nasseratta5) May 14, 2018 NPR reports: Tens of thousands of Palestinians are protesting the opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and Israeli army forces have killed 52 protesters, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry also…

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Nathan Thrall writes: On the afternoon of May 14, 1948, hours before Britain’s Royal Navy flotilla would sail from Haifa harbor, marking the end of Britain’s mandatory rule over Palestine, leaders of the local Jewish community hastily assembled at the Tel Aviv Museum to hear the head of the Zionist leadership, David Ben-Gurion, declare, “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. …We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish State … the State of Israel.” Palestine…

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The Observer reports: In the middle part of the last century the inhabitants of the village of Al Walaja, not far from Jerusalem, considered themselves very lucky. Fertile hills, terraced for growing vegetables and fruit, led down to a valley where an Ottoman-era railway line connected Jerusalem with the Mediterranean port of Jaffa. Close to a station, Al Walaja’s farmers always had buyers for their lentils, peppers, and cucumbers. Mohammed Salim, who estimates he is approaching 80 as he was…

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Olivia Nuzzi writes: More than most politicians, Trump abides by the Groucho Marx law of fraternization. He inherently distrusts anyone who chooses to work for him, seeking outside affirmation as often as possible from as vast and varied a group as he can muster — but Hannity is at the center. “Generally, the feeling is that Sean is the leader of the outside kitchen cabinet,” one White House official said, echoing other staffers (current and removed). I was told by…

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Evan Osnos writes: Two months after Donald Trump’s Inauguration, the White House took a sudden interest in a civil servant named Sahar Nowrouzzadeh. At thirty-four, she was largely unknown outside a small community of national-security specialists. Nowrouzzadeh, born in Trumbull, Connecticut, grew up with no connection to Washington. Her parents had emigrated from Iran, so that her father could finish his training in obstetrics, and they hoped that she would become a doctor or, failing that, an engineer or a…

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Anne Applebaum writes: In retrospect, the era of American hegemony — the moment of the “sole superpower,” when the United States was the “essential” country — was remarkably brief. It began in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, probably peaked just before 9/11, and for the past decade — under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama — it has been drawing slowly and unevenly to an end. Even while it lasted, this hegemony was partly a game…

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Associated Press reports: Americans are facing an “epidemic of dishonesty” in Washington that’s more dangerous than terrorism or communism. That’s according to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who warned in a commencement speech on Saturday at Texas’ Rice University that “an endless barrage of lies” and a trend toward “alternate realities” in national politics pose a dire threat to U.S. democracy. The 76-year-old billionaire, who flirted with an independent presidential run in 2016, did not call out any…

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Maxim A. Suchkov writes: Sandwiched between two days this week in which Israel attacked Iranian assets in Syria, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met cordially May 9 with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The visit came amid reported Russian efforts to ease tensions between Iran and Israel, and followed less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal. Israel reportedly delivered strikes May 8 on a Syrian army base at…

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