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I’ve got two new pieces out. In my first article, for UnHerd, I unpick the announcement made by the Open Society Foundations (OSF), Soros’ powerful philanthropic organisation (now run by his son Alex), that it will be largely withdrawing from Europe. Why is the OSF moving out of the EU? What’s the future of the OSF? What …

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I’ve got a new piece out for UnHerd where I look at the next phase of the West’s strategy in Ukraine: the transformation of the conflict into an Afghanistan-style war of attrition. “A long war”, as NATO’s chief put it. 

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has had massive global economic repercussions — but the worst may be yet to come. I’ve written for UnHerd about the unraveling of two agreements put in place at the start of the Ukraine war to limit the global economic fallout from the conflict: the Black Sea Grain Initiative, whereby Russia allowed Ukraine to continue …

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I’ve got a new article up at UnHerd about the latest BRICS summit, and why it signalled the greatest shift in the global balance of power since World War II — away from the West and towards a post-Western international order already comprising half of the world’s population. I hope you enjoy it.

I’ve got a new article up at UnHerd, where I take a critical look at the increasingly popular concepts of permacrisis, polycrisis and the such.

In my latest column for UnHerd I look at the recent media firestorm surrounding Elon Musk — this time concerning the role of his Starlink satellite system in Ukraine. According to his detractors, Musk thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to use SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet system — which has been providing communications services to Ukraine since the start of …

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A time for “calling in” If the threat posed by the authoritarian right is as existential as it seems, some of us might want to unhunch our shoulders and not be as reflexive about running off potential allies. If Digby’s Monday post about Red Caesarism was not a wake-up call, you just ain’t woke. About that. A repeated theme in Anand Giridharadas’s “The Persuaders” is “Is there room among the woke for the waking?” Do those on the left edge of the left — at the cutting edge of consciousness, if you prefer — possess enough critical mass to achieve the progressive goals they seek: Veteran activists Giridharadas profiles have decided they do not. Success means expanding their movements without compromising them. They’ve learned to “call in” progressives with whom they mostly agree rather than just calling them out for their failings, to focus more on conversion than on hunting heretics. They walk a fine line seeking to coalition with more moderate allies without watering down their own goals. A listserv I once enjoyed blew up when the “call out” fad hit the progressive movement.

As GOP-gerrymandered legislatures vie for Most Authoritarian North Carolina Republicans held the state budget and Medicaid expansion hostage to a failed attempt to expand casino gambling for three months. They finally passed the budget on September 22. Gov. Roy Cooper allowed it to become law without his signature. A veto and inevitable override vote would have been a pointless additional delay. We sounded the 🚨 on this when the NC budget dropped with this hidden language. Now the national media are paying attention. Thanks to @JuddLegum and @tesszeeks for putting some ☀️on what’s happening here in NC. https://t.co/vnl6425yhP — Sen. Graig Meyer (@GraigMeyer) October 2, 2023 There was one teensy rider added. Judd Legum reports in a thread: In other words, something like National Security Letters provided for in the Patriot Act (for those who ain’t). 5. Gov Ops is dominated by Republicans and pursues partisan investigations. It is co-chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R).

QOTD: John Kelly CNN reports: “What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. Of course we knew all this. Kelly has now confirmed it. MAGA cultists believe that all these people who worked for Trump are liars. All of them Tens of millions of deluded people believe it. As Kelly says, “God help us.”

There’s been much less coverage of this actual thing that happened than there was of Trump’s various suggestions that he would do it (followed by him not doing it). https://t.co/qU9h9AWR8Y — Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) October 3, 2023 President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the manufacturers of all of the first 10 prescription drugs selected for Medicare’s first price negotiations have agreed to participate, clearing the way for talks that could lower their costs in coming years and give him a potential political win heading into next year’s election. The drugs include the blood thinner Eliquis, which the White House said was used by more than 3.7 million Medicare enrollees from June of last year through this past May and had an average out-of-pocket cost of $608 per enrollee for 2022. Also included is diabetes treatment Jardiance, which was used by nearly 1.6 million Medicare enrollees and had a 2022 out-of-pocket cost per enrollee of $490.