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Trump’s nomination would blow up Republican support for Ukraine, says former NATO chief

Trump’s nomination would blow up Republican support for Ukraine, says former NATO chief

Politico reports: Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former secretary-general of NATO, packs his prognosis for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign into one loaded word. “I think President Trump will be a loser,” he tells me. It is a notoriously triggering term for the former president, evoking deep humiliation. Rasmussen uses it casually. “His baggage is too heavy, too controversial,” says Rasmussen, 70, who was Denmark’s prime minister for most of this century’s first decade. Yet Rasmussen, a right-of-center politician who is now…

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Tucker Carlson parroting Vladimir Putin

Tucker Carlson parroting Vladimir Putin

HuffPost reports: A conservative group has highlighted Tucker Carlson’s affinity for spreading Russian propaganda in a new video. The Fox News host has made a habit of leaning into Kremlin talking points and conspiracy theories since Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Days before the war began, Carlson infamously defended Putin and said that Ukraine was “not a democracy.” Carlson’s mimicry has been so on point that on multiple occasions excerpts from his broadcasts have ended up on Russian state-sponsored TV. The Republican Accountability Project put Carlson on blast…

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The Republican ‘civil war’ on foreign policy

The Republican ‘civil war’ on foreign policy

The Washington Post reports: When Ronald Reagan addressed a brand new organization of upstart conservatives nearly five decades ago, he cast U.S. entanglements abroad as part of the nation’s destiny to take on “leadership of the free world” and to serve as a shining “city on the hill” that inspired other countries, sparking thunderous applause. At a dinner named after the former president at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) gathering earlier this month, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari…

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Russia’s secret document for destabilizing Moldova

Russia’s secret document for destabilizing Moldova

Michael Weiss and Holger Roonemaa report: On Friday, John Kirby, the spokesperson for the National Security Council, made a surprise announcement at a White House press briefing. U.S. intelligence, he said, had determined that the Kremlin was plotting to topple another European democracy. “Russian actors, some with current ties to Russian intelligence, are seeking to stage and use protests in Moldova as a basis to foment a manufactured insurrection against the Moldovan government,” Kirby declared. As if on schedule, Moldova…

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The death of Rasheem Carter. ‘What we have is a Mississippi lynching’

The death of Rasheem Carter. ‘What we have is a Mississippi lynching’

The Washington Post reports: The family of a Black man is calling for a federal investigation into his death after local authorities in Mississippi said they did not suspect foul play after the man’s body was found dismembered. Police say his wounds may have been caused by an animal. Rasheem Carter, 25, called his mother for help in early October, telling her that a group of White men in three trucks were chasing him and yelling racial slurs at him…

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Orwell and Camus’ loyalty to truth

Orwell and Camus’ loyalty to truth

William Fear writes: A war still raged in Europe, but the enemy were firmly in retreat. The occupation of Paris had been broken, and France was free, and so were the cafés of the Boulevard St Germain. No longer did the waiters have to serve coffee to SS officers. One afternoon in April 1945, a dishevelled Englishman walked into one such café. He was a war correspondent for the Observer — fond of shag-tobacco and Indian tea. His pen-name was…

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‘Morality shouldn’t get in the way’ — Russia’s genocidal state media

‘Morality shouldn’t get in the way’ — Russia’s genocidal state media

Julia Davis writes: When Russia invaded Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s elite propagandists wanted to drink champagne in the studio to properly celebrate the moment. Head of state propaganda agency, RT, Margarita Simonyan, expressed “an overwhelming sense of euphoria” and added: “I’ve been waiting eight years for this . . . it finally happened. This is true happiness.” With the bloody all-out invasion now in its second year, the euphoria has been replaced by a lingering sense of dread, with Putin’s mouthpieces…

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Ukraine short of skilled troops and munitions as losses, pessimism grow

Ukraine short of skilled troops and munitions as losses, pessimism grow

The Washington Post reports: The quality of Ukraine’s military force, once considered a substantial advantage over Russia, has been degraded by a year of casualties that have taken many of the most experienced fighters off the battlefield, leading some Ukrainian officials to question Kyiv’s readiness to mount a much-anticipated spring offensive. U.S. and European officials have estimated that as many as 120,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of Russia’s invasion early last year, compared with…

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Ron DeSantis has a plan to win the Fox News primary — and lose everything else

Ron DeSantis has a plan to win the Fox News primary — and lose everything else

David Frum writes: Florida governor Ron DeSantis has long sought to avoid taking a position on Russia’s war in Ukraine. On the eve of the Russian invasion, 165 Florida National Guard members were stationed on a training mission in Ukraine. They were evacuated in February 2022 to continue their mission in neighboring countries. When they returned to Florida in August, DeSantis did not greet them. He has not praised, or even acknowledged, their work in any public statement. DeSantis did…

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House Republicans could expand their majority if they win these court cases

House Republicans could expand their majority if they win these court cases

Politico reports: Republicans are readying to plow ahead with ambitious gerrymandering despite previous reprimands from state courts — now that they’ve elected judges who are less likely to thwart their plans. The first test of this strategy comes Tuesday when North Carolina’s GOP-dominated state Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether its previous Democratic majority erred in tossing out the initial map Republican legislators drew just two years ago. The move has drawn loud complaints from Democrats that the court…

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After the SVB collapse, Republicans once again hide behind manufactured cultural conflict

After the SVB collapse, Republicans once again hide behind manufactured cultural conflict

Jamelle Bouie writes: As soon as it was clear that Silicon Valley Bank would not survive the weekend, conservative influencers and Republican politicians had a culprit in sight. Wokeness. “They were one of the most woke banks,” Representative James Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, said during a segment on Fox News. The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, also spoke to Fox News about the collapse of the bank, and he also blamed the bank’s diversity programs….

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Back-to-back bank collapses came after 2018 deregulatory push

Back-to-back bank collapses came after 2018 deregulatory push

The New York Times reports: In the spring of 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed a law that watered down the landmark regulatory reform act that his predecessor had enacted following the global financial crisis. The changes won a surprising supporter: the liberal former congressman Barney Frank. Mr. Frank was a primary architect of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, better known as Dodd-Frank. But since his retirement in 2013, he had repeatedly voiced support for softening one…

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As bank failures dominate news, Biden administration approves huge Alaska oil project

As bank failures dominate news, Biden administration approves huge Alaska oil project

The New York Times reports: The Biden administration gave formal approval Monday for a huge oil drilling project in Alaska known as Willow, despite widespread opposition because of its likely environmental and climate impacts. The president is also expected to announce sweeping restrictions on offshore oil leasing in the Arctic Ocean and across Alaska’s North Slope in an apparent effort to temper criticism over the Willow decision and, as one administration official put it, to form a “firewall” to limit…

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Elizabeth Warren: We can prevent more bank failures

Elizabeth Warren: We can prevent more bank failures

Elizabeth Warren writes: No one should be mistaken about what unfolded over the past few days in the U.S. banking system: These recent bank failures are the direct result of leaders in Washington weakening the financial rules. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act to protect consumers and ensure that big banks could never again take down the economy and destroy millions of lives. Wall Street chief executives and their armies of lawyers and…

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The incredible tantrum venture capitalists threw over Silicon Valley Bank

The incredible tantrum venture capitalists threw over Silicon Valley Bank

Edward Ongweso Jr. writes: If the technological innovation coming out of Silicon Valley is as important as venture capitalists insist, the past few days suggest they haven’t been very responsible stewards of it. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank late last week may have resulted from a perfect storm of ugly events. But it was also emblematic of a startup ecosystem and venture-capital apparatus that are too unstable, too risky, and too unmoored from reality to be left in charge…

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For Russian elite, Dubai becomes a wartime safe harbor

For Russian elite, Dubai becomes a wartime safe harbor

The New York Times reports: On an artificial island on the edge of the Persian Gulf, Dima Tutkov feels safe. There are none of the anti-Russian attitudes that he hears about in Europe. He has noticed no potholes or homelessness, unlike what he saw in Los Angeles. And even as his ad agency turns big profits back in Russia, he does not have to worry about being drafted to fight in Ukraine. “Dubai is much more free — in every…

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