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How Trump deflected demands for documents, enmeshing aides

How Trump deflected demands for documents, enmeshing aides

The New York Times reports: Late last year, as the National Archives ratcheted up the pressure on former President Donald J. Trump to return boxes of records he had taken from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago club, he came up with an idea to resolve the looming showdown: cut a deal. Mr. Trump, still determined to show he had been wronged by the F.B.I. investigation into his 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia, was angry with the National Archives and…

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Biden just made marijuana reform a major 2022 issue. Democrats should run with it

Biden just made marijuana reform a major 2022 issue. Democrats should run with it

John Nichols writes: President Joe Biden on Thursday granted “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon” to every American who has been convicted under federal law for simple possession of marijuana. It was a responsible, necessary, and incredibly popular move. More than 70 percent of Americans favor expungement of the records of those with marijuana convictions, according to 2020 polling data compiled by YouGov.com. At a time when Republicans candidates are attacking Democrats for supporting criminal justice reform, this is a…

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Michael Flynn’s holy war stirs up fear and hatred across America

Michael Flynn’s holy war stirs up fear and hatred across America

The Associated Press reports: By the time the red, white and blue-colored microphone had been switched off, the crowd of 3,000 had listened to hours of invective and grievance. “We’re under warfare,” one speaker told them. Another said she would “take a bullet for my nation,” while a third insisted, “They hate you because they hate Jesus.” Attendees were told now is the time to “put on the whole armor of God.” Then retired three-star Army general Michael Flynn, the…

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Morale is plummeting in Wagner Group, Putin’s elite mercenaries, as Russia’s war in Ukraine falters

Morale is plummeting in Wagner Group, Putin’s elite mercenaries, as Russia’s war in Ukraine falters

CNN reports: The Ukrainians’ bodies lay side-by-side on the grass, the earth beside them splayed open by a crater. Dragged to the spot by Russian mercenaries, the victims’ arms pointed to where they had died. “Let’s plant a grenade on them,” a voice says in husky Russian, in what appears to be a plan to booby-trap the bodies. “There is no need for a grenade, we will just bash them in,” another says of the Ukrainian soldiers who will come…

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As Ukraine war falters, Russians ask a risky question: Could Putin fall?

As Ukraine war falters, Russians ask a risky question: Could Putin fall?

The Washington Post reports: When President Vladimir Putin yelled, “We will win!” at a Red Square concert to celebrate his illegal annexation of Ukrainian lands on Friday, he projected the hubris of a man who cannot accept defeat. Putin has said Russia will not lose in Ukraine. But multiple battlefield defeats and national fury over a botched military mobilization have broken a taboo in Moscow on discussions about what would happen if Putin did lose — not just the war,…

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Putin confronted by insider over Ukraine war, U.S. intelligence finds

Putin confronted by insider over Ukraine war, U.S. intelligence finds

The Washington Post reports: A member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle has voiced disagreement directly to the Russian president in recent weeks over his handling of the war in Ukraine, according to information obtained by U.S. intelligence. The criticism marks the clearest indication yet of turmoil within Russia’s leadership over the stewardship of a war that has gone disastrously wrong for Moscow, forcing Putin last month to order the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops in a desperate bid…

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Pentagon: No sign Putin is planning to use nukes after Biden’s ‘Armageddon’ comment

Pentagon: No sign Putin is planning to use nukes after Biden’s ‘Armageddon’ comment

Politico reports: The Pentagon said Friday that it still has seen no indications that Vladimir Putin is planning to launch nuclear weapons after President Joe Biden warned of the risk of a nuclear “Armageddon.” Biden’s comments show how seriously the U.S. is taking Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons, Defense Department spokesperson J. Todd Breasseale said in a statement to POLITICO. “However — and to be clear: we have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture…

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‘It’s like a war out there.’ Iran’s women haven’t been this angry in a generation

‘It’s like a war out there.’ Iran’s women haven’t been this angry in a generation

Azadeh Moaveni writes: On Monday, the 18th day of Iran’s intense protests against oppressive clerical rule and its numerous failures, schoolgirls with backpacks and black Converse sneakers joined the revolt. They marched down a street in a suburb of Tehran, the capital, waving their school uniform veils in the air. They jeered a male education official off school grounds in the same suburb, chanting the Persian word for lacking honor: “Bisharaf! Bisharaf!” They blocked traffic in the southern city of…

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OPEC was always going to mess with oil prices. Was Biden’s team naive?

OPEC was always going to mess with oil prices. Was Biden’s team naive?

Jonathan Guyer writes: On Wednesday, the energy price-fixing cartel OPEC+ announced that it was making a major reduction in oil production. That will end up meaning less oil on the market, and an increase in the price of gasoline for consumers worldwide, at a time of high inflation and recession fears. It is a net positive, though, for the two countries that produce the most oil in OPEC+ — Russia and Saudi Arabia. President Joe Biden has called the move…

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How does the Russo-Ukrainian War end?

How does the Russo-Ukrainian War end?

Timothy Snyder writes: At first, no one could imagine that the Russo-Ukrainian war could begin. And yet it began. And now, no one can imagine how it will end. And yet end it will. War is ultimately about politics. That Ukraine is winning on the battlefield matters because Ukraine is exerting pressure on Russian politics. Tyrants such as Putin exert a certain fascination, because they give the impression that they can do what they like. This is not true, of…

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Fears in West as Russian and Saudi rulers deepen ties

Fears in West as Russian and Saudi rulers deepen ties

Martin Chulov reports: After four years of global fallout from the assassination of the Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Prince Mohammed’s security aides in Istanbul, the heir to the Saudi throne is in the midst of a global comeback. His attempts to position the kingdom as a regional power and global mover are among the 37-year-old’s core goals. Saudi officials have not condemned Putin’s invasion, and nor has Moscow weighed into Saudi Arabia’s invasion of Yemen over the…

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The Saudi-Russian oil axis snubs Biden with production cuts

The Saudi-Russian oil axis snubs Biden with production cuts

Javier Blas writes: Coming four weeks before the US midterm elections, many in Washington took the unexpectedly large output cut as a personal attack on President Joseph Biden. The fact that OPEC+ hastily gathered in person in Vienna, rather than via video-conference as scheduled, reinforced that perception. The form of the meeting mattered as much as the substance. As Roger Diwan, a veteran OPEC watcher noted, it was “eerie” to observe the cartel jumping into major action on Yom Kippur,…

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What’s driving Russia’s opportunistic inroads with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf autocrats

What’s driving Russia’s opportunistic inroads with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf autocrats

Andrew S. Weiss and Jasmine Alexander-Greene write: The spotlight is back on the burgeoning Saudi-Russia relationship, thanks to their renewed efforts to prop up oil prices and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s role in brokering a surprise deal in September to release foreign prisoners of war seized on the battlefield in Ukraine, including several U.S. and UK military veterans. The Kremlin’s ties with Saudi Arabia and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have expanded steadily following the…

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There is absolutely nothing to support the ‘independent state legislature’ theory

There is absolutely nothing to support the ‘independent state legislature’ theory

J. Michael Luttig writes: The Supreme Court will decide before next summer the most important case for American democracy in the almost two and a half centuries since America’s founding. In Moore v. Harper, the Court will finally resolve whether there is a doctrine of constitutional interpretation known as the “independent state legislature.” If the Court concludes that there is such a doctrine, it would confer on state legislatures plenary, exclusive, and judicially unreviewable power both to redraw congressional districts…

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