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Category: Politics

Illegal Chinese ‘police stations’ uncovered in the Netherlands, reports say

Illegal Chinese ‘police stations’ uncovered in the Netherlands, reports say

Politico reports: China has illegally opened at least two “police stations” in the Netherlands since 2018 in an attempt to pressure Chinese dissidents, RTL Nieuws and Follow the Money revealed Tuesday. The so-called overseas service stations offer diplomatic services to Chinese Dutch citizens, such as renewing their driving licenses — but they also attempt to silence Chinese dissidents in Europe, the media outlets reported, citing a Chinese victim named Wang Jingyu. Wang told Dutch journalists his story, saying that he…

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The wreckage of neoliberalism

The wreckage of neoliberalism

Chris Murphy writes: For millions of Americans—especially those who don’t live in the high-income urban mega-economies—it feels like life itself is unspooling. This sense of dislocation is what Donald Trump’s politics of grievance seized upon when he launched his campaign for the presidency in 2015. He offered easy scapegoats—immigrants, Muslims, and economic elites—to blame for the loss of meaning and economic autonomy felt by many Americans. He signaled an intent to break America apart from the world economy and the…

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Masked and armed vigilantes are staking out Arizona ballot boxes with the GOP’s blessing

Masked and armed vigilantes are staking out Arizona ballot boxes with the GOP’s blessing

Vanity Fair reports: With exactly two weeks to go until the midterm elections, Democrats and Republicans are out here making their respective cases re: why voters should allow them to either hold on to their majority in Congress or retake power. One way the two parties have diverged on tactics? Well, the GOP appears to be the only one openly encouraging its base to stake out ballot boxes and intimidate would-be voters. With guns. On Monday, Paul Penzone, the sheriff…

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‘Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,’ claim the Democrats who ignored that principle

‘Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,’ claim the Democrats who ignored that principle

Politico reports: House progressives on Tuesday retracted a letter calling on President Joe Biden to engage in direct diplomacy with Russia, less than 24 hours after it sparked intense backlash from other Democrats. The about-face comes as some Democratic lawmakers vent their fury that the letter backing talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin — originally drafted and signed in June — wasn’t recirculated before its public release on Monday. That release made it appear that the 30 House Democrats who…

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Ukrainian forces advance against Russian fighters in Kherson and Bakhmut

Ukrainian forces advance against Russian fighters in Kherson and Bakhmut

The Washington Post reports: Ukrainian forces continued their advance against the Russian military in the southern Kherson region Tuesday, pushed back Russian mercenaries from Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk, and gained new momentum in Luhansk, where they seized a key highway between the towns of Kreminna and Svatove. On a day of heavy fighting and fast-moving developments across multiple combat zones, the Ukrainians appeared to extend their recent successes in recapturing occupied territories and pushing Moscow’s troops into retreat in areas…

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Mercenary chief vented to Putin over Ukraine war bungling

Mercenary chief vented to Putin over Ukraine war bungling

The Washington Post reports: The confidant who vented to Russian President Vladimir Putin recently about his military’s handling of the war in Ukraine was Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the founder of a Russian mercenary group that is playing a critical role for Moscow on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Prigozhin’s criticisms echoed what he has been saying publicly for weeks, the officials said, speaking anonymously to discuss sensitive intelligence. But the revelation that he…

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Alito assured Ted Kennedy in 2005 of respect for Roe v. Wade, diary says

Alito assured Ted Kennedy in 2005 of respect for Roe v. Wade, diary says

The New York Times reports: Senator Edward M. Kennedy looked skeptically at the federal judge. It was Nov. 15, 2005, and Samuel A. Alito Jr., who was seeking Senate confirmation for his nomination to the Supreme Court, had just assured Mr. Kennedy in a meeting in his Senate office that he respected the legal precedent of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision that legalized abortion. “I am a believer in precedents,” Judge Alito said, in a recollection the senator…

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Ukraine war heading for ‘uncontrolled escalation’, says Russia

Ukraine war heading for ‘uncontrolled escalation’, says Russia

The Guardian reports: Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has told western counterparts that the war in Ukraine is heading for an “uncontrolled escalation” amid evidence that the Kremlin is weighing how to respond to yet another anticipated battlefield defeat around the key southern city of Kherson. With Russian troops setting up new defences for a fresh Ukrainian offensive in Luhansk in the country’s east as well, Moscow appears to be preparing the ground for yet further escalation, with discredited claims…

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Peace in our time: Some Democrats urge Biden to ‘negotiate’ with Russia about the future of Ukraine

Peace in our time: Some Democrats urge Biden to ‘negotiate’ with Russia about the future of Ukraine

The Washington Post reports: A group of 30 House liberals is urging President Biden to dramatically shift his strategy on the Ukraine war and pursue direct negotiations with Russia, the first time prominent members of his own party have pushed him to change his approach to Ukraine. The letter, sent to the White House on Monday and obtained by The Washington Post, could create more pressure on Biden as he tries to sustain domestic support for the war effort, at…

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Russian TV presenter accused of inciting genocide in Ukraine

Russian TV presenter accused of inciting genocide in Ukraine

The Guardian reports: A pro-Kremlin television presenter has been accused of inciting genocide after calling for Ukrainian children to be “drowned” and “burned” alive during an interview on the state-funded RT channel. Anton Krasovsky, the chief of Russian-language broadcasting for the channel formerly called Russia Today, said Ukrainian children who said they were being occupied by Russia should be “thrown in a river with a strong undercurrent”. “They should have been drowned in the Tysyna [river],” said Krasovsky during an…

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Prosecutors pressure Trump aides to testify in stolen documents case

Prosecutors pressure Trump aides to testify in stolen documents case

The New York Times reports: Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of national security documents he took with him from the White House have ratcheted up their pressure in recent weeks on key witnesses in the hopes of gaining their testimony, according to two people briefed on the matter. The effort by the Justice Department shows how the investigation is entering a new phase as prosecutors seek to push recalcitrant witnesses to cooperate with them. A key…

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Their America is vanishing. Like Trump, they insist they were cheated

Their America is vanishing. Like Trump, they insist they were cheated

The New York Times reports: When Representative Troy Nehls of Texas voted last year to reject Donald J. Trump’s electoral defeat, many of his constituents back home in Fort Bend County were thrilled. Like the former president, they have been unhappy with the changes unfolding around them. Crime and sprawl from Houston, the big city next door, have been spilling over into their once bucolic towns. (“Build a wall,” Mr. Nehls likes to say, and make Houston pay.) The county…

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Rishi Sunak to become first British prime minister of color and also first Hindu

Rishi Sunak to become first British prime minister of color and also first Hindu

The Guardian reports: Rishi Sunak is about to become the UK’s first prime minister of colour and the first Hindu prime minister, both milestones in Britain’s evolution as a multicultural and multi-faith society. Although there has been a marked increase in politicians of colour being appointed to senior cabinet roles, including the key posts of chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary, the UK has never had a black or brown prime minister before. It was “an historic moment” that “simply…

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Trump is not ‘man enough’ to testify in January 6 probe, Pelosi says

Trump is not ‘man enough’ to testify in January 6 probe, Pelosi says

Reuters reports: Former President Donald Trump is too much of a coward to obey a subpoena from the U.S. Congress compelling him to testify to a special committee investigating his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested on Sunday. “I don’t think he’s man enough to show up. I don’t think his lawyers will want him to show up because he has to testify under oath,” Pelosi said in an…

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Trump plans to subvert the 2022 elections — starting in Pennsylvania

Trump plans to subvert the 2022 elections — starting in Pennsylvania

Rolling Stone reports: In early September, Donald Trump welcomed a handful of Republican allies to Manhattan’s Trump Tower with an urgent message: He saw a “scam” happening with midterm election voting in Philadelphia and elsewhere in Pennsylvania, and he wanted conservatives to do something about it. “During our briefing, he was concerned that 2020 is going to happen again in 2022,” says former senior Trump administration official Michael Caputo, referencing Trump’s debunked assertion that voter fraud in Philadelphia helped win…

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The Trump Tapes: 20 interviews that show why he is an unparalleled danger

The Trump Tapes: 20 interviews that show why he is an unparalleled danger

Bob Woodward writes: In more than 50 years of reporting, I have never disclosed the raw interviews or full transcripts of my work. But after listening again to the 20 interviews I conducted with President Donald Trump during his last year as chief executive, I have decided to take the unusual step of releasing them. I was struck by how Trump pounded in my ears in a way the printed page cannot capture. In their totality, these interviews offer an…

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