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The way Trump and the GOP deal with Russian attacks is ‘textbook treason’

The way Trump and the GOP deal with Russian attacks is ‘textbook treason’

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David Rothkopf writes: The indictments of the 12 Russian military officers who engaged in a coordinated attack on the United States to try to make their preferred candidate our president are a vital reminder that the Mueller investigation cannot and must not be seen as a political issue. The fact that Friday we also heard from our Director of National Intelligence, a conservative GOP former senator from Indiana, that the cyber offensive of which the GRU, Russian military intelligence, attacks…

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The new story of humanity’s origins in Africa

The new story of humanity’s origins in Africa

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Ed Yong writes: There is a decades-old origin story for our species, in which we descended from a group of hominids who lived somewhere in Africa around 200,000 years ago. Some scientists have placed that origin in East Africa; others championed a southern birthplace. In either case, the narrative always begins in one spot. Those ancestral hominids, probably Homo heidelbergensis, slowly accumulated the characteristic features of our species—the rounded skull, small face, prominent chin, advanced tools, and sophisticated culture. From…

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The ecosystem that controls a galaxy’s future — its circumgalactic medium — is coming into focus

The ecosystem that controls a galaxy’s future — its circumgalactic medium — is coming into focus

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Science News reports: There’s more to a galaxy than meets the eye. Galaxies’ bright stars seem to spiral serenely against the dark backdrop of space. But a more careful look reveals a whole lot of mayhem. “Galaxies are just like you and me,” Jessica Werk, an astronomer at the University of Washington in Seattle, said in January at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. “They live their lives in a constant state of turmoil.” Much of that turmoil takes…

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Is Donald Trump the kingpin in a major money-laundering enterprise?

Is Donald Trump the kingpin in a major money-laundering enterprise?

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Adam Davidson writes: Even before the financial crisis of 2008, Trump found it increasingly difficult to borrow money from big Wall Street banks and was shut out of the rapidly growing pool of institutional investment. Faced with a cash-flow problem, he could have followed other storied New York real-estate families and invested in the ever more rigorous financial-due-diligence capabilities required by pension funds and other sources of real-estate capital. This would have given him access to a pool of trillions…

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After being told of Russia indictments, Trump still aspired to be friends with Putin

After being told of Russia indictments, Trump still aspired to be friends with Putin

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The Washington Post reports: Before he embarked on a week of transatlantic diplomacy, President Trump sat down with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who previewed for the boss an explosive development: The Justice Department would soon indict 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking Democratic emails to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. For the first time, the United States would be charging Russian government agents with planning and executing a sustained cyberattack to disrupt America’s democratic process. Yet…

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Mueller reveals depth of states’ election vulnerabilities

Mueller reveals depth of states’ election vulnerabilities

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Politico reports: Special counsel Robert Mueller’s latest indictment offers new details of just how deeply Russian operatives have infiltrated state and local election agencies across the U.S. — adding to years of warnings about the technologies that underpin American democracy. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Friday that hackers within Russia’s GRU military intelligence service targeted state and local election boards, infiltrated a Florida-based company that supplies software for voting machines across the country, and broke into a state election…

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The GOP’s leading role in Putin’s campaign to tear America apart

The GOP’s leading role in Putin’s campaign to tear America apart

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Rick Wilson writes: Those who forget the lessons of televised congressional hearings are doomed to repeat them, which is why the morning segment of the Capitol Hill show trial of veteran FBI agent and former head of the Bureau’s Counterespionage division Peter Strzok turned into a disaster for Republicans. Donald Trump’s congressional enablers, sycophants, and political suck-ups wanted a punching bag, but Strzok instead delivered one of the rarest of moments: the full Joseph N. Welch. Welch, the chief counsel…

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Russia created fake local U.S. news outlets as media sleeper cells ready for future activation

Russia created fake local U.S. news outlets as media sleeper cells ready for future activation

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NPR reports: Russia’s information attack against the United States during the 2016 election cycle sought to take advantage of the greater trust that Americans tend to place in local news. The information operatives who worked out of the Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg did not stop at posing as American social media users or spreading false information from purported news sources, according to new details. They also created a number of Twitter accounts that posed as sources for Americans’…

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Republicans increasingly express fear that Trump’s trade war with China will harm the U.S. economy

Republicans increasingly express fear that Trump’s trade war with China will harm the U.S. economy

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The New York Times reports: The trade war between the United States and China showed no signs of yielding on Thursday, as Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, told lawmakers there was no clear path to resolution and Beijing blasted the administration over its approach. Mr. Mnuchin, who has tried to avoid calling the trade tensions with China a “war,” said talks with Beijing had “broken down” and suggested it was now up to China to come to the table with…

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The post-1945, post-1968, and post-1989 versions of Europe are collapsing at the same time

The post-1945, post-1968, and post-1989 versions of Europe are collapsing at the same time

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Ivan Krastev writes: Is Europe failing? There is plenty of evidence to suggest so, from the constant bickering over NATO contributions, to the proliferation of half-baked deals to regulate migration, to the growing signs of authoritarianism in Eastern Europe. Yes, Europe has repeatedly failed over the past 70 years, and those failures have been the building blocks of Europe’s success. But things are different today. Today’s noise isn’t simply another invitation for Europe to fail upward again. It’s the sound…

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For Theresa May, the ‘special relationship’ means craven compliance

For Theresa May, the ‘special relationship’ means craven compliance

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Gary Younge writes: A US president with no moral authority flies in to meet a British prime minister with no authority whatsoever. Each seeking legitimacy in the presence of the other, they hail their special relationship like two bald men might brandish a comb. Isolated in their trajectories, belligerent in their rhetoric, incoherent in their policies, they have alienated their allies in pursuit of a brazen nationalism that bodes ill for them and everybody else. Donald Trump’s diplomatic needs are…

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America’s new revolutionaries show how the left can win

America’s new revolutionaries show how the left can win

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George Monbiot writes: Even at first sight it is exhilarating. The overthrow of one of the most mainstream and senior Democrats in Congress by a 28-year-old Democratic socialist with a radical programme and one tenth of his funding is, you might think, interesting enough. But since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th district (meaning she will almost certainly enter Congress in November), I’ve been interviewing some of the people who lit the fuse…

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Mice don’t know when to let it go, either

Mice don’t know when to let it go, either

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Erica Goode reports: Suppose that, seeking a fun evening out, you pay $175 for a ticket to a new Broadway musical. Seated in the balcony, you quickly realize that the acting is bad, the sets are ugly and no one, you suspect, will go home humming the melodies. Do you head out the door at the intermission, or stick it out for the duration? Studies of human decision-making suggest that most people will stay put, even though money spent in…

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Kavanaugh’s papers don’t help Trump avoid indictment

Kavanaugh’s papers don’t help Trump avoid indictment

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Noah Feldman writes: Some Democrats and advocacy groups are saying President Donald Trump picked Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his second nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court because of Kavanaugh’s view that a president shouldn’t be indicted while in office. It’s important that not become the narrative of the Democrats’ opposition, because it can easily be refuted. Properly understood, Kavanaugh’s expressed views actually support the opposite conclusion: that the president can be investigated and maybe even indicted unless Congress passes a…

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Estonia girds for war with Russia

Estonia girds for war with Russia

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Molly K. McKew writes: Pretty much no one in the Western alliance is looking forward to the next few days. NATO heads of state are due to meet Wednesday in Brussels beneath the disinterested gaze of President Donald Trump before he jets off to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. In between, British Prime Minister Theresa May — who faces a pending collision with the brick wall of Brexit — meets first with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then…

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