Новости за 24.03.2022

There is rarely bad news in a district attorney’s office. Prosecutors almost never lose at trial because 90 to 95 percent of criminal cases end in plea deals. They report so little data on their performance—on charging decisions, sentencing patterns, or even misconduct—that experts refer to the average prosecutor’s office as a “black box.” Americans mostly learn about what their local district attorney does on their behalf through press conferences and campaign ads for their reelection.

Investigative journalist and bestselling author Craig Unger has spent decades researching the profound connection between figures on the American right and autocrats and authoritarians of various stripes around the world. His most recent book, American Kompromat: How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery, explores the relationships between Donald Trump and other conservative U.S. politicians and Russia (and even the Soviet Union, since in Trump’s case the relationship goes back that far). Читать дальше...

A week ago, Vice President Kamala Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, tested positive for Covid-19, prompting Harris to cancel several planned appearances. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki dropped out of President Biden’s upcoming trip to Brussels after she too tested positive for the virus. There have been serious upticks in cases in both Europe and Asia in recent weeks, prompting lockdowns in China; new cases in the United Kingdom have jumped more than 80 percent in the last two weeks. Читать дальше...

The headline in The Atlantic captures the moment: “It’s a Great Time to Hoard Nickels.” Over the last few years, global industry has been facing a nickel shortage because the metal is in hot demand as a key component in electric-car batteries. Since Russia provides about 20 percent of the world’s supply of high-grade nickel, Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has now triggered a global supply crisis. Earlier this month, nickel prices soared 90 percent on the London Metal Exchange. As a result of this price volatility... Читать дальше...

In the mid-1990s, an American college student named Max Perelman was traveling through Sichuan, China, more than 1,500 miles from Beijing. While holed up in the southwestern province during the winter months, he encountered a group of Tibetan travelers heading to their capital, Lhasa. The group embraced the young American, sharing food from their rucksacks, perhaps over a fire or in a hostel. The Tibetans had apparently never traveled far from their village before nor had they seen technology like Perelman’s camera. Читать дальше...

There aren’t many phrases that can strike fear into the hearts of an oil executive. “Demand destruction” might be one of them.

It was easy to make fun of RT America. Funded by the Russian government, the English-language news outlet seemed to worry little about journalistic standards and often engaged in bald propaganda. Now that it’s gone, it’s hard to mourn it. But the closure of RT America also signals the end of an era of more open communication between Russia and the United States. On episode 45 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene discuss the aims of Russia’s experiment in American news... Читать дальше...