Music: Lars Danielsson — ‘I Tima’
Syrian mercenaries join Russian ranks in Ukraine as Putin calls in Assad’s debt
Martin Chulov reports: After 11 years of war, the destruction of towns, cities and much of the Syrian military, Bashar al-Assad’s army has launched a recruitment drive. But the recruits are not fresh from bootcamps and will not fight on the home front. They are the vanguard of what could be the biggest state-backed mercenary force in the world. Within days, Syrian troops could be deployed to reinforce the stalled Russian frontlines in Ukraine, where Vladimir Putin is about to…
Music: Kurt Elling — ‘Nature Boy’
U.S. intel indicates Russian officers have had doubts about full scale Ukraine invasion
CNN reports: Intercepted communications obtained by the US have revealed that some Russian officials have worried that a large-scale invasion of Ukraine would be costlier and more difficult than Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin leaders realize, according to four people familiar with the intelligence. Three of the sources said those officials include intelligence and military operatives. The officials have also grumbled about their plans being discovered and exposed publicly by western nations, two of the sources said, citing…
Music: Shankar Tucker — ‘Kashti’ ft. Nikhita Gandhi
Why the fine words of Biden’s UN speech rang hollow
Fred Kaplan writes: President Joe Biden delivered his first address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday morning, a speech of fine words but discordant resonances. He hailed “the noble mission of this institution” and reaffirmed the central role of “partners and allies,” declaring that “our own success is bound up with others succeeding as well.” The speech must have struck many in the chamber as a refreshing contrast to Donald Trump’s final address to the Assembly, a seven-minute drone…
Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, internal documents show
The Wall Street Journal reports: About a year ago, teenager Anastasia Vlasova started seeing a therapist. She had developed an eating disorder, and had a clear idea of what led to it: her time on Instagram. She joined the platform at 13, and eventually was spending three hours a day entranced by the seemingly perfect lives and bodies of the fitness influencers who posted on the app. “When I went on Instagram, all I saw were images of chiseled bodies,…
A planned Biden executive order aims to tilt the job market toward workers
Neil Irwin writes: According to an increasingly influential school of thought in left-of-center economic circles, corporate mergers and some other common business practices have made American workers worse off. The government, this theory holds, should address it. It appears that school has a particularly powerful student: President Biden. This week, the White House is planning to release an executive order focused on competition policy. People familiar with the order say one section has several provisions aimed at increasing competition in…
Photographing the unseen
Some time ago, I added an Instagram widget to the sidebar here, adding some visual content to the minimalist design of this site. Anyone who’s interested to learn more about my photography and why I include it here, can do so by reading this.
Message to email subscribers – updated – again
July 4: Sorry for the recent interruption in email updates. They will resume on July 12. Meanwhile, I’m still updating the site as usual. June 10: Since starting War in Context and then Attention to the Unseen, everyone who signed up to receive email updates has received these via Feedburner (which was acquired by Google in 2007). Since its acquisition, Feedburner has suffered death by a thousand cuts — the latest of which is that they are about to end…
After dissident vanishes in Canada, Saudi exiles fear they are now in jeopardy
The Washington Post reports: The mysterious disappearance last month of a Saudi dissident living in Montreal after visiting the kingdom’s embassy in Ottawa has sent fear rippling across Canada’s community of Saudi exiles. While the gravest concerns were allayed when Ahmed Abdullah al-Harbi, 24, reappeared last week in Saudi Arabia, his fellow activists suspect he was coerced to return to the kingdom and are afraid he is providing Saudi authorities with information that jeopardizes them and their families. These fears…
Music: Maati Baani ft. Bhutta Khan — ‘Rumaal’
QAnon believers grapple with doubt, spin new theories as Trump era ends
The Washington Post reports: Followers of the extremist ideology QAnon saw their hopes once again dashed Wednesday as President Trump left Washington on the final day of his presidency, without any of the climactic scenes of violence and salvation that the sprawling set of conspiracy theories had preached for years would come. As Trump boarded Air Force One for his last presidential flight to Florida, many QAnon adherents — some of whose fellow believers had earlier this month stormed the…
Music: Maati Baani — ‘Baawariya’ ft. Shankar Tucker
Banned by Facebook: Trump campaign ad employed pro-fascist symbol in attack on antifa
CNN reports: Facebook on Thursday said it had taken action against ads run by President Trump’s re-election campaign for breaching its policies on hate. The ads, which attacked what the Trump campaign described as “Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups,” featured an upside-down triangle. The Anti-Defamation League said Thursday the triangle “is practically identical to that used by the Nazi regime to classify political prisoners in concentration camps.” “We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate….
Houston police chief to Trump: Please, keep your mouth shut if you can’t be constructive
Houston police chief Art Acevedo responds to President Trump telling governors to “dominate” protesters saying that if Trump if can’t be constructive to stay quiet.