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In the ruins of Chernobyl, Ukraine waits for Russia — again

In the ruins of Chernobyl, Ukraine waits for Russia — again

Michael Weiss and James Rushton report: The Belarusian border with Ukraine is 674 miles long. But one of the most strategically important areas of it lies directly north of Kyiv, in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the largely abandoned, heavily irradiated area around the Soviet nuclear power plant that melted down in 1986. Russian forces occupied the area from Feb. 24 until April 2, when they withdrew after a fierce Ukrainian counteroffensive. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is now where Ukrainians fear…

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Germany backtracks on defense spending promises made after Ukraine invasion

Germany backtracks on defense spending promises made after Ukraine invasion

Politico reports: Germany on Monday walked back its promise to swiftly raise defense spending to at least 2 percent of its economic output — breaching the key commitment made days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to become a more serious military force. Berlin also sought to play down internal warnings about delays to a flagship procurement of new fighter jets. During a government press conference, Chief Spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit scaled down expectations for Germany’s defense spending, telling journalists that the…

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U.S. altered Himars rocket launchers to keep Ukraine from firing missiles into Russia

U.S. altered Himars rocket launchers to keep Ukraine from firing missiles into Russia

The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. secretly modified the advanced Himars rocket launchers it gave Ukraine so they can’t be used to fire long-range missiles into Russia, U.S. officials said, a precaution the Biden administration says is necessary to reduce the risk of a wider war with Moscow. The U.S. since June has supplied Ukrainian forces with 20 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers, or Himars, and a large inventory of satellite-guided rockets with a range of almost 50 miles. Those rockets, known as the…

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Texas Public Policy Foundation is waging a national crusade against climate action

Texas Public Policy Foundation is waging a national crusade against climate action

The New York Times reports: When a lawsuit was filed to block the nation’s first major offshore wind farm off the Massachusetts coast, it appeared to be a straightforward clash between those who earn their living from the sea and others who would install turbines and underwater cables that could interfere with the harvesting of squid, fluke and other fish. The fishing companies challenging federal permits for the Vineyard Wind project were from the Bay State as well as Rhode…

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Trump owed hidden debt while in office

Trump owed hidden debt while in office

Dan Alexander writes: Donald Trump’s business attracted so much scrutiny during his time in office that it would be easy to conclude that all information about its foreign entanglements must be out by now. It is not. Buried in a heap of recently released financial paperwork sits a surprising revelation: Donald Trump had a foreign creditor he failed to disclose while running for president in 2016 and after assuming office in 2017. The documents, compiled by the Trump Organization and…

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White House rebukes Trump’s suggestion to suspend Constitution over 2020 election

White House rebukes Trump’s suggestion to suspend Constitution over 2020 election

The Washington Post reports: The White House issued a stern rebuke on Saturday after former president Donald Trump suggested suspending the Constitution in his ongoing crusade to discredit the results of the 2020 election. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement, calling the Constitution a “sacrosanct document.” “You cannot only love America when you win,” he added….

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Supreme Court weighs ‘most important case’ on democracy

Supreme Court weighs ‘most important case’ on democracy

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court is about to confront a new elections case, a Republican-led challenge asking the justices for a novel ruling that could significantly increase the power of state lawmakers over elections for Congress and the presidency. The court is set to hear arguments Wednesday in a case from North Carolina, where Republican efforts to draw congressional districts heavily in their favor were blocked by a Democratic majority on the state Supreme Court because the GOP…

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Iranian protesters call for three-day strike as pressure on regime builds

Iranian protesters call for three-day strike as pressure on regime builds

The Guardian reports: Protesters in Iran have called for a three-day strike this week amid conflicting reports that the nation’s “morality police” had been shut down, and as the US said the leadership in Tehran had locked itself into a “vicious cycle” that had cut it off from its own people and the international community. The call steps up pressure on Iranian authorities after the attorney general said this weekend that the morality police – whose detention of a young…

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Musk and Taibbi said ‘Twitter Files’ revealed a political scandal, but the information itself did the opposite

Musk and Taibbi said ‘Twitter Files’ revealed a political scandal, but the information itself did the opposite

Nicholas Grossman writes: It was hyped as a big revelation, proof of a political conspiracy. Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk gave journalist Matt Taibbi access to some of Twitter’s internal communications from before he took over, saying they would show “what really happened with the Hunter Biden story suppression,” referring to an October 2020 New York Post article about a laptop allegedly belonging to then presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son. Musk promised it’d be “awesome.” Conservative media figures, Elon Musk…

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Non-religious voters wield clout and tilt heavily Democratic

Non-religious voters wield clout and tilt heavily Democratic

The Associated Press reports: When members of the small Pennsylvania chapter of Secular Democrats of America log on for their monthly meetings, they’re not there for a virtual happy hour. “We don’t sit around at our meetings patting ourselves on the back for not believing in God together,” said David Brown, a founder from the Philadelphia suburb of Ardmore. The group, mostly consisting of atheists and agnostics, mobilizes to knock on doors and make phone calls on behalf of Democratic…

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Trump ought to face the charge of seditious conspiracy just as the Oath Keepers did

Trump ought to face the charge of seditious conspiracy just as the Oath Keepers did

Frank Figliuzzi writes: Tuesday’s convictions of five Oath Keepers — including founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes and top deputy Kelly Meggs who were found guilty of the gravely serious charge of seditious conspiracy — may seem like game-winning goals, but they’re just critical points the Justice Department put on the board right before halftime. The government’s successful prosecution sidelines some strong players, but the captains and coaches we have reason to suspect called the shots on Jan. 6, 2021 (former President…

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Musk brings one of America’s most prominent Nazis back to Twitter

Musk brings one of America’s most prominent Nazis back to Twitter

Rolling Stone reports: Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin has been reinstated to Twitter under Elon Musk’s new policies for the platform. The founder of the white supremacist website The Daily Stormer had been banned from Twitter since 2013. Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, who was booted off Twitter in 2013, has had his account restored. pic.twitter.com/sEv5UDVUw2 — Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) December 2, 2022 Anglin has publicly indicated that the goal of his operation and adherence to white nationalist ideology is to “ethnically cleanse White nations…

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Surging Twitter antisemitism unites fringe, encourages violence, officials say

Surging Twitter antisemitism unites fringe, encourages violence, officials say

The Washington Post reports: Current and former federal officials are warning that a surge in hate speech and disinformation about Jews on Twitter is uniting and popularizing some of the same extremists who have helped push people to engage in violent protests including the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress. The officials are predicting that Twitter will contribute to more violence in the months ahead, citing the proliferation of extreme content, including support for genocidal Nazis by celebrities with wide…

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How Europe lets Iran and Russia get away with murder

How Europe lets Iran and Russia get away with murder

Matthew Karnitschnig reports: On a balmy September evening last year, an Azeri man carrying a Russian passport crossed the border from northern Cyprus into southern Cyprus. He traveled light: a pistol, a handful of bullets and a silencer. It was going to be the perfect hit job. Then, just as the man was about to step into a rental car and carry out his mission — which prosecutors say was to gun down five Jewish businessmen, including an Israeli billionaire…

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