Last week's post on Moon of Alabama:
- Mar 6 – Why Bakhmut Is Falling
- Mar 11 – Ukraine Is Lying About Casualty Ratios To Justify Holding Of Bakhmut
Related:
– Defending Ukraine’s ‘highway of life’ — the last road out of Bakhmut – Washington Post
– I Teach International Relations. I Think We’re Making a Mistake in Ukraine. – Max Abrahms – Atlantic
The U.S. risks provoking Russian aggression.
- Mar 7 – Nord Stream Attack – White House Counters Hersh's Reputation With Weak 'Intelligence'
- Mar 8 – Nord Stream Attack – 'Officials' Throw More Chaff To Hide The Real Perpetrators
Related:
– A global mystery: What’s known about Nord Stream explosions – AP
– Nord Stream mystery: the tanker Minerva Julie spent 7 days idling near the attack site – Business Insider
Note: AIS can be faked so it may have been a different ship.
- Mar 10 – Mediated By China Iran And Saudi Arabia Restore Ties – There Are Winners And Losers
Related:
– Chinese-Brokered Deal Upends Mideast Diplomacy and Challenges U.S. – New York Times
– Saudi Deal With Iran Surprises Israel and Jolts Netanyahu – New York Times
– China-brokered Iran-Saudi deal raises red flags for US – The Hill
– China steps up, a new era has dawned in world politics – Indian Punchline
> The US’ humiliating exclusion from the centre stage of West Asian politics constitutes a “Suez moment” for the superpower, comparable to the crisis experienced by the UK in 1956, which obliged the British to sense that their imperial project had reached a dead end and the old way of doing things—whipping weaker nations into line as ostensible obligations of global leadership —was no longer going to work and would only lead to disastrous reckoning. <
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Other issues:
Silicon Valley Bank:
- SVB Chief Pressed Lawmakers To Weaken Bank Risk Regs – Levernews
- Silicon Valley Bank employees received bonuses hours before government takeover – CNBC
- Silicon Valley Bank Used Former McCarthy Staffers to Weaken Regulations, Lobby FDIC – Intercept
Two senior aides to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy were among the top lobbyists for the bank at the center of a new financial crisis - Fed Hawkishness, Crypto Implosion, and Private Equity Subscription Lines of Credit Imperil Silicon Valley Bank and Freak Out Bank Stock Investors – Naked Capitalism
- Saturday Night Thoughts on the Need for a Lender of Last Resort – Brad DeLong
- Bailout talk roils Washington after Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse – Washington Post
Government help for large depositors could ignite a political firestorm — but failing to act could crush some tech start-ups - US weighs new fund to backstop deposits if more banks fail, Bloomberg News says – Reuters
Aukus:
- Caitlin Johnstone: Spreading War Fever in Australia – Consortiumnews
- Concern eye-watering cost for Australia to go nuclear could lead to higher taxes – News.au
- To Protect Itself From U.S. Hostility Australia Decides To Buy U.S. Submarines (Sep 16, 2021) – Moon of Alabama
See also this and this MoA piece.
Twitter Files:
- 1. TWITTER FILES: Statement to Congress – Matt Taibbi
THE CENSORSHIP-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX - EXPOSED: America's Secret Censorship-Industrial Complex – Michael Shellenberger
U.S. government officials, agencies, and contractors are violating the First Amendment - FTC Twitter Investigation Sought Elon Musk’s Internal Communications, Journalist Names – WSJ
- Hearing Brings Attention To US Agency's Effort To Compel Twitter To Identify Journalists Working On 'Twitter Files' – Dissenter
- Jim Jordan Leads Hearing Targeting Govt Suppression Of Free Speech On Twitter Feat. Matt Taibbi (video, 140min) – Forbes
- With the Twitter Files, Democrats Support Government Censorship of Lawful Speech – Bracing Views
- Post-decency politics: House Democrats use a hearing to attack free speech and a free press – The Hill
Use as open (not Ukraine related) thread …
