Offering asides, recommended links, blogworthy quotations, and more, In Brief is the Northwest Progressive Institute's microblog of world, national, and local politics.
“In phone calls to friends and relatives at home, Russian soldiers gave damning insider accounts of battlefield failures and civilian executions, excoriating their leaders just weeks into the campaign to take Kyiv.,” The New York Times reports.
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“Crude oil, wheat and lumber are among commodities that have tumbled recently. Shipping rates on major trade routes are sinking from record highs. And used-car prices, which surged during the past two years, are showing early signs of tailing off,” The Globe and Mail reports.
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Watch a British humorist react to the news that Boris Johnson is resigning as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
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“Donbas could put the Russians back on a successful footing or bring them to what is essentially a defeat,” says General Sir Richard Barrons, the former commander of the UK’s Joint Forces Command.
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Watch President Biden deliver remarks on the united efforts of the free world to support the people of Ukraine, hold Russia accountable for its brutal war, and defend a future that is rooted in democratic principles.
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“They can’t get their hands on money or securities or goods or services. They are outcast and they will over the shorter term freeze to death,” financial services veteran George Ball said in comments to The Washington Post.
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“The war came and the money ran out — the money ran out sooner than the war ended,” said Sergei Aleksashenko.
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“The Beijing Olympics… are a big bowl of bad, unfolding in a country ruled by fear and oppression,” the Boston Globe columnist writes.
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“The Russian leader may have thought NATO was in disarray and the U.S. in retreat, but we’ve already seen it’s quite the opposite,” David Rothkopf writes in a piece for The Daily Beast.
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“A deadly virus can’t be ignored, jailed, exiled or co-opted — nor can it be locked down without great economic cost. That puts President Vladimir Putin of Russia in a bind. The pandemic, perhaps his hardiest foe to date, has starkly revealed the limits of his power,” writes Alexey Kovalev, the investigations editor at Meduza, an independent Russian news outlet.
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“The betrayal of America’s professed principles was the friendly fire of the war on terror,” Carlos Lozada writes.
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“After years of ignoring Afghanistan, many close to the Biden White House — and the president himself — feel some major outlets are adopting a pro-war stance,” Huffington Post’s Daniel Marans writes.
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“Siberia is so vast that huge fires can burn without threatening any major settlements, transportation systems or infrastructure — but are still part of a swath of infernos that together are larger than all the other blazes around the world,” Robyn Dixon reports.
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“GETTR has existed as a Chinese language social media network linked to Guo Wengui,” Politico reports. “It was unveiled as a new platform by Jason Miller on Thursday.”
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“The United States’ favorability rating grew at least 23 percentage points from last year in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, and a majority of respondents in all four view the country positively,” The Washington Post reported, summarizing findings from a new survey by Pew Research.
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“A new generation is confronting the region’s longstanding conflict in a very different context, with very different pressures, from their parents’ and grandparents’ generations,” The New York Times reports.
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“I’m surprised that tech bosses can still appear clueless about the reasons behind the questioning of their industry,” Shira Ovide writes.
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“Exports of chocolate to Europe have turned into a nightmare of paperwork and delays, making fine British chocolate scarce in Europe,” The New York Times reports.
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In this almost seven minute segment, The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper gets up close and personal with the American fascist cult that worships Donald Trump.
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“Cumulus Media, which employs some of the most popular right-leaning talk-radio hosts in the United States, has told its on-air personalities to stop suggesting that the election was stolen from President Trump — or else face termination,” The Washington Post reports.
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“White supremacist groups have carried out a majority of ‘terrorist plots and attacks’ this year, according to a report by a think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies,” the New York Times reports.
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