Donald Trump
Finances
Dominic Rushe, “Trump Organization’s accountants cut ties, calling years of filings unreliable,” Guardian, February 14, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/14/donald-trump-organization-accountants-mazars-cut-ties
COVID-19 Pandemic, U.S. Civil War
Doctors and charlatans
Anthony Faiola, “Canada’s Trumpian trucker protests show the global radicalization of anti-vaxxers,” Washington Post, February 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/08/trucker-freedom-convoy-radicalization-global/
Renatta Signorini, “Hospital leaders hopeful as covid cases decline, staffing remains an issue,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 9, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/hospital-leaders-hopeful-as-covid-cases-decline-but-staffing-remains-an-issue/
British Broadcasting Corporation, “Covid: Trucker protests may hit Super Bowl, US security agency says,” February 10, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60338090
Leyland Cecco, “Protesters defy order to clear bridge connecting Canada and US,” Guardian, February 11, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/12/protesters-defy-order-to-clear-bridge-connecting-canada-and-us
Amanda Coletta et al., “Police prepare to clear ‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters on Ontario border bridge. Tear gas used on Champs-Élysées crowd,” Washington Post, February 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/12/canada-ottawa-trucker-protest-freedom-convoy/
Miguel Marquez, Jason Hanna, and Kim Berryman, “Canadian police begin attempt to clear protesters blocking Ambassador Bridge to US,” CNN, February 12, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/americas/canada-truckers-protests-covid-saturday/index.html
Kayla Tarnowski and Julio Cesar Chavez, “Key bridge to U.S. remains closed as Canada police clear protesters,” Reuters, February 13, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-protesters-police-deadlocked-tensions-simmer-blocked-border-bridge-2022-02-13/
Brian Wilk, “US Freedom Convoy met with support as they make stop in Erie,” YourErie.com, February 13, 2022, https://www.yourerie.com/news/local-news/us-freedom-convoy-met-with-support-as-they-make-stop-in-erie/
Miriam Berger et al., “U.S.-Canada border crossing reopens after six-day blockade by ‘Freedom Convoy’ protesters,” Washington Post, February 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/13/canada-freedom-convoy-border-blockades-truckers/
Amanda Coletta et al., “Trudeau invokes Emergencies Act against Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ trucker protest,” Washington Post, February 14, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/14/canada-ottawa-trucker-protests-bridge/
Paul Vieira and Kim Mackrael, “U.S.-Canada Bridge Reopens After Police Clear Protest,” Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/canadian-police-begin-to-clear-protesters-disrupting-cross-border-bridge-traffic-11644759497
Ukraine
Joe Biden and his administration have repeatedly and consistently said that the U.S. would not be sending troops to defend Ukraine against a Russian invasion[1] and I can’t imagine U.S. popular opinion supporting such an operation, so I’ve been dismissive of war talk on Twitter. Here’s the problem:
This is not going to be a war of Ukraine and Russia. This is going to be a European war. A fully-fledged war.[2]
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky does not support his claim with evidence[3] and Russia already occupies some Ukraine territory from previous incursions[4] that have not (yet) sparked wider conflagrations.
Zelensky has also sought to downplay the threat of an imminent Russian invasion, apparently attempting to preserve domestic stability.[5] So while seeming dissonant, the threat of a wider European war[6] also seems like it could involve the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which would draw in the U.S.
I still don’t know what to think here. Jon Allsop pointed out—as far as I know he made this point first[7]—that there’s a propaganda war and this point now seems to be widely accepted.[8] That argues strongly against taking anything being said, including the latest about the U.S. closing its embasssy in Kyiv,[9] terribly seriously. The trouble there is the downside risk, indeed a probability that ‘hysteria’ is much too strong a word for fears that Russia will invade.
Jon Allsop, “The one person who knows what Putin is thinking,” Columbia Journalism Review, February 14, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/putin_ukraine_state_media.php
Vivian Salama and Alan Cullison, “U.S. Is Closing Kyiv Embassy, Relocating Diplomatic Operations to Western Ukraine,” Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-is-closing-kyiv-embassy-relocating-diplomatic-operations-to-western-ukraine-11644864455
Nahal Toosi to Global Insider list, “A thin line between love and war,” Politico, February 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/global-insider/2022/02/14/a-thin-line-between-love-and-war-00008565
Billionaire space race
Jackie Wattles, “A billionaire CEO is on track to go further into space than any human in 50 years,” WTAE, February 14, 2022, https://www.wtae.com/article/billionaire-ceo-further-space-any-human-50-years/39078712
- [1]Julia Ioffe, “Inside the Biden-Putin Chess Match,” Puck News, January 25, 2022, https://puck.news/inside-the-biden-putin-chess-match/; Andrew Roth and Julian Borger, “US says it will send troops to eastern Europe if Russia invades Ukraine,” Guardian, December 6, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/06/us-says-it-will-send-troops-to-eastern-europe-if-russia-invades-ukraine; Nahal Toosi to Global Insider list, “A thin line between love and war,” Politico, February 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/global-insider/2022/02/14/a-thin-line-between-love-and-war-00008565↩
- [2]Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted in Jake Epstein and John Haltiwanger, “Ukraine’s president warns a Russian invasion would spark a ‘fully-fledged’ European war,” Business Insider, February 1, 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-president-warns-russia-invasion-could-spark-european-war-2022-2↩
- [3]Jake Epstein and John Haltiwanger, “Ukraine’s president warns a Russian invasion would spark a ‘fully-fledged’ European war,” Business Insider, February 1, 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-president-warns-russia-invasion-could-spark-european-war-2022-2↩
- [4]British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine crisis: ‘Russians’ occupy Crimea airports,” February 28, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26379722; Andrew Higgins, Michael R. Gordon, and Andrew E. Kramer, “Photos Link Masked Men in East Ukraine to Russia,” New York Times, April 20, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/world/europe/photos-link-masked-men-in-east-ukraine-to-russia.html; Eugene Rumer and Andrew S. Weiss, “Ukraine: Putin’s Unfinished Business,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, November 12, 2021, https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/11/12/ukraine-putin-s-unfinished-business-pub-85771; Teri Schultz, “Russia has been warned: So will NATO defend Ukraine?” Deutschewelle, December 1, 2021, https://www.dw.com/en/russia-has-been-warned-so-will-nato-defend-ukraine/a-59983502; Alison Smale and Steven Erlanger, “Ukraine Mobilizes Reserve Troops, Threatening War,” New York Times, March 1, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/world/europe/ukraine.html↩
- [5]Jake Epstein and John Haltiwanger, “Ukraine’s president warns a Russian invasion would spark a ‘fully-fledged’ European war,” Business Insider, February 1, 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-president-warns-russia-invasion-could-spark-european-war-2022-2; Yuras Karmanau, “Ukrainian leaders: Stay calm, Russian invasion not imminent,” Associated Press, January 25, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-russia-diplomacy-europe-baltic-sea-44821c52f54b5e927d86ea28420cb2cf↩
- [6]Jake Epstein and John Haltiwanger, “Ukraine’s president warns a Russian invasion would spark a ‘fully-fledged’ European war,” Business Insider, February 1, 2022, https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-president-warns-russia-invasion-could-spark-european-war-2022-2↩
- [7]Jon Allsop, “The information war over Ukraine,” Columbia Journalism Review, January 25, 2022, https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/ukraine_russia_america_britain_media.php↩
- [8]Nahal Toosi to Global Insider list, “A thin line between love and war,” Politico, February 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/global-insider/2022/02/14/a-thin-line-between-love-and-war-00008565↩
- [9]Vivian Salama and Alan Cullison, “U.S. Is Closing Kyiv Embassy, Relocating Diplomatic Operations to Western Ukraine,” Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-is-closing-kyiv-embassy-relocating-diplomatic-operations-to-western-ukraine-11644864455↩