Kindness benefits both giver and receiver, so why are some people much better at putting others first?

Kindness benefits both giver and receiver, so why are some people much better at putting others first?

The Observer reports: It was freezing cold the day Neil Laybourn saw a man in a T-shirt sitting on a high ledge on Waterloo Bridge and made a split-second decision that would change both their lives for ever. “It’s hard to pin down what it was that made me stop… but it would have played on my mind if I hadn’t,” he said. “That’s not how you live your life is it? You don’t just walk past when you see…

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Putin’s war is driving thousands of Russians into exile

Putin’s war is driving thousands of Russians into exile

The New York Times reports: They lined up at ATM’s, desperate for cash after Visa and Mastercard suspended operations in Russia, swapping intelligence on where they could still get dollars. At Istanbul cafes, they sat quietly studying Telegram chats or Google Maps on their phones. They organized support groups to help other Russian exiles find housing. Tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Istanbul since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, outraged about what they see as a criminal war,…

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Russia asked China for military and economic aid for Ukraine war, U.S. officials say

Russia asked China for military and economic aid for Ukraine war, U.S. officials say

The New York Times reports: Chinese officials have consistently voiced sympathy for Russia during the Ukraine war by reiterating Mr. Putin’s criticism of NATO and blaming the United States for starting the conflict. They have refrained from any mention of a Russian “war” or “invasion,” even as they express general concern for the humanitarian crisis. They mention support for “sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a common catchphrase in Chinese diplomacy, but do not say explicitly which nation’s sovereignty they support —…

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Kremlin views Tucker Carlson as ‘essential’ propaganda asset

Kremlin views Tucker Carlson as ‘essential’ propaganda asset

Mother Jones reports: On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson. “It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine,…

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U.S. won’t negotiate Ukraine-related sanctions with Russia to save Iran nuclear deal

U.S. won’t negotiate Ukraine-related sanctions with Russia to save Iran nuclear deal

The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. won’t negotiate exemptions to Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and could try to strike a separate accord excluding Moscow, a senior U.S. official said, a diplomatic effort complicated by an Iranian missile attack on Iraq that sent American troops rushing for shelter. With one of President Biden’s top foreign-policy goals imperiled, the U.S. official said Washington would start exploring alternatives to the deal over the next week…

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Ukraine war becomes a cudgel in Republican Party’s internal conflict

Ukraine war becomes a cudgel in Republican Party’s internal conflict

Reuters reports: The war in Ukraine has opened a new front in the U.S. Republican Party’s civil war, with party primary candidates vying to run in the November midterm elections attacking each other for past comments praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. In Senate and House of Representatives races in at least three states, Republican candidates have been put on the defensive over comments describing Putin as intelligent, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a “thug” and Ukraine as not worth defending….

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Government is flailing, in part because liberals hobbled it

Government is flailing, in part because liberals hobbled it

Ezra Klein writes: There’s a strange story unfolding in Berkeley, Calif., right now. That may present as a tautology, but bear with me. This one provides a window into a problem that endangers us all. An organization called Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, led by a former investment banker, sued the University of California, Berkeley for adding too many students, too quickly, without careful enough consideration of how bad students are for the environment. If the number of students at U.C. Berkeley…

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Even worms feel pain

Even worms feel pain

David P. Barash writes: Who feels more pain, a person or a cat? A cat or a cockroach? It’s widely assumed animal intelligence and the capacity to feel pain are positively correlated, with brainier animals more likely to feel pain, and vice versa. But what if our intuition is wrong and the opposite is true? Perhaps animals that are less intelligent feel not only as much pain but even more. Thinking about pain is psychologically challenging. It can be, well,…

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Dysfunction and self-deception stalk Kremlin but who will stand up to Putin?

Dysfunction and self-deception stalk Kremlin but who will stand up to Putin?

The Guardian reports: Earlier this week, Russia’s defence ministry acknowledged that young conscripts had been sent into battle and some taken prisoner. The admission, notable in itself given Russia’s careful attempts to control the narrative about the war, came just a day after President Vladimir Putin assured his nation in a video address that conscripts “are not participating and will not participate” in the conflict. The backtracking prompted some to question whether the Russian leader lied in his statement or…

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Don’t blame the West for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Don’t blame the West for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

David Remnick writes: Stephen Kotkin is one of our most profound and prodigious scholars of Russian history. His masterwork is a biography of Josef Stalin. So far he has published two volumes––“Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and “Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941.” A third volume will take the story through the Second World War; Stalin’s death, in 1953; and the totalitarian legacy that shaped the remainder of the Soviet experience. Taking advantage of long-forbidden…

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New cyber tool circumvents censorship sending texts to Russians about the war in Ukraine

New cyber tool circumvents censorship sending texts to Russians about the war in Ukraine

The Wall Street Journal reports: People around the world are using a new website to circumvent the Kremlin’s propaganda machine by sending individual messages about the war in Ukraine to random people in Russia. The website was developed by a group of Polish programmers who obtained some 20 million cellphone numbers and close to 140 million email addresses owned by Russian individuals and companies. The site randomly generates numbers and addresses from those databases and allows anyone anywhere in the…

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China is squirming under pressure to condemn Russia. It can’t hold out forever

China is squirming under pressure to condemn Russia. It can’t hold out forever

Richard McGregor writes: Beijing has not backed away from its core position, that Moscow has “legitimate security interests” in Ukraine. And like Moscow, state media in Beijing has labelled the US “an empire of lies”. Still, there is little doubt that Beijing is squirming under pressure, not just from the US, but also from Europe, Japan and Australia, to condemn the invasion. As Evan Feigenbaum, a former US government official and now head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,…

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Russia’s long history of bombing hospitals

Russia’s long history of bombing hospitals

Kareem Shaheen writes: In 2017, I visited the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun two days after it was hit by a chemical attack by the Syrian regime. After visiting the site of the attack, I went to a local hospital that had received many of the victims but that was evacuated because it came under sustained aerial bombardment shortly after the attack. Locals and militias, who had endured bombing by both the Assad regime and the Russians over the months…

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The U.S. supports illegal annexations by Israel and Morocco. Why the hypocrisy?

The U.S. supports illegal annexations by Israel and Morocco. Why the hypocrisy?

Peter Beinart writes: Last December, as Russian forces encircled Ukraine, the Biden administration and its allies delivered a stark warning to Vladimir Putin: “Any use of force to change borders is strictly prohibited under international law.” In January, as Russian troops massed even in even greater numbers, Secretary of State Antony Blinken added that “the inviolability of frontiers” was among the “guiding principles for international behavior.” Last month, after Russia’s parliament recognized the independence of two self-declared republics Moscow had…

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