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In Iran, pluralism begins to take root

In Iran, pluralism begins to take root

Paymon Azmoudeh writes: There are few places in Iran further from Saqqez, in Iranian Kurdistan, where Zhina (aka Mahsa) Amini was born in 1999 and buried on Sept. 17, than Zahedan, 1,200 miles away in Sistan and Balochistan province. Yet, despite living at opposite ends of the country, Iran’s Kurdish and Baloch communities face similar challenges as non-Persian Sunni Muslims in the Shiite-centric Islamic Republic. Even so, they have never before made common cause in combating their shared marginalization. This…

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U.S. officials engage in risk management with Russian counterparts

U.S. officials engage in risk management with Russian counterparts

CNN reports: CIA Director Bill Burns met with his Russian intelligence counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin, in Ankara Monday as part of an ongoing effort by the US to “communicate with Russia on managing risk” and to discuss the cases of “unjustly detained US citizens,” a National Security Council spokesperson tells CNN. “We have been very open about the fact that we have channels to communicate with Russia on managing risk, especially nuclear risk and risks to strategic stability,” the spokesperson said….

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Fake Eli Lilly tweet highlights risks for advertisers as Twitter lurches toward bankruptcy

Fake Eli Lilly tweet highlights risks for advertisers as Twitter lurches toward bankruptcy

The Washington Post reports: The nine-word tweet was sent Thursday afternoon from an account using the name and logo of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., and it immediately attracted a giant response: “We are excited to announce insulin is free now.” The tweet carried a blue “verified” check mark, a badge that Twitter had used for years to signal an account’s authenticity — and that Twitter’s new billionaire owner, Elon Musk, had, while declaring “power to the people!”…

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What Democrats can learn from Fetterman and Gluesenkamp Perez

What Democrats can learn from Fetterman and Gluesenkamp Perez

The New York Times reports: Did John Fetterman just show Democrats how to solve their white-working-class problem? Mr. Fetterman’s decisive victory in Pennsylvania’s Senate race — arguably Democrats’ biggest win of the midterms, flipping a Republican-held seat — was achieved in no small part because he did significantly better in counties dominated by white working-class voters compared with Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2020. These voters for years have been thought to be all but lost to Democrats, ever since…

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A Senate in Democratic hands clears the path for Biden to keep remaking the courts

A Senate in Democratic hands clears the path for Biden to keep remaking the courts

NBC News reports: The Democratic Party’s stunning hold on Senate control will enable President Joe Biden and his allies in the chamber to do something that has been a low-key success: churning out federal judges without the threat of Republican obstruction. The Senate majority, inked by a Democratic win in Nevada, gives Biden a clear runway to continue one of his most consequential pursuits: reshaping federal courts with a diverse array of lifetime-appointed liberal judges, including record numbers of women,…

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Voters reject candidates who undermine the value of voting

Voters reject candidates who undermine the value of voting

The Washington Post reports: Voters in the six major battlegrounds where Donald Trump tried to reverse his defeat in 2020 rejected election-denying candidates seeking to control their states’ election systems this year, a resounding signal that Americans have grown weary of the former president’s unfounded claims of widespread fraud. Candidates for secretary of state in Michigan, Arizona and Nevada who had echoed Trump’s false accusations lost their contests on Tuesday, with the latter race called Saturday night. A fourth candidate…

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Exiled Russian activist challenges pacifist approach to ending war on Ukraine

Exiled Russian activist challenges pacifist approach to ending war on Ukraine

Ashley Smith writes: Russia’s war in Ukraine is intensifying. In response to victories on the battlefield won by Ukrainians this fall, Russia has responded by launching a wave of missile and drone attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure throughout the country. As a result, over 15,000 Ukrainian civilians had been killed or injured by early October, and another 1,043 by early November. Despite this state terrorism, Ukraine has continued to put up a valiant resistance to invasion and occupation. Faced…

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Ukraine uses Cop27 to highlight environmental cost of Russia’s war

Ukraine uses Cop27 to highlight environmental cost of Russia’s war

The Guardian reports: Ukraine has used the Cop27 climate talks to make the case that Russia’s invasion is causing an environmental as well as humanitarian catastrophe, with fossil fuels a key catalyst of the country’s destruction. Ukraine has dispatched two dozen officials to the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to spell out the links between the war launched by Russia in February, the soaring cost of energy due to Russia’s status as a key gas supplier, and the planet-heating emissions…

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Former Dutch senator who opposed Russian sanctions kept contact with Russian spies for a decade

Former Dutch senator who opposed Russian sanctions kept contact with Russian spies for a decade

NL Times reports: A senior politician from the Dutch political party CDA was monitored by the civilian intelligence service, AIVD, because of questionable contacts the politician had with a Russian spy and others with close ties to President Vladimir Putin, the Volkskrant reported on Sunday. René van der Linden sat in the Tweede Kamer for nearly 20 years, served as the State Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and was a senator for 16 years, including from 2009-2011 when he was the…

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Iran and China use private detectives to spy on dissidents in America

Iran and China use private detectives to spy on dissidents in America

The New York Times reports: The job that came in through Michael McKeever’s website was unremarkable, the kind of request he often received in his decades working as a private investigator in New York. An international client wanted his help tracking down a debtor who had fled from Dubai and was believed to be in Brooklyn. Mr. McKeever was to surveil a house and photograph the people coming and going. “Kindly be discreet as they are on the lookout,” he…

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The governors ready to step up if Biden or Trump step aside

The governors ready to step up if Biden or Trump step aside

NBC News reports: President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are at the moment their parties’ leading candidates for 2024. Should that change, count on a governor to be waiting in the wings. There’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose decisive victory in Florida Tuesday night only added fuel to speculation about his national plans. Similarly, high-profile Democratic governors like Gavin Newsom of California and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois also had big wins. But more competitive midterm contests appear poised…

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A red wave of criticism crashes into Donald Trump after midterm losses

A red wave of criticism crashes into Donald Trump after midterm losses

The Washington Post reports: As Republicans grapple with their lackluster performance in Tuesday’s midterm elections, one man has begun to take on an unusual amount of criticism from his fellow partisans: Donald Trump. The former president, who boosted some inexperienced Senate candidates in their primaries who underperformed on Tuesday, declared before the midterms that he wanted “all the credit” if Republicans won. “If they lose, I should not be blamed at all,” he told NewsNation. But now that Republicans are…

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Why independent voters broke for Democrats in the midterms

Why independent voters broke for Democrats in the midterms

The Wall Street Journal reports: Lisa Ghelfi, a 58-year-old registered Republican in Arizona, voted for Donald Trump for president two years ago but has grown tired of his election-fraud claims. It is the main reason she voted for Democrats for governor, senator, secretary of state and attorney general this fall and plans to change her registration to independent. “Not allowing the election to be settled, it’s very divisive,” Ms. Ghelfi, a semiretired attorney from Paradise Valley, said of the 2020…

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U.S. intelligence report says key gulf ally meddled in American politics

U.S. intelligence report says key gulf ally meddled in American politics

The Washington Post reports: U.S. intelligence officials have compiled a classified report detailing extensive efforts to manipulate the American political system by the United Arab Emirates, an influential, oil-rich nation in the Persian Gulf long considered a close and trusted partner. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine. The activities covered in the report, described to The Washington Post by three people who have read it, include illegal and legal…

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