Electric vehicles
Fig. 1. “A Toyota bZ4X electric sport utility vehicle: EVs currently on the market are fitted with batteries that use liquid lithium-ion electrolytes.” Photograph by Kiyoshi Ota, n.d., via Financial Times, fair use.
Michael Acton, “Apple cancels secretive electric car project in shift to focus on AI,” Financial Times, February 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/78bc9f62-8450-45c0-8c59-c5d87a122825
Human Science
Inquiry
Quantitative
Artificial intelligence idiocy
Fig. 2. Image credited to David Blaikie from Hampshire, UK, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Michael Acton, “Apple cancels secretive electric car project in shift to focus on AI,” Financial Times, February 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/78bc9f62-8450-45c0-8c59-c5d87a122825
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 3. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[1] fair use.
The backlash over Gaza has also thrust foreign policy into the heart of the race for the White House, along with other top issues like immigration, the economy, the future of US democracy, and the character of the candidates.
At 1am Eastern time on Wednesday, with 69 per cent of Democratic votes counted across Michigan, Biden had won 81 per cent, while 13 per cent had picked “uncommitted”. Long-shot candidates Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson each had about 3 per cent.[2]
The 13 percent is a drop from the 16 percent earlier reported, I think shortly after 9 pm last night.[3] Having nonetheless attained ten times the votes the “uncommitted” campaign had set as a goal,[4] the question now will be whether the outcome will be sufficient to push Biden to stop Binyamin Netanyahu’s genocide.
Michigan, which has one of the highest state Muslim populations in the US, is also a key battleground for Mr Biden that he won by a margin of less than three percentage points in 2020.
Democrats will also be concerned by results in Ann Arbor, a university town, where about a third of votes were “uncommitted”, suggesting the backlash over Gaza was particularly strong among young voters.[5]
In the last two presidential elections, uncommitted voters have represented a fraction of Democratic primary voters in Michigan — 1.2 percent in 2020 and 1.79 percent in 2016, according to state data. An exception is 2008, when Hillary Clinton was the only major Democratic presidential candidate to appear on the primary ballot in Michigan and supporters of other candidates, including Barack Obama, used the same strategy to oppose her. Some 40 percent of Democratic primary voters voted uncommitted that year. During Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, 20,833 Democratic primary voters (10.69 percent) voted uncommitted. . . .
In Dearborn, Mich., described as the Arab capital of North America, more than 74 percent of Democratic primary voters voted uncommitted, according to initial results. Citing that number, Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, wrote on social media: “It’s not business as usual in Michigan. The experts and DC insiders are once again wrong.”[6]
[T]he Uncommitted movement, also called Listen to Michigan, had set a goal of drawing 10,000 votes — the margin by which Donald Trump won the state in the 2016 presidential election. By early Wednesday, with most votes counted, more than 100,000 people had voted Uncommitted.[7]
Ibrahim Dahman, “Palestinian Authority prime minister and government resign,” CNN, February 26, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/26/middleeast/palestinian-authority-prime-minister-resigns-intl/index.html
Nina Lakhani, “Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians, UN rights expert says,” Guardian, February 27, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/27/un-israel-food-starvation-palestinians-war-crime-genocide
Ishaan Tharoor, “Netanyahu’s ‘day after’ plan for Gaza is unviable,” Washington Post, February 27, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/02/27/post-war-gaza-plan-netanyahu-israel-day-after-future-abbas/
Kelsey Ables and Andrew Jeong, “Over 100,000 Michigan primary votes were ‘uncommitted.’ What does that mean?” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/02/28/uncommitted-votes-meaning-michigan/
Aaron Blake, “Four takeaways from the Michigan primary,” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/27/4-takeaways-michigan-primary/
Eric Bradner, “Biden and Trump will easily win Michigan primaries, CNN projects,” CNN, February 28, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/27/politics/biden-trump-michigan-primaries/index.html
Tony Diver, “Michigan primary results: Joe Biden wins but young and Arab Democrats rebel over Israel,” Telegraph, February 28, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/02/28/michigan-primary-results-polls-vote-republicans-trump-haley/
Lauren Fedor and James Politi, “Joe Biden faces dissent over Gaza as he wins Michigan Democratic primary,” Financial Times, February 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/4dbd9253-5147-4bbd-9e09-276e48e3f799
Ron Kampeas, “‘Uncommitted’ campaign protesting Biden’s Israel support nets 100,000+ votes in Michigan primary,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 28, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/02/27/politics/campaign-protesting-bidens-support-for-israel-celebrates-as-tens-of-thousands-vote-uncommitted-in-michigan-primary
Lebanon
Fig. 4. “Sabra & Shatila Massacre 1982 Memorial in Sabra, South Beirut,” photograph by Bertramz, September 2009, via Wikimedia Commons,
Emanuel Fabian, “IDF strikes deeper in Lebanon than for years after Hezbollah shoots down military drone,” Times of Israel, February 26, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/hezbollah-shoots-down-idf-drone-over-south-lebanon/
Gianluca Pacchiani, “No longer afraid of sparking war, Israel takes gloves off against IRGC in Syria,” Times of Israel, February 27, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/no-longer-afraid-of-sparking-war-israel-takes-gloves-off-against-irgc-in-syria/
Russia
Ukraine
Fig. 5. “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,[8] fair use.
Russian President Vladimir Putin still casts the conflict as a proxy battle with the West that Moscow claims is propping up Kyiv. But Western governments have been at pains to maintain a plausible distance from the war, no matter their robust support for Ukraine’s defense. Leaked documents last year confirmed that some NATO countries — including the United States, Britain and France — had deployed small numbers of special forces and military advisers to Ukraine in unspecified roles probably related to logistical support work and training. The United States’ CIA has funded and partially equipped a sprawling network of spy bases across Ukraine that aid Kyiv’s efforts to track Russian troop movements and target the Kremlin’s prized military assets.
Whatever these footprints, the deeper reality of the war in Ukraine is that there already are plenty of foreign fighters on both sides. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, thousands of sympathetic volunteers — largely from the West and post-Soviet states — enlisted under Kyiv’s banner. The international legion that emerged has been deployed across the front lines and in some of the war’s most grinding battles. It comprises a motley cast of ideological die-hards, grizzled warriors and mercenaries for hire. Some have earned social media fame for their impassioned dispatches from the war zone. At least 50 American citizens — the majority former U.S. military veterans — have been killed in Ukraine.[9]
Ishaan Tharoor explains that a lot of the foreign forces in Ukraine are fighting not for Ukraine or Russia, but rather to put food on the table.[10] It’s a bit disingenuous. Emmanuel Macron was almost certainly talking[11] about government-level decisions to send in their militaries, not volunteers or mercenaries.
Fig. 6. An exemplar for poor kids. Statue in front of Sto-Rox High School in Stowe Township. Photograph by author, February 8, 2023.
But inadvertently, Tharoor effectively points out why there must be poor people: The elites need cannon fodder for their contests over which of them will control which bits of territory and the people and resources thereon. The desperate will fight because they need the money. Therefore, there must be desperate people.
The elites, by contrast, do not need intellectuals who will challenge these “King of the Hill” games. Therefore, we will emphasize physical, rather than intellectual, education. Therefore, we will valorize strength and brutality. Therefore, we will fight whenever our masters command it.
Leila Abboud and Henry Foy, “Macron says sending western troops to Ukraine cannot be ruled out,” Financial Times, February 27, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/83b8a80d-ab22-47fc-bbbb-6b1fd9df68ba
Laura Kayali and Claudia Chiappa, “Russia: Conflict with NATO certain if Western troops go to Ukraine,” Politico, February 27, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-conflict-with-nato-inevitable-if-western-troops-go-to-ukraine/
Ishaan Tharoor, “Foreign troops in Ukraine? They’re already there,” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/02/28/foreign-troops-ukraine-theyre-already-there/
Pennsylvania
Higher Education
Fig. 7. The Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh (“Pitt”). Photograph by “RealNordyNed,” December 17, 2015, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Bill Schackner, “Gov. Shapiro releases specifics of higher education restructuring plan in Pittsburgh visit,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 27, 2024, https://triblive.com/news/education-classroom/gov-shapiro-continues-to-push-higher-education-restructuring-in-pittsburgh-visit/
- [1]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [2]Lauren Fedor and James Politi, “Joe Biden faces dissent over Gaza as he wins Michigan Democratic primary,” Financial Times, February 28, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/4dbd9253-5147-4bbd-9e09-276e48e3f799↩
- [3]Tony Diver, “Michigan primary results: Joe Biden wins but young and Arab Democrats rebel over Israel,” Telegraph, February 28, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/02/28/michigan-primary-results-polls-vote-republicans-trump-haley/↩
- [4]Ron Kampeas, “‘Uncommitted’ campaign protesting Biden’s Israel support nets 100,000+ votes in Michigan primary,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 28, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/02/27/politics/campaign-protesting-bidens-support-for-israel-celebrates-as-tens-of-thousands-vote-uncommitted-in-michigan-primary↩
- [5]Tony Diver, “Michigan primary results: Joe Biden wins but young and Arab Democrats rebel over Israel,” Telegraph, February 28, 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/02/28/michigan-primary-results-polls-vote-republicans-trump-haley/↩
- [6]Kelsey Ables and Andrew Jeong, “Over 100,000 Michigan primary votes were ‘uncommitted.’ What does that mean?” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/02/28/uncommitted-votes-meaning-michigan/↩
- [7]Ron Kampeas, “‘Uncommitted’ campaign protesting Biden’s Israel support nets 100,000+ votes in Michigan primary,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 28, 2024, https://www.jta.org/2024/02/27/politics/campaign-protesting-bidens-support-for-israel-celebrates-as-tens-of-thousands-vote-uncommitted-in-michigan-primary↩
- [8]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↩
- [9]Ishaan Tharoor, “Foreign troops in Ukraine? They’re already there,” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/02/28/foreign-troops-ukraine-theyre-already-there/↩
- [10]Ishaan Tharoor, “Foreign troops in Ukraine? They’re already there,” Washington Post, February 28, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2024/02/28/foreign-troops-ukraine-theyre-already-there/↩
- [11]Leila Abboud and Henry Foy, “Macron says sending western troops to Ukraine cannot be ruled out,” Financial Times, February 27, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/83b8a80d-ab22-47fc-bbbb-6b1fd9df68ba↩