Imperialism
Russia
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.
Ukraine’s resistance to Putin’s invasion has demolished the idea of Russian invincibility. Everyone knows Russia is not the unbeatable empire Moscow was at pains to portray itself as both outwardly and inwardly. And just as Russia is trying to claim Ukraine as its own, other countries are eyeing chunks of Russian land, spotting an opportunity as the war shows just how weak the Russian army is. Nations within Russia are waiting for the right time to oust the bully. The Kremlin should be wary of promoting a world where it is acceptable to seize territories through force; it only invites others to join in and claim parts of Russia for themselves.[2]
There is a new blog post entitled, “Vladimir Putin’s ‘real’ red line and Joe Biden’s incremental boldness on Ukraine; do the two meet? It has been substantively revised to reflect Svitlana Morenets’ op-ed in the Telegraph,[3] which I absolutely think you should read. Along with my blog post, of course.
Julia Ioffe, “Yalta 2023: Planning for Life After the Russian Invasion,” Puck, May 30, 2023, https://puck.news/yalta-2023-planning-for-life-after-the-russian-invasion/
Richard Milne, Adam Samson, and Felicia Schwartz, “West steps up pressure on Turkey to admit Sweden into Nato,” Financial Times, May 30, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/2954fa63-4590-4570-96e6-962c85957904
Bojan Pancevski, Laurence Norman, and James Marson, “Ukraine and Allies Plan Peace Summit Without Russia,” Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-and-allies-plan-peace-summit-without-russia-72341551
Max Seddon and Christopher Miller, “Vladimir Putin vows retaliation for drone attack on Moscow,” Financial Times, May 30, 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/cdde0e44-0e90-41c0-a3be-e5f6849b706b
Patrick Tucker, “Estonia Will Ask For a Clearer Path for Ukraine to Join NATO,” Defense One, May 30, 2023, https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2023/05/estonia-will-ask-clearer-path-ukraine-join-nato/386879/
Nataliya Vasilyeva, “James Cleverly backs Ukraine’s right to attack Russia after Moscow’s ‘Beverly Hills’ hit by drones,” Telegraph, May 30, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/05/30/moscow-uav-drones-ukraine-kremlin-putin-civilain-attack/
Svitlana Morenets, “Russia may be devoured by its neighbours,” Telegraph, May 31, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/31/russia-may-be-devoured-by-its-neighbours/
John Hudson and Dan Lamothe, “Biden shows growing appetite to cross Putin’s red lines,” Washington Post, June 1, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/01/ukraine-f-16s-biden-russia-escalation/
Gilead
Fig. 1. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[4] fair use.
Caleb Ecarma, “The Numbers Are In: Elon Musk Has Been a Disaster for Twitter,” Vanity Fair, May 31, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/05/elon-musk-twitter-valuation
Speaker of the House of Representatives, 2023
Fig. 1. Photograph credited to Office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, date inconsistent with title but given as November 9, 2022, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
The thinking when Kevin McCarthy had won the speakership is that the deal he’d made left him at the mercy of his most hardline members, that he was doomed from the outset.[5] And that’s just completely not how the debt limit deal played:
Instead of kowtowing to his most far-right members, [Kevin] McCarthy was forced by the reality of divided government to take a divide-and-conquer strategy on must-pass [debt ceiling] legislation: Cut a deal with Democrats that does just enough to win over a clutch of conservatives with Freedom Caucus cred, and hope the remaining critics lack the collective willpower to tank the agreement.[6]
Sarah Ferris and Olivia Beavers, “How Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene helped McCarthy get his debt deal through,” Politico, June 1, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/31/mccarthy-debt-limit-deal-gop-divisions-00099567
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Bess Levin, “Report: Trump’s Lawyer Revealed Some Unfortunate Things for Trump in Classified-Docs Case,” Vanity Fair, May 30, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/05/donald-trump-evan-corcoran-documents-investigation
Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley, “Team Trump Scrambles to Unmask the Feds Investigating Him,” Rolling Stone, May 30, 2023, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-fbi-justice-department-purge-1234743318/
Martin Pengelly, “Donald Trump reiterates pledge to scrap birthright US citizenship,” Guardian, May 31, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/31/donald-trump-birthright-us-citizenship
Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid, and Kaitlan Collins, “Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House,” CNN, May 31, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/31/politics/trump-tape-classified-document-iran-milley/index.html
- [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]Svitlana Morenets, “Russia may be devoured by its neighbours,” Telegraph, May 31, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/31/russia-may-be-devoured-by-its-neighbours/↩
- [3]Svitlana Morenets, “Russia may be devoured by its neighbours,” Telegraph, May 31, 2023, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/31/russia-may-be-devoured-by-its-neighbours/↩
- [4]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
- [5]Natalie Andrews, “What’s in Kevin McCarthy’s Deal With Conservatives,” Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/articles/whats-in-kevin-mccarthys-deal-with-conservatives-11673188873; Julia Ioffe, “Kevin McCarthy’s Permanent Crisis,” Puck News, January 10, 2023, https://puck.news/kevin-mccarthys-permanent-crisis/; Eric Lutz, “Kevin McCarthy Waved Away January 6. Now He Has Left Us With No Congress,” Vanity Fair, January 6, 2023, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/01/kevin-mccarthy-tries-to-save-speaker-bid-on-january-6-anniversary; Nolan D. McCaskill, “Kevin McCarthy wins House speakership on 15th vote,” Los Angeles Times, January 6, 2023, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-01-06/mccarthy-speaker-jan-6-anniversary; David Morgan and Moira Warburton, “U.S. House adopts rules sought by hardliners to control McCarthy,” Reuters, January 9, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-vote-rules-that-will-constrain-mccarthys-power-2023-01-09/; Tina Nguyen, “Kevaggedon and the Discontents,” Puck News, January 11, 2023, https://puck.news/kevaggedon-the-discontents/; Tara Palmeri, “The McCarthy-Scalise Detente,” Puck News, January 6, 2023, https://puck.news/the-mccarthy-scalise-detente/; Tara Palmeri, “Motion to Vacate Roulette,” Puck News, January 12, 2023, https://puck.news/motion-to-vacate-roulette/; Tara Palmeri, “McCarthy’s Horse-Trading Nightmare,” Puck News, February 2, 2023, https://puck.news/mccarthys-horse-trading-nightmare/↩
- [6]Sarah Ferris and Olivia Beavers, “How Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene helped McCarthy get his debt deal through,” Politico, June 1, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/31/mccarthy-debt-limit-deal-gop-divisions-00099567↩