Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
- Aug 8 – Policy By Other Means – By Helmholtz Smith
- Aug 10 – How Ukraine Lost Its Riches
- Aug 12 – Ukraine's Mystic Kherson Offensive Did Not, And Will Not Happen
Related:
With New Weaponry, Ukraine Is Subtly Shifting Its War Strategy – New York Times
> While the approach has been aided by the long-range Western weapons, it has also been encouraged by Western officials. Mr. Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister, said this week that the American and British defense ministers had both offered him a piece of advice: “The Russians use meat-grinder tactics — if you plan to fight them with the same tactics, we will not be able to help you.” <
War Propaganda About Ukraine Starting to Wear Thin – Covert Action Magazine
> Contrary to the best efforts of those that have funded, molded and justified this proxy war the truth has a habit of resurfacing. It will be impossible to “manage” the oncoming tide of reality that will gush out of Ukraine as the western powers refocus on their self-inflicted domestic troubles this winter, Zelensky himself may become the fall guy for the failed NATO escapade in Ukraine. <
Monopolistic nationalisms – Yasha Levine
> Ukrainians started to coming to Canada in the 1890s. Almost all of them came from what is now western Ukraine. They came from the historic regions of eastern Galicia (Halychyna) and Bukovina. These regions were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Few of the immigrants called themselves Ukrainian. As you mentioned, Ukrainian nationalism is a modern phenomenon and while the name Ukraine is ancient, it's only in modern times that it came to be used as the name of a nation. <
- Aug 9 – Trump Raid Is Sabotaging The Democrats' Campaign
Related:
– Did the F.B.I. Just Re-Elect Donald Trump? – New York Times
- Aug 13 – Iran Confirms Drone Sale To Russia – But What Will It Buy In Exchange?
Related:
– Russia Launches Iranian Satellite, a Sign of Closer Cooperation – New York Times
– Iran nuclear talks progress, but is it enough to save the deal? – CSM
– No Arab stake in a war on Iran – The Alt World
—
Other issues:
Salman Rushdie:
- Rushdie Stabbed Roughly 10 Times in Premeditated Attack, Prosecutors Say – New York Times
- Rushdie's Book Is an Insult – By Jimmy Carter – March 5, 1989 – New York Times
> While Rushdie's First Amendment freedoms are important, we have tended to promote him and his book with little acknowledgment that it is a direct insult to those millions of Moslems whose sacred beliefs have been violated and are suffering in restrained silence the added embarrassment of the Ayatollah's irresponsibility. <
Ahab Bdaiwi איהאבּ ܐܝܗܐܒ @abhistoria – 14:10 UTC · Aug 13, 2022
The Satanic Verses controversy has a long and recent past. The incident reached global fame after the 1988 publication of Salman Rushdie’s novel. Long before, however, the topic was fiercely debate in medieval Muslim scholarship. A general thread for non-specialists. 1/
German Greens:
- The German Greens and Unprincipled Lust for Power – Gilbert Doctorow
- Germany’s foreign minister bangs the drum for war in New York speech – WSWS
- Tesla’s German Gigafactory Demonstrates the Difficulty of Delivering Green Industrial Jobs – New Republic
Covid-19:
- Some Light on Long Covid – A cluster of new data Eric Topol
- Omicron is considered a milder coronavirus, but scientists aren’t so sure – LA Times
- Covid has settled into a persistent pattern — and remains damaging. It may not change anytime soon – STAT News
UK Mood Change:
- Britain really is broken and we can’t afford to fix it – Telegraph
- Global world order is changing – Has the US finally lost its grip? – Express
- Restaurant scraps plant-based dishes after becoming fed up with ‘holier-than-thou’ vegans – Telegraph
China:
- The Return of Great Power War – RAND
- China-US decoupling gushes out – Indian Punchline
- Some Implications of the Sino-American Split – Chas Freeman
- Which Asian Countries Support China in the Taiwan Strait Crisis – and Which Don’t? – Diplomat
- Don’t Rule Out Intervention in the Solomon Islands – National Interest aka 'White Man's Burden' Mag
> While Australia has publicly committed to non-intervention, this is a mistake that concedes the initiative to Beijing. the coalition of democracies has two legally and morally valid justifications for intervention in a foreign country. The first is when there is a dire security threat that emerges within its sphere of influence. The second is because liberal democracies have an unprecedented understanding of the world population’s aspirations for human rights-based rule of law and innovation-based prosperity for middle-income countries. <
Empire:
- Modern US Warmongering Is Scaring Henry Kissinger – Caitlin Johnstone
- Biden’s new Africa strategy is shortsighted and stale – Responsible Statecraft
- Report: post-9/11 era one of the most militarily aggressive in US history – Responsible Statecraft
America has conducted nearly 400 interventions since its founding, with more than a quarter in the last 30 years. - The Beginning of History – Surviving the Era of Catastrophic Risk – Foreign Affairs
> We are not used to seeing ourselves as one of history’s first generations; we tend to focus on what we have inherited from the past, not what we could bequeath to the future. This is a mistake. To tackle the task before us, we must reflect on where we stand in humanity’s full lineage. We in the present day recklessly gamble, not just with our lives and our children’s lives but with the very existence of all who are yet to come. Let us be the last generation to do so. <
Use as open (NOT Ukraine) thread …