Новости за 09.03.2022

The Republican Party’s retreat from meaningful policymaking in recent years hasn’t just ensured that robust and productive debates over governance and ideas have faded from the scene. The vacuum produced by the lack of substantive activity has created opportunities for a new breed of troll lawmaker to fill it with a never-ending display of “own the libs” spectacles. The newly minted members of Congress from the MAGA-QAnon set—Madison Cawthorn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert—have been this movement’s leading lights... Читать дальше...

Not many Americans watching the tragic events unfold in Ukraine have quite the perspective of John Tefft. The longtime diplomat and expert on Eastern Europe has served as U.S. ambassador to Russia (2014–2017), Ukraine (2009–2013), Georgia (2005–2009), and Lithuania (2000–2003), with experience ranging back to the days of the Soviet Union. He’s even been in the room with Vladimir Putin on several occasions, taking notes in meetings with former Secretaries of State John Kerry and Rex Tillerson, respectively... Читать дальше...

CERAWeek 2022 by S&P Global, this year’s annual confab for oil and gas executives, features a lot of two things: reverent references to the crisis in Ukraine, and campy energy-themed rewrites of Broadway showtunes. And one rewrite in particular, on Tuesday, seemed to capture the industry’s relief at its change in fortunes, judging by the laughs it got in the Hilton ballroom where attendees gathered Tuesday night: “Don’t cry for me hydrocarbons.”

Donald Trump did an interesting thing over the weekend. The man who called Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine an act of “genius” when it was launched was appearing before major GOP donors in New Orleans when he suddenly started singing a very different tune, musing that the United States put Chinese flags on American F-22s and then “bomb the shit out of Russia” in an attempt to pit China and Russia against each other.

Last Friday, as Russian troops seized control of Europe’s nuclear power plant and Russian missiles rained down on civilian areas across Ukraine, Russia’s parliament passed a new law banning “fake news” about the country’s armed forces and its invasion of Ukraine. In a particularly Orwellian twist, stating the truth plainly—that Russia is invading Ukraine and that a war is raging—is now illegal. Those deemed guilty face up to 15 years in prison.

The Supreme Court handed defeats to Republican state lawmakers in two states on Tuesday night by refusing to overturn court-drawn maps for the 2022 midterm elections. The ruling is a blow to conservative efforts to reassert control over the once-in-a-decade redistricting process in two key battleground states. But while they lost the battle on Tuesday, they may ultimately end up winning the war in a future case if some of the court’s conservative justices have their way.

Over the past few years, car accident deaths in the United States have spiked dramatically. Journalists and commentators have been quick to point to pandemic-induced stress and anxiety to explain the increase. But is that account too pat? On episode 44 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with three guests about road design, automobile regulation, and what’s wrong with blaming crashes on reckless drivers. Guests include Charles Marohn, the author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer; Jessie Singer... Читать дальше...

It has been two years since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, stamping an official label on the horror and uncertainty engulfing the globe. Amid the pain and heartbreak of rampant disease, disability, and death in the past two years, we’ve learned a lot: The coronavirus is airborne; it can spread even if you don’t have symptoms; it can mutate to become more contagious and virulent; we could prevent a great deal of grief with vaccines and treatments. And as we begin the third year of this global pandemic... Читать дальше...

When Switzerland in late February signed on to European Union sanctions against Russia, the American press reported it as an unprecedented departure from five centuries’ strict neutrality. “Setting aside a deeply rooted tradition of neutrality,” was how The New York Times described it. Reuters called it “a sharp deviation,” and The Washington Post called it “a sharp break.”

A strong case can be made that Vladimir Putin’s blood-soaked invasion of Ukraine has galvanized the American people like no foreign event since the 1989 breaching of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin’s mad-tyrant drive has led to an outpouring of emotional support for the beleaguered Ukrainian people that is reminiscent of American attitudes in 1940 during the London Blitz.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy was direct about Western culpability. The symbol of his country’s courageous resistance to Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, President Zelenskiy attacked NATO for rejecting his calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, in a video in early March. “All the people who will die starting from this day will also die because of you,” he said. “Is this the NATO we wanted?”