Low-GDP Russia sticks with what works Heather Cox Richardson spotlights a report warning that Russian disinformation efforts are as vigorous as ever. The report focuses on Ukraine but its implications apply more widely. Russia lacks the West’s resources and collective GDP. So its geopolitical strategy leans heavily on an asymmetrical advantage in information warfare: This means that the strategy that matters most for the Kremlin is not the military strategy, but rather the spread of disinformation that causes the West to back away and allow Russia to win. That disinformation operation echoes the Russian practice of getting a population to believe in a false reality so that voters will cast their ballots for the party of oligarchs. In this case, in addition to seeding the idea that Ukraine cannot win and that the Russian invasion was justified, the Kremlin is exploiting divisions already roiling U.S. politics. Since I am “reading” Barbara McQuade’s “Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America,” Richardson’s post is well-timed.
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Plus, big electric utilities face heat, decarbonization projects take off, feds crack down on corporate misconduct, and Biden’s new judge nominee is blasted for her hedge-fund past.
L-O-S-E-R Donald Trump has hawked “digital trading cards” of himself, Trump gold shoes, and Trump Bibles, a pundit pointed out on Friday. And Trump this and Trump that and Trump vodka he doesn’t drink. Trump is even peddling the hem of his garments like some oleaginous televangelist selling prayer cloths with magical healing powers and weekly “prosperity plans.” The man who once boasted he was so rich he couldn’t be bought advertises every single day that he’s for sale. Perhaps Trump fatigue finally is setting in. He can still sucker the press into covering his daily outrages. He can still draw eyeballs and clicks. MAGA politicians who rode in on his coattails still genuflect before his image. But can he win a presidential election? Politico considers that Trump is losing more than the suburbs: The analysis of GOP presidential primary results from more than 1,000 counties shows warning signs for Trump, especially as Republican voters continued to vote against him in closed primaries after he clinched the nomination. And it makes clear that, while independents and crossover voters may have boosted former U.N.
In Doctor Who, time travel stories to the past were intended to teach kids about History - and featured some of the show's funniest moments.
“We’re not going to clean up your mess,” said analyst Rula Jebreal about PEN America’s recent outreach to prominent Palestinian voices.
The post PEN America in Damage-Control Mode Amid Revolt From Staff and Palestinian Writers appeared first on The Intercept.
Stoneham Mass.; February 29, 2024 – Visitors to Stone Zoo will notice a fuzzy new face in the prehensile-tailed porcupine habitat. On February 22, Prickles, a prehensile-tailed porcupine, gave birth to a porcupette. The baby is the fourth offspring for Prickles, age 10, and dad, Shadow, age 11. The latest prickly addition, who weighed just under 1 pound at birth, is settling in well in the Windows to the Wild space. The baby received its first medical exam on February 23 and appeared bright, healthy and alert. As with any new birth, the veterinary and animal care teams are closely monitoring the mother and baby. The porcupette has been gaining weight, and will continue to be weighed every day during the first month to make sure there is continued healthy weight gain. “We’re excited to welcome another porcupine to the zoo family, and to report that they are all doing great. We’ve observed the porcupette grip branches with its prehensile tail, which is an excellent sign of a strong, healthy baby,” says Pete Costello, the Assistant Curator at Stone Zoo.
Ancient currents seemed to move in concert with a 2.4 million-year dance between the Red Planet and Earth.
The post Do Our Oceans Feel the Tug of Mars? appeared first on Nautilus.
Maryland’s former governor-turned-Senate candidate championed mega-ships like the one that destroyed the Baltimore bridge.
Or, at least, something to keep in mind Josh Marshall makes an observation I haven’t seen anyone else make and while it may not prove to be prophetic it’s certainly worth considering. He starts off by noting that while we’ve known for quite some time that the GOP congress is nota serious governing party, this congress has taken it to an entirely new level. As he says, it’s been on “longrunning shutdown drama” and is now only able to function at all with the GOP Speaker running the chamber with Democratic votes, courting his own ouster every single day. More than a few powerful and well-known GOP Reps are retiring, some walking away mid term. But there’s a lot more: Then you’ve got the seemingly unrelated Trump takeover of the RNC. Let’s set aside the very important issues of corruption, cronyism and creeping strong-manism. There’s every sign that Trump and his family are going to steer significant amounts of the RNC’s money into a legal slush fund for Trump and his various co-defendants. It’s hard to imagine this won’t further depress giving to the RNC. Some donors won’t care.
Trump’s getting worse by the day Dana Milbank: This week, he announced that he is not — repeat, NOT — planning to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He apparently forgot that he had vowed over and over again to do exactly that, saying as recently as a few months ago that Republicans “should never give up” on efforts to “terminate” Obamacare. “I’m not running to terminate the ACA, AS CROOKED JOE BUDEN DISINFORMATES AND MISINFORMATES ALL THE TIME,” the Republican nominee wrote this week on his Truth Social platform. Rather, he said, he wants to make Obamacare better for “OUR GREST AMERICAN CITIZENS.” Joe Buden disinformates and misinformates? For a guy trying to make an issue of his opponent’s mental acuity, this was not, shall we say, a grest look. The previous day, Trump held a news conference where he nailed some equally puzzling planks onto his platform. “We’ll bring crime back to law and order,” he announced.
I guess that’s how MAGA prefers it?
Doesn’t seem to be much question: they’re hitting dams (not to destroy the dam, I suspect, to take out the hydropower and the river crossing point) and various other power infrastructure, night after night.
This is something they hadn’t done before: there had been some attacks, but nothing systematic.
This isn’t a new tactic: in the 90s Gulf War, the US took out nineteen of twenty power plants, which led to water treatment and supply issues, which lead to c. one million deaths from cholera. To this day Iraq doesn’t have enough power. They also directly hit water infrastructure, and they used similar tactics in the 2000s Iraq war.
On Sunday, a new trailer & 8 episode titles will be revealed for Showrunner Russell T. Davies and Ncuti Gatwa & Millie Gibson's Doctor Who.
“Individuals looked to avoid conflict and please political masters,” a Pentagon-backed RAND corporation study finds.
The post Spy Agencies Skewed Intel to Please Trump, and Obama Too appeared first on The Intercept.
A complaint concerning the Australian Signals Directorate to the Inspector General of Security and Intelligence. As a signatory to the 1949 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide Australia has an obligation to prevent genocide (Article I) and an obligation not to be complicit in genocide (Article III(e)). Following the International Court of Justice Continue reading »
Australia, with its brief white history, once had an opportunity to be positively exemplary among nations, conscious and remedying of its colonial and penal acts and origins. It had fewer mistakes to wipe, and more physical riches to value and to share. Yet in a very short time that opportunity and those resources have been Continue reading »
In Asian media this week: Tokyo ready to export ‘lethal weapons par excellence’. Plus: Failed Evergrande in massive accounting fraud; Thailand leads ASEAN on same-sex marriage; American naval dominance is waning; Big-brand carmakers planning EV utes; Not-so-Huggie – low birth rate ends baby-nappy production. The Japanese Government has approved a plan to sell to other Continue reading »