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.
Finland and Sweden had decided to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization following Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and Turkey had initially agreed.[2] If Putin indeed sees NATO as a threat to Russia, according to just about everyone, then one way he has already lost is with the increasing size of that threat. Finland was allowed to join,[3] but Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided to dick with Sweden. That dicking isn’t yet necessarily over—Erdogan might yet decide to do some more—but there is cause for hope that it might be.[4]
Lily Bayer, “Turkey agrees to back Sweden’s NATO membership bid,” Politico, July 10, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/turkey-sweden-nato-jens-stoltenberg-agrees-to-back-swedens-membership-bid/
Emily Rauhala, Kareem Fahim, and Michael Birnbaum, “Turkey drops opposition to Sweden’s NATO bid on eve of summit,” Washington Post, July 10, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/10/turkey-nato-summit-eu-sweden/
Ishaan Tharoor, “A fateful summit 15 years ago hangs over the NATO meeting in Vilnius,” Washington Post, July 10, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/10/bucharest-2008-nato-summit-history-vilnius-putin-georgia-ukraine-membership/
Gilead
Abortion, reproductive freedom and health
Fig. 1. Sign at demonstration in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, May 3, 2022. Janni Rye, via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Erin Marquis, “California Cops Are Sending License Plate Data To Anti-Abortion States,” Jalopnik, July 7, 2023, https://jalopnik.com/california-sends-license-plate-data-anti-abortion-state-1850614610
Natalie Schachar, “Idaho Disbands Maternal Mortality Review Committee Amid National Surge in Deaths,” Truthout, July 8, 2023, https://truthout.org/articles/idaho-disbands-maternal-mortality-review-committee-amid-national-surge-in-deaths/
Andrew Silow Carroll, “A legal scholar sizes up the religious argument against abortion bans,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, July 9, 2023, https://www.jta.org/2023/07/09/ideas/a-legal-scholar-sizes-up-the-religious-argument-against-abortion-bans
Moira Donegan, “She performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim. The right vilified her,” Guardian, July 10, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/10/indiana-abortion-doctor-10-year-old-child-rape
- [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]Daniel Michaels and Jared Malsin, “Turkey Backs NATO Membership for Sweden, Finland,” Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/nato-allies-to-focus-on-threats-from-russia-and-beyond-at-summit-11656408633↩
- [3]Lili Bayer and Leyla Aksu, “Finland cleared to join NATO following Turkish vote,” Politico, March 30, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/finland-join-nato-memeber-turkey-parliament-vote/↩
- [4]Lily Bayer, “Turkey agrees to back Sweden’s NATO membership bid,” Politico, July 10, 2023, https://www.politico.eu/article/turkey-sweden-nato-jens-stoltenberg-agrees-to-back-swedens-membership-bid/; Emily Rauhala, Kareem Fahim, and Michael Birnbaum, “Turkey drops opposition to Sweden’s NATO bid on eve of summit,” Washington Post, July 10, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/10/turkey-nato-summit-eu-sweden/↩