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Category: Politics

Russia could run out of money next year, says oligarch Oleg Deripaska

Russia could run out of money next year, says oligarch Oleg Deripaska

The Guardian reports: The oligarch Oleg Deripaska has said Russia could run out of money by next year unless the country secures investment from “friendly” countries as western sanctions bite. Deripaska, an energy and metals tycoon who was once Russia’s richest person, told an investment conference in Siberia on Thursday: “There will be no money already next year. We will need foreign investors.” Deripaska, who is subject to UK, US and EU sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, said funds…

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Finland’s MPs approve legislation paving way for country to join NATO

Finland’s MPs approve legislation paving way for country to join NATO

The Guardian reports: Finland’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved legislation allowing the country to join Nato, increasing the chances of it becoming a member of the transatlantic defensive alliance before its Nordic neighbour Sweden. Both countries last year abandoned decades of military non-alignment in a historic policy shift triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, submitting simultaneous Nato membership applications and pledging to complete the process “hand-in-hand”. However, new entrants must be approved by all 30 existing members and while both applications still await…

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The scope of Trump’s failed Iran policy comes into sharper focus

The scope of Trump’s failed Iran policy comes into sharper focus

Steve Benen writes: About a year ago, Biden administration officials held a closed-door briefing with senators on Iran’s nuclear program. Politico reported soon after that members exited the briefing feeling rattled, with one senator describing the information as “sobering and shocking.” While the discussion was held behind closed doors, the Politico report added that officials warned lawmakers that Iran “could produce enough material for a nuclear bomb in as little as two months.” As Reuters reported yesterday, federal lawmakers received…

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U.S. condemns Israel far right minister’s call for Palestinian town ‘to be erased’

U.S. condemns Israel far right minister’s call for Palestinian town ‘to be erased’

CNN reports: Israel’s far-right finance minister’s call for a Palestinian town “to be erased” was harshly condemned by US State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Wednesday, who described the comments as “repugnant” and “irresponsible.” Bezalel Smotrich, who also leads the far-right Religious Zionism party, said earlier on Wednesday that the Palestinian town of Huwara “needs to be erased.” The incendiary comment was in reference to the town in the occupied West Bank where two Israeli brothers were shot and killed…

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Rupert Murdoch, legally exposed

Rupert Murdoch, legally exposed

Judd Legum writes: It’s not a secret that Fox News is a political operation seeking to bolster the prospects of Republicans. Jeanne Pirro, co-host of Fox News’ The Five, regularly appears at Republican fundraisers. Mark Levin, who hosts a weekly Fox News program, appeared at a rally and fundraiser for a Republican candidate in Virginia. Sean Hannity, one of Fox News’ primetime stars, stumped for President Trump. Alternatively, just watch Fox News for a few minutes — the purpose is clear. At the same time, Fox…

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Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism

Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism

Politico reports: A network of political non-profits formed by judicial activist Leonard Leo moved at least $43 million to a new firm he is leading, raising questions about how his conservative legal movement is funded. Leo’s own personal wealth appeared to have ballooned as his fundraising prowess accelerated since his efforts to cement the Supreme Court’s conservative majority helped to bring about its decision to overturn abortion rights. Most recently, Leo reaped a $1.6 billion windfall from a single donor…

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The shortest path to peace in Ukraine

The shortest path to peace in Ukraine

Eliot A. Cohen writes: Any long-term planning for Ukraine and for the West should now also be predicated on the postwar persistence of a malignant and militarized Russia, which may well intend to restart the war once it has had a breather. Potential dissidents have fled the country or are in jail; a societal mobilization built on xenophobia and paranoia is under way; freedom of expression is being stamped out; and any successors to Vladimir Putin are unlikely to be…

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Lawmakers question Pentagon on Ukraine funds, signaling fresh concerns

Lawmakers question Pentagon on Ukraine funds, signaling fresh concerns

The New York Times reports: Republicans in Congress sharply questioned senior Pentagon officials on Tuesday about the tens of billions of dollars in military and other aid the United States has sent to Ukraine, casting fresh doubt on whether they would embrace future spending as Democrats pleaded for a cleareyed assessment of how much more money would be needed. The exchanges at two House committee hearings, coming just days after the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, highlighted how concerns…

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Huwara settler riot was a ‘pogrom,’ top Israeli general says; senior minister calls for Palestinian town to be ‘wiped out’

Huwara settler riot was a ‘pogrom,’ top Israeli general says; senior minister calls for Palestinian town to be ‘wiped out’

The Times of Israel reports: The Israeli general in charge of troops in the West Bank said Tuesday that vigilante settlers who rampaged through a Palestinian town in the West Bank Sunday night had carried out a “pogrom” that caught the military off-guard. The Head of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fuchs, also told Hebrew-language media that he was worried clashes between soldiers and settlers would eventually lead to Israelis being killed, and accused the Jewish extremists of…

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Tunisia’s president embraces the racist ‘great replacement theory’

Tunisia’s president embraces the racist ‘great replacement theory’

Erin Clare Brown reports: After a fortnight of political arrests and detentions, Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, has now unleashed a racist campaign targeting Black migrants in his country, with conspiracies that echo the “great replacement theory” and police raids in popular quarters across the country where many migrant workers live. In an address to his National Security Council on February 21, Saied claimed that “there is a criminal arrangement that has been prepared since the beginning of this century to…

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Who uses the slogan, ‘It’s OK to be white’?

Who uses the slogan, ‘It’s OK to be white’?

Judd Legum writes: In the span of a few days, Dilbert — a cartoon lampooning workplace culture by Scott Adams — was dropped by hundreds of newspapers. The backlash was in response to a racist rant that Adams posted on YouTube in which he described Black Americans as “a hate group” and advised white people “to get the hell away from Black people.” Adams was reacting to a poll by Rasmussen Reports, Donald Trump’s favorite pollster. The survey of 1000 Americans asked respondents if…

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Florida, under DeSantis, could start looking a lot like Orban’s Hungary

Florida, under DeSantis, could start looking a lot like Orban’s Hungary

Michelle Goldberg writes: In 2017, the government of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban passed a law intended to drive Central European University, a prestigious school founded by a Hungarian refugee, George Soros, out of the country. At the time, this was shocking; as many as 80,000 protesters rallied in Budapest and intellectuals worldwide rushed to declare their solidarity with the demonstrators. “The fate of the university was a test of whether liberalism had the tactical savvy and emotional fortitude to…

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Little-known scientific team behind new assessment on Covid origins

Little-known scientific team behind new assessment on Covid origins

The Washington Post reports: The theory that covid-19 started with a lab accident in central China received a modest boost in the latest U.S. intelligence assessment after the work of a little-known scientific team that conducts some of the federal government’s most secretive and technically challenging investigations of emerging security threats, current and former U.S. officials said Monday. An analysis by experts from the U.S. national laboratory complex — including members of a storied team known as Z-Division — prompted…

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UN agency confirms Iran produced enriched uranium close to weapons grade

UN agency confirms Iran produced enriched uranium close to weapons grade

The Wall Street Journal reports: The United Nations atomic agency confirmed Tuesday that its inspectors had found traces of near weapons-grade nuclear material at Iran’s underground Fordow facility but said Tehran continues to produce 60% enriched uranium at the site. In a confidential report sent to member states and viewed by The Wall Street Journal, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that during a check at Fordow on Jan. 22, the IAEA took samples which were found to contain highly…

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‘Senseless invasion’: UN human rights session begins with scathing criticism of Russia over Ukraine war

‘Senseless invasion’: UN human rights session begins with scathing criticism of Russia over Ukraine war

RFE/RL reports: The United Nations Human Rights Council has kicked off a new session in Geneva with sharp criticism of Russia for its full-scale invasion on Ukraine. Speaking on February 27 at the opening of the session, which runs until April 4, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said nearly 100 million people were forced to flee conflict last year, a record number, and that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “is under assault from all sides.” “The Russian invasion of Ukraine…

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The toxic legacy of the Ukraine war

The toxic legacy of the Ukraine war

BBC Future reports: On 6 June, satellite images captured hundreds of craters made by artillery shells and a 40m-wide (131 ft) hole left by a bomb in fields around the village of Dovhenke, in eastern Ukraine. It is just one site left scarred by Russia’s invasion of its neighbour. And as the war continues to wreak a devastating humanitarian toll on the people caught up in the fighting, the conflict is leaving a far less obvious, toxic legacy on the land itself….

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