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A forever war, more repression, Putin for life? Russia’s bleak post-election outlook

A forever war, more repression, Putin for life? Russia’s bleak post-election outlook

The Guardian reports: For a few weeks in 2022, Vladimir Putin’s world was unravelling fast. Russian troops had failed to take Kyiv and the west was coalescing around Volodymyr Zelenskiy, freezing Russian assets abroad and imposing unprecedented sanctions. Putin himself appeared unhinged, railing against Lenin or appealing to Ukrainians to overthrow their “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis”. As Russians go to the polls on Friday in an election with only one possible result, the Kremlin will claim a mandate…

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I listened to Trump’s rambling, unhinged, vituperative Georgia rally — and so should you

I listened to Trump’s rambling, unhinged, vituperative Georgia rally — and so should you

Susan B. Glasser writes: I’m sure you had better things to do on Saturday evening than watch Donald Trump rant for nearly two hours to an audience of cheering fans in Rome, Georgia. His speech was rambling, unhinged, vituperative, and oh-so-revealing. In his first rally since effectively clinching the Republican Presidential nomination, Trump made what amounted to his response to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. It’s hard to imagine a better or more pointed contrast with the vision…

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Why is the sea so hot?

Why is the sea so hot?

Elizabeth Kolbert writes: In early 2023, climate scientists—and anyone else paying attention to the data—started to notice something strange. At the beginning of March, sea-surface temperatures began to rise. By April, they’d set a new record: the average temperature at the surface of the world’s oceans, excluding those at the poles, was just a shade under seventy degrees. Typically, the highest sea-surface temperatures of the year are observed in March, toward the end of the Southern Hemisphere’s summer. Last year,…

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Do black holes explode? The 50-year-old puzzle that challenges quantum physics

Do black holes explode? The 50-year-old puzzle that challenges quantum physics

Davide Castelvecchi writes: In hindsight, it seems prophetic that the title of a Nature paper published on 1 March 1974 ended with a question mark: “Black hole explosions?” Stephen Hawking’s landmark idea about what is now known as Hawking radiation1 has just turned 50. The more physicists have tried to test his theory over the past half-century, the more questions have been raised — with profound consequences for how we view the workings of reality. In essence, what Hawking, who…

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Chuck Schumer calls for elections in Israel, warning it ‘cannot survive if it becomes a pariah’

Chuck Schumer calls for elections in Israel, warning it ‘cannot survive if it becomes a pariah’

NBC News reports: In the most significant criticism by a U.S. leader against the Israeli government since its war with Hamas began, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called for new elections in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S. ever, said in remarks on the Senate floor that “the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7.” “The world has changed — radically — since then,…

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A new surge of settler outposts is terrorizing Palestinians off their land

A new surge of settler outposts is terrorizing Palestinians off their land

+972 Magazine reports: Since late December, Palestinians living in the village of Battir, west of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, have been cut off from significant portions of their land. A group of Israeli settlers simply arrived in the area one day — which UNESCO has designated as a world heritage site — and set up a new outpost, with a few small shacks for living in and for keeping their livestock. “Settler shepherds took control of the area…

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A Palestinian poet chronicles the war raging around him

A Palestinian poet chronicles the war raging around him

Palestinian poet and literary critic Talat Qudaih recounts from his diary entries from the beginning of the present war in Gaza until March 2024: Why do we need to recount what has transpired since Oct. 7, 2023? Must we chronicle the calamities that have befallen us, akin to torrential rain — an onslaught of missiles, bombs, shells and bullets that have extinguished lives, torn bodies asunder and marred the essence of childhood and innocence? Amid the debris of human limbs…

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President Macron discusses Ukraine’s current situation

President Macron discusses Ukraine’s current situation

  In this pivotal interview from March 14, 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron provides a detailed update on the state of Ukraine amidst ongoing war and tensions in the region. Translated via AI. President Macron outlines France’s stance, the international community’s efforts for peace, and how these dynamics influence the European political landscape. Don’t miss this insightful conversation that sheds light on the complexities of international diplomacy and the path forward for Ukraine.

U.S. firm that paid indicted FBI informant tied to Trump associates, records reveal

U.S. firm that paid indicted FBI informant tied to Trump associates, records reveal

The Guardian reports: An American company that paid the now indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov in 2020 is connected to a UK company owned by Trump business associates in Dubai, according to business filings and court documents. Smirnov is now accused of lying to the FBI about Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, alleging that they engaged in a bribery scheme with executives at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Smirnov’s accounts to the FBI, beginning in 2020, that…

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The Supreme Court’s supreme betrayal

The Supreme Court’s supreme betrayal

J. Michael Luttig and Laurence H. Tribe write: The Supreme Court of the United States did a grave disservice to both the Constitution and the nation in Trump v. Anderson. In a stunning disfigurement of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Court impressed upon it an ahistorical misinterpretation that defies both its plain text and its original meaning. Despite disagreement within the Court that led to a 5–4 split among the justices over momentous but tangential issues that it had no need…

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Elon Musk has a giant charity. Its money stays close to home

Elon Musk has a giant charity. Its money stays close to home

The New York Times reports: Before March 2021, Elon Musk’s charitable foundation had never announced any donations to Cameron County, an impoverished region at the southern tip of Texas that is home to his SpaceX launch site and local officials who help regulate it. Then, at 8:05 one morning that month, a SpaceX rocket blew up, showering the area with a rain of twisted metal. The Musk Foundation began giving at 9:27 a.m. local time. Am donating $20M to Cameron…

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The terrible costs of a phone-based childhood

The terrible costs of a phone-based childhood

Jonathan Haidt writes: Something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents in the early 2010s. By now you’ve likely seen the statistics: Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States—fairly stable in the 2000s—rose by more than 50 percent in many studies from 2010 to 2019. The suicide rate rose 48 percent for adolescents ages 10 to 19. For girls ages 10 to 14, it rose 131 percent. The problem was not limited to the U.S.: Similar patterns emerged around the same…

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How does U.S. intelligence disagree with Israel on Gaza?

How does U.S. intelligence disagree with Israel on Gaza?

  In its annual report, the US intelligence community says Hamas cannot be destroyed. The group’s elimination is a core aim of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s merciless onslaught in Gaza. So why is the US continuing to arm Israel, to fight a war it doesn’t believe can be won?

Trump takes control of the RNC with mass layoffs, restructuring

Trump takes control of the RNC with mass layoffs, restructuring

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump took charge of the Republican National Committee this week with the political equivalent of shock and awe — leaving dozens out of work, revamping strategic priorities and raising fears among some former officials about the party’s future support for down-ballot candidates. The senior leadership has been almost entirely replaced or reassigned, while dozens of lower-ranking officials including state directors were either fired or told to reapply for their jobs. A nationwide network…

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