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Category: Politics

Historical perspectives on Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine

Historical perspectives on Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine

Uilleam Blacker writes: In the 2007 film “Katyn,” directed by Poland’s acclaimed Andrzej Wajda, a young woman in wartime Krakow tries to sell her hair to raise money for a headstone for her brother, who has been murdered and buried in an unmarked grave by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. She finds a buyer in a local theater, an actress who survived Auschwitz and lost her own hair. The actress watches as the woman’s long braids are cut off…

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Imagine if the current speaker impasse were occurring in a presidential inaugural year

Imagine if the current speaker impasse were occurring in a presidential inaugural year

The Bulwark reports: As Kevin McCarthy repeatedly fails to secure enough votes to become speaker and the House of Representatives sits in limbo, Democrats say they are increasingly concerned about the risks to national security involved in a prolonged period without any active members or ability to conduct legislative business. Currently, every elected member of the House has yet to be sworn in to office, leaving committee structures up in the air and creating a backlog of onboarding for freshmen…

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In House speaker fight, Trump struggles to play kingmaker

In House speaker fight, Trump struggles to play kingmaker

The New York Times reports: After Kevin McCarthy failed to win enough votes to become House speaker on Tuesday, former President Donald J. Trump held a call with Mr. McCarthy and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, one of the key Republican members of Congress blocking Mr. McCarthy’s bid. Mr. Trump’s goal was to break the logjam. But if Mr. Trump had wanted Mr. Perry to quickly flip, it wasn’t to be: The next day, Mr. Perry voted against Mr. McCarthy three…

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Kevin McCarthy is showing other Republicans how much there is to gain from pushing him around

Kevin McCarthy is showing other Republicans how much there is to gain from pushing him around

Michelle Goldberg writes: McCarthy evidently believed that by courting Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, an avatar of hyper-performative politics, he could co-opt her wing of the party. He was set to offer her valuable committee assignments, and, according to Draper, had even offered to create a new leadership position for her. But her elevation would be valuable to other Trumpists only if there were concrete things they hoped to accomplish together. Putting Greene on the Oversight Committee does nothing to help…

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U.S. and Germany agree to send infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine

U.S. and Germany agree to send infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine

The Guardian reports: Joe Biden and his German counterpart Olaf Scholz have agreed to send infantry fighting vehicles to help Ukraine fight Russia, a day after France said it would supply its own armoured vehicles to Kyiv in an attempt to create a breakthrough in the 10-month war. The joint announcement followed a phone call between Biden and Scholz and amounts to a step change in western military support for Ukraine, which has asked for up to 700 armoured vehicles…

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Number of populist world leaders at 20-year low

Number of populist world leaders at 20-year low

The Guardian reports: The number of populist leaders around the world has fallen to a 20-year low after a series of victories for progressives and centrists over the past year, according to analysis from the Tony Blair Institute showing the number of people living under populist rule has fallen by 800 million in two years. The research claims 2023 could be an equally decisive year for populism, with critical elections in Turkey and Poland. Those two elections could see two…

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The Kevin McCarthy mess is peak Trumpism

The Kevin McCarthy mess is peak Trumpism

Molly Jong-Fast writes: Despite his best efforts, the leopards have finally come for Kevin McCarthy’s face. For those not extremely online, I’m referring to a 2015 tweet from YA novelist Adrian Bott: “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.” It’s nearly eight years later and McCarthy is learning this lesson the hard way, as his quixotic quest for the Speakership, which spanned most of that time, is falling…

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France to deliver ‘light tanks’ to Ukraine

France to deliver ‘light tanks’ to Ukraine

Politico reports: France will deliver “light” battle tanks to Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron’s office announced Wednesday, which would make it the first country to send such Western-designed armored fighting vehicles to the wartorn country. The Elysée said after a phone call between Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that France will send AMX-10 RC armored fighting vehicles, which Paris has been gradually replacing with new Jaguar battle tanks. Several countries have already sent Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine. Both France…

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Ukraine says Russia plans new mobilisation to ‘turn tide of war’

Ukraine says Russia plans new mobilisation to ‘turn tide of war’

Reuters reports: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was planning to call up more troops for a major new offensive, even as Moscow was facing some of its biggest internal criticism of the war over a strike that killed scores of fresh conscripts. Kyiv has been saying for weeks that Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to order another mass conscription drive and shut his borders to prevent men from escaping the draft. “We have no doubt that the current masters…

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A single Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more than a dozen U.S. companies

A single Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more than a dozen U.S. companies

CNN reports: Parts made by more than a dozen US and Western companies were found inside a single Iranian drone downed in Ukraine last fall, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment obtained exclusively by CNN. The assessment, which was shared with US government officials late last year, illustrates the extent of the problem facing the Biden administration, which has vowed to shut down Iran’s production of drones that Russia is launching by the hundreds into Ukraine. CNN reported last month…

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John Kerry: Rich countries must respond to developing world anger over climate

John Kerry: Rich countries must respond to developing world anger over climate

The Guardian reports: People in developing countries are feeling increasingly angry and “victimised” by the climate crisis, the US climate envoy John Kerry has warned, and rich countries must respond urgently. “I’ve been chronicling the increased frustration and anger of island states and vulnerable countries and small African nations and others around the world that feel victimised by the fact that they are a minuscule component of emissions,” he said. “And yet [they are] paying a very high price. Seventeen…

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Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine

Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine

Reuters reports: In a square beneath the twin spires of Cologne’s gothic cathedral, around 2,000 protesters gathered in September to urge Germany’s government to break with the Western coalition backing Ukraine and make peace with Russia. “We must stop being vassals of the Americans,” right-wing German politician Markus Beisicht said from a makeshift stage on the back of a truck. The crowd clapped and waved Russian and German flags. A lean man in camouflage trousers stood at the side of…

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Defending against Russian drones is expensive, but Ukraine sees the cost as worth it

Defending against Russian drones is expensive, but Ukraine sees the cost as worth it

The New York Times reports: They are lumbering and noisy and relatively easy to shoot from the sky. Over the New Year’s weekend, the Ukrainian military said it downed every single one of the 80-odd exploding drones that Russia sent the country’s way. “Such results have never been achieved before,” a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said on Tuesday. But beneath that result lies a question: How long can Ukraine sustain its effort when many of its defensive measures cost far…

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The right has already won the House speakership election

The right has already won the House speakership election

Ronald Brownstein writes: No matter how they resolve Tuesday’s vote choosing the next speaker of the House, Republicans appear poised to double down on the hard-edged politics that most swing state voters rejected in last November’s midterm election. Stubborn conservative resistance to House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has put the party at risk of precipitating the first speakership election that extends to more than a single ballot since 1923 – and only the second since the Civil War. But even…

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China is flying blind as pandemic rages

China is flying blind as pandemic rages

Science reports: Most scientists believe China’s decision to end its zero-COVID policy was long overdue. But now they have a new worry: that the country is collecting and sharing far too little data about the rough transition to a new coexistence with the virus. China abruptly dropped virtually all controls a month ago, after protests, a sagging economy, and the extreme transmissibility of the virus’ latest variants made clinging to zero COVID untenable. Now, “SARS-CoV-2 has an open goal in…

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Oil, gas exploration and deforestation threaten Africa’s great carbon sink

Oil, gas exploration and deforestation threaten Africa’s great carbon sink

Olivia Rosane writes: In the center of the African continent, an immense and vital forest currently thrives. As the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest, the Congo Basin covers six countries and around 500 million acres–an area one-fourth the size of the contiguous U.S. It is a haven for both human and natural diversity, hosting more than 150 different ethnic groups and one-fifth of all Earth’s species. It directly supports the livelihoods of the 60 million people who live in or near…

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