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Category: Politics

Blinken postpones China trip as suspected spy balloon detected over U.S.

Blinken postpones China trip as suspected spy balloon detected over U.S.

The Washington Post reports: It is unclear if the balloon is following a predetermined path to loiter in certain places or is controlled directly by Chinese operators. “It is maneuverable, and I’ll just leave it at that,” Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Friday, adding that it’s expected to continue its path over the United States “for a few days.” Within the past day, the airship moved over Montana, which is home to sensitive military installations…

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The curious case of the Chinese spy balloon

The curious case of the Chinese spy balloon

James Snell writes: In the depths of the Second World War the Japanese empire tried to start a plague of forest fires in the United States with squadrons of incendiary balloons. It failed, although six civilians were killed in a single successful balloon bombing in Oregon in May 1945. In February 1942 there was what people at the time thought was an aerial battle above Los Angeles. Later the authorities said everyone had been shooting at nothing. Although some theorists…

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Atlanta shooting part of alarming U.S. crackdown on environmental defenders

Atlanta shooting part of alarming U.S. crackdown on environmental defenders

The Guardian reports: The shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, believed to be the first environmental defender killed in the US, is the culmination of a dangerous escalation in the criminalization and repression of those who seek to protect natural resources in America, campaigners have warned. The death of the 26-year-old, who was also known as “Tortuguita” or “Little Turtle,” in a forest on the fringes of Atlanta was the sort of deadly act “people who have been paying attention…

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Ignoring antisemitism only makes it stronger

Ignoring antisemitism only makes it stronger

Toby Lichtig writes: Antisemitism is back in vogue. Books, plays, exhibitions, academic studies and New Lines magazine essays alike are grappling with this age-old hatred and why it continues to morph and flare up in our present day. As I write this piece in London, some of my fellow citizens are contemplating their evening plans to go see “The Doctor” at the Duke of York’s Theatre, an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1912 play “Professor Bernhardi,” which follows a Jewish medical…

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Anti-war Russian teen faces a long prison term after police threaten her with sledgehammer

Anti-war Russian teen faces a long prison term after police threaten her with sledgehammer

RFE/RL reports: The Russian government did not wait for the trial of Olesya Krivtsova, a 19-year-old student in the northern city of Arkhangelsk, to even begin before adding her to its list of “terrorists and extremists.”. The designation on January 10 came as Krivtsova spends her second month under house arrest, facing the possibility of more than 10 years in prison on charges of “justifying terrorism” and “discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation.” “The worst possibilities whirl in…

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Bellingcat chief forced to leave Vienna following security threats

Bellingcat chief forced to leave Vienna following security threats

The Moscow Times reports: Bulgarian investigative journalist and director of the Bellingcat investigative reporting group Christo Grozev is being forced to relocate from Austria, his home of nearly 20 years, due to the alleged threat posed to him by the Russian security services, the Viennese daily Falter reported on Wednesday. “I suspect that there are more Russian agents, informers and henchmen in the city than police officers,” Grozev told Falter. The journalist was reportedly forced to cancel his planned return…

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How Bellingcat uncovered the truth behind Russian missile strikes in Ukraine

How Bellingcat uncovered the truth behind Russian missile strikes in Ukraine

International Center for Journalists reports: When Christo Grozev, executive director of Bellingcat, saw that Russia was claiming its missiles were striking only military targets in Ukraine, he knew he had to go beyond just proving that was not true. Grozev wanted to also reveal the individuals who were behind the strikes hitting schools, hospitals and other civilian targets, and to show whether those targets were accidental or intentional. Grozev and Bellingcat, winners of ICFJ’s 2022 Innovation in International Reporting Award, have demonstrated a…

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Ukraine ramps up corruption fight as Zelensky races to assure wary Western allies

Ukraine ramps up corruption fight as Zelensky races to assure wary Western allies

The Wall Street Journal reports: Ukrainian authorities launched criminal cases against six former defense-ministry officials and raided the home of a former political backer of President Volodymyr Zelensky Wednesday, amid a flurry of attempts by Mr. Zelensky to show Western governments that he is serious about an anticorruption drive. With billions of dollars in aid flowing into Ukraine monthly, Mr. Zelensky is under pressure from Western backers to take a firm stance against endemic Ukrainian corruption. He also faces calls…

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How Rod Dreher caused an international scandal in eastern Europe

How Rod Dreher caused an international scandal in eastern Europe

Balázs Gulyás writes: Last week, Rod Dreher, the American author now living in Hungary, caused a diplomatic scandal that has gone largely unnoticed in his home country. Dreher’s stay in Hungary is apparently financed, at least in part, by the Hungarian taxpayers. Last year, he was a visiting professor at Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), an institution engaged in training future government cadres that operates from public funds provided by the government of Viktor Orbán. The Hungarian edition of Dreher’s most…

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AOC, Ilhan Omar call out the blatant racism of Republicans in fiery floor speeches

AOC, Ilhan Omar call out the blatant racism of Republicans in fiery floor speeches

Rolling Stone reports: The House of Representatives voted to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday. The final tally was 218-211, with one member voting present. The vote was largely seen as revenge for Democrats electing to strip Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) of their committee assignments for suggesting violent action be taken against their political opponents. The vote didn’t stop Democrats from going to bat for their colleague, with Rep….

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Trump won’t commit to backing the Republican nominee in 2024

Trump won’t commit to backing the Republican nominee in 2024

The New York Times reports: Donald J. Trump refused to say he would support the next Republican presidential nominee if it was not him, exposing a potential quagmire along the party’s path toward reclaiming the White House in 2024 and showcasing, once again, the former president’s transactional spin on political loyalty. In a radio interview on Thursday, the conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt asked Mr. Trump if he would support “whoever” wins the party’s nomination next year. Mr. Trump announced his…

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Melting Alaska wants to drill more oil

Melting Alaska wants to drill more oil

Bill McKibben writes: If you wanted an example of the reason we’re still losing the fight to slow the earth’s heating, the proposed Willow oil project in Alaska should suffice. This should be the no-brainer of all time. The ConocoPhillips plan for a massive new oil field development flies in the face of all climate science and reason. It would be producing huge quantities of oil for at least the next three decades—long past the point when scientists say we…

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Petr Pavel: Ukraine deserves to join NATO, says new Czech leader

Petr Pavel: Ukraine deserves to join NATO, says new Czech leader

BBC News reports: Czech President-elect Petr Pavel has told the BBC that Ukraine should be allowed to join Nato “as soon as the war is over”. Mr Pavel, a retired Nato general, said Ukraine would be “morally and practically ready” to join the Western alliance once the conflict had ended. In his first broadcast interview with the international media since his election, Gen Pavel gave a robust defence of Western military support to Kyiv, saying there should be “almost no…

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U.S. expected to send Ukraine longer-range smart bombs in next aid package

U.S. expected to send Ukraine longer-range smart bombs in next aid package

The Wall Street Journal reports: The next batch of U.S. military aid for Ukraine that could be announced as soon as Friday is expected to include longer-range smart bombs for the first time, people familiar with the matter said. The new smart weapon is a Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb, or GLSDB, a precision-guided 250-pound bomb that is strapped to a rocket. It has a range of 94 miles, which is farther than any bomb the U.S. has so far provided…

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Obnoxious candidates lose elections

Obnoxious candidates lose elections

David Frum writes: Let’s say you’re a politician in a close race and your opponent suffers a stroke. What do you do? If you are Mehmet Oz running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, what you do is mock your opponent’s affliction. In August, the Oz campaign released a list of “concessions” it would offer to the Democrat John Fetterman in a candidates’ debate, including: “We will allow John to have all of his notes in front of him…

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The neurological impact of losing social status

The neurological impact of losing social status

Science reports: When two male mice meet in a confined space, the rules of engagement are clear: The lower ranking mouse must yield. But when these norms go out the window—say, when researchers rig such an encounter to favor the weakling—it sends the higher ranking male into a depressionlike spiral. That’s the conclusion of a new neuroimaging study that reveals how the mouse brain responds to an unexpected loss of social status, which has been shown to be a major…

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