Ukraine
Fig. 1. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[1] fair use.
Julia Ioffe notes that a number of Vladimir Putin’s gambles in launching his war on Ukraine have gone wrong, including, somewhat surprisingly, his gamble that winter and Europe’s need for Russian natural gas would force a capitulation. She focuses on the latter, as it’s newsworthy and covers ground she hasn’t much done before,[2] but I’m thinking more attention needs to be paid to the larger picture. Putin just isn’t getting anything right with this war and, for a man with imperial delusions,[3] that seems like a rather striking failure that doesn’t look to get any better with Europe and the U.S. sending tanks that are far superior to their Russian counterparts to bolster Ukraine’s military.[4]
Rachel Koning Beals, “Russia-Ukraine war leaves Doomsday Clock closest to ‘crisis’ hour of midnight in report’s 76-year history,” Bloomberg, January 24, 2023, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/russia-ukraine-war-leaves-doomsday-clock-the-closest-to-crisis-midnight-in-reports-76-year-history-11674573997
Michael R. Gordon and Gordon Lubold, “U.S. Leans Toward Providing Abrams Tanks to Ukraine,” Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/poland-formally-requests-german-permission-to-send-tanks-to-ukraine-11674558492
Julia Ioffe, “The Putin Super Power Myth,” Puck, January 24, 2023, https://puck.news/the-putin-super-power-myth/
John Mecklin, “A time of unprecedented danger: It is 90 seconds to midnight,” Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, January 24, 2023, https://thebulletin.org/doomsday-clock/current-time/
Karen DeYoung, “U.S. will supply M1 tanks to Ukraine, as Germany approves Leopards,” Washington Post, January 25, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/25/germany-leopard-tanks-abrams-ukraine/
Bojan Pancevski and Bertrand Benoit, “Germany to Send Tanks to Ukraine, With U.S. Set to Follow,” Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-agrees-to-send-tanks-to-ukraine-11674643787
Illiberalism
Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.
Ishaan Tharoor, “Netanyahu drags Israeli democracy into the illiberal mire,” Washington Post, January 25, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2023/01/25/israel-illiberal-democracy-right-netanyahu/
Pennsylvania
Speed limit enforcement
Fig. 1. “A Pennsylvania state trooper checks motorists’ speed using a radar gun.” Unattributed photograph credited only to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.[5]
There is a new blog post entitled, “Reckless driving as routine.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Harrisburg, let cops have tools to enforce speed limit,” January 25, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2023/01/25/speed-limit-enforcement-radar-local-police-pennsylvania/stories/202301240114
So-called ‘ridesharing’
Drivers
Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.
I have only spoken with a few passengers, but it looks like @Uber is now taking a 60% cut on all fares. They are still leaving drivers with nothing to live on.
— David Benfell, PhD (Pub.),@Benfell@hcommons.social (@BenfellPhD) January 24, 2023
David Benfell, “I have only spoken with a few passengers, but it looks like . . .,” Twitter, January 24, 2023, https://twitter.com/BenfellPhD/status/1617976960344547328
So what do @Uber drivers get for the 60% cut that Uber takes from their pay?
We get to drive to and through dangerous neighborhoods where people are shooting at each other, face road rage from other drivers, take abuse and threats from an at-best useless @UberSupport.
— David Benfell, PhD (Pub.),@Benfell@hcommons.social (@BenfellPhD) January 25, 2023
David Benfell, “So what do @Uber drivers get . . .,” Twitter, January 25, 2023, https://twitter.com/BenfellPhD/status/1618179699913678850
- [1]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [2]Julia Ioffe, “The Putin Super Power Myth,” Puck, January 24, 2023, https://puck.news/the-putin-super-power-myth/↩
- [3]Julian O’Shaughnessy, “I’m reconquering just like Peter the Great, insists Vladimir Putin,” Times, June 10, 2022, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/president-putin-creates-police-department-to-impose-martial-law-xqhlt79fn; Reuters, “Hailing Peter the Great, Putin draws parallel with mission to ‘return’ Russian lands,” June 9, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/hailing-peter-great-putin-draws-parallel-with-mission-return-russian-lands-2022-06-09/↩
- [4]Bojan Pancevski and Bertrand Benoit, “Germany to Send Tanks to Ukraine, With U.S. Set to Follow,” Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-agrees-to-send-tanks-to-ukraine-11674643787↩
- [5]Associated Press, “Senate OKs local police using radar for speed enforcement,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, June 23, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/senate-oks-local-police-using-radar-for-speed-enforcement/↩