my favorite responses on social media are the ones where someone takes the time to write "nobody cares." i want each of these people to imagine me leaning out from the screen and whispering, succulently, into his ear: i know
It ain't just Trump, folks. NYT says it's time to pony up, U.S. allies: "A more secure world will almost certainly require more military commitment from allies like Canada, Japan, and Europe, which have long relied on American taxpayers to bankroll their protection."
UN Int'l Court of Justice has accepted Russia’s counterclaim in case concerning alleged genocide in the Donetsk & Luhansk, finding it procedurally admissible, ie it will be examined alongside Ukraine’s claim that Moscow used false genocide allegations as an invasion pretext. 📄.pdf
Harper's truly has some of the most enjoyable writing around. This from James Vincent on the development and maybe grand future of humanoid robots is a delight.
For today’s newsletter, I looked at Andrey Pertsev’s latest article on Russia’s political-strategist goings-on. It turns out the Kremlin is keen to sic its most unpredictable, crafty spin doctors on races abroad rather than its own elections. Go figure!
A heckuva opening sentence, given that the E.U. is miles from securing even internal support for the "reparations loan": "Japan has rebuffed the EU’s offer to join its plan to use frozen Russian state assets to fund Ukraine — dashing the bloc's hopes of securing global support for the initiative."
lol, France is concealing details about which of its institutions hold €18B in frozen Russian assets & how accrued interest is being used, citing client confidentiality. This is the 2nd-largest accumulation of frozen Russian assets in Europe. Franco-Belgian solidarity!
Yevgeniya Khassis says she's done a lot of repenting while in prison, but she definitely seems to regret Anastasia Baburova's murder more than the killing of Stanislav Markelov.
Owen Matthews op-ed hammers Kaja Kallas for "magical thinking and inflexibility" that exacerbates the "fatal Western disunity" that animates her direst warnings. Choosing "ideological purity over practical diplomacy" has resulted in Europeans getting no seat at the negotiating table.
