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British place names resonate with the song of missing birds

British place names resonate with the song of missing birds

Michael J Warren writes: In one of the oldest poems in English literature, there is a beautiful moment when a lone sailor, battling against stormy winter seas and his troubled soul, describes how birds have replaced human company for him on the ‘ice-cold way’ – an admission that carries both comfort and sardonic misery. His entertainment is the ‘swan’s song’, men’s laughter is now ‘the gannet’s sound and curlew’s cry’, and the warming tonic of mead is echoed in the…

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Ukraine can win the war. But the cost may be too high for the West

Ukraine can win the war. But the cost may be too high for the West

The Wall Street Journal reports: Ukrainian leaders have vowed to retake all territory occupied by Russia, prompting a debate over what would be necessary for Ukraine to win and evict Moscow’s forces. The answer is primarily military because Russia is only going to abandon its hard-won gains if its troops suffer catastrophic losses, military strategists say. Behind those talks about weapons and ammunition is a deeper political question as Ukraine’s battlefield fortunes rely heavily on the willingness of Western governments…

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White nationalists, other Republicans brace for ‘total war’

White nationalists, other Republicans brace for ‘total war’

Southern Poverty Law Center reports: A collection of radical right figures including white nationalists and ultranationalist European leaders gathered in Manhattan for the New York Young Republicans Club’s (NYYRC) annual gala Saturday night, where that group’s president declared “total war” on perceived enemies. “We want to cross the Rubicon. We want total war. We must be prepared to do battle in every arena. In the media. In the courtroom. At the ballot box. And in the streets,” NYYRC president Gavin…

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Elon Musk is a far-right activist — one tweet says it all

Elon Musk is a far-right activist — one tweet says it all

Charlie Warzel writes: If there’s one tweet that will tell you everything you need to know about Elon Musk, it’s this one from early this morning: My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 11, 2022 In five words, Musk manages to mock transgender and nonbinary people, signal his disdain for public-health officials, and send up a flare to far-right shitposters and trolls. The tweet is a cruel and senseless play on pronouns that also invokes the right’s fury…

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Is Dominion’s $1.6bn defamation lawsuit a death blow for Murdoch and Fox News?

Is Dominion’s $1.6bn defamation lawsuit a death blow for Murdoch and Fox News?

The Guardian reports: Rupert Murdoch rarely has to answer for the alternative realities presented by his hugely profitable US cable network, Fox News. Its conspiratorial claims of a parade of cover ups from the 2012 Benghazi attack to the climate crisis and Covid-19 have been lapped up by Fox viewers and scorned by much of the rest of America, and then the world moved on. But on Tuesday, the 91-year-old billionaire media mogul will be obliged to answer difficult questions…

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Climate change is driving millions to the precipice of a ‘raging food catastrophe’

Climate change is driving millions to the precipice of a ‘raging food catastrophe’

Georgina Gustin writes: If there’s a ring around the sun, it will rain. If the gude bird sings in descending notes, the skies will open. If vultures gather, the showers will begin. Everyone reads the signs, but they don’t mean what they used to. It’s still not raining. Jala Barako is 85, a grandfather of eight and a member of an ancient nomadic tribe. Today, wearing a pinstriped jacket, dark glasses and turban-like hat, he looks like the proprietor of…

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Peru’s ex-president faced bigotry for impoverished past

Peru’s ex-president faced bigotry for impoverished past

The Associated Press reports: When Pedro Castillo won Peru’s presidency last year, it was celebrated as a victory by the country’s poor — the peasants and Indigenous people who live deep in the Andes and whose struggles had long been ignored. His supporters hoped Castillo, a populist outsider of humble roots, would redress their plight — or at least end their invisibility. But during 17 months in office before being ousted and detained Wednesday, supporters instead saw Castillo face the…

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Genetic legacy of Denisovans may be shaping modern immune system of southwest Pacific populations

Genetic legacy of Denisovans may be shaping modern immune system of southwest Pacific populations

Science reports: When modern humans first migrated from Africa to the tropical islands of the southwest Pacific, they encountered unfamiliar people and new pathogens. But their immune systems may have picked up some survival tricks when they mated with the locals—the mysterious Denisovans who gave them immune gene variants that might have protected the newcomers’ offspring from local diseases. Some of these variants still persist in the genomes of people living in Papua New Guinea today, according to a new…

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Preventing the collapse of biodiversity, demands the development of a new planetary politics

Preventing the collapse of biodiversity, demands the development of a new planetary politics

Stewart Patrick writes: The planet is in the midst of an environmental emergency, and the world is only tinkering at the margins. Humanity’s addiction to fossil fuels and voracious appetite for natural resources are accelerating climate change and degrading ecosystems on land and sea, threatening the integrity of the biosphere and thus the survival of our own species. Given these risks, it is shocking that the multilateral system has failed to respond more forcefully. Belatedly, the United States, the EU,…

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If we are entering the sixth mass extinction, we are facing our own demise

If we are entering the sixth mass extinction, we are facing our own demise

Patrick Hughes writes: Five times in our planet’s history, adverse conditions have extinguished most of life. Now, scientists say, life on Earth could be in trouble again, with some even saying we could be entering a sixth mass extinction. No credible scientist disputes that we are in a crisis regarding the speed at which nature is being destroyed. But could we really be on track to lose most life on Earth? Human-caused climate change, changes in land use and pollution…

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Grant Wahl just died in a region whose rulers routinely murder those who dare speak truth to power

Grant Wahl just died in a region whose rulers routinely murder those who dare speak truth to power

The reason why ppl are suspecting Qatar of foul play in Grant Wahl’s death is because Sharia countries have a track record of chopping up journalists in embassies, beating girls to death over hijab, executing gay ppl and atheists, etc etc. You made this bed. #SorryNotSorry. — Yasmine Mohammed 🦋 ياسمين محمد (@YasMohammedxx) December 10, 2022 NPR reports: Wahl had been critical of FIFA and Qatar during the tournament. In an interview with NPR, Eric Wahl said his brother didn’t…

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Zero Covid’s failure is Xi’s failure

Zero Covid’s failure is Xi’s failure

Michael Schuman writes: For three years, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, fought a remorseless battle against COVID-19. He called it a “people’s war”—a national struggle to defeat an unseen foe and save lives. The contest locked families in their homes for weeks, strangled the economy, and closed the country to the world. Other governments that failed to contain the pandemic may be indifferent to death and suffering, the message was, but not the Chinese Communist Party, which cares about life above…

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Russia launches new drone attacks as partnership with Iran deepens

Russia launches new drone attacks as partnership with Iran deepens

The Wall Street Journal reports: Russia launched fresh attacks with Iranian-made drones early Saturday over Ukraine, where the country’s southern command said it shot down 10 of the unmanned aerial systems, an indication that Moscow has replenished its supply of the drones as the two countries move toward what the U.S. has called a full defense partnership. Ukraine’s southern command said it shot down four Shahed-136 drones in the Kherson region, four more in the Mykolaiv region and two in…

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How serious was the Reichsbürger plot?

How serious was the Reichsbürger plot?

The Observer reports: The time to forgive and forget had passed, the grey-bearded man said in a heavy Bavarian growl, his back facing the turquoise Adriatic sea as he calmly gesticulated towards the camera. “Those people who bullied us, who locked us up”, he said, were about to face a reckoning in an “epochal upheaval” that would usher in a new judicial and political order. Change was imminent – a matter of weeks. “If everything goes to plan, we’ll do…

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