Opinion: Koch Industries’ valentine to Vladimir Putin
Opinion: D.C.’s attorney general is on the wrong side of transparency
A Jan. 6 pastor divides his Tennessee community with increasingly extremist views
NSA employee charged with disclosing top secret information
Trump’s influence casts shadow in Virginia’s 2nd District race
Why Russia’s military is bogged down by logistics in Ukraine
Will Smith, spit-polished thuggery and disrespect
Opinion: Cawthorn’s ‘orgies’ line shows how right-wing politics can boomerang - "Cawthorn is one of a new breed of Republican representatives who operate in the most fetid gutters of the new political pathways carved by Donald Trump. This class includes worthies like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Matt Gaetz (Fla.): They’re basically professional media provocateurs who also happen to have gotten elected to Congress."
‘Diminishing returns’: What can change Putin’s course in the Ukraine war?
Russian generals are getting killed at an extraordinary rate
Russia’s war in Ukraine galvanizes extremists globally: Some are seeking combat experience that authorities fear could incite violence far from today’s front line - "Now, contrary to the Russian president’s claim that denazification justifies his invasion, neo-Nazis in Germany and beyond aren’t casting their lot with Ukraine alone, say security and intelligence officials. Rather, the conflict has exposed a rift among extremists.
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"Other extremist channels feature pro-Russian communications. A group called Free Saxony recently told its followers that the conflict was 'largely fueled by NATO,' condemning smear campaigns against 'friends of Putin.'
"In some instances, Russian groups have glorified extremist support for the war that is being expressed worldwide. The Russian Imperial Movement, a militant far-right faction designated a terrorist organization by the United States, brought attention on social media to a convoy in Belgrade, Serbia, in which ultranationalists and neo-Nazis flew the Russian flag. “The car rally successfully made its way through Belgrade, reaching at the end the Russian embassy, where the Serbian people once again loudly expressed their support,” read the Russian Imperial Movement’s announcement, according to a report from the Middle East Media Research Institute shared with The Washington Post."
Russian troops’ tendency to talk on unsecured lines is proving costly
Prosecutor who resigned over stalled Trump probe says ex-president committed felonies
Putin's endgame: Will it be stalemate, nuclear war — or regime change in Moscow?: Putin is a "rational actor," says scholar Matthew Schmidt — but he still might use nuclear weapons to avoid defeat - "Now Zelenskyy is being forced to choose between the population he's responsible for that is being held hostage, such as in Mariupol, and the things that population is fighting and dying for, which are independence, territorial integrity and European values and identity."
These Russians fled to Armenia. They don’t know if they’ll ever return
What you need to know about hypersonic missiles, which Biden says Russia used against Ukraine
Pro-business newcomer seeks to challenge Elissa Silverman on D.C. Council
THE AMAZON, UNDONE: DEATH IN THE FOREST: A highway is speeding the destruction of the vital global resource. Along this stretch, the killings have already begun. - "Scientists at the Federal University of Minas Gerais found in 2020 that paving the highway would quadruple deforestation here over the next three decades.
'That would be the end of the forest,' said Carlos Nobre, a climate scientist who focuses on the Amazon."
The truth about gas prices and oil production - "Biden also issued an executive order that paused new oil and gas leases on government land, but within months a federal judge blocked it. After his first year, Biden had outpaced Donald Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands.
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"In 2021, the United States slipped to third place in oil production, behind Russia and Saudi Arabia. That’s mainly because large shale companies committed to Wall Street that they would continue to limit production and return more cash to shareholders — 'an effort to win back investors who fled the industry after years of poor returns,' according to the Wall Street Journal. Scott Sheffield, chief executive of Pioneer Natural Resources, told investors in February: '$100 oil, $150 oil, we’re not going to change our growth rate.'"
Opinion: Could Putin lose? Here’s why the ‘End of History’ author is optimistic. - "Liberalism is a doctrine that deliberately says, 'The purpose of politics is not to serve final ends, like the vision of the good life that’s defined by religious doctrine, because we can’t agree on what those are. So we’ll agree to tolerate people that are very different from us.'
"It means that every liberal society therefore has a weaker sense of community than one based on a single religion or single ethno-nationalist tradition. Liberalism by design doesn’t give people this tightly bound sense of brotherhood or sisterhood with their fellow citizens."
Israel is trying to keep out Russian oligarchs fleeing sanctions — but some have already arrived - "A number of wealthy Russian Jews applied for Israeli citizenship after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, in part to evade resulting U.S. sanctions. In Israel, they benefited from a law exempting new immigrants from declaring or paying taxes on their income for 10 years. The law was used as a loophole for international money laundering and transformed seaside cities such as Tel Aviv, Caesarea and Herzliya into playgrounds for the ultrarich."
Herschel Walker’s business record reveals creditor lawsuits, exaggerated claims
Ukrainian official: Bennett told Zelensky he should take Putin's proposal to end war
Accused Russian Agent Gave to One Politician: Tulsi Gabbard
Opinion: Two questions to ask before joining the culture war on Russia
The Weakness of the Despot: An expert on Stalin discusses Putin, Russia, and the West.
Letters from an American March 8, 2022
Oil, Gas Industry Stockpiled Drilling Leases Before Biden ‘Pause’ - "That 'makes the ‘sky is falling’ rhetoric from the industry and its allies a bit over the top,' Leshy said Thursday. 'Especially since many of the Trump-era lease offerings attracted no bids, or only minimum bids.'
"Oil and gas production was occurring on less than half of the more than 26 million acres of land already under a federal lease by the end of fiscal 2019, according to the most recent federal Bureau of Land Management data, which doesn’t include millions of acres leased in the Trump administration’s final year."
‘Massive fraud scheme’ raises questions about role of nonprofits in distributing pandemic aid
How a Saudi challenge changed the PGA Tour and Phil Mickelson’s legacy
Opinion: Putin and Zelensky underscore how history is shaped by individuals — and character
After Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Moldova worries it might be next
FAQ: What you need to know about transgender children
Opinion: We need a more realistic strategy for the post-Cold War era
U.S. and allies quietly prepare for a Ukrainian government-in-exile and a long insurgency
Why Putin will regret launching this war - "The concepts of territorial integrity and democracy cannot end at NATO's borders. Is the rest of the world to be left to the wolves while there is but one island of security? Russia's attack on Ukraine cannot succeed if we hope to build and sustain the benefits of democracy beyond NATO's borders."
Opinion: The Supreme Court gets a taste of its own medicine
NATO Issue in Sweden, Finland Pits Anxious Public Against Cautious Politicians
Deep Dive: The U.S. military program to arm Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank missiles
Ukraine jets hit Russian column; Russia has used thermobarics, Ukraine military says
Marine Corps launches new littoral unit that US adversaries reportedly hate
Alex Ovechkin in spotlight over Vladimir Putin friendship
In one week of war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have veered history in a new direction
Trump’s border wall has been breached more than 3,000 times by smugglers, CBP records show
Key Asian nations join global backlash against Russia, with an eye toward China
The Forgotten District: Is North Carolina congressman and Trump acolyte Madison Cawthorn exposing the limits of the new celebrity politics? - "John Hood, the chairman of the conservative John Locke Foundation, wrote an editorial calling Cawthorn 'a callow and appallingly ignorant young man who regularly embarrasses conservatives and Republicans.'
"Dale Wiggins, 70, met me at the county administrative office wearing denim overalls and a camouflage shirt. He was missing the next-to-last day of deer hunting season to speak with me. Wiggins considers himself an Eisenhower Republican. In his 13 years as a Graham County commissioner, he has advocated for Medicaid expansion, supported the federal infrastructure bill and maintained a belief in unions and vaccines. It’s hard to believe he and Cawthorn belong to the same political party. 'To my knowledge, national Republicans don’t have a platform,' Wiggins says."
‘Yes, He Would’: Fiona Hill on Putin and Nukes Putin is trying to take down the entire world order, the veteran Russia watcher said in an interview. But there are ways even ordinary Americans can fight back. - "We are already, she said, in the middle of a third World War, whether we’ve fully grasped it or not.
"'Sadly, we are treading back through old historical patterns that we said that we would never permit to happen again,' Hill told me.
"Those old historical patterns include Western businesses who fail to see how they help build a tyrant’s war chest, admirers enamored of an autocrat’s 'strength' and politicians’ tendency to point fingers inward for political gain instead of working together for their nation’s security."
Microsoft detected ‘destructive cyberattacks’ against Ukraine hours before Russian invasion
In just 72 hours, Europe overhauled its entire post-Cold War relationship with Russia - "'We have to accept as Germans that we have to pay for our security in economic terms, that we can no longer hope for Pax Americana — that we can make our business with whoever we want, and somebody else will pay the economic price for our security,' said Franziska Brantner, a state secretary at the German Economy Ministry who was involved in her country’s shift on defense spending and weapons deliveries to Ukraine. 'These days are over.'"
Who is the pro-Moscow Ukrainian mogul Viktor Medvedchuk?
Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin fully loses her patience with Fox’s Ukraine punditry
