THANKS, VLAD!:

One particularly illuminating example is the speed at which Europe is moving to radically rethink its energy supplies. Long beholden to Russian imports of natural gas and oil, Europe is now grappling with the risks inherent in relying on energy from an adversary, to say nothing of the lingering feeling that every gas bill paid, every fill-up at the pump, is more fuel for Putin's war machine. Europe is quickly seeking ways to slash its dependence on Russian energy, rethinking the time horizons of climate targets, restarting coal burning power plants, building new liquid natural gas (LNG) import terminals, and securing new LNG supplies from the U.S., North Africa and the Middle East, as well as from its own domestic energy production.

The wheels of this energy transformation in Europe are already turning, but the reality is that this change will be a long-term project. New regasification and storage facilities will need to be built, and difficult decisions still lie ahead. It'll be a long slog and prices for consumers seem sure to rise. And while the arrival of spring has eased some urgency around supplies, some in Europe, such as the Italian government, have warned that while unlikely, it's not inconceivable that they might need to ration gas supplies to companies if Russian gas deliveries are stopped before they can be fully replaced.

HE READ ABOUT IT ON HUNTER'S LAPTOP:

The Kremlin is once again using Fox News host Tucker Carlson to justify Russia's invasion of Ukraine, this time promoting his recent segment pushing the Ukrainian biolabs conspiracy theory.

Fox News personalities have repeatedly defended Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and pushed pro-Kremlin talking points. The Kremlin has amplified Carlson and Fox Nation host Lara Logan, and Mother Jones recently reported that a leaked Kremlin memo said "it is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts" of Carlson.

On March 29, Carlson used his Fox News program to once again push the false claim about biolabs in Ukraine.

The Kremlin was clearly pleased with the segment and has been promoting it online through its various media channels.

IT'S A PURITAN NATION:

Overall, 61 percent of voters supported the text of the bill. Just 26 percent were opposed.

Among parents, support was even higher: 67 percent. Shockingly, support for the bill's text even cut across party lines, with 55 percent of Democrats supporting it versus 29 percent opposing.

And 67 percent of voters also said that it is inappropriate to discuss the concept of "gender identity" with children in kindergarten through third grade, including a plurality of Democrats.

THERE IS NO RUSSIA:

The timing could not be worse for the Russian president Vladimir Putin, already bogged down in his catastrophic invasion of Ukraine and now being forced to decide whether to commit personnel and equipment to maintain the status quo in the Caucasus. Kyiv has even welcomed the distraction, with the secretary of its security council, Oleksiy Danilov, saying that "things seem to really be escalating in Nagorno-Karabakh... if second fronts open up for the Russian Federation, as a result of the decisions it has made throughout its short history, these will have a measurable effect in helping us."

In theory, Moscow is obliged to protect Armenia, as a member of its Collective Security Treaty Organisation defence pact. But with the reputation of its armed forces shattered as a result of its botched offensive in Ukraine, it is looking like a less reliable partner with each passing day. Gegham Stepanyan, the human rights ombudsman for the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh - as Armenians refer to Nagorno-Karabakh - told the New Statesman that "a peacekeeping mission based only on Russia's political influence is vulnerable". According to him, "the Azerbaijani side is trying to question the reputation of the Russian peacekeepers and their mission."

Putin's woes, however, present an opportunity for another regional power looking to assert itself. The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has presented himself as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv, with a series of peace talks being held in Istanbul and Antalya. However, simultaneously, he has openly provided Ukraine with the same advanced Bayraktar attack drones that Azerbaijan has used in Nagorno-Karabakh, helping them to take out vast numbers of Russian tanks and troop transports. Across eastern Europe and the Caucasus, Erdoğan is unpicking the webs of Russian influence that have held fast for more than a century and is moving in to fill the gaps.

The threat of war now looms large in Armenia, a country where almost everyone knows a soldier who lost their life in Nagorno-Karabakh or a family displaced by the fighting. For the Kremlin, though, this could just be the start of a series of problems on its doorstep, with once-frozen conflicts beginning to thaw as a result of Russia's army having spread itself so thin over Ukraine.

In nearby Georgia, a series of videos have been shared widely online calling for an assault on Abkhazia, a region of the country occupied by Moscow-backed rebels since the country's war with Russia in 2008. Hundreds of Georgian fighters are believed to have gone to fight in Ukraine against Russia and, in one clip, armed volunteers near the front lines told those back home: "we urge you to take up arms and strike at the enemy. We will never have such a chance again."

On the other side of the globe, just a week after the invasion began, Japan doubled down on its claims to the Kuril Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. The archipelago has been governed from Moscow after it was captured by the Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War, despite Tokyo's claims to sovereignty. With Moscow increasingly isolated on the world stage, the Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi sought to secure support for reopening the row, saying Russia's control of the islands contradicted "international order".

Putin's miscalculation might have begun in Ukraine but, with foes from the Zangezur Mountains to East Asia smelling weakness and desperation, it is unlikely to end there.

NO ONE FLIES AEROFLOT:

Data indicating the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Covid-19 vaccine is less effective than an mRNA vaccine at preventing death in elderly people in Hong Kong is a red flag for mainland China, where infections are climbing and a vast swathe of the population is inoculated with the inactivated shot.

Almost 3% of people aged 80 or older who got two doses of the inactivated CoronaVac shot died after getting infected, compared with 1.5% of those who were given the BioNTech SE vaccine, according to a preliminary analysis conducted by the Centre for Health Protection. Getting just one dose of either offered less protection, with 5.8% of those given CoronaVac and 3.4% of those given the mRNA shot subsequently dying.

The data is based on the first 5,435 deaths in the current outbreak and showed that the overall fatality rate was just 0.09% for those who had gotten two vaccine doses regardless of age.

Hong Kongers can pick between the two vaccines, and about 80% of its oldest residents have received Sinovac. The group as a whole remains severely under-vaccinated and accounts for more than 70% of total deaths. Sinovac didn't immediately respond to requests for comment via telephone and WeChat.

It's a concerning trend for mainland China, which hasn't approved an mRNA shot and where only half of the population aged 80 and older are fully vaccinated. The nation is already grappling to contain its worst outbreak in two years without causing severe disruptions to its economic growth, even as officials turn to typical Covid Zero measures like mass testing and strict lockdowns. 

The prospect of elderly people lacking sufficient protection through vaccination risks further delaying the reopening of the world's second largest economy. 

LET MY PEOPLE GO:

Myths reflect the essence of a group's religious feeling and core identity -- and for Jews, the central mythical motif is that of exile.

In the major biblical stories, exile is referenced through the metaphor of separation from a physical land -- exile from the Garden of Eden, exile in Babylon, and exile in Egypt. The metaphor of the faithful wife exiled from her husband is another common expression of exile found in Jewish texts, including poems, prayers, and hymns.

To give but a few examples, In Song of Songs, a beloved young bride is consumed in search for her husband with whom she has been physically separated: "I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer". Bound together in a mutually devoted relationship, yet physically apart, their love is dominated by a sense of yearning, "O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you; if you find my beloved; tell him I am sick with love". In a poem by Yehuda Halevi titled "The day the depths were turned to dry land", he writes: "Then return, marry her [Israel] a second time; Do not continue to divorce her; Cause the light of her sun to rise, that the; Shadows shall flee away". In dark times, when tragedy had befallen the Jews, we find the analogy of marriage reimagined in terms of widowhood, as in this poem by the medieval Rabbi Isaac ben Judah ibn Ghiyyat: "I am bound and troubled as one living in widowhood; I yearn intensely, O Lord, for the Day of Comfort".

Themes of exile appear repeatedly throughout Jewish texts, and its significance has been pondered by Jewish thinkers from antiquity to the present. In the mystical school of thought, exile in the biblical texts is interpreted as a metaphor for the human condition. Bound to the earth, separated (or exiled) from God's realm, yet also bound to God in a spiritual union. Philosopher Martin Buber describes this as the essential conflict in Jewish religious life and thought -- the feeling of existing in perpetual dialogue between heaven and earth, endlessly yearning to enter the transcendent sphere in which the two worlds meet. In the Kabbalah, the "Promised Land" is interpreted as a metaphor for this place; not a physical land, but a spiritual place in the heart, which can only be entered by mystical means.

There is often a quest in myths such as these -- the quest to reunite with the beloved, or to re-enter the land from which one was exiled. The mystical interpretation of these quests is that they refer to a spiritual event that must take place within ourselves in order to resist the inner decay that material society demands of us. It is a type of inner slavery, which we are commanded by God to transcend.

VLADISTAN HAS NO FUTURE:

Russia's continuous economic growth during President Vladimir Putin's first two terms in office, powered by rising energy prices, set the stage for a swell of migration from countries like Tajikistan, where remittances typically equate to between a quarter and two-fifths of GDP.

But successive economic setbacks, most notably the double whammy of Western sanctions over the Kremlin's first invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and the oil price crash, have led to tighter margins for guest workers feeding families back home.   

Since Russian forces poured into Ukraine the ruble has fallen by around a fifth, with Western forecasters predicting an economic contraction of between five and 10 percent this year and a continuing recession in 2023. 

The World Bank in March forecasted that the real value of remittances sent to Tajikistan would fall by 22 percent this year, scrapping its pre-invasion forecast of a two percent rise.

For Safarov, the bleak economic outlook in Russia was compounded by police raids on his and other migrants' places of residence, which he said grew in frequency in the build-up to the invasion.  

"We need to stop going to Russia in search of work. We need to find a path to work in Europe," Safarov told AFP.

AT THE eND OF hISTORY:

Living in a stable democracy leads to a longer and more fulfilling life, the data shows:

Health: If you live in a democracy that's at least 25 years old, you're likely to live 14 years longer than people in autocracies, a University of British Columbia study found. Babies in mature democracies are 78% less likely to die in childbirth.

Wealth: Democratization boosts a nation's wealth 20% over 25 years.

Education: Democratization bumps citizens' enrollment in secondary education by 70%.

RAGE, RAGE AGAINST THE EFFICIENCY OF THE LIGHT:

The share of wind and solar in the world's electricity production has exceeded 10 per cent for the first time, as China and Japan joined some 50 different countries to exceed that level in 2021.

The new assessment, from the UK-based Ember, notes that wind and solar are the fastest growing sources of electricity, and if maintained at current rates could deliver enough capacity to help cap average global warming at around 1.5°C.

BUT USEFUL CANNON FODDER:

People who imagine themselves inheritors of their traditions usually overlook these.

They lost. It's an incredibly romantic "going out in a blaze of glory" loss, I'll admit, but they still lost, in part because their obsession with turning out perfect Soldiers impeded their ability to turn out sufficient numbers of fighters who were "good enough."

Alliances enabled their successes. Do you remember the romantic and heroic tale of the last stand of the 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans? Probably not. They get overlooked in distorted Hollywood version of the story but the battle would have been far different were it not for the contributions of other Greek City States who fought alongside them.

Terrain overcame flaws in their training and tactics. The narrow pass at Thermopylae allowed the Spartans to fight in a Phalanx, standing in rows faced directly against their enemies. Spartans believed this to be, not only tactically, but morally superior. Their blind obedience to this doctrine was their undoing when the circumstances didn't favor it.

They had no culture other than war. Let's face it, killing babies who don't appear to have great potential as warriors is a dramatic statement of cultural values but it doesn't lead to advances in science, agriculture, or the arts. All of which are also necessary for a culture to reach peak military potential. It also led to Sparta degenerating into tyranny at times.

BEFORE A CRISIS MAKES MORE SENSE:

The surging and volatile oil and gas prices created by Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine highlights the urgent need for the US to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and natural gas and accelerate its move to cleaner energy sources. Never before has it been this clear that fossil fuels are not only harming our environment, but our economy as well.

Rising oil, gasoline and natural gas prices are particularly harmful for small businesses and low-income households. Over the past year, the compounding effects of supply chain issues, ballooning demand and Russia's war in Ukraine has increased the price of gasoline from $2.85 to $4.23 a gallon. For low- and middle-income families, this increase is significant because they have less discretionary income to absorb rising prices. And volatile energy prices create challenges beyond what these households pay at the pump or on their utility bills. For example, unexpected spikes in the price of energy increase the odds that a low-income household will have to reduce purchases of other essential goods, including food, because they cannot easily reduce their consumption of gasoline in the short term.

A transition to clean energy is a transition to cheaper energy. By powering our families with green energy made in America, we can create jobs, lower monthly bills, improve reliability and insulate working Americans from price hikes.

THE ANGLOSPHERIC ADVANTAGE:

Sceptics still want to learn about things. The word 'sceptic' comes from the Greek word skepsis, meaning 'enquiry'. Sceptics run experiments, test hypotheses, submit and do peer review, and the like. Sceptics follow the rules and methods of science and scholarship, and they laugh with their scholarly friends at the unfounded pronouncements of populists. But sceptics think that part of being intellectually honest is admitting the limits and flaws of one's knowledge.

Looking back in time, we see that people should have been more sceptical about, say, the risks and rewards of using certain chemicals. In the 1960s, doctors prescribed thalidomide to treat morning sickness, and subsequently discovered that the drug caused birth defects. Americans sprayed more than a billion tons of the insecticide DDT on crops and lawns before the US government banned it in 1972; a recent study has shown that DDT's health effects can persist for generations. In 2009, the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer had to pay a $2.3 billion fine for illegally promoting drugs such as Geodon, an anti-psychotic, and Zyvox, an antibiotic. Scientific consensus and common sense have been mistaken in the past. Sceptics press us to consider the possibility that experts and the majority of the public might be wrong today.

We cannot say that sceptics always favour democracy over other political regimes, yet scepticism has an egalitarian impulse insofar as it withholds from anybody the status of sage or philosopher-king. Democratic societies cultivate a healthy scepticism of political, scientific or cultural verities. Reading Sextus Empiricus today gives us argumentative strategies, and confidence, to resist anybody who claims to speak on behalf of truth or reality.

THE ORIGINALIST:

HOW YA GONNA KEEP 'EM DOWN ONCE THEY LEARN TO READ...:

The economic consequences of the Protestant Reformation were first brought to the academic community's attention by sociologist Max Weber. Living in Prussia, Weber noticed that Protestant cities tended to be more affluent than Catholic ones, leading him to reflect on the possible correlations between Protestantism and prosperity. 

In his 1905 book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber argues the Reformation and economic success were causally linked. His thesis has been confirmed by many studies, including one by economists Sascha Becker and Ludger Woessman, who looked at data from 452 counties in Prussia from 1871 and concluded that Protestants had a significantly higher income than Catholics. 

Although the literature concurs with the crux of Weber's argument, there is some disagreement on which aspects of Protestantism are conducive to having a higher income. Weber identified two economically beneficial qualities that the austere Luther helped inspire in his followers: a tireless work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit. 

"The ability of mental concentration," Weber wrote in The Protestant Ethic, "as well as the absolutely essential feeling of obligation to one's job, are here most often combined with a strict economy which calculates the possibility of high earnings, and a cool self-control and frugality which enormously increase performance."

Becker and Woessman settled for a different explanation. According to them, the Protestant Reformation boosted Europe's economy by improving literacy rates. For much of the Middle Ages, clergymen were the only members of society who were taught to read and write and did so in a language only they could comprehend: Latin.

This gave the Catholic Church exclusive access to Christian texts, allowing it to operate as an intermediary between man and God. Luther, aligning himself with an earlier reformer named John Wycliffe, believed religious wisdom should be accessible to everyone. To that end, he translated the New Testament into German, the same language in which he wrote his most influential work. 

So great was Luther's impact on literacy in Germany that, without him, the country's printing industry may well have died off in its infancy. In a 2016 lecture, historian Andrew Pettegree explains how the preacher's steadily growing readership helped turn his home base of Wittenberg from a sleepy, destitute town into an economic center, at least as far as the book trade was concerned. 

"Printers got an immediate return for minimum investment," Pettegree exclaims. "Luther, it very quickly became clear, was a safe bet for the printing industry." 

AIN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET:

The challenge for the Russians is even more formidable. Since the beginning of the war, and probably long before, US military and intelligence agencies have been planning for a transition from war to a more comprehensive national resistance. On the front lines, Russian forces will receive reinforcements, especially from the April 2022 draft of conscripts, who were called up early. These new troops, when they do arrive in a few months, are unlikely to constitute effective, cohesive units. It remains to be seen whether Russia can replace its losses in men and military hardware.

Russian soldiers, as they always do, will begin to adapt. But Ukraine's armed forces will continue to benefit - as Russia's will not - from ever better training and weaponry supplied by a newly revitalised Nato. [...]

Nato has applied the lessons of Iraq to develop new thinking on setting up effective resistance forces against Russian forces. For some time Ukrainian, US and other intelligence agencies will have been identifying and supplying the territorial defence leaders behind Russian lines, and they have been effective in disrupting Russian supply lines and logistics.

Should Ukraine be split as Putin plans, this will not be a frozen conflict, as Korea is. Nor will it resemble Abkhazia or Chechnya, uneasy though they both remain, under the control of a Russian puppet Ramzan Kadyrov in Chechnya and military occupation in the breakaway Georgian region. Even Afghanistan in the 1980s will pale in comparison.

From 1807 to 1814 on the Iberian peninsula, Napoleon had to fight Spanish, Portuguese and British armies while beset by ubiquitous, ferocious insurgents. He described this war as his 'bleeding ulcer', draining him of men and equipment. It is the west's aim to make Ukraine for Putin what Spain was for Napoleon.

In the absence of a negotiated settlement, Ukraine and Nato will continue to grind away at Russia's army, digging away at that bleeding ulcer and prolonging Russia's agony on the military front, as the west continues its parallel assault on its economy. If Putin's plan is to proceed with the Korea model, he will fail. There is a strong possibility that Putin has only a limited idea of how badly his army is faring. So be it - he'll find out soon enough that there is now no path for him to military victory.

VLAD WHO?:

[W]hile Ukraine's steadfast courage in the face of Russia's aggression has set a remarkable example, the West can also learn from our experience of decoupling from Russia. Ever since the war started in 2014, Ukraine has been steadily decreasing its reliance on its most long-term ally and neighbour. Right after the war broke out, Ukraine imposed sanctions on everything from consumer goods, alcohol and tobacco, to vehicles and fertilisers. Russia's role as an export market has also been steadily declining and it now comprises only 5% compared to around a third of all the Ukrainian exports back in 2013.

My country's biggest challenge, similar to the one facing the rest of the world now, was reliance on Russian energy. When the German government signed the now-postponed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would have bypassed Ukraine, it became clear we would need an alternative solution. Ukraine does have its own natural gas processing industry via the catchily named state-owned company UkrGazVydobuvannya, encompassing the full production cycle from exploration and field development to processing, refining and sales. The capacities of the industry though are not quite sufficient. While the company has kept functioning all throughout the war and perid of martial law, it can only provide for 14,000 of 17,000 cbm of domestic demand, while industrial demand is even higher.

In search of securing a stable gas supply, Ukraine has resorted to buying reverse gas from Europe - the same gas it transported through its territory from Russia, and that some EU states were profiting from by selling back to Ukraine. In the meantime, Kyiv started actively pursuing its hydrogen strategy, with exports of blue, black and green hydrogen. A deal has been struck with the German government, and co-operation is being developed with the UK. The enormous underground gas storage facilities that Ukraine already operates could also come in useful for developing the industry.

THERE IS NO RUSSIA:

The war in Ukraine has shaken Russia's hold over the South Caucasus, a strategically important post-Soviet region where Moscow has traditionally played a key role, experts told The Moscow Times.

"Russia was already facing challenges in the South Caucasus with Turkey playing an ever greater role, but now it's distracted and could lose ground," said Paul Stronski, a South Caucasus analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank.

None of the region's three post-Soviet republics -- Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia -- backed Russia in a series of United Nations General Assembly votes to condemn the war. "Invading Ukraine is a very alarming precedent to set for all three countries," said Stronski.

NATIONALISM ISN'T WORKING:

Russia has been sustaining "incredible" losses since the start of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. State Department official says, putting the figure at more than 10,000 killed since the attack was launched just over a month ago.

"I think that, unfortunately, the Russians have not yet fully learned how tough the Ukrainian military is," U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said in an interview with Current Time on March 29.

"They are taking incredible losses on the Russian side -- you know, by our estimates, more than 10,000 Russian dead," Nuland said.

WE ARE ALL ORIGINALIST NOW:

As the Senate moves closer to confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court, a new poll released Wednesday indicated she has widespread support from the public.

Two-thirds of Americans said that if they were senators they would vote to confirm Jackson, according to a Marquette Law School poll. 

TRUMPISM IS PUTINISM:

Even as Trump spoke, Putin was waging a war of unremitting terror that has killed thousands of Ukrainians. The West has rallied to oppose him, and nearly every American political figure -- from both parties -- has denounced the Russian thug.

And it is at this moment, amidst a brutal war of aggression, that Trump once again reached out for Putin's help in attacking the sitting American president and, by extension, this country.

Here's where we come to the treasonous smoking gun: Trump explicitly frames his request to Putin as an act of retaliation not just against Biden, but against the United States itself.

Some accounts leave out the key phrase that Trump uses when he explains why Putin might help him.

"As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country... I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it... you won't get the answer from Ukraine... I think Putin now would be willing to probably give that answer."

A USEFUL DIFFERENTIATION BUT INAPT:

Classifications are essential for good social science, because they enable scholars to group political systems according to their shared features and to explore what makes them tick. Aristotle was one of the first to divide systems into those ruled by one, those ruled by a few and those ruled by many.

Contemporary scholars usually classify states as being democratic, authoritarian or totalitarian, with each category having a variety of subtypes. Democracies have parliaments, judiciaries, parties, political contestation, civil societies, freedom of speech and assembly, and elections.

Authoritarian states rest on the state bureaucracy, military and secret police; they usually circumscribe most of the features of democracies; and they typically are led by juntas, generals or politicians who avoid the limelight.

Totalitarian states abolish all the features of democracy, empower their bureaucracies, militaries and secret police to control all of public and private space, promote all-encompassing ideologies and always have a supreme leader.

Fascist states share all the features of authoritarianism, and they may also share the features of totalitarianism, but with two key differences. Fascist leaders have genuine charisma - that ephemeral quality that produces popular adulation - and they promote that charisma and the image that goes with it in personality cults. The people genuinely love fascist leaders, and the leaders in turn present themselves as embodiments of the state, the nation, the people.

The bare-bones definition of a fascist state is thus this: It is an authoritarian state ruled by a charismatic leader enjoying a personality cult.

Seen in this light, Franco's Spain, Pinochet's Chile and the Greece of the colonels were really just your average authoritarian states. In contrast, Mussolini's Italy and Xi Jinping's China are clearly fascist, as were Hitler's Germany and Stalin's USSR. Fascist states can thus be on the right and on the left.

hISTORY WAS OVER BY 1776:

NO ONE FLIES AEROFLOT:

CAN'T HAVE A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS WHEN THERE IS ONLY ONE:

In a sense, the fundamental difference between East and West was never ideological. During the Cold War, the capitalist Nordic countries were more socialist than the Soviet Union ever was. Rather, the difference was always one of principles. Unlike in the Nordic states, equality and equity were never part of the Soviet Union's governance system. Despite its declarations, the Soviet system did not uphold human dignity in its actual policies.

When I recently asked my students in the international relations department at Kyrgyz State University what makes a country great, their responses centered on military power, economic development, and geopolitical influence. These answers are rooted in the old paradigm that greatness depends on a state's ability to dictate policy and bend others to its will.

This idea of national greatness reflects the view that a country's leader, like an emperor or a king, must have absolute power over people. In such a place, human beings are a disposable resource that can easily be sacrificed and replaced for the sake of the state's greater glory.

The horrors of World War II - the death camps, slave labor, and inhumane experiments on people - produced a global commitment never to permit such crimes to be repeated. This began a transformation of international politics whereby appreciation of the value of every person's life and dignity ensured that even most authoritarian governments at least paid lip service to human rights.

But the Soviet Union and many of its successor states, particularly Russia, never internalized this change. More than three decades after the USSR collapsed, most post-Soviet countries are still governed according to the old "imperial" paradigm. So, it should come as no surprise that we are now witnessing a clash between fundamentally different sets of values and ultimate goals for statehood.

The alternate view of statehood measures greatness not by military might, but by standards of living and confidence in the future. It emphasizes how safely children can ride a bike to school, how comfortably the elderly can live on an honestly earned pension, and how much freedom of thought, expression, assembly, and mobility residents have.

CITIES WERE A MISTAKE:

Survey data collected by the Survey Center on American Life throughout the COVID-19 pandemic reveal that those big cities -- despite the values of propinquity, density, and scale -- are simply not where most Americans want to reside. Even younger generations of Americans -- those who traditionally flocked to big cities for careers, social lives, and cultural amenities -- actually show greater interest in suburban living than dense city living.

Indeed, after being homebound for many months due to the pandemic, more Americans now express a desire for personal space than ever before. The majority of Americans today are willing to sacrifice easy access to amenities to have more space to themselves and distance from their neighbors, and city life is simply not where those desires are realized. Perhaps driven by idealized visions of rural life -- small, tight-knit communities that move at a more leisurely pace -- many Americans express a preference for small-town life. Roughly four in 10 Americans say they would prefer living in a town (15 percent) or rural area (27 percent). In contrast, only 9 percent say they would prefer to live in a large city. More Americans now state that they would prefer living in a small city (16 percent), while one in three Americans prefer the suburbs (33 percent).

Unsurprisingly, the cities that have recovered fastest from COVID-19 -- Denver, Charlotte, Nashville, and Dallas -- are themselves overwhelmingly suburban. And these realities fit well with the data from a Los Angeles Times/Reality Check Insights national poll, which was taken after the November 2020 election in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Los Angeles Times poll found that when residents of big cities were asked about the ideal setting of their next home, a majority of big city dwellers said something other than their current situation. Just 44 percent would pick a big city once again, with significant numbers preferring a small city (9 percent), rural areas and towns (17 percent), or the suburbs (25 percent). Small cities did not fare much better either; only 38 percent of small city dwellers claim that their ideal location is another small city.

The survey also directly asked respondents whether they would move away from their current community if they could, and Americans who live in big cities are the most likely to strongly state that they want to leave for somewhere else. Thirty-two percent of big city dwellers state that they would definitely move away from big cities if they could; this is notably greater than the quarter of those who live in suburbs of big cities and small cities who feel the same way, as well as under a fifth of all residents in suburbs of small cities (17 percent), rural areas (18 percent), and small towns (17 percent).

Cities are not where the hearts and minds of Americans are, and the census data on mobility reflects this reality to the surprise of many. 

I PIGOU; DO YOU?:

A major shift to electric vehicles and a clean power grid in the US could save tens of thousands of lives over the next few decades, according to a new report by the American Lung Association.

The drop in pollution from tailpipes and power plants would prevent up to 110,000 premature deaths by 2050, the report projects. It would also avoid 2.78 million asthma attacks and 13.4 million lost workdays. All in all, that would amount to $1.2 trillion in public health benefits.

THERE IS NO BEAR IN THE WOODS:

Odd that we all know Putin's closed society leaves him ignorant but then we allow our own Intelligence shop to remain closed. Open Source everything. https://t.co/SOXMCYkcbQ

— brothersjudd (@brothersjudd) March 30, 2022

BUT HE HURT VLAD'S FEELINGS...:

[T]he president's off-the-cuff words were no gaffe. They were the truth, admirably clear and concise. It was Biden's staff that blundered by insisting that he didn't mean what he said. Why wouldn't he mean it? Putin is a homicidal war criminal who bombs hospitals and apartment buildings and has sent thousands of innocents to early graves. Of course such a monster should not be in power.

Biden's ad-libbed line came at the end of an emotional speech that linked the fight to repel Russia's vicious aggression to the heroism of the Cold War generations.

"Today's fighting in Kyiv and Mariupol and Kharkiv are the latest battle in a long struggle: Hungary, 1956; Poland, 1956, then again 1981; Czechoslovakia, 1968," said Biden. Once again, he continued, Russia has "strangled democracy" at home and abroad. Once again it is "using brute force and disinformation to satisfy a craving for absolute power." Once again, America and its allies are in a "battle for freedom."

Biden will never be blessed with the eloquence of a John F. Kennedy or a Ronald Reagan, but his remarks in Warsaw echoed their calls for the liberation of captive nations and the defeat of oppressors. "A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase a people's love for liberty," Biden avowed. "Brutality will never grind down their will to be free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia."

TOUGH TIMES FOR TRUMPISTS:

Joe Biden signs anti-lynching bill in historic first https://t.co/XrateqOvyN

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) March 29, 2022

THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

The New York attorney general's office has "uncovered significant evidence" suggesting that financial statements by the Trump Organization relied on misleading valuations of its real estate assets for more than a decade, the office said in a court filing Tuesday.

Those potentially misleading valuations "and other misrepresentations" were used by the company owned by ex-President Donald Trump "to secure economic benefits -- including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions -- on terms more favorable than the true facts warranted," the filing alleged.

The claims by Attorney General Letitia James were made in response to an appeal by the Trump Organization and Donald Trump of last month's order by a Manhattan state court judge directing Trump and two of his adult children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, to submit to interviews by James' investigators.

James issued subpoenas to those three people "to help reach a final determination about whether there has been civil fraud" committed in connection with the asset valuations "and who may be responsible for such fraud," the filing said.

In one glaring example, the financial statements for the Trump Organization from 2010 to 2012 "collectively valued" rent-stabilized apartment units it owned at $49.59 million, which was "over sixty-six times the $750,000 total value...

ONE WAY TO OVERCOME BEING GOVERNED BY TEXANS:

As manufacturers introduce new models of electric vehicles, demand for them is growing steadily. New EV sales in the U.S. roughly doubled in 2021 and could double again in 2022, from 600,000 to 1.2 million. Auto industry leaders expect that EVs could account for at least half of all new U.S. car sales by the end of the decade.

EVs appeal to different customers in different ways. Many buyers want to help protect the environment; others want to save money on gasoline or try out the latest, coolest technology.

In areas like California and Texas that have suffered large weather-related power failures in recent years, consumers are starting to consider EVs in a new way: as a potential electricity source when the lights go out. Ford has made backup power a selling point of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck, which is due to arrive in showrooms sometime in the spring of 2022. The company says the truck can fully power an average house for three days on a single charge.

...AND CHEAPER...:

Block Island, 15 miles off the coast at its farthest point, has always been at the mercy of the four winds. Raging winter gusts have been known to rip porches off houses and knock stones off the rock walls that lattice the island's meadows and pastures. More regularly, breezes delivered to residents the drone of enormous diesel-burning generators, the Rhode Island community's sole source of power. No one liked it, "but that was just part of island life," a local real estate agent tells me. People got used to the noise, and those who lived near the power plant--less than half a mile from downtown--resigned themselves to frequently scrubbing soot from their windows and sills.

But then, at precisely 5:30 a.m. on the first of May, 2017, a great silence fell upon the land. The generators, after roaring for 89 years, shut down. And yet electrons continued to flow.

"Suddenly you could hear the leaves rustling, the waves breaking, and the birds"--Henry duPont, a local engineer who attended the diesel shutdown, breaks off, allowing the twitter and squawk of spring migrants to speak in his stead. Residents have been marveling at the quietude ever since.

Since that day, Block Island has been the only community in the United States fully powered by offshore wind: in this case, five 6-megawatt turbines pounded into the seafloor just south of the island's Mohegan Bluffs. Over the next several years the Block Island venture will be joined by many more towns and cities, as up to 2,000 new turbines begin to populate utility-scale wind farms along the Atlantic Seaboard. These projects were fast-tracked a year ago when President Biden set a national goal of generating 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy on both coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico by 2030. That's enough juice to run ten million homes while avoiding the production of 78 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

THANKS, W:

Health savings accounts eclipsed $100 billion by the end of January, according to Devenir, an HSA investment consultant, as more consumers use the tax-advantaged accounts to save for future health costs.

The firm forecasts HSA funds will hit $150 billion by the end of 2024.

"The growth is really accelerating in HSA assets," said Jon Robb, senior VP of research and technology at Devenir.

Consumers had about 32 million total HSAs by the end of 2021, an annual increase of 8%, according to a semiannual study published by the consulting firm.

BUT THIS TIME TRY A SIGHTED COMPUTER TECHNICIAN:

Former President Donald Trump in a new interview called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to release information regarding alleged dealings between Eastern European oligarchs and Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son.

Trump's remarks, in an interview with discredited far-right journalist John Solomon, were published Tuesday by the "Just the News" television show on the Real America's Voice network.

WE ARE ALL DESIGNIST:

[I]f we want to know how it got to be that way, we have to apply the laws of physics to the Universe, and follow the evolution of the physical systems that we know exist. For instance:

We know how gravitation works; we have the laws of General Relativity that govern it, so wherever you have mass or energy, you have the phenomenon of gravitation.

We know how electromagnetism works; wherever you have an electrically charged object, whether moving or at rest, or an electromagnetic wave (i.e., a photon), the electromagnetic force comes into play.

We know how the nuclear forces work, including how quarks and gluons bind together to make protons and neutrons, how protons and neutrons bind together to make atomic nuclei, and how unstable nuclei (as well as other combinations of quarks and/or antiquarks besides protons and neutrons) radioactively decay.

And we know how to time-evolve any physical system that we start off with.

Put simply, if you give a physicist a set of initial conditions that describe your system, they can write down equations that govern the evolution of that system, and can tell you -- to the limits of the uncertainty and indeterminism inherent to nature -- what the outcome (or probabilistic set of outcomes) of that system will be at any point in the future...

INTEGRALISM VS. CHRISTIANITY:

This was no typical big-mouth Biden whoopsie-daisy. This was a deliberate, apparently considered expression of what might be called the Bush-Biden Doctrine: one that harks back to the worst of the George W. Bush years, when America was in the business of dividing the whole planet into two camps--light and dark, good and evil, free and unfree, Autobots and Decepticons. As foolish as such a Manichaean foreign policy was after 9/11, it is even more so today, because much as Biden is a feebler man than Bush at the height of his powers, so is the America of 2022 feebler than the country that set out to remake Iraq and Afghanistan.

Such posturing forces the United States to either wage war against the dozens and dozens of nations it considers undemocratic or unfree or evil or whatever--or stand exposed as the world's hypocrite-in-chief. Blessedly, no one seriously thinks all "autocracies" are about to face Washington's wrath in some epochal war between "liberty and repression."

MAKING THE cOURT CONSERVATIVE:

The conservatives on the Court often find themselves in agreement--each of the Court's conservatives justices were in the majority in over 80 percent of the cases heard in the 2020 term. But they also disagree among themselves on important issues that have strategic implications for the compromise-minded John Roberts.

Clarence Thomas has been the lone dissenter in otherwise-unanimous decisions 30 times in his decades on the bench. Unlike Antonin Scalia, Thomas has no scruples about overturning shoddy precedents. "When faced with a demonstrably erroneous precedent," Thomas wrote, "my rule is simple: We should not follow it." Thomas has even called for the disincorporation the establishment clause of the First Amendment. (If you are a textualist, it is hard to argue with his reasoning. )

Samuel Alito, like Thomas, is willing to dissent from his colleagues from the right. He wrote a fiery dissent in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended Title VII protections under the 1964 Civil Rights Act to gay and transgender employees; Neil Gorsuch authored the majority opinion.

Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh are more "gettable" for the Court's liberal minority and liberal plaintiffs than are Thomas and Alito. Gorsuch has libertarian sensibilities, and often joins the Court's liberals in criminal-justice cases. Kavanaugh is a Roberts fanboy. He reportedly had a blown-up picture of himself and John Roberts on the wall of his D.C. Circuit chambers. Kavanaugh rarely stakes out unpopular positions; he was in the majority in 97 percent of cases heard in the Court's 2020 term, far and away the highest proportion of any of the nine justices. He was more likely to rule with Kagan (67.7 percent) and Stephen Breyer (69.4 percent) in 2020 merits cases than Clarence Thomas (66.1 percent). [...]

With a string of controversial cases on the Court's docket this year on issues ranging from abortion to affirmative-action, Roberts could enlist Kagan and a future Justice Jackson to craft compromise verdicts with either Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, or Amy Coney Barrett. The latter three justices were in the majority in more than 90 percent of the Court's 2020 cases, while Alito (83 percent) and Thomas (81 percent) were not. Elena Kagan (75 percent) was not far behind either Alito or Thomas. If Jackson aligns herself with Kagan, it's possible the compromise-minded Roberts turns to the pair of pragmatic liberal justices instead of the mavericks to his right.

VAX AND RELEASE:

The Biden administration will offer Covid-19 vaccines to migrants taken into custody at the US-Mexico border, according to two sources familiar with the planning, and confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, as officials prepare for an influx of migrants.

The plan, which had earlier been a source of tension at the White House, could extend to thousands of migrants encountered at the US southern border.

The Department of Homeland Security will be able to initially provide up to 2,700 vaccines per day, it said in a notice to Congress obtained by CNN, increasing to 6,000 daily by the end of May.

JUST IN CASE YOU THOUGHT HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE WAS SAYING:

President Joe Biden once again referred to a printed cheat sheet sheet as he doubled down on his unscripted weekend claim that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power."

SDRAWKCAB:

Poskett links these geopolitical developments to intellectual ones, and much of his book's originality lies in these linkages. The chapter on 19th-century biology, for example, is not simply a survey of the global reception of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. It is an argument for the connection between biology, war, and nationalism, a connection captured in the phrase "struggle for existence." Biology was a battlefield, with naturalists using martial metaphors in their theories and gathering specimens in the course of military expeditions. This was true across the globe: in Napoleonic Egypt, in the newly independent Argentina, in a Japan wracked by civil war, and in modernizing China. The titles of other chapters hint at similar arguments: "Newton's slaves," "Industrial experiments," "Genetic states," and so on. This is not just a history of science. It is a history of the modern world seen through the lens of science.

NEVERMIND HANDLING TARGET ACQUISITION IN UKRAINE:

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT HUNTER'S LAPTOP WITH THE CHINA LAB LEAK DATA ON IT...:

Indecision and distraction have long been central to Russia's dezinformatsiya (disinformation) policy, a term Stalin himself is credited with coining. While an ancient concept, Russia had by the imperial age mastered dark obfuscation techniques refined for the era of mass communication. By the dawn of the Soviet empire, they realized this potential on an industrial scale, establishing the world's first office dedicated to disinformation in 1923. In the 1960s, the KGB covertly sponsored American fringe groups, amplifying conspiratorial narratives about everything from the assassination of president John F. Kennedy to water fluoridation.

The goal, as KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin elucidated in 1998, was "not intelligence collection, but subversion: active measures to weaken the West, to drive wedges in the Western community alliances of all sorts, particularly NATO, to sow discord among allies, to weaken the United States in the eyes of the people of Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America....". Operation INFEKTION, a mid-1980s clandestine effort to spread the myth that AIDS was a CIA-designed bioweapon, was but one infamous exemplar. While utterly fictious, it resonated with communities ravaged by HIV and neglected by the callous indifference of the Reagan administration. Despite Russian intelligence taking responsibility for this lie in 1992, the legacy of AIDS denialism persists to this day worldwide. 

During the Cold War, the doctrine of "active measures" was the beating heart of Soviet intelligence. This philosophy of political and information warfare had wide remit, including front groups, media manipulation, counterfeiting, infiltrating peace groups and even the occasional assassination.

And in our media-saturated era, Russia has been, by far, disinformation's most enthusiastic user. Take the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the contentious Brexit referendum; Russia appears to have influenced both via lies and distortions.

But disinformation is not solely confined to geopolitics. By summer 2020, the European Commission identified a concerted Russian drive to propagate COVID disinformation worldwide. From the outset of the pandemic, Kremlin-backed troll farms pushed the narrative that COVID was an engineered bioweapon, peddling the explosive fiction that 5G radio frequencies caused the virus--a lie that resulted in dozens of arson attacks on cell towers worldwide.

There is a dark irony in the observation that conspiracy-minded people can be weaponized in plots to which they're entirely oblivious. The enduring popularity of the virus-as-a-bioweapon mantra is a stark reminder that in the age of social media, such manipulation has become ever easier and more effective. Perhaps the most odious example of this is the cynical rise of anti-vaccine propaganda.

The sheer efficacy of vaccination is scientifically incontrovertible, and after clean water, immunization is the most life-saving intervention in human history. Despite this, the last decade has witnessed precipitous drops in vaccine confidence worldwide. The renaissance of once-virtually-conquered diseases prompted the WHO to declare vaccine hesitancy a top-10 threat to public health in 2019.

Vaccine hesitancy is a spectrum rather than a simple binary, and exposure to anti-vaccine conspiracy theories nudges recipients towards rejection. But critically, many who decline vaccination are not dyed-in-the-wool anti-vaccine zealots, but simply scared by what they have heard, unsure what to believe. Our tendency towards the illusory truth effect exacerbates this inertia, as the mere repetition of a fiction is enough to prime us to accept it, even if we know it to be false on an intellectual level. While Russia has often amplified anti-vaccine conspiracy theories to increase tensions, the anti-vaccine movements exist independently of these efforts, and are masters at sowing the seeds of doubt with torrents of conflicting and emotive claims.   

This illustrates the grim reality that disinformation has no need for consistency and zero commitment to objective reality; claims are frequently contradictory, arguing both sides of the coin in exaggerated and divisive ways. This "Russian firehose" model of propaganda is high-output, contradictory and multichannel. The stream encourages us to sleepwalk into apathy, distrustful of everything. This renders us supremely malleable, and dangerously disengaged.

ENDING THE VIOLENCE IN PORTLAND

It's only taken five years of ongoing assaults and preplanned violence by right-wing thugs--accompanied by an obscene double standard in enforcement by police officers and prosecutors--for authorities in Portland, Oregon, to finally start taking the problem seriously. But two separate cases this week in Portland courts indicate that progress is finally happening.

On Wednesday, notorious Proud Boys brawler Tusitala "Tiny" Toese was arraigned on multiple felonies related to the violence he led at a Portland rally on Aug. 22, 2021, and order detained without bail. Then on Thursday, the man who opened fire on a group of protesters in a park on Feb. 19 near his residence, killing one person and wounding four others before he was himself shot, was also arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court on multiple counts after he was released from his subsequent hospitalization.

NO SLEEP 'TIL MOSCOW:

On the map it may be just a tiny hamlet of a few kilometres and souls. But for Ukrainian soldiers, it was nevertheless more than a tiny victory.

On Monday they finished clearing Russian troops from the village on the outskirts of Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, as Kyiv's forces mount counterattacks against a stalling Russian invasion.

Ukrainian soldiers, blue electrical tape wound around the arms of their fatigues, were securing destroyed homes in the settlement of Mala Rogan, about five kilometres (three miles) from Kharkiv. 

THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

A federal judge ruled Monday that former President Donald Trump "more likely than not" attempted to illegally obstruct Congress when he tried to subvert the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.

CAN'T HAVE A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS WHEN THERE IS ONLY ONE:

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is said to have been motivated by various strategic calculations: fear of NATO expansion, concern over Ukraine's westward drift, and Moscow's confidence in its own oil heft and economic reserves. But this analysis risks overlooking the civilizational aspect of Vladimir Putin's fateful decision. For the current conflict involves not only Ukraine but also a broader showdown between East and West. Instead of the Soviet Union, the U.S. is facing a Eurasian continent, with Russia as its soul. In geographic space, Eurasia covers the former Soviet empire, excluding the Baltic states, as well as Mongolia and parts of northwest China. And within this territory resides a great civilization--a Russian civilization--that represents the one true alternative to the decadent, globalized West.

That, at least, is how the Russian philosopher and founder of the Eurasia Party Alexander Dugin frames it. Dugin has long argued that Eurasia is the only hope against the West's global dominance...

TRUTH:

"We're the only country [not] organized based on geography or ethnicity or religion or race or anything else; we're based on an idea," the president said during a visit with service members in Rzeszów, Poland. He then referenced the opening language of the Declaration of Independence. "Literally the only country in the world based on an idea that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all women and men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights."

"Sounds corny, but it's the truth of who we are," Biden then said. "We've never lived up to it, but we never walked away from it."

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE wORD:

There's no shortage of debate about the nature of dark matter, a mysterious substance that many physicists believe makes up a large proportion of the total mass of the universe, in spite of never having observed it directly.

Now, a physicist from the UK named Melvin Vopson is raising a startling possibility: that dark matter might be information itself.

"He even claims that information could be the elusive dark matter that makes up almost a third of the universe," reads a press release from the University of Portsmouth, where Vopson is a researcher.

JOE MAKING THE cOURT MORE CONSERVATIVE:

Many commentators were struck by Jackson's profession of "originalism," which strengthened Kagan's stunning liberal embrace of what had been a conservative doctrine. "We're all originalists now," Kagan declared at her confirmation hearing in 2010. Jackson put it like this: "I am focusing on original public meaning because I'm constrained to interpret the text." This, she said, "is a constraint on my authority." And in general, Jackson emphasized that the basic function of the Constitution is to limit the power of the federal government, and that the meaning of constitutional provisions constrains the power of the judiciary.

"I do not believe that there is a living Constitution," she said, "in the sense that it's changing and it's infused with my own policy perspective or the policy perspective of the day. Instead, the Supreme Court has made clear that when you're interpreting the Constitution you're looking at the text at the time of the founding."

These declarations come from a nominee who's expected to be a liberal bulwark on the court. I think they're stunning, and indicate the victory of Reagan-era conservative legal theory. Jackson didn't get "Borked," though I'll always associate Josh Hawley with the phrase "child pornography," which he hurled at her repeatedly just because he didn't seem able to think about anything else. But she Borked herself in the sense that she fundamentally agrees with Bork's theory of constitutional interpretation, and Scalia's, Thomas'.

NOW LET'S MAKE VLAD AN EXAMPLE OF REGIME CHANGE:

Bread is a staple food in the Middle East, eaten with most meals. Researchers suggest that, depending on the country, bread and grains make up to half of the average local's diet there, compared to up to a quarter of the average European's.

"In these countries, affordable bread for the working masses is a social contract," Michael Tanchum, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, who specialises in political economics of the Middle East and Africa, explained. Many Middle Eastern countries subsidise bread for low-income families.

In the past, rising bread prices have been a catalyst for political change in the region.

Egypt, for example, has a history of "bread riots". In 1977, after economic reforms saw state subsidies cut and food prices rise, there were violent demonstrations around the country that resulted in at least 70 deaths.

In 2011, during the Arab Spring, a popular slogan at demonstrations that would eventually topple the military government of Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, was "bread, freedom and social justice".

Researchers looking into the causes of the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which changed the political landscape in the region, found that high food prices and food insecurity, often due to climate change, played a role alongside the public's frustration with their authoritarian leaders.

The phenomenon is ongoing: in 2019, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir was pushed out of power by protests that began when bread prices tripled.

PITY THE POOR MALTHUSIANS:

[W]hat if in addition to planting more trees and reducing emissions to rebalance the carbon equation, innovation took a page from fossil fuels, and concentrated the plant power itself? In the same way we figured out how to compress the power of 250 horses under the hood of a car and accelerate emissions, could we similarly concentrate the photosynthetic power of hundreds of acres of agriculture into an area the size of a football field, to speed up the reduction?

Something like this will need to be done anyway to meet the upgraded food requirements of a global population that is projected to reach almost 10 billion people by 2050, a task made more difficult since agriculture is one of the sectors already most hurt by climate change. We can't rely on our previous trick of throwing land, fossil-fuel-based fertilizers, mechanization, and irrigation at the problem either. For starters, we would need an estimated India's worth of additional farmland; our carbon credit card is clearly overdrawn; and water's local availability and over-availability (flooding) is becoming more unpredictable by the day.

There is an urgent need for new approaches for food production that can meet this future demand, be insulated from climate effects, all while using less carbon, land, water, and fertilizer. In short, it means moving a significant amount of food production indoors.

The good news is that there is already a rapidly emerging ecosystem around high-value products grown indoors, such as vertical farming, fermentation, and lab-grown alternative meat. The much higher energy and labor costs of moving the outdoors indoors remains an important barrier to wider deployment, but innovation is also not confined to the products found in the grocery produce aisle.

Microorganisms like algae and cyanobacteria are also a promising source of the industrial agricultural inputs that make up more than half of current agricultural production. We have only scratched the surface of their enormous biodiversity and potential for addressing needs ranging from animal feed to bioplastics. Advances in LED lighting, machine learning, and microbiology are well-suited to concentrated, lower-cost industrial configurations, and together can potentially yield as much "crop" per hectare in a day as is produced by a conventional farm in a year.

Not only could this help meet the future requirements of an expanding population, but many of these indoor farming innovations could be configured to be carbon neutral or even carbon negative, all while requiring a fraction of current land, water, and nutrients. In the same way land and fossil fuels underpinned the first Green Revolution, these emerging indoor platforms could be the foundation for the next one.

CLOSED V. OPEN:

 The defeat of the initial Russian invasion plan is a rather interesting episode in military history -- not because it involves something new, but, on the contrary, because it confirms a whole set of hoary cliches about strategy and tactics -- cliches which, for some militaries, have to be relearned the hard way in every war.

The first and oldest of these is the maxim of the classical Chinese military thinker Sun Tzu: "Know your enemy." Underlying all Russian military failures in the war so far is their total underestimation of the determination and skill of the Ukrainian defense. The Russian military appears to have based its assessment of the Ukrainian military on its miserable condition back in 2014 -- despite the fact that one of the motives for this invasion was precisely because the United States had been doing so much to strengthen the Ukrainian armed forces. It would seem that once Putin and his immediate circle had decided for war, any intelligence casting doubt on this decision was simply excluded or ignored (as with the Bush administration in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003).

As a result, the planners of the Russian invasion did not understand or apply Napoleon's maxim, that "in war, the moral factor compared to the physical is as three to one." Gen. Bonaparte was of course exaggerating for rhetorical effect. The French armies of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars would not have won without superb modern artillery, and the Ukrainians would not have been able to resist the Russian army without NATO-supplied Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. 

At the same time, it is clear that superior Ukrainian morale -- a characteristic of men fighting to defend their homes -- has played an important part; and this is something that Russians themselves should understand from their own history in World War II when the fighting spirit of the Soviet army increased the further the Nazis penetrated into Russia and Ukraine. 

The remarkable number of senior Russian officers who have reportedly been killed in action in this most recent war testifies to their personal courage and devotion to duty, but the fact that they felt compelled to lead and inspire their soldiers from the front is a pretty clear indication of serious morale problems in the Russian rank and file.

Underestimation of the enemy led to classic errors of military strategy: inadequate forces for the task they were given, and dispersal of those forces in the face of the enemy. The Russian attacked a country of 233,000 square miles from six different directions with fewer than 200,000 men --and, in consequence, failed almost everywhere. This emphasizes the old lesson, that any successful general in history could have taught: relative weaponry and airpower are of course important, but the concentration of mass at a particular point is also still key to victory. 

"Get there firstest with the mostest," as the Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest supposedly (perhaps apocryphally) said during the American Civil War.

Finally, there is the role of cities and urban warfare. As global urbanization grows and grows, this will become a defining feature of future wars. What has above all held up the Russian advance has been the readiness of Ukrainian defenders -- like the Chechens in Grozny -- to hold out in the urban areas that spread across much of eastern and southern Ukraine. The areas and populations involved dwarf the number of Russian attackers. 

Urban warfare has counteracted Russia's superiority in armor and airpower and maximized the effectiveness of Ukrainian infantry weapons. This has forced the Russians (like the Americans in Mogadishu, Fallujah, Hue, and elsewhere) to resort to massive firepower to dislodge the defenders, and in consequence, to suffer severe political damage from the resulting destruction and civilian casualties.

CAN'T HAVE A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS WHEN THERE IS ONLY ONE:

As the war in Ukraine rages on, a parallel war is underway within the Orthodox Church. Not much has been said about this religious conflict in the mainstream media, even though it is playing a crucial role in the military conflict. And it's a problem affecting not merely Eastern Europe, but Australia too.

I have adapted my title from a sober judgment in a recent Facebook post by a leading Greek Orthodox theologian, Professor Petros Vassiliadis of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki -- in it he wrote, "Orthodoxie c'est fini" (French for "Orthodoxy is finished"). This was his reaction to a sermon given by Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The occasion was (ironically) the Sunday of Forgiveness, 6 March, the last Sunday before Lent, and the location was the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. As terrified civilians in Ukraine were fleeing Russian bombs, in Moscow Patriarch Kirill gave what has now become an infamous statement of support for President Vladimir Putin's invasion. And what was His Holiness' justification for this "holy" war? "The Gay Pride parade"! Ukraine has sold its soul to Western libertinism, he stated, as is shown by its endorsement of homosexuality. The fight, therefore, is not only against NATO, but against darker, diabolical powers: "We have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance."

The real aggressor, in Kirill's view, is not Putin or the Russian people, but the decadent West, which has sought to divide Ukraine and Russia, even though the two "came from one Kievan baptismal font, are united by common faith, common saints and prayers, and share a common historical fate" (quoting this time from a letter he wrote to the Acting General Secretary of the World Council of Churches). And standing in the way of this irredentist dream of the "Russian World" (Russkiy mir), where Ukraine is reunited with the motherland, is none other than the very leader of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, after the latter granted "autocephaly" (independence) to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2019.

I've long suspected Kirill to be deranged, but he is now also doubtless dangerous -- dangerous because he is backing his even more deranged dictator, who may soon begin using chemical weapons (having built up some experience in their use in Salisbury and Syria). A small minority of Russian clergy has bravely turned against their leader, and much of the Orthodox communion worldwide (with the disgraceful exception of the churches of Serbia, Bulgaria, and Jerusalem) has condemned the invasion and Kirill's part in it.

But what has gone largely unnoticed by Kirill's critics -- whether they be Orthodox or not -- is the way in which the Orthodox Church, in both its theological systems and its organisational structure, had enabled the Ukraine war.

SNOWFLAKES MELT:

Biden's remarks to the massive outdoor crowd were a call to action not just to stop Putin but, as American listeners surely noted, to recognize the threats to democracy that exist within our own country. He not only praised the courage of the people of Ukraine but made it clear that they were fighting on behalf of all of us who value democracy worldwide. He enumerated the ways that the U.S. and our allies would seek to aid Ukraine but he also made it clear that our commitment extended beyond the current war. "We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul. We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come," he said.

Then, he added, "It will not be easy. There will be costs. But it's a price we have to pay. Because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere."

The speech marked a historical watershed that should not be overshadowed by his apparently extemporaneous reference to Putin at its conclusion, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power." While controversy swirled around the remark, and the White House later sought to walk it back, that moment of clarity from the plain-spoken president elevated his speech. It made it clear that Biden's passion was deeply felt and real. It was the truth at a time when it is essential to be honest about Putin's barbarism and the threat he poses not just to the world, but to the people of his own country who will be denied full access to the community of nations so long as he remains in office.

While Biden's speech was significant because it addressed a geopolitical shift with long-term consequences for the world--and while it clarified the starkness of the divide in America between Biden's party and his opponents who have defended Putin and attacked democracy themselves--it also underscored the president's deep sense of urgency concerning the crisis in Ukraine.

The war that has been raging for over a month now since Putin's armies sought to compound the brutality of their 2015 invasion of Eastern Ukraine with a new wave of atrocities, has reached a point of inflection. Putin's armies are not only facing stiff resistance but outside of Kyiv and in the East of Ukraine, they are actually being pushed back. Russian losses are now, according to estimates, likely to already be higher than all those suffered in Russia's decade-long Afghanistan debacle. Ukraine has put up an extraordinary fight and if one thing is now clear it is that the easy path to victory that Putin and some analysts thought existed was an illusion.

WIN-WIN:

Geothermal energy has long been the forgotten member of the clean energy family, overshadowed by relatively cheap solar and wind power, despite its proven potential. But that may soon change--for an unexpected reason.

Geothermal technologies are on the verge of unlocking vast quantities of lithium from naturally occurring hot brines beneath places like California's Salton Sea, a two-hour drive from San Diego.

IT'S NOT PERSONAL:

At nearly the same moment President Joe Biden declared him a "butcher," Vladimir Putin's missiles began falling in Lviv, Ukraine.

Sending black smoke and flames billowing into the air, and injuring at least five people, the strikes on a fuel depot pierced what had been relative calm in the western hub city that had seen relatively little of the war that has engulfed the nation.

The target hardly seemed coincidental. Biden was 250 miles away, visiting Ukrainian refugees in bitter cold at Poland's national stadium. He heard pleas from young mothers to pray for the men -- husbands, fathers, brothers -- they had left behind.

"We Ukrainian mothers are ready to strangle (Putin) with our bare hands," said a woman whose son remained to fight. Gathering up a small girl wearing a pink coat and pigtails, Biden told her he wanted to take her home.

When he returned to his hotel, aides briefed Biden on the strikes in Lviv. A few hours later, propelled by heartache and anger, Biden walked into the courtyard of an old Polish castle to declare the Russian President "cannot remain in power."

CAN'T HAVE A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS....:

Zelenskiy is hardly the first to grasp the tight connection between politics and storytelling. In some ways, he is merely succeeding in doing what Donald Trump longed to do: conducting a presidency like a top-rated TV series, with great visuals, shocking plot twists and plenty of action. Except Trump not only lacked Zelenskiy's talent, he had to rely on manufactured drama and imagined enemies. The Ukrainian president is in a bloody war against an enemy who is all too real.

Of course, the primacy of "comms" long predates Trump and Zelenskiy. In David Hare's new play Straight Line Crazy, the urban planner Robert Moses is hailed in the 1920s as "a new kind of man ... the man who believes that the way you're written about is as important as what you do". But Zelenskiy has taken it to a new level, not least because he has adapted everything he learned from conventional TV to the idiom of social media.

He understands that in the new era, the war leader does not stand besuited at a podium, declaiming a speech packed with rhetorical flourish. Instead, Zelenskiy's message is that he is a servant of the people because he is one of the people, no different from any of them. In his trademark short videos, he wears military olive-green, but it's not a formal uniform, still less the ceremonial getup of a head of state. He wears exactly what a civilian volunteer would wear.

The locations are chosen just as deliberately. If he's not at a simple desk in a plain office, he's just outside the presidential palace, with landmarks Ukrainians would recognise visibly in shot. As David Patrikarakos, whose book, War in 140 Characters, was among the first to identify the changing face of battle in the age of Twitter, tells me: "In those videos, Zelenskiy is literally the man in the street." Together with a knack for demotic, unflowery soundbites - "I need ammunition, not a ride" - he has become a master of what Patrikarakos calls "digital statesmanship". He's Churchill with an iPhone.

By comparison Moscow, until recently feared as the master of manipulation by social media, has looked lumbering, slow and old: "There's Zelenskiy," says Patrikarakos, "and then there's this Botoxed Bond villain who won't sit at a table with other people. All that's missing is a trapdoor and a pool of sharks." (As if to show he has not entirely lost his touch for fuelling culture wars in the west, today Vladimir Putin tried to cast himself as defender of JK Rowling against the western malaise of "cancel culture" - which would be convincing but for the fact that Rowling is no ally of his, but is instead spending big money protecting vulnerable children in Ukraine.)

LIKE CRT, BUT YOU COULD DANCE TO IT:

The New Orleans school board has unanimously reversed a little known but century-old ban on jazz in schools in a city which played a huge role in developing jazz and where it is still played nightly at various venues.

"I'm very glad that we can rescind this policy. I want to acknowledge it. It was rooted in racism," the Orleans parish school board president, Olin Parker, said during the meeting on Thursday night. "And I also want to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of our students and especially of our band directors, whose legacy continues from 1922 through present day."

7 FOR 20? WE'RE GETTING TO TED WILLIAMS TERRITORY...:

Another Russian military general has been killed and a senior commander murdered by his own troops in Ukraine, The National reports, citing Western officials.

Yakov Rezantsev was the seventh Russian general killed since the start of the invasion. Only 13 others remain.

Separately, a colonel in charge of the 37th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade was killed by his own soldiers, The National reports.

THIS GUY'S GOTTA GO:

Putin's invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most far-reaching sanctions ever leveled on a large country, an unprecedented worldwide shunning whose eventual impact both on Russia and the global economy is still a matter of speculation. As the United States announced another round of sanctions on Thursday, President Biden reiterated at a NATO summit in Brussels that the goal was "to cripple Putin's economy and punish him for his actions."

The United States has led dozens of nations in an escalating series of moves to cut off Russia from the global economy while also targeting the personal wealth of Putin and the government officials and billionaire oligarchs who support him. Those sanctions -- and the voluntary move by hundreds of foreign companies, from McDonald's to Apple, to suspend their operations there -- are starting to inflict a toll inside Russia that experts said will continue to increase, ratcheting up the internal pressure on a still-defiant Putin to end the war.

That toll encompasses easily measurable effects like rising prices at the grocery store and the plummeting value of the ruble, as well as harder-to-quantify drawbacks such as an exodus of people like Skripko, a "brain drain" that could haunt Russia for decades.

"My expectation is it's going to get worse and worse and worse for a number of months," said Chris Miller, codirector of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. "Any sort of macro indicator you're going to look at is going to show a deep recession this year."

The Russian economy is expected to contract by 15 percent in 2022, a bigger year-over-year decline than the United States endured even at the depth of the Great Depression, according to a report last week by the Institute of International Finance (IIF), a trade group for the world's financial industry. Inflation in Russia is expected to rise by nearly 15 percentage points this year, almost double the decades-high rate the United States is experiencing right now, predicted the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group representing 38 nations with advanced economies.

And the International Energy Agency said on Thursday that Russia's oil exports -- the country's major source of income -- could decline by as much as 3 million barrels a day, roughly 38 percent of its prewar output.

The sanctions work at the highest levels of international finance and trade, including freezing most of the Russian central bank's assets held in foreign currency and barring several of its major private banks from the SWIFT global payments system. They've caused Russian interest rates to double to 20 percent, constraining companies and the government from purchasing vital materials and putting them at risk of defaulting on their debt.

But the effects also are designed to trickle down into the lives of average Russians. The sanctions are driving up the cost of everyday goods like groceries and medicine while depriving people access to foreign products and even their own savings as Putin's government set withdrawal limits for banks, seeking to stop money from leaving the country. Videos on social media have shown empty store shelves, shuttered foreign luxury-brand storefronts in malls, and customers scrambling to buy essentials.

BECOMING W:

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Please, if you have a seat, be seated.  (Laughter.)  If you don't, come up on stage.

Thank you very much.  It's a great honor to be here.  Mr. President, they tell me you're over there somewhere.  There you are.  Thank you, Mr. President. 

"Be not afraid."  They were the first words at the first public address of the first Polish Pope after his election on October of 1978.  They were words that would come to define Pope John Paul II.  Words that would change the world.

John Paul brought the message here to Warsaw in his first trip back home as Pope in June of 1979.  It was a message about the power -- the power of faith, the power of resilience, and the power of the people. 

In the face of a cruel and brutal system of government, it was a message that helped end the Soviet repression in the Central land and Eastern Europe 30 years ago.  It was a message that will overcome the cruelty and brutality of this unjust war. 

When Pope John Paul brought that message in 1979, the Soviet Union ruled with an iron fist behind an Iron Curtain.

Then a year later, the Solidarity movement took hold in Poland.  And while I know he couldn't be here tonight, we're all grateful in America and around the world for Lech Wałęsa.  (Applause.) 

It reminds me of that phrase of philosopher Kierkegaard: "[F]aith sees best in the dark."  And there were dark moments.

Ten years later, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Poland and Central and Eastern Europe would soon be free.  Nothing about that battle for freedom was simple or easy.  It was a long, painful slog fought over not days and months, but years and decades.

But we emerged anew in the great battle for freedom: a battle between democracy and autocracy, between liberty and repression, between a rules-based order and one governed by brute force.

In this battle, we need to be clear-eyed.  This battle will not be won in days or months either.  We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead.

Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Mayor, members of the Parliament, distinguished guests, and the people of Poland, and I suspect some people of Ukraine that are here: We're -- (applause) -- we are gathered here at the Royal Castle in this city that holds a sacred place in the history of not only of Europe, but humankind's unending search for freedom.

For generations, Warsaw has stood where liberty has been challenged and liberty has prevailed.

In fact, it was here in Warsaw when a young refugee, who fled her home country from Czechoslovakia was under Soviet domination, came back to speak and stand in solidarity with dissidents.

Her name was Madeleine Korbel Albright.  She became -- (applause) -- one of the most ardent supporters of democracy in the world.  She was a friend with whom I served.  America's first woman Secretary of State.  She passed away three days ago.

She fought her whole life for essential democratic principles.  And now, in the perennial struggle for democracy and freedom, Ukraine and its people are on the frontlines fighting to save their nation.

And their brave resistance is part of a larger fight for an essential democratic principles that unite all free people: the rule of law; free and fair elections; the freedom to speak, to write, and to assemble; the freedom to worship as one chooses; freedom of the press.

These principles are essential in a free society.  (Applause.)  But they have always -- they have always been under siege.  They've always been embattled.  Every generation has had to defeat democracy's mortal foes.  That's the way of the world -- for the world is imperfect, as we know.  Where the appetites and ambitions of a few forever seek to dominate the lives and liberties of many.

My message to the people of Ukraine is the message I delivered today to Ukraine's Foreign Minister and Defense Minister, who I believe are here tonight: We stand with you.  Period.  (Applause.)

Today's fighting in Kyiv and Mariupol and Kharkiv are the latest battle in a long struggle: Hungary, 1956; Poland, 1956 then again 1981; Czechoslovakia, 1968. 

Soviet tanks crushed democratic uprisings, but the resistance continued until finally, in 1989, the Berlin Wall and all of the walls of Soviet domination -- they fell.  They fell.  And the people prevailed.  (Applause.)

But the battle for democracy could not conclude and did not conclude with the end of the Cold War.

Over the last 30 years, the forces of autocracy have revived all across the globe.  Its hallmarks are familiar ones: contempt for the rule of law, contempt for democratic freedom, contempt for the truth itself.

Today, Russia has strangled democracy -- has sought to do so elsewhere, not only in its homeland.  Under false claims of ethnic solidarity, it has invalidated [invaded] neighboring nations.

Putin has the gall to say he's "de-Nazifying" Ukraine.  It's a lie.  It's just cynical.  He knows that.  And it's also obscene.

President Zelenskyy was democratically elected.  He's Jewish.  His father's family was wiped out in the Nazi Holocaust.  And Putin has the audacity, like all autocrats before him, to believe that might will make right.

In my own country, a former president named Abraham Lincoln voiced the opposing spirit to save our Union in the midst of a civil war.  He said, "Let us have faith that right makes might."  "Right makes might."  (Applause.) 

Today, let us now have that faith again.  Let us resolve to put the strength of democracies into action to thwart the denigns [sic] of our -- the designs of autocracy.  Let us remember that the test of this moment is the test of all time.

The Kremlin wants to portray NATO enlargement as an imperial project aimed at destabilizing Russia.  Nothing is further from the truth.  NATO is a defensive alliance.  It has never sought the demise of Russia.

In the lead-up to the current crisis, the United States and NATO worked for months to engage Russia to avert a war.  I met with him in person and talked to him many times on the phone. 

Time and again, we offered real diplomacy and concrete proposals to strengthen European security, enhance transparency, and build confidence on all sides.

But Putin and Russia met each of the proposals with disinterest in any negotiation, with lies and ultimatums.  Russia was bent on violence from the start.

I know not all of you believed me and us when we kept saying, "They are going to cross the border.  They are going to attack." 

Repeatedly, he asserted, "We have no interest in war."  Guaranteed he would not move. 

Repeatedly saying he would not invade Ukraine.

Repeatedly saying Russian troops along the border were there for "training" -- all 180,000 of them. 

There is simply no justification or provocation for Russia's choice of war.  It's an example of one of the oldest of human impulses: using brute force and disinformation to satisfy a craving for absolute power and control.

It's nothing less than a direct challenge to the rule-based international order established since the end of World War Two.

And it threatens to return to decades of war that ravaged Europe before the international rule-based order was put in place.  We cannot go back to that.  We cannot.   

The gravity of the threat is why the response of the West has been so swift and so powerful and so unified, unprecedented, and overwhelming.

Swift and punishing costs are the only things that are going to get Russia to change its course. 

Within days of its invasion, the West had moved jointly with sanctions to damage Russia's economy.

Russia's Central Bank is now blocked from the global financial systems, denying Kremlin's access to the war fund it stashed around the globe.

We've aimed at the heart of Russia's economy by stopping the imports of Russian energy to the United States.

To date, the United States has sanctioned 140 Russian oligarchs and their family members, seizing their ill-begotten gains: their yachts, their luxury apartments, their mansions.

We've sanctioned more than 400 Russian government officials, including key architects of this war.

These officials and oligarchs have reaped enormous benefit from the corruption connected to the Kremlin, and now they have to share in the pain. 

The private sector is acting as well.  Over 400 private multinational companies have pulled out of doing business in Russia -- left Russia completely -- from oil companies to McDonald's.  

As a result of these unprecedented sanctions, the ruble almost is immediately reduced to rubble.  The Russian economy -- (applause) -- that's true, by the way.  It takes about 200 rubles to equal one dollar. 

The economy is on track to be cut in half in the coming years.  It was ranked -- Russia's economy was ranked the 11th biggest economy in the world before this evasion [sic] -- invasion.  It will soon not even rank among the top 20 in the world.  (Applause.) 

Taken together, these economic sanctions are a new kind of economic statecraft with the power to inflict damage that rivals military might.

These international sanctions are sapping Russian strength, its ability to replenish its military, and its ability -- its ability to project power.  And it is Putin -- it is Vladimir Putin who is to blame, period.   

At the same time, alongside these economic sanctions, the Western world has come together to provide for the people of Ukraine with incredible levels of military, economic, and humanitarian assistance.

In the years before the invasion, we, America, had sent over $650 million, before they crossed the border, in weapons to Ukraine, including anti-air and anti-armor equipment.

Since the invasion, America has committed another $1.35 billion in weapons and ammunition.

And thanks to the courage and bravery of the Ukrainian people -- (applause) -- the equipment we've sent and our colleagues have sent have been used to devastating effect to defend Ukrainian land and airspace.  Our Allies and partners have stepped up as well.

But as I've made clear: American forces are in Europe -- not in Europe to engage in conflict with Russian forces.  American forces are here to defend NATO Allies.

Yesterday, I met with the troops that are serving alongside our Polish allies to bolster NATO's frontline defenses.  The reason we wanted to make clear is their movement on Ukraine: Don't even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory.

We have a sacred obligation -- (applause) -- we have a sacred obligation under Article 5 to defend each and every inch of NATO territory with the full force of our collective power.

And earlier today, I visited your National Stadium, where thousands of Ukrainian refugees are now trying to answer the toughest questions a human can ask: "My God, what's going to happen to me?  What's going to happen to my family?"

I saw tears in many of the mothers' eyes as I embraced them; their young children -- their young children not sure whether to smile or cry.  One little girl said, "Mr. President" -- she spoke a little English -- "is my brother and my daddy -- are they going to be okay?  Will I see them again?"  Without their husbands, their fathers, in many cases, their brothers or sisters who stayed back to fight for their country.

I didn't have to speak the language or understand the language to feel the emotion in their eyes, the way they gripped my hand, and little kids hung on to my leg, praying with a desperate hope that all this is temporary; apprehension that they may be perhaps forever away from their homes, almost with debilitating sadness that this is happening all over again.

But I was also struck by the generosity of the people of Warsaw -- for that matter, all the Polish people -- for the depths of their compassion, their willingness to reach out -- (applause) -- opening their hearts.

I was saying to the Mayor they're preparing to open their hearts and their homes simply to help.  I also want to thank my friend, the great American chef, José Andrés, and his team who helped feeling [sic] those -- (applause) -- feeding those who are yearning to be free. 

But helping these refugees is not something Poland or any other nation should carry alone.  All the world democracies have a responsibility to help.  All of them.  And the people of Ukraine can count on the United States to meet its responsibility.

I've announced, two days ago, we will welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.  We already have 8,000 a week coming to the United States of other nat- -- nationalities.

We'll provide nearly $300 million of humanitarian assistance, providing tens of thousands of tons of food, water, medicine, and other basic supplies.

In Brussels, I announced the United States is prepared to provide more than $1 billion, in addition, in humanitarian aid.

The World Food Programme told us that despite significant obstacles, at least some relief is getting to major cities in Ukraine, but not Metropol [sic] -- no, excuse me, Mar- -- not Mariupol, because Russian forces are blocking relief supplies.

But we'll not cease our efforts to get humanitarian relief wherever it is needed in Ukraine and for the people who've made it out of Ukraine.

Notwithstanding the brutality of Vladimir Putin, let there be no doubt that this war has already been a strategic failure for Russia already.  (Applause.)  Having lost children myself -- I know that's no solace to the people who've lost family.  

But he, Putin, thought Ukrainians would roll over and not fight.  Not much of a student of history.  Instead, Russian forces have met their match with brave and stiff Ukrainian resistance.

Rather than breaking Ukrainian resolve, Russia's brutal tactics have strengthened the resolve.  (Applause.)

Rather than driving NATO apart, the West is now stronger and more united than it has ever been.  (Applause.)

Russia wanted less of a NATO presence on its border, but now he has [we have] a stronger presence, a larger presence, with over a hundred thousand American troops here, along with all the other members of NATO.

In fact -- (applause) -- Russia has managed to cause something I'm sure he never intended: The democracies of the world are revitalized with purpose and unity found in months that we'd once taken years to accomplish.

It's not only Russia's actions in Ukraine that are reminding us of democracy's blessing.  It's our own country -- his own country, the Kremlin, is jailing protestors.  Two hundred thousand people have allegedly already left.  There's a brain drain -- leaving Russia.  Shutting down independent news.  State media is all propaganda, blocking the image of civilian targets, mass graves, starvation tactics of the Russian forces in Ukraine.  

Is it any wonder, as I said, that 200,000 Russians have all left their country in one month?  A remarkable brain drain in such a short period of time, which brings me to my message to the Russian people:

I've worked with Russian leaders for decades.  I sat across the negotiating table going all the way back to Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin to talk arms control at the height of the Cold War.

I've always spoken directly and honestly to you, the Russian people. 

Let me say this, if you're able to listen: You, the Russian people, are not our enemy. 

I refuse to believe that you welcome the killing of innocent children and grandparents or that you accept hospitals, schools, maternity wards that, for God's sake, are being pummeled with Russian missiles and bombs; or cities being surrounded so that civilians cannot flee; supplies cut off and attempting to starve Ukrainians into submission. 

Millions of families are being driven from their homes, including half of all Ukraine's children.  These are not the actions of a great nation. 

Of all people, you, the Russian people, as well as all people across Europe, still have the memory of being in a similar situation in the late thirties and forties -- the situation of World War Two -- still fresh in the minds of many grandparents in the region.

What -- whatever your generation experienced -- whether it experienced the Siege of Leningrad or heard about it from your parents and grandparents -- train stations overflowing with terrified families fleeing their homes; nights sheltering in basements and cellars; mornings sitting through the rubble in your homes -- these are not memories of the past.  Not anymore.  Because it's exactly what the Russian army is doing in Ukraine right now. 

March 26, 2022.  Just days before -- we're at the twenty-fir- -- you were a 21st century nation with hopes and dreams that people all over the world have for themselves and their family. 

Now, Vladimir Putin's aggression have cut you, the Russian people, off from the rest of the world, and it's taking Russia back to the 19th century.

This is not who you are.  This is not the future reserve -- you deserve for your families and your children.  I'm telling you the truth: This war is not worthy of you, the Russian people.

Putin can and must end this war.  The American people stand with you and the brave citizens of Ukraine who want peace.

And my message to the rest of Europe: This new battle for freedom has already made a few things crystal clear. 

First, Europe must end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels.  And we, the United States, will help.  (Applause.)  That's why just yesterday, in Brussels, I announced a plan with the President of the European Commission to get Europe through the immediate energy crisis.

Over the long term, as a matter of economic security and national security and for the survivability of the planet, we all need to move as quickly as possible to clean, renewable energy.  And we'll work together to help get that done so that the days of any nation being subject to the whims of a tyrant for its energy needs are over.  They must end.  They must end.  

And second, we have to fight the corruption coming from the Kremlin to give the Russian people a fair chance.

And finally, and most urgently, we maintain absolute unity -- we must -- among the world's democracies.

It's not enough to speak with rhetorical flourish, of ennobling words of democracy, of freedom, equality, and liberty.  All of us, including here in Poland, must do the hard work of democracy each and every day.  My country as well.  

That's why -- (applause) -- that's why I came to Europe again this week with a clear and determined message for NATO, for the G7, for the European Union, for all freedom-loving nations: We must commit now to be in this fight for the long haul.  We must remain unified today and tomorrow and the day after and for the years and decades to come.  (Applause.)

It will not be easy.  There will be costs.  But it's a price we have to pay.  Because the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere.

Time and again, history shows that it's from the darkest moments that the greatest progress follows.  And history shows this is the task of our time, the task of this generation.

Let's remember: The hammer blow that brought down the Berlin Wall, the might that lifted the Iron Curtain were not the words of a single leader; it was the people of Europe who, for decades, fought to free themselves.

Their sheer bravery opened the border between Austria and Hungary for the Pan-European Picnic.  They joined hands for the Baltic Way.  They stood for Solidarity here in Poland.  And together, it was an unmistakable and undeniable force of the people that the Soviet Union could not withstand.

And we're seeing it once again today with the brave Ukrainian people, showing that their power of many is greater than the will of any one dictator.  (Applause.)

So, in this hour, let the words of Pope John Paul burn as brightly today: "Never, ever give up hope, never doubt, never tire, never become discouraged.  Be not afraid."  (Applause.) 

A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never erase a people's love for liberty.  Brutality will never grind down their will to be free.  Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia -- for free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness.

We will have a different future -- a brighter future rooted in democracy and principle, hope and light, of decency and dignity, of freedom and possibilities. 

For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power. 

God bless you all.  And may God defend our freedom.  (Applause.)  And may God protect our troops.   Thank you for your patience.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you. 

THERE IS NO RUSSIA:

Russia on Saturday claimed that soldiers from Azerbaijan have entered a zone that is the responsibility of Moscow's peacekeepers in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Russia's Defense Ministry said Azeri forces had set up a surveillance post and carried out four drone strikes in the breakaway territory, in violation of a cease-fire agreement.

It added that Turkish-made drones were used to strike at Karabakh troops near the village of Farukh, also known as Parukh.

ONE ECONOMY TO RULE THEM ALL:

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month, the United States and its allies imposed among the strictest sanctions possible on the Russian economy. Russian financial institutions were cut off from the interbank messaging system SWIFT, dealings with Russian corporations (besides energy exporters) were heavily restricted, and hundreds of billions of dollars in Russian foreign currency reserves and sovereign wealth fund assets were effectively frozen. The effects on the Russian financial system were immediate and drastic--the price of the ruble plunged, many international companies abandoned their Russian operations, and the central bank raised rates from 9% to 20% within hours in an attempt to prevent a complete crisis.

At some level, this was an incredible economic "show of force" from the US. As the issuer of the world's reserve currency--the currency used for the vast majority of international trade, payments, and savings--the US has unique power over the global financial system. In recent years it has deployed this power extensively against geopolitical rivals, but the only countries previously hit with sanctions of similar size and scope were smaller economies like Iran and Venezuela. Never has a country as large, populous, or economically powerful as Russia been hit with sanctions this extreme.

Yet in the wake of sanctions the primary concern appeared to not be for Russia's currency but for America's. Reporters asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell if they expected the US Dollar to lose its reserve currency status. Rumors about Saudi Arabia coming to a deal with China to price oil sales in Chinese Renminbi received breathless coverage on Twitter. This is far from just a social media phenomenon--Credit Suisse's preeminent global money expert Zoltan Pozsar predicted a new global monetary system headed by China and "backed by a basket of commodities."

Yet all of this worry belies a critical truth: the US Dollar's position as global reserve currency is so strong as to be nearly unassailable. No other country has the proper mixture of deep capital markets, clear rule of law, massive economic size, and technological dynamism. 

PURITAN NATION:

In Federalist 51, James Madison referred to justice as the end of civil society and of government itself, something that people will always pursue "until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit." When fallen people pursue justice, they are tempted to avoid moderation and wreak vengeance on those they see as wrongdoers. Yet despite this danger, Madison knew that a shared attachment to justice was vital to the republic. Great concerns of justice and the general good, he believed, were the only grounds upon which coalitions involving a strong majority could be built in an extended republic. As no shared ideal or interest bound Americans together deeply enough, he was skeptical about how long any such majority could hold.

McKenzie contends that arguments like Madison's formed the background for the American Founding. But so also did the nation's relatively strong Christian faith. Americans attended church in large numbers in this period--one estimate holds that between 71-77% of the population regularly attended a church in 1776. Despite wildly divergent theologies, what was common among them was a skepticism concerning the limitations of human nature. They generally shared a belief that our individual ability to consistently behave morally was quite limited, and that the pressure of public opinion further compromised that low capacity for virtue: "The problem as they understood it is not that we're wholly evil; it's that we're not reliably good." McKenzie argues this stance was a core part of their views; one might go so far as to suggest it was an essential part of the nation's Cultural Christianity.

By and large, the observations with which Madison concludes Federalist 56 hold here, "As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust: so there are other qualities in human nature, which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence." Madison continues in a manner important for McKenzie's point:

Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form. Were the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealously of some among us, faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be, that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another.

In general, then, McKenzie concludes that "the Framers scoffed at the contention that men and women are basically good, but they also rejected the view that we are relentlessly depraved." Even Reformed thinkers like John Witherspoon would concur with the politics this produced--but in doing so they would point to the works of God rather than those of man as the source of that residual confidence. [...]

The Framers knew there would be no angels in the government, and no angels in the electorate, and they planned accordingly. They designed a Constitution for a fallen people. Its genius lay in how it held in tension two seemingly incompatible beliefs: first, that the majority must generally prevail; and second, that the majority is predisposed to seek personal advantage over the common good.

It is impossible to prove what percentage of those men who debated and ultimately ratified the Constitution believed the Christian teaching of original sin. Some, like Thomas Jefferson, we can say fairly conclusively did not. Many leaders of the period left us little or no comment on their own faith. McKenzie suggests that it is more crucial that they crafted the laws and argued in terms that deeply resonate with this teaching. Whatever their individual intentions, we can look back and see that they worked "to design a framework of government for people who would be fallen as well as free."

These men could rely on a Christian culture to help reinforce a sense of skepticism toward concentrated power and the widespread perception that too vigorously pursuing a single state or social group's idea of justice, prosperity, and order would lead to factionalism and disunion.

FRAGGLE ROCK:

Western officials have said they believe a Russian commander was run over by mutinous forces during the fighting in Ukraine, in a sign of what they described as the "morale challenges" faced by the invading forces.

They highlighted - and repeated - reports from earlier this week from a Ukrainian journalist that a colonel of the 37th separate guards motor rifle brigade was run over by a tank. Some reports said he had died of his injuries.

One official said they believed that the brigade commander was "killed by his own troops" as "a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade" in the bitter fighting.

ON NOT REPEATING THE SADDAM ERROR:

Openly acknowledged or not, regime change in Moscow - meaning the overthrow of Vladimir Putin - must be the western democracies' ultimate objective as they help to thwart his conquest of Ukraine. Pursuing imperial fantasies, a tsar-like Putin has gone too far this time. Now he's got to go. Urgently required: a new Russian revolution to topple the tyrant, led from within and assisted from without.

The idea of Putin remaining in power, even if a Ukraine settlement is eventually patched together, is both impractical and obscene. By his inhuman actions, Russia's dictator has placed himself beyond the pale. He's a menace to universal order, an affront to common decency. He simply cannot be trusted.

THAT'S A START...:

NO ONE HATES JUST MEXICANS:

ALWAYS BET ON THE NEW WORLD ORDER:

More attention is being paid to the way Putin's aggression has consolidated Nato's Trump-shaken unity, to the quandary of China and the possible consequences for Taiwan and the US's Indo-Pacific pivot, and to the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian armed forces and people--all important questions in their own right. But that European Question is up there in significance with the others and should not be overlooked, because we too are Europeans and will be profoundly affected by the way it plays out.

Consider the main ways in which Europe has been driven together. Occurring within the astonishingly short period of less than month, they include:The revolution in the foreign and security policy of the EU's largest member state, Germany, which has committed to achieving the Nato target of 2 per cent of GNI in short order, and taken the decision to send defensive weapons to Ukraine, financed in part by the EU itself. 

- The shaping of a fundamentally changed EU energy policy, designed to radically reduce dependence on Russian oil, gas and coal, without resiling from the Paris and Glasgow commitments on climate change. This includes Germany's effective cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

- The imposition of swingeing sanctions, including the exclusion of Russia's financial institutions from the SWIFT messaging system. The freezing of Russian oligarchs' assets including houses and yachts.

- A generous and liberal response to the surge of three million Ukrainian refugees--a figure dwarfing the Syrian and Afghan influx to the continent, which had defied all EU efforts to respond adequately and humanely.

- The complete disappearance of the usual Putin sympathisers in the EU (Hungary, Cyprus, Greece, Italy).

- The tabling of three new membership applications by Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, on which the Commission has been asked to provide an opinion.

 Each of these would in normal times have taken months of agonising debate.

THANKS, VLAD:

Nicknamed the "Einstein of energy efficiency", Lovins, an adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, has been one of the world's leading advocates and innovators of energy conservation for 50 years. He wrote his first paper on climate change while at Oxford in 1968, and in 1976 he offered Jimmy Carter's government a blueprint for how to triple energy efficiency and get off oil and coal within 40 years. In the years since there is barely a major industry or government that he and his Rocky Mountain Institute have not advised.

But for much of that time efficiency was seen as a bit of an ugly sister, rather dull compared with a massive transition to renewables and other new technologies. Now, he hopes, its time may have come. Lovins is arguing for the mass insulation of buildings alongside a vast acceleration of renewables. "We should crank [them] up with wartime urgency. There should be far more emphasis on efficiency," he says.

The energy revolution has happened. Sorry if you missed it

He sees Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine as an outrage, but possibly also a step towards solving the climate crisis and a way to save trillions of dollars. "He has managed to bring about all the outcomes that he most feared, but he may inadvertently have put the energy transition and climate solutions into a higher gear. Whether or not we end up in a recession because of the disruption, [Putin's war] may prove to be a great thing for climate economics." As it happens, Lovins has family connections to Ukraine: all four of his grandparents were early 20th-century immigrants from small villages between Kyiv and Odesa. He has one relative left there; the rest, as far as he knows, were murdered in the 1941 massacre of Tarashcha, when a Jewish population of nearly 14,000 was slaughtered by the Nazis, leaving just 11 people who happened to be off in the woods gathering mushrooms that day.

"Solar and wind are now the cheapest bulk power sources in 91% of the world, and the UN's International Energy Agency (IEA) expects renewables to generate 90% of all new power in the coming years. The energy revolution has happened. Sorry if you missed it," he says.

CAN'T SURRENDER THAT EASILY, SON:

Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the February invasion to destroy Ukraine's military and topple pro-Western President Volodymyr Zelensky, bringing the country under Russia's sway.

However, Sergei Rudskoi, a senior general, suggested a considerably reduced "main goal" of controlling Donbass, an eastern region already partly held by Russian proxies.

STAY WEST, YOUNG MAN:

Wannabe innovation hubs from coast to coast have been slavering over the prospect that the work-from-home revolution triggered by the COVID pandemic would finally break the stranglehold that California and Silicon Valley have had on high-tech jobs.

Here's the latest picture on this expectation: Not happening.

That's the conclusion of some new studies, most recently by Mark Muro and Yang You of the Brookings Institution.

They found that although the pandemic brought about some changes in the trend toward the concentration of tech jobs in a handful of metropolitan areas, the largest established hubs as a group "slightly increased their share" of national high-tech employment from 2019 through 2020. (Emphasis theirs.)

CAN'T HAVE A CLASH OF CULTURES WHEN THERE IS ONLY ONE:

There are many reasons why tech workers are leaving. Programmers are facing a lack of job security as multinational firms either scale back or withdraw services from the Russian market due to sanctions. The government is cracking down on media and internet access, creating a more insular information environment. And companies like Cogent, which shepherds large swaths of the world's internet traffic, are unplugging from Russian clients, decreasing the country's overall connectivity speed.

Grid spoke with one IT professional who fled the country with his wife, also a tech worker, because of the lack of clarity about what was going to happen in Russia. The man asked for anonymity over fears about his safety and the Russian government's accelerating efforts to stop people from leaving.

Meanwhile, news outlets have identified planes full of tech workers leaving Russia and border guards aggressively questioning people trying to cross into neighboring countries by land.

"It does seem like these experiences are increasingly common," said Konaev. "Especially flight to these post-Soviet republics that have big Russian populations [and] are reachable by land. Armenia being one, along with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. They're increasingly becoming the destination and not necessarily because of the attraction of the tech sectors. But because people are under duress."

Ronald Suny, a professor of history and political science at the University of Michigan who has spent years studying Russia, said that people there now are worried about Putin walling off the country from the rest of the world, Soviet-style. That is particularly true of younger people (who are generally more technologically adept) who didn't grow up with censorship or the same kind of geopolitical walls their parents did, he said.

"'We're going backwards,'" Suny said of the sentiment he's been hearing. "'The walls are being built again. We've been thrown out of the family of nations.' This is the kind of rhetoric. The dominant emotion is despair."

HAMAS IS THE POPULAR GOVERNMENT OF THE NATION OF PALESTINE:

The Palestinian Authority will lose the municipal elections, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Fakhri Al-Barghouti, announced yesterday, warning that the movement was heading "towards  the abyss."

"In light of its current reality, Fatah is in an unimaginable situation, and if we delay reform, we will pay the price more and more," Al-Barghouti told Al-Resalah.

THE CULTURE WARS ARE A ROUT:

Throughout these adventures, Mando embodies the chivalrous ideals of manliness and fatherhood, which can be seen as typified by Joseph of Nazareth. In the New Testament, Joseph is described as a "righteous" man who kept the Jewish law and as tekton which, while often translated carpenter, is more accurately translated as an artisan, i.e., someone broadly skilled with his hands in construction and repair.  Moreover, in the Christian tradition, Joseph is thought by many theologians to be sanctified and confirmed in grace (and therefore in possession of all the virtues), specially set apart by providence for the special mission of protecting the Woman and the Christ child. After receiving a message from God warning them that Herod intended to kill the Christ child, Joseph takes Mary and Jesus into exile in Egypt where he was their guardian until it was safe to return. It has thus been fittingly argued that Joseph of Nazareth is the archetype of the chivalrous knight. In Stratford Caldecott's words, Joseph was the "mirror of chivalry" in whom "justice is combined with tenderness, strength and decisiveness with flexibility and openness to the will of God."

The Force (Star Wars' version of Providence) places in the care of the chivalrous man an innocent child with supernatural abilities and a transcendent destiny. Even though Grogu is not Mando's biological son, the Mandalorian Creed recognizes Mando as the Child's father.  To protect the Child, he must defend him from the agents of the evil tyrant who are sent to kill him--and this includes a sojourn in exile, much of which is spent in the desert.  Sound familiar?

To be clear, such symbolism in the show is not allegorical as in C.S. Lewis's Narnia books; it proceeds more in the spirit of Tolkien's mythopoeia. As an exercise in myth-making, Jon Favreau has sub-created a world and characters within the Star Wars Universe, in which (perhaps better than he knows) the rays of light from reality shine through in various ways. An element of the real is essential to sound myth-making, supplying the structure of moral reality, The Way.

The Mandalorian was orphaned as a child and set apart from Mandalorian society as an initiate in The Children of the Watch, which is reminiscent of a medieval Christian religious and military order of knights.  Very little is known about them, but we can draw inferences from what we do know. Mando's duty to keep on his helmet is an extraordinary discipline that also serves as a metaphor for observance of the precepts of The Way. These include the virtues and attendant duties of honor (he regularly abstains from dishonorable deeds), honesty (he keeps his word and tells the truth even when it hurts), industriousness and proficiency with one's hands (he maintains his ship, armor, and weapons), justice (as a bounty hunter in the lawfully organized Bounty Hunters' Guild, he vigorously enforces just contracts and laws), mercy (he executes the fundamental duty to protect the innocent from harm even if it violates the letter of a contract), generosity (he donates liberally from his earnings to his order), chastity (he declines a marriage offer as contrary to his vows), obedience to proper authority, and even penance (Mando confesses and seeks atonement for breaking the law of The Way). And, like the natural law, the precepts of the Way can be followed by anyone. In a striking (implicit) rejection of the racial essentialism of identity politics, Mando explicitly clarifies that the Way is not a matter of race but of creed.  

These are the principal virtues, not only of the chivalrous knight, but of manliness itself.  In this light, we can see that Din Djarin's moniker, Mando, is not merely a nickname but a portmanteau of "man," and "do." He is a man who performs the functions proper to men by embracing the responsibilities of fatherhood: he does what a man is supposed to do. Like many fathers in our world, Mando found himself responsible for a child when it wasn't "planned." He passes the test every man faces when confronted with the fears associated with becoming a new father: by embracing fortitude over cowardice (which, in his case, required blasting his way through a squadron of stormtroopers and scores of bounty hunters).

IT'S A UNIPOLAR WORLD:

[A]s the Filipino populist enters his twilight months in office, Philippine-US military cooperation seems stronger than ever while Duterte's years-long strategic flirtation with both Russia and China has produced more disappointment than concrete achievements.

In the coming days, the Philippines and US are set to conduct their largest "Balikatan" (shoulder-to-shoulder) joint military drills in recent memory. Close to 9,000 troops from both the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the US military are set to conduct war games from March 28 to April 8 in the northern island of Luzon, the seat of power and economic hub of the Philippines.

If anything, this year is expected to see the AFP conducting more than 300 joint military activities with its American counterparts, more than any other ally or strategic partner in the entire Indo-Pacific. Ahead of the May 9, 2022, presidential election, the Pentagon and the Philippine defense establishment seem intent on setting the tone for robust military cooperation under whoever becomes the next Filipino president. 

The US Embassy in Manila, which has been bereft of an ambassador throughout the pandemic, billed the forthcoming exercises as the "largest-ever iteration" of the joint military exercises as the two allies celebrate the 75th anniversary of US-Philippine security cooperation.

DADDY, WHAT WAS NORDSTREAM:

Germany said Friday it was drastically slashing its energy purchases from Russia amid Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, with oil imports to be halved by June and coal deliveries to end by the autumn.

"In recent weeks, together with all relevant players, we have made intensive efforts to import less fossil energy from Russia and broaden out our supply base," said Economy Minister Robert Habeck.

"The first important milestones have been reached to free us from the grip of Russian imports," he added.

ONE NATION UNDER GOD:

A new survey from Deseret News and The Marist Poll showed that 92% of U.S. adults say the call to "do unto others as they would do unto you" is a "very necessary" or "necessary" part of their personal lives. Strong levels of support for the golden rule can be found in every major faith group, at every education level and in every generation.

However, the survey did identify some subtle distinctions between various demographic groups. For example, it showed that 18- to 29-year-olds are even more supportive of the golden rule than older adults. Fully 96% of this age group embraces the concept

WAY TO GO, JOE:

An article by Yahoo national security correspondent Zach Dorfman praising U.S. intelligence agencies for accurately predicting Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine inadvertently highlights the extent of Washington's military provocations in Ukraine during the period before the outbreak of hostilities. Those measures went well beyond the ill-advised political decision on the part of George Bush's administration and its successors to push for Ukraine's admission to NATO.

Earlier warnings from realist scholars that NATO's eastward expansion to Russia's border was poisoning relations with Moscow are finally getting attention in the establishment news media and generating a vigorous debate. A few analysts outside the realism and restraint camp even have conceded that trying to gain NATO membership for Ukraine may have been imprudent. But the magnitude of the aggressive moves taken by the Pentagon and CIA are just now becoming apparent.

For years, the Kremlin made it emphatically clear that inviting Ukraine to join NATO would cross a red line that threatened Russia's vital security interests. However, it was never merely an issue of Kiev's formal accession to the alliance. Comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials signaled that the truly intolerable development was Ukraine becoming a NATO military asset and an arena for the deployment of U.S. and NATO forces. That danger could--and ultimately did--arise, even though France and Germany continued to block a formal membership invitation.

Evidence grew in recent years that the United States had begun to treat Ukraine as a NATO ally in all but name. Steps included pouring nearly $3 billion in "security assistance" (primarily weaponry) into the country since 2014. Such armaments included the deadly Javelin anti-tank missiles. Military collaboration also included joint military exercises between U.S. and Ukrainian troops--and between NATO and Ukrainian forces. A segment on National Public Radio in 2019 featured U.S. officials preening about how such measures had strengthened Ukraine's deterrence capabilities.

In his article, Dorfman documented the extent of other provocative military measures Washington pursued with respect to Ukraine. The CIA "made a series of covert moves that have helped prepare the Ukrainian security services for the current crisis. Shortly after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the agency initiated secret paramilitary training programs for Ukrainian special operations personnel in the U.S. and on Ukraine's former eastern front." (The eastern front was the Donbas region where Ukrainian forces were attempting to suppress Russian-backed separatist fighters.) Current and former intelligence officials clearly thought that those programs were especially clever initiatives, insisting that they "helped teach forces loyal to Kyiv the skills that have enabled it to mount an unexpectedly fierce resistance to the Russian onslaught." 

LIGHT 'EM UP:

President Biden faces intensifying pressure at home four weeks into the war, with a solid majority of Americans expressing doubt that he has done enough to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, according to a poll by The Associated Press and NORC released Thursday.

Some 56 percent of Americans -- and 43 percent of Democrats -- said Mr. Biden, who was meeting on Thursday with European leaders, had not been "tough enough" in his response. About one-third said his handling the crisis was "just right," according to the poll, which surveyed 1,082 U.S. adults between last Thursday and Monday, more than three weeks into the war.

The mass movement of Russians is already making waves in the region. In Georgia, too many Russians are arriving. In Turkey, Russians are taking advantage of an option to become citizens by buying real estate, and that's exactly what they're doing.

The economic bullets are hitting the targets [...]

These are the very early days for the economic effects. It's very likely that things will get worse, and soon. An all-too-familiar scene of queues for food is re-emerging. Queues mean shortages and limited access to a range of consumer goods.

Nor can the Russian government do much immediately to manage these issues. It's practically impossible. Adapting to a sudden economic disruption, let alone a disaster, can't be easy, or quick. More sanctions, including on the sale of Russian gold, a major reserve for Russian economic policy, are coming.

Add to this enchanting picture of futility:

The sheer cost of a large war. (Billions per day.)

Severe loss of revenue through loss of trade. (Likely to get a lot worse if energy sales stop.)

Backlash from Russian soldiers returning from Ukraine. (That's becoming a serious issue. The casualties aren't exactly endearing the war to Russian families.)

Loss of foreign assets. (The Russian economy isn't actually very big. Those assets were critical to its cashflow and basic business.)

Loss of skilled people. In just a few weeks, that's already a huge issue; not a good sign for Russia.

 A less obvious issue - The people who created this unspeakable mess are unlikely to know how to fix it. They're unlikely to be able to fix it, in fact. Any fix requires the goodwill of an antagonized world. Adding some extra vinegar, accused war criminals also have other things on their minds.

Any future Russia will have a lot of damage control and repairs to do. Add likely obstruction from Putin and Putin supporters, and that's not going to be easy.

THAT WAS EASY:

"Australia is investing in renewable energy at a faster rate per capita than any other country?" Gatt said in a statement accompanying the launch of the roadmap, which is part of the work of the Global Power System Transformation (G-PST) Consortium.

"As Australia's energy market operator, we've seen average renewable energy contribution increase to approximately 40 per cent of total or underlying demand, along with five-minute interval peaks above 60 per cent.

"In addition, consumer rooftop solar PV is pushing grid-scale generation out of the market under certain day-time conditions, setting minimum operational demand records across the country."

AEMO has forecast that renewables could account for 100 per cent of grid demand at certain times as early as 2025, and could become a regular occurrence from then.

But its own planning document, the Integrated System Plan, models the exit of coal in the early to mid 2030s, and a grid that operates close to 100 per cent renewables for most of the year. That requires not just new technologies, but a different way of thinking about its operations.

"The cost of renewable energy is no longer the challenge - integrating renewable energy securely and efficiently into our electricity systems, and ensuring we have the right operational tools and capabilities in place, is what we need to solve," said CSIRO's Energy Systems research director Dr John Ward

ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL MEN IN AMERICAN HISTORY:

Mr. Johnson led the Boston investment giant for about four decades, helping grow the sums Fidelity invested for customers from $3.9 billion to $4.5 trillion. In a city known for its many financial companies, Fidelity towered above them all under his leadership. [...]

A fiercely competitive businessman, he remained famously modest in public appearance and demeanor throughout his life -- walking from his Beacon Hill home to Fidelity's downtown offices for many years -- and he professed little interest in his personal wealth.

"That isn't what turns the motor," Mr. Johnson said in a rare interview with the Globe in 1994. "The best thing about obviously having a large cash flow is that you can invest it in a lot of other things that produce something else that has value to us and value to other people."

Mr. Johnson spent hundreds of millions of dollars on philanthropic causes, with a particular interest in art and medical research. Known as a generous benefactor with no concern for the public relations value of giving away money, he was often identified simply as AD - anonymous donor - when charities acknowledged many of his gifts.

Mr. Johnson and his family's foundation were major supporters of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where his wife, Elizabeth "Lillie" Johnson, was an active honorary trustee for many years, and of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. He launched a separate foundation to acquire American and Asian antiques, which were loaned to museums and historical societies for public viewings.

Among medical causes, Mr. Johnson was especially interested in research into Alzheimer's disease, an affliction that took his father's life in 1984. He quietly launched his own nonprofit, the Alzheimer Research Forum Foundation, which acts as an online clearinghouse of information.

Mr. Johnson also launched Fidelity Charitable. The business unit manages thousands of accounts from which customers can send donations. It became the largest nonprofit fund-raiser in the country, outpacing the United Way in 2016.

Mr. Johnson spent extensively on computers and technology that enhanced the company's reputation for strong customer service. In the early days, he reached out to customers with a blizzard of advertising and made it easy for shareholders to call Fidelity for help with toll-free numbers staffed around the clock, a big change in a business that grew out of the discreet and conservative world of trusts and private bankers.

For many years, he continued his father's practice of hiring bright, young money managers at Fidelity and encouraging them to take investment risks, again contrary to a common industry practice that emphasized group decisions by older men.

This new investment culture produced many stars -- none more famous than Peter Lynch -- and established Fidelity as home to some of the hottest mutual fund managers just when one of the great bull markets in history got underway, in the early 1980s.

"He was a radical egalitarian despite the fact that he was born into an upper-class Boston Brahmin family," said Bob Pozen, a top Fidelity executive who left the company in 2001. "He just wanted to hire the best people."

As Fidelity's investment management business grew, Mr. Johnson diversified the company into other ventures. He built a booming discount brokerage subsidiary and a large real estate business that redeveloped the World Trade Center and built a hotel across the street on the South Boston waterfront. 

NO ONE FLIES AEROFLOT:

The United States assesses that Russia is suffering failure rates as high as 60% for some of the precision-guided missiles it is using to attack Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of the intelligence told Reuters.

CONSIDER THAT UKRAINE IS LIBERAL AND RUSSIA POST-LIBERAL:

In early 2018, Larry Kramer, the dean of Stanford Law School and the president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which held assets of about $10 billion and disbursed around $400 million a year in grants, wrote a memo to the foundation's board with a plan to end neoliberalism. Across 26 pages, he laid out a theory of recent U.S. history. By his account, the last four decades had seen the steady rise to dominance of a philosophy that operated around three interconnected beliefs: Society was composed of individuals seeking to maximize their own utility, progress was measured in metrics of monetary wealth, and the role of government was to enable markets to operate as freely as possible. The philosophy was incubated by a small group of intellectuals including Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek, who carried out a breathtaking victory march from the margins in the early postwar years of social democracy and Keynesianism to the center of American political consciousness. By the 1980s and 1990s, neoliberalism reached into every field of human endeavor from higher education to public policy. Kramer noted that philanthropy had played a major role in the success of neoliberalism, from the William Volker Fund to the Olin Foundation to the Koch Network. He proposed something radical to the board of the philanthropic body he directed: The Hewlett Foundation should take this history and flip it, reverse-engineer the neoliberal project and replace it with a new economic paradigm.

The Hewlett Foundation was in some ways an unlikely motor for such an initiative. Created by the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, it had concentrated more on issues of population and reproductive rights alongside environmental and cultural issues over the years. Kramer's pitch was more confrontational than most of their previous efforts. He was targeting the pituitary gland of the American body politic, proposing that a change in the ruling ideology at the source could reshape social life as a whole. Yet the board agreed. They committed $10 million to the first two years in 2018 and, in 2020, renewed with $50 million more.

Some people are seeing this war as further evidence of the demise of the liberal world order; you seem to see in it an opportunity?

Vladimir Putin is at the centre of a global anti-liberal campaign waged by authoritarian great powers like Russia and China, but also by a number of populists that have arisen in democratic countries, like Viktor Orbán in Hungary or our Donald Trump. Putin said very explicitly that he thought liberalism was an obsolete doctrine. And a lot of conservatives in the United States have actually (they're backing away from it now) said they like Putin; they like the idea of a strongman that could cut through all the liberal nonsense they saw going on in their societies. With this invasion of another democratic country, Putin has created a certain amount of moral clarity. The biggest advantage of a liberal state is the fact that it's not authoritarian. It's not a dictatorship; it doesn't kill people; it doesn't invade neighbours. Putin's demonstrated what the alternative to liberalism is.

So you see in this war the possibility of "a new birth of freedom". What do you mean by that?

Well, I think that our liberal democracies have gotten very complacent over the last 30 years. After the fall of the former Soviet Union, we had this extended period of peace and prosperity. And I think that especially younger people who grew up in that world, where they didn't experience either the violent conflict of the twentieth century, or the dictatorship of a communist regime, began to take liberal democracy for granted. They assumed that this was simply the way the world was, and nobody could threaten that. And as a result, they weren't willing to actively defend democracy where it was under threat. And I think that's one of the reasons that Putin thought that he could get away with this invasion: because he thought that the United States is internally very divided, that Europe really doesn't believe in much of anything anymore. One of the nice things that has happened is the unity that's been expressed within the Nato alliance, especially in Germany, where they basically revised 40 years of Ostpolitik.

ARM THEM AND RECOGNIZE THEIR INDEPENDENT NATIONS:

For many exiled Chechens, Putin is treating Ukrainians the way he treated them.

"Moscow's attempts today to impose its control over independent Ukraine resonates in the hearts and minds of many Chechens who remember their struggle for independence against the Russian colonizing machine," Albert Bininachvili, a professor of political science at Bologna University, told DW.

Putin aspires to expand Russia's domination to the Soviet borders, he explained, but without the intention of bringing back the Soviet system, "which in effect leaves us with nothing but Russian colonialism." [...]

"Chechens consider the war in Ukraine as a continuation of the war in Chechnya," Iliyasov said. "So they want to contribute to eventual victory against this perceived evil -- something not achieved on Chechen soil."

"That's alongside another motivation, which is a kind of moral obligation to help people who are in such situations, and showing solidarity with them," he added.

Cheberloevsky, the head of the Sheikh Mansur Battalion, also considers the latest fighting as part of a much longer conflict. He said in an interview with Radio Free Europe's Caucasus service, "We have been fighting in Ukraine since 2014 to beat our common enemy."

Akhmed Zakayev, the head of the Chechen separatist government in exile, encouraged all Chechens living abroad to fight alongside the Ukrainian government in a video shared on social media.

Chechens are not the only Muslim group assisting Ukrainians.

Said Ismagilov, one of Ukraine's top Islamic leaders, who is of Tatar origin, posted a picture of himself in a military uniform beside the members of the Territorial Defence Forces in Kyiv. In another video, he called on the Muslims in the world to stand in solidarity with Ukraine.

The Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic minority indigenous to Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014,  have been resisting Russian occupation since 2015, with some of them fighting in the Ukrainian armed forces. 

In a video widely shared by Ukrainian media, Ayder Rustemov, the head of Crimea's Muslim community as recognized by Ukraine, urged Ukrainian Muslims to defend their country and called on Russian Muslims to denounce Russia's aggression.

THE eND COMES FOR EVERYONE, VLAD:

For Putin, Ukraine has been the outlier. Ukraine has been pursuing freedom and democracy determinedly, though haltingly, on its own, and it has had a good deal of success. The fact that this democratic process has been playing out on Putin's doorstep, perhaps most notably with the 2014 "Revolution of Dignity" against his stooge, then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, is terrifying to Putin.

In the information age, a state of terror such as the one that Putin's Russia has become, cannot countenance states of consent, especially next door. It is Ukraine's constitutional order -- with its independent (though still troubled) judicial system, freedom of the press, multiparty politics, largely legitimate elections,  vibrant civil society, and general respect for human rights -- that Putin cannot tolerate, lest it provide too tempting an example for democratic activists in his own country who have vehemently opposed him at great risk to their lives and to the public in general that shares so many ties to the people in Ukraine. The "peaceful coexistence" of the Cold War is, in this respect, not acceptable to Putin.

CLARENCE ONLY NEEDS TO RECUSE HIMSELF IN CASES INVOLVING THE CONSTITUTION:

On Nov. 10, after President Biden was projected the winner, Ginni Thomas texted Meadows, "Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!...You are the leader, with him, who is standing for America's constitutional governance at the precipice. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History."

A few weeks later, Meadows encouraged her to keep up hope in this "fight of good versus evil."

"Thank you!! Needed that! ... I will try to keep holding on. America is worth it!" she replied.

The 29 messages reported by the Post and CBS News show that both Thomas and Meadows believed the election was stolen.

She also urged Meadows to make Sidney Powell, a conspiracy theorist who spouted baseless claims of election fraud, "the lead and the face" of Trump's legal team and advocated for a forceful response to Trump staffers and Republican lawmakers who did not agree with the need to overturn the election.

Four days after the Stop the Steal rally -- which she attended -- and the Capitol insurrection, Thomas texted Meadows doubling down on her support for Trump and criticizing Vice President Pence, who had refused to interfere with the certification of Biden's victory.

"We are living through what feels like the end of America," Thomas wrote. "Most of us are disgusted with the VP and are in listening mode to see where to fight with our teams. Those who attacked the Capitol are not representative of our great teams of patriots for DJT!!"

"Amazing times," she said. "The end of Liberty."

An attorney for Meadows confirmed the messages to the Post and CBS but would not comment on their contents except to say "nothing about the text messages presents any legal issues."

DONALD WHO?:

In December 2020, I wrote a column noting that Trump belongs to a long line of politicians who have used appeals similar to his to rise to prominence. At the malevolent end this includes figures like Joseph McCarthy and George Wallace; at the benign end it includes figures like Ross Perot. All of them struck themes similar to the ones that vaulted Trump to power -- that America is facing decline because of the duplicity and cravenness of political elites, arguments often laced with xenophobia. All of them for a time vaulted to prominence as the tribune of ordinary Americans disgusted with conventional politics. All of them tried comebacks once their period of peak power waned. None of them succeeded. Trump is unique in that he rode his populist appeal all the way to the presidency. He's already surprised me with how much relevance he continues to hold. But nothing in history suggests that he can retain this influence all the way to 2024.

"Every hero becomes a bore at last," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson -- and he might have added that they become a phony, as well.

GRIST FOR THE nATIONALIST MILL:

Referring to them as "orcs"-- the evil, monstrous army in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" -- Kim said that the Russians had retreated and left their colleagues' charred bodies behind on the battlefield. He sent CNN pictures of the abandoned corpses, adding: "There are hundreds of them, all over the region."

The governor has called for the bodies to be placed into refrigerators and sent back to Russia for identification through DNA testing. But, a month into the war, it is still unclear how or if the remains of soldiers are being repatriated to Russia, where reports about the death toll have largely been silenced. The country has cracked down on any information about the realities of the bloody war, restricting access to Western media reports, as well as the social networks Twitter and Facebook, in Russian territory.

Exactly how many Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine remains a mystery. The official line from Russia's defense ministry was 498 military personnel until Monday, when pro-Putin Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published a report updating the toll to 9,861. The figure, which was attributed to the ministry and later retracted by the paper -- which claimed it was hacked -- has not been confirmed by the Kremlin, whose spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday told CNN: "As far as the numbers are concerned, we agreed from the very beginning that we do not divulge the information."

That number tallies with information shared with CNN by US and NATO officials, who gave a recent estimate that Russian casualties range from between 3,000 and 10,000. Ukrainian officials have claimed the toll is even higher, at more than 15,000. CNN has been unable to verify the overall number of Russian deaths.

One of the most searing, early images of the war in Ukraine was of a dead Russian soldier, his face and body obscured by a dusting of newly fallen snow. The picture, shot by New York Times photojournalist Tyler Hicks, captured the anonymity of the more than 150,000 Russians sent to fight their neighbors -- and the anxiety of Russian families desperate to find out any information about their fate.

DAVID ALWAYS BEATS GOLIATH:

The war in Ukraine has exposed multiple serious issues for the Russian military command:

According to many reports, they weren't even really asked about this war. "Just go and do it" seems to be the net level of consultation with Putin.

The front line presence of conscripts and their clearly inadequate combat capabilities indicates very little comprehension of military basics.

Russian intelligence seems to have made every possible mistake in evaluating Ukraine as a military target. Again, the army was clearly out of the loop.

The current situation indicates a clear lack of understanding of the extreme seriousness of Russia's situation on the ground. Unsustainable losses of troops and equipment are grinding down the invasion force severely on a daily basis.

At the stated casualty rate, combat elements of the original invasion force will cease to exist in a few months. Several major combat units are already described as "destroyed".

In effect, the role of the Russian military command in any strategic planning seems to be non-existent, or at best, at janitor level, in a deteriorating situation.

NO ONE HATES AMERICA MORE THAN THE rIGHT:

Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama on Wednesday said Donald Trump had asked him to "rescind" the 2020 presidential election, "remove" President Joe Biden from his office, "immediately put" Trump back in the White House and hold a new special presidential election.

Brooks said in a statement that he had drawn Trump's "ire" by telling the former president that his plan was not legal.

The congressman later told NBC News that Trump proposed the series of events to restore him to the presidency after Sept. 1, more than seven months after Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021.

MAKING THE SIMPLE OBSCURE:

Hieronymi, who'd been a student of Scanlon's at Harvard, described contractualism to me this way: Imagine our crew has been at war with another crew for years, just slugging it out in a dense forest, firing on each other from trenches a hundred feet apart. It's an absolute stalemate. Neither side has any advantage over the other, and no hope of ever gaining one. Exhausted and weary, we call a temporary truce and decide we somehow need to design and describe a mutually livable society; we need a set of rules that can be accepted by both sides, no matter how wildly different our views are (and we obviously hold very different views, hence the endless trench warfare). Scanlon's suggestion: We give everyone on both sides the power to veto every rule, and then we start pitching rules.

Assuming everyone is motivated to actually find some rules in the first place--that everyone is reasonable--the rules that pass are the ones no one can reject. This means we'll all design our rules in such a way that they can be justified to other people, because if we don't, they won't become rules. It's a simple, elegant way of finding the basic bucket of societal goo that holds us together.

Now, it makes a big assumption--that everyone is going to be "reasonable." This is definitely one of those moments in philosophy where we have to back up and define something in order to feel like we know what the hell we're talking about. Scanlon doesn't give a quick, pithy definition of "reasonable," in part because . . . there isn't one. But in essence he says this: I'm reasonable if, when you and I disagree, I'm willing to constrain or modify my pursuit of my own interests to the same degree that you're willing to constrain or modify your pursuit of your interests.

When we come together to suggest our rules, then, we aren't just "looking out for number one." Rather, we both want to design a world where we accommodate each other's needs, so that when we don't see eye to eye on something, finding a way to coexist in some kind of harmony becomes our top priority. Scanlon is after "a shared willingness to modify our private demands in order to find a basis of justification that others also have reason to accept." It's a contract he wants all of us to sign, giving us all the same exact motivations.

Scanlon wants us to figure this stuff out with each other--to sit across from one another and simply ask: "Do you agree that this is okay?"

Importantly, this doesn't mean we always have to defer to other people in every conflict--because in Scanlon's world, they're approaching the conflict with the same intention to modify their interests in order to justify them to us. It creates a kind of dynamic tension, where we all regard everyone else's interests as equal to our own--not more important, but equally important. 

PIGOU WINS:

Much has been written about the unintended boost Russia's invasion of Ukraine might lend to the global shift to renewables, but two new reports from leading market analysts have singled out green hydrogen as a sector that stands to be "turbocharged" as a result of the conflict.

The reports, from Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Rystad Energy, explain that soaring gas prices, driven up by the Russia-Ukraine war, have - as BNEF puts it - "opened a rare opportunity" for renewable electricity to make hydrogen and hydrogen-derived products more cheaply than gas.

VLAD WHO?:

"The announcement of paying in rubles is... a breach of the contract and we will now discuss with our European partners how we would react to that," said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, whose country imported 55 percent of its natural gas from Russia before Moscow invaded Ukraine.[...]

Chancellor Olaf Scholz told parliament earlier Wednesday that Europe's biggest economy was accelerating the end of its dependence on Russian oil, coal and gas.

VLAD WHO?:

The Kremlin's climate envoy and veteran reformer Anatoly Chubais has quit his position and left Russia over his opposition to the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. 

The bombshell departure, according to two unnamed insiders cited by Bloomberg, makes Chubais the highest-profile figure to break with President Vladimir Putin over his decision to invade Ukraine. 

IF YOU INTRODUCE A NUKE IN ACT ONE...:

The point is that taking action against Putin even though he uses nuclear weapons has risks, but not taking action also has risks. They are just a little bit further down the road.

This does not justify any and all calls to arms. Sending long-range Russian surface-to-air missiles such as the S-300s in NATO arsenals would make it more complicated for Putin to launch a missile with a nuclear warhead, and such transfers are receiving more support, since there are reports of Ukrainian defenses intercepting missiles. But Putin can salvo missile launches within which one missile has a nuclear warhead, and the defender may not know which to shoot at. What else can be done without undue risk?

The formidable array of U.S. systems that can detect the launch of missiles should be on high alert. U.S. systems, such as the AEGIS anti-missile system, should also be on high readiness.

But what if a nuclear warhead gets through and detonates on Ukrainian soil? We should still rely on nuclear deterrence to prevent Putin from using nuclear weapons on a larger scale. It may be possible if difficult to keep a war limited after one nuclear weapon is used. If Putin uses many, he knows that Russia will certainly face nuclear retaliation. But that logic suggests that the United States could turn the table on Putin. If he invades a non-NATO country and uses a nuclear weapon, the gloves should be off with regard to NATO non-nuclear military strikes against Russian military forces in Ukraine and Belarus. The political goal should be--must be--to deny a nuclear aggressor victory, because the global consequences would be dire.

In short, standing up to a Putin who used a nuclear weapon is risky. Living in a world in which there are many nuclear Putins may be even more risky. We should decide which risk is more acceptable, and prepare accordingly.

TRUMPISM IS DEATH:

"This is an expected tragedy," said Jin Dong-yan, a virologist from the University of Hong Kong. "We have appealed to the general public and the government again and again in the past one year--we need to vaccinate the elderly."

More than 70 percent of Hong Kong's COVID-19 fatalities were people aged 80 and older, many of whom lived in elderly care homes. The same age group was the least vaccinated at the outset of the current wave of infections, with less than one in five people fully vaccinated.

In comparison, the overwhelming majority of elderly people are fully vaccinated in countries such as South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, and the United States. 

nATIONALISM DOESN'T WORK:

It is very likely that the targeting of Russian senior ground commanders forms part of a wider Ukrainian strategy to disrupt their enemies' command-and-control network. The Ukrainian forces are aware of the leadership approach that has been adopted by the Russian armed forces since 2001, much of which is based on international analysis conducted by the US and NATO agencies.

Its rigid hierarchical system, overseen by an autocratic leader in Vladimir Putin, condemns junior ranks to a chain of perpetual fear, with little allocated for independent thinking or decision-making.

Putin manages the military in much the same way as he does the wider Russian state, choosing loyalty to him above professional competence. This is no more clearly illustrated than the choice of Sergei Shoigu as Russian defense minister in 2012.

Lacking any military experience or understanding, Shoigu was chosen as he posed little political threat to Putin or established military tradition. He has been criticized by many for failing to introduce major reforms after the Georgian campaign in 2008, which highlighted key failings in the Russian military in carrying out combat operations.

Corruption is endemic within all aspects of Russian life - and this includes the military. A recent report, published as part of the London-based International Government Defense Integrity Index, identified that the Russian military had a corruption risk of high "owing to extremely limited external oversight of the policies, budgets, activities and acquisitions of defense institutions."

The report also highlighted a lack of transparency on procurement and the issuing of defense contracts, with a rating of only 36 out of 100 in this category. Loyalty to Putin may have landed senior leaders a place in the inner circle, but this has been at the expense of the personnel they serve.

On Sunday, Mykhailo Podoliak, a top advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said six Russian generals had been killed, calling the invading army "fully unprepared" for the fight in Ukraine. Western assessments of deaths among Russian commanders are slightly more conservative. One European diplomat familiar with Western intelligence assessments told Foreign Policy on Monday that at least five Russian generals had been killed, owing mostly to failures in electronic communications equipment that left them vulnerable to targeted strikes and to their efforts to get a large force of nearly 200,000 troops--many of them young conscripts--to follow orders by leading from the front.

"They're struggling on the front line to get their orders through," said the European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss recent battlefield intelligence. "They're having to go to the front line to make things happen, which is putting them at much greater risk than you would normally see."

The European diplomat said the Russian death toll among general officers is up to a fifth of the number of commanders deployed in Ukraine, which Western intelligence officials estimate at 20 officers, making the military less able to operate and more bogged down. "It's all about a lack of preparedness among the military," the diplomat said. "They are asking for things to happen, and they are not happening."

PURITAN NATION:

[A] new survey from the Deseret News and Marist Poll shows that the story of faith in America is far more complicated -- and nuanced -- than a simple narrative of decline. Among many groups, faith is thriving, resilient and even on the rise.

According to the new research, the share of Americans who pray regularly is high and holding steady. Especially among Black Americans, religious disengagement is the exception, not the rule.

The vast majority of Americans still believe in a higher power, and a majority believe in the biblical God. Despite the common assumption that Democrats are godless, nearly two-thirds of members of the party believe in God and 24% attend church at least once a week.

Furthermore, most people continue to see faith as a good thing. Nearly 7 in 10 U.S. adults think the country would be better off if Americans prayed for each other. Just 37% say it's hard for people who don't believe in God and people who do believe in God to get along, the new poll reports.

Taken together, these findings show that the U.S. remains a very religious country, especially compared to other industrialized nations.

THE rIGHT CALLS THAT A CONSPIRACY:

In her response, Jackson said she was proud to serve as a board member -- and opened up about the school's origins as a Jewish-Black civil rights alliance.

"Georgetown Day School has a special history that I think is important to understand when you consider my service on that board," Jackson told Cruz.

She went on:

"The school was founded in 1945 in Washington DC at a time at which by law there was racial segregation in this community. Black students were not allowed in the public schools to go to school with white students. Georgetown Day School is a private school, that was created when three white families -- Jewish families -- got together with three Black families and said that despite the fact that the law is set up to make sure that Black children are not treated the same as everyone else, we are going to form a private school so that our children can go to school together. The idea of equality -- justice -- is at the core of the Georgetown Day School mission."

NO ONE HATES JUST MEXICANS:

Sixteen GOP lawmakers voted against a House bill that seeks to promote public education on the history of Japanese Americans in World War II, including their incarceration in so-called "internment camps." [...]

Rep. Bruce Westerman (Ark.), the leading Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, acknowledged the bill's significance in honoring Japanese Americans. "[It] will be an important tool to ensure that this history, no matter how painful it may be, is always remembered, and the important stories of interned Japanese Americans are told with honor and respect," he said.

Aside from the bill, the House reportedly passed legislation that would preserve the concentration camps and create a grant program to promote education on Japanese American incarceration.

PICKED:

Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has warned that Israel's position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine could have future implications on the aid it receives from the US.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, the Illinois representative who has served in Congress since 2011, wrote: "I deeply support our relationship with Israel. But supporting friends doesn't mean we look past differences. We have stood with Israel and will continue to do so."

"But at the moment there is a battle between Good and Evil, between a world based on raw power or one based on the post WW2 rules. Everyone must pick a side. The outcome of this fight will impact the world my son grows up in, and now is the time to call anyone to the carpet who does not do their utmost."

 Israel passed a controversial new "nation-state law" last week that's sparking both celebration and fierce debate over the very nature of Israel itself.

The law does three big things:

It states that "the right to exercise national self-determination" in Israel is "unique to the Jewish people."

It establishes Hebrew as Israel's official language, and downgrades Arabic -- a language widely spoken by Arab Israelis -- to a "special status."

It establishes "Jewish settlement as a national value" and mandates that the state "will labor to encourage and promote its establishment and development."

Each of these statements would be contentious on its own, but taken together, they're a clear, unequivocal statement of how the Jewish state's current leaders see both the country and the diverse people who call it home.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government backed the legislation and was overjoyed at the law's passing. Netanyahu lauded the law as "a defining moment in the history of the state" -- a phrase that was splashed across the front pages of Israel Hayom, the country's most-read newspaper, which is often described as Netanyahu's Fox News for its favorable coverage of his government.

But for Israeli Arabs, who make up one-fifth of Israel's 9 million citizens, the new law was a slap in the face.

IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT RACE WITH THESE GUYS:

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., would welcome the U.S. Supreme Court rescinding its 1967 ruling that legalized interracial marriage nationwide in favor of allowing each of the 50 states to decide such issues on their own.

MAKING THE cOURT MORE CONSERVATIVE:

SUNUNU 2024:

For the seventh year in a row, an analysis of taxes, spending, and government efficiency finds New Hampshire taxpayers are getting the best tax-dollar "return on investment (ROI)" in the nation.

WalletHub employed an expert panel to analyze 30 metrics of the quality and efficiency of state-government services across five categories -- education, health, safety, economy, and infrastructure/pollution -- and taking into account the drastically different rates at which citizens are taxed in each state.

And once again, New Hampshire is #1. New Hampshire's tax burden is the third-lowest in the U.S., while the quality of its government services ranks fourth -- the only state to rank in the top 10 in both categories.

OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING:

The House Intelligence Committee is urging the U.S. spy community to track, preserve and, whenever possible, declassify information about potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The request, contained in a letter signed by all 23 members of the panel and sent this week to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, comes amid growing global concern about Russia's attacks on civilians in Ukraine as well as Moscow's veiled warnings about using chemical and biological weapons in the country.

MORE VACCINES FASTER, PLEASE:

For more than 100 years, it's been jabbed into the arms of children around the world to fend off tuberculosis. Now, a researcher at MGH is testing whether this very old vaccine could help lower blood sugar levels in children with Type 1 diabetes.

The research, led by Dr. Denise Faustman, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Immunobiology Laboratory, is in its early stages and has proved to be controversial among diabetes researchers and interest groups. But evidence is growing that the vaccine, called bacillus Calmette Guérin or BCG, can do more than prevent TB.

Annually, 100 million doses of the vaccine are given to newborns in 84 percent of the world's countries. Because TB isn't common in the United States, children here do not receive the vaccine.

Studies have tied the vaccine to lower rates of childhood mortality and stronger immunity against a host of infectious diseases. There are also signs the vaccine can calm the immune system, benefiting people with allergies and autoimmune diseases. [...]

A small phase 1 clinical trial, published in 2012, showed BCG prompted higher levels of insulin production than in placebo-treated subjects. In a long-term follow of the trial, published in 2018, Faustman's lab found that adult patients with diabetes treated with the vaccine experienced 10 to 18 percent reductions in blood sugar levels and were able to use less insulin. Diabetic patients in the same trial who were treated with a placebo showed almost no improvement.

Research has found that reducing levels of hemoglobin A1c, a measure of blood glucose, by even 10 percent can lower the risk of lifelong complications from diabetes.

A phase two clinical trial, begun in 2015 with 150 patients, is ongoing, with results expected in a year and a half.

WITCH HUNTS ARE A FUNCTION OF WITCHES:

Shame is a policing tool, and it has been one since the first clans of humans roamed the savannas of Africa. According to evolutionary psychologists, shame--much like pain, its first cousin--shields us from harm. Pain protects our bodies, teaching us to watch out for fires and sharp blades, and to run away from angry hornets. Shame represents another dimension of pain. It is administered by a collective whose rules and taboos are etched into our psyches. Its goal is the survival not of the individual but of the society. In this sense, shame is borne of the conflict between an individual's desires and the expectations of the group.

Shame, by definition, is something we carry inside. It's a feeling, one derived from a norm, whether of body, health, habits, or morals. And when we sense that we're failing to meet these standards, or when classmates or colleagues or Super Bowl advertisements make these departures all too clear, shame washes over us. Sometimes it just feels bad. But the damage can run much deeper, hollowing out our sense of self, denying us our dignity as human beings, and filling us with feelings of worthlessness. Shame packs a vicious punch.

RECOGNIZE CHECHEN INDEPENDENCE, ARM THE INSURGENTS, CALL FOR FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS:

Ukrainian intelligence services say the video was likely false bravado, filmed at home in Chechnya. Intelligence from phones and internet suggested he never crossed into Ukraine, and even Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to endorse the video, saying the Kremlin had "no data" on a possible trip into Ukraine.

But regardless of veracity, the footage was useful propaganda, signalling how closely and enthusiastically Kadyrov has associated himself with this war.

He appears to see the invasion of Ukraine as an opportunity to boost both his power and his profile. Sending his men is a way for Kadyrov to prove his loyalty to the Russian leader whose patronage is the basis of his authority.

"There are many thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of Chechens who hate him, who resent him and many families who are in a state of latent blood feud against him and his family, so Kadyrov understands if he wants to to survive he needs Russia and Vladimir Putin's backing," said Emil Solomon Aslan from the Institute of Political Studies at Charles University in Prague.

"That's why he wants to display absolute loyalty, show he is useful, can come and do very grandiose stuff." [...]

Many Chechens felt they were sent as cannon fodder to a badly planned war in the early days, when their heavy losses included a senior commander. Now they seem more focused on a media war, aimed at driving recruits and bolstering their leader.

At home, Kadyrov has been pushing hard for "volunteers", who are offered a sign-on bonus of about $2,300 (£1,750) and pay of $1,000 a month, with extra for successful operations, one recruiter said in text messages to a prospective young fighter.

They have approached groups including martial arts coaches asking young men to sign up, but Chechens are apparently mostly unmoved, aware how lethal the war has become.

"The footage and metadata show most [Chechen] forces are at least 20km [12 miles] away from the frontline, the only things they do is record videos to motivate people inside Chechnya and promote the warrior image of Kadyrov and his forces," Kvakhadze said.

"They are putting in a lot of effort to mobilise 'volunteers', offered very generous financial reward for participating, but Telegram and leaks suggest it is not successful."

Kadyrov also has one other reason to fight. Lined up with the Ukrainian forces are at least two brigades that include members of the Chechen diaspora who loathe him, and would like to see him overthrown. He needs to show enemies at home and abroad his strength, but he needs to keep his forces intact to prop up his brutal rule.

"Kadyrov seems to have been shocked by the scope of Ukrainian resistance, and it seems that dozens if not hundreds of his people have been killed. He has a lot of people, around 12,000, but to stay in power he needs those fighters," Aslan said.

"If they suffer too much serious damage in Ukraine, this could backfire for Kadyrov. This might explain some of the rumours he rolled back some of his forces.

A ROUNDING ERROR:

The Russian Komsomolskaya pravda newspaper briefly published a figure indicating a Russian death toll of nearly 10,000 soldiers from the fighting in Europe -- then quickly deleted the information.

The online report on March 20 cited the Russian Defense Ministry as reporting that 9,861 Russian soldiers had died since the start of the war on February 24.

HAVE THEY SEEN WHO'S IN THE ABRAHAM ACCORDS?:

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has issued a letter to its members in an effort to defend its endorsements of far-right candidates, more than a quarter of whom deny the results of the 2020 presidential election.

"This is no moment for the pro-Israel movement to become selective about its friends," reads the letter, written by AIPAC President Betsy Berns Korn and CEO Howard Kohr, obtained by Jewish Insider and published last Friday morning.

The "super PAC" that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee launched in December, however, is more opaque: It's called the United Democracy Project. Its brief mission statement does not mention Israel nor the powerhouse pro-Israel lobby behind its founding. Instead, it emphasizes the promotion of democracy.

SPECIAL PROVIDENCE:

Since the beginning of his time as President, Biden has relied on his sense of the Russian leader to guide his own response. It's even guided the way Biden deals with Putin in their conversations, repeatedly interrupting what he and aides see as the Russian President's strategy of going off on tangents meant to muddle and undermine.

According to a dozen interviews with White House officials, members of Congress and others involved in the effort, Biden has deliberately worked with allies abroad to deny the Russian leader the one-on-one, Washington vs. Moscow dynamic that the President and his aides think Putin wants. Publicly and privately talking about the war as a fight for freedom and democracy, Biden has left other leaders to speak with Putin.

He has moved just as deliberately at home to depoliticize opposition to the invasion of Ukraine so that, even among Republicans, support for Putin has been forced to the fringes so that vilifying the Russian leader has become the one major area of bipartisan agreement since Biden took office. This week Biden ratcheted up his rhetoric by calling the Russian President a "war criminal," a "murderous dictator" and a "pure thug."

"What Putin is trying to do is surround and encircle Kyiv," said Rep. Greg Meeks, a Democrat who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "What Biden is trying to do is have the whole world surround Putin."

Part of the lesson Biden took from being involved as vice president during Putin's 2014 invasion of Crimea was that NATO nations would need a much faster, more humiliating and more cohesive response than the months of infighting that produced sanctions so weak that Putin rode them out. Yet administration officials admit privately that if Putin had invaded Ukraine a year ago, events might have unfolded much differently coming right off four years of former President Donald Trump's damaging relationships and calling NATO obsolete.

Campaigning in 2020, Biden spoke about the confrontation he saw coming.

"Putin has one overriding objective: To break NATO, to weaken the Western alliance and to further diminish our ability to compete in the Pacific by working out something with China," Biden told CNN's Gloria Borger at the time. "And it's not going to happen on my watch."

Biden's own last conversation with Putin was on February 12, more than a week before the invasion started. And for a President and aides who on almost everything else complain that they don't get the credit they deserve, on Ukraine he and administration officials have ducked talk about him being leader of the free world, despite how much of the sanctions and international response are a result of Washington's guidance and pressure.

The result is Putin's being boxed in more than even Biden had expected, along with a sustained level of attention to the war abroad and in America that has surprised White House aides -- without rebooting a 1980s-style Cold War.

"Joe Biden," a senior administration official said, "has known Vladimir Putin for decades and knows exactly who he's dealing with."

Whenever they'd speak, Biden would interrupt Putin as the Russian President launched into complaints that American officials see as a whataboutism tactic designed to distract and undermine.

No, Biden would say, that's not what we're talking about, according to one senior administration official who has witnessed those conversations. Or, no, that's not how things happened 20 or 25 years ago, in whichever past grievance Putin was bringing up to justify his behavior.

"President Putin can't use a lot of his common tricks with President Biden, like trying to confuse people by going down long historical tangents or meandering into the minutiae of policies because President Biden sees those tactics coming a mile away and doesn't take the bait. He'll try to get President Biden off topic by citing an obscure section of the Minsk agreements or a speech someone gave in the late 1990s," a senior administration official said, adding that Biden "is going to always steer the conversation directly back to what he's come to talk about."

Biden has often told a story of a meeting with Putin at the Kremlin in 2011, when he was vice president, and telling the Russian leader, "I'm looking in your eyes and don't think you have a soul" -- a cutting response to President George W. Bush's infamous 2001 comments getting a sense of Putin's soul from looking him in the eye and finding him to be "very straightforward and trustworthy." A Biden administration official, by contrast, sent CNN highlights of Biden's history on the topic over the years, from calling Putin a "bully" in 2006 to calling him a "kleptomaniac" in 2019.

THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

Support for a European Union-wide ban on the purchase of Russian oil is growing inside the bloc, according to diplomats involved in the discussion, representing a significant shift in the continent's stance toward how to ratchet up economic pressure on Moscow. [...]

Restricting Russian oil and natural gas, a source to fulfill Europe's energy needs, had been mostly off the table until recently. But EU capitals have become open to consider further steps, as they have with other measures once thought off limits, as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukrainian cities and peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv show little sign of progress.

Some EU states, for instance, were once unwilling to consider disconnecting Russian banks from Swift, the international payment system. But sentiment turned quickly, with officials coalescing around a move that allowed for a few banks to remain connected.

DIFFICULT? GIVE THEM BACK THEIR MONEY AND OPEN THEIR ECONOMY:

According to sources close to the talks, Iran is insisting on "economic guarantees" in case a future US administration changes its stance and abrogates the agreement, as president Donald Trump did in 2018; and that Washington remove its official terror group designation on Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards.

THE OWNERSHIP SOCIETY:

A DRESS REHEARSAL:

Russia is losing Chinese political and economic support and is more isolated. Then, either it reaches a negotiated agreement soon, allowing an orderly withdrawal, or in a little while, perhaps galvanized by successes and new weapons, the Ukrainians go on the counter-attack and the Russians may run with their tails between their legs.

Beijing is lucky today that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has moved the political limelight away from China. Still, it is a small consolation because the war raises broader issues. China is now bogged down in a tough position.

It can't cut Russia loose, because that would hasten President Vladimir Putin's rout in Ukraine, possibly starting his political demise and maybe even the disintegration of Russia. It can't hold Russia's burden too long, because it could drown China with its downfall.

HE-MAN WOMAN HATERS' CLUB:

The allure of strongman nationalist government -- Vladimir Putin's Russia, Xi Jinping's China, Viktor Orbán's Hungary, the America that Donald Trump and his acolytes dream of -- has always been the promise of power. You can take the word of the foreign caudillos themselves or listen to the slavering of their American admirers -- the story is always the same: While liberal societies slide into softness and decadence, illiberal societies have the resolve to spurn cheap gratification, particularly in the form of consumerism and sexual license, in order to secure the genuine common good.

That this line of analysis is almost invariably framed in sexual terms -- the masculine patriarchal nationalist vs. the effeminate liberal globalist -- says more about the psychology of the authoritarian follower than it does about the actual issues of political economy in question.

But the more important thing to know is that the promise of autocratic power is a lie.

Does Russia look strong today? Vladimir Putin's thugs are pretty tough guys when the contest is, say, a five-on-one fight against an unarmed female journalist (Anna Politkovskaya) or when they're quietly poisoning his critics with polonium-210 (Alexander Litvinenko), but they aren't much in a real fight with Ukrainian patriots. Instead, they have been reduced to vulgar terrorism, bombing hospitals and residential buildings in an attempt to use atrocity as a substitute for victory. Meanwhile, Ukrainian farmers are towing abandoned Russian tanks around with tractors, taunting the cowards who left them behind.

The nations of the free world bicker among themselves, and they have plenty of fierce internal disagreements. But the purportedly soft and undisciplined West put Russia on its ass in about five minutes when push came to shove. Putin's right-wing fanboys are transfixed in rapt homoerotic admiration to see him half naked on horseback, but he doesn't look so tough getting pushed around by materteral bureaucrats such as Christine Lagarde, Ursula von der Leyen, and Janet Yellen.

CAN'T HAVE A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS WHEN THERE IS ONLY ONE:

This is a different kind of exodus -- tens of thousands of young, urban, multilingual professionals who are able to work remotely from almost anywhere, many of them in IT or freelancers in creative industries.

Russia is hemorrhaging outward-looking young professionals who were part of a global economy that has largely cut off their country.

Before the war broke out, only about 3,000 to 4,000 Russians were registered as workers in Armenia, according to officials. But in the two weeks following the invasion, at least an equal number arrived almost every day in this small country. While thousands have moved on to other destinations, government officials said late last week that about 20,000 remained. Tens of thousands more are looking to start new lives in other countries.

The speed and scale of the exodus are evidence of a seismic shift that the invasion set off inside Russia. Though President Vladimir Putin repressed dissent, Russia until last month remained a place where people could travel relatively unfettered overseas, with a mostly uncensored internet that gave a platform to independent media, a thriving tech industry, and a world-class arts scene. Life was good, the émigrés said.

NAILED IT:

While clerking for a federal judge, Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson denounced a Boston Herald columnist as "irredeemably evil" for criticizing unrestricted immigration.

Jackson wrote a letter to the editor of the Herald in response to a piece from columnist Don Feder that noted that the population of white people in America could decrease steeply as a result of open borders immigration policy. 

RIGHT THING/RIGHT TIME:

[I]f the Elizabethans overemphasized Esther's reactive, self-protective posture, the opposite mistake featured at a crucial moment in American history, three centuries later. About a week and a half before issuing a preliminary draft of the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln spent a quiet Saturday morning meeting with prominent abolitionist Rev. William Weston Patton. A few months earlier, at a June cabinet meeting, Lincoln had declared his intention to issue an edict of emancipation. But his worry over the Union's military prospects, and the accompanying concern over seeming to act from a position of desperation, had so far prevented Lincoln from publishing any such edict. In the hopes of encouraging him in the right direction, Patton met with Lincoln to make the religious case for emancipation. Patton concluded his remarks to the President by comparing him to Queen Esther. Drawing upon Chapter 4 in the Book of Esther, in which her cousin Mordechai exhorts Esther to seize the moment and exercise moral leadership, Patton beseeched Lincoln to recognize the wondrous opportunity presented to him by the Almighty to right an historic wrong: "[we] believe that in Divine Providence you have been called to the Presidency to speak the word of justice and authority which shall free the bondman and save the nation." As Patton saw it, as soon as Esther was made aware of an injustice, she took action and damn the consequences. He felt Lincoln should do the same, assuring the president: "If the Leader will but utter a trumpet call, the nation will respond with patriotic ardor."

Patton's interpretation of Esther as zealous idealist is, like the Elizabethans before him, difficult to square with the Book of Esther itself. According to the biblical narrative, when Mordechai informs Esther of Haman's murderous intentions, she does not immediately confront the king and demand that he rectify the situation. Instead, she devises a political strategy that takes into consideration Haman's power and influence in the royal court. Counting on Haman's growing sense of complacency, Esther waited for a moment of maximal opportunity to make her case before Xerxes. Far from throwing caution to the wind and depending upon a miracle, Esther was a deeply strategic thinker who knew that the arc of history does not bend toward justice of its own accord. It must be bent with human participation.

In the end, it was Lincoln himself who best captured the nuances of the biblical Esther. In his response to Patton's invocation of the biblical queen, Lincoln replied: "Whatever shall appear to be God's will I will do." This is a striking, likely deliberate echo of Esther's words upon hearing from Mordechai of Haman's plot: "I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish." Like Esther, Lincoln knew the dire risks his proposed course of action entailed for his people, and nevertheless resolved to do the right thing. But, also like Esther, Lincoln refused to take impulsive action. The president had already determined that he would issue the Emancipation Proclamation months before he met with Patton. He felt, however, that it would take a decisive battlefield triumph by Northern forces to vest his edict with the necessary legitimacy in practice. He therefore kept a draft of the edict in his drawer for the entire summer of 1862, biding his time, waiting for the moment when doing the right thing would not only feel good, but be effective. In this respect, Lincoln embodied the legacy of Queen Esther. And if David Gilmour Blythe's 1863 painting of Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation--in which Lincoln looks for inspiration to two documents: the Constitution and the Bible--is any guide, perhaps Lincoln knew it, too.

...NOT WITHOUT HONOR...:

While it's too late to dodge this bullet, we can prepare for future shocks by doubling down on firmed renewables. The faster we move, the less we'll be hit by the price and reliability risks of coal.

Already under pressure from cheaper renewable technologies, coal power station operators now find themselves potentially facing much higher costs in the short-term. There's no relief for coal in the long term either, with the rapid rise of renewables and other zero-carbon technologies.

Not only that, but most of our coal power stations are near the end of their lives, and industry doesn't want to build new ones. That means coal will become more and more expensive, as the plants become increasingly unreliable.

Wind and solar technologies are now much cheaper per unit of energy generated and can be integrated with energy storage to provide dispatchable "firmed" energy. The faster we transition to renewables firmed by storage, the better.

If we do this, our new grid will also be more reliable. Continuing to rely upon coal is like relying upon a 1970s car to travel from Sydney to Melbourne on the hottest day of the year.

WE ALL KNOW WHERE WE'RE HEADED:

What's being tried in Georgia is not a universal basic income program, which provides steady, unconditional income over the course of years to everyone in a targeted area, like GiveDirectly's work in Kenya. Rather, it's a guaranteed income experiment of the sort that is growing around the world, and which have been connected to positive effects on employment, mental health, housing, and more. Unlike UBI, guaranteed income is more narrowly focused to temporarily help demographic groups that are more likely to experience poverty. The amount of money going to each recipient will often be too small to pay for all of someone's basic needs -- though potentially still big enough to be a life-changing amount.

The GRO/GiveDirectly program will study what recipients use the money on, and the effects of the program on their mental and psychological well-being. "We wanted to listen to the voices of recipients," said Miriam Laker-Oketta, GiveDirectly's research director. "We're looking at multiple areas where we believe that cash should be able to have an impact, but we're listening to stories of the recipients instead of just numbers." (Since program recipients are not randomly assigned to a treatment and control group, the researchers won't try to make causal claims for the program.)

A key aim of the program is to explore the difference between providing much of the cash up front in a lump sum versus parceling out payments over time. Half the women will receive $4,300 up front and $700 for the remaining months -- 24 in all -- while the others will receive $850 each month. The total payments will be the same for both groups: $20,400.

Another difference from other income experiments is exactly who the program is looking to target. While recipients might not exclusively be Black women, it's being explicitly framed by the organizers as "a guaranteed income initiative focused on Black women across the state of Georgia," and will take place in neighborhoods with large Black American populations.

The impetus for designing the program this way is clear: There are deep wealth and income inequalities around race and gender that persist in the US, Georgia, and the Old Fourth Ward.

TAX THE EXTERNALITIES:

"The price of energy does not match its cost," said Benjamin Sovacool, a professor of energy policy at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. It's well known that energy prices don't capture all "externalities" -- or side effects of energy use, like the health costs associated with pollution from a coal-fired power plant. The burgeoning crisis of energy supply and cost in the wake of the Ukraine invasion could be considered a sort of externality -- one that, if weighed realistically, might shift the balance in favor of more climate-friendly decisions.

The European Union gets about 40 percent of its natural gas and a quarter of its crude oil from Russia. Last week, though, the European Commission put forth a plan to cut that reliance steeply by the end of this year. Germany canceled the long-anticipated Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which cost $11 billion and would have carried yet more natural gas from Russia. In the U.S., the Biden administration announced an outright ban on the import of Russian oil and gas, with bipartisan support.

The result of all this is a price shock. The price of a barrel of oil soared above $130 before dropping slightly last week. Natural gas in Europe hit an all-time high on March 7. A gallon of gasoline in the U.S. also hit an all-time high (though below previous records when adjusted for inflation) at well over $4. In short, the world is now starting to pay through the nose for the energy that was, supposedly, the cheaper option.

"What we need is for governments to open their eyes and bury once and for all the narrative of cheap fossil fuels," said Michael Taylor, a senior analyst at the International Renewable Energy Agency. "When you take into account the direct costs, subsidies, climate damages and health costs, fossil fuels are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, and policy should reflect that."

GET YOUR SHOTS:

Omicron has revealed flaws in the territory's covid strategy, which prioritized keeping the virus out over vaccinating the vulnerable. Prior to the recent outbreak, fewer than 20 percent of Hong Kong's over-80 population was fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, as cases rise in mainland China, where vaccination among the elderly has also lagged, Hong Kong offers a stark warning.

A TULIP BULB AT LEAST EXISTS:

Recently, the whole category has come under increased regulatory scrutiny, with governments concerned about money laundering, tax evasion and more, and regulatory action is looming. Then there's the steady stream of scams and frauds that have infested the community and the lack of protection an individual has when they lose out. Every month, a new NFT rug pull occurs (scammer drives up the price, sells, then tokens head to zero), like the "Evolved Apes" project that netted the founder nearly $3 million and left everyone else with nothing but a JPEG. They are so common that Gizmodo is now keeping a monthly track of NFT scams.

But most of all, companies and creators touting NFTs and the Metaverse are yet to find worthwhile use-cases for them, and the public is starting to see through the self-fulfilling hype. NFT creators promise games and clubs and communities that never materialize because...reasons. JP Morgan became the first Metaverse bank, hoping to broker mortgages and loans for virtual property within a virtual world because... reasons. Brands like Pepsi and Taco Bell offer NFT tokens to customers because... reasons. Twitter allowed users to verify their NFT, and it turned their profile picture into a hexagon shape because... reasons. Zuckerberg promised to revolutionize work and play and has so far given us a sub-par Nintendo Wii avatar without the legs, and a remote work experience will have everyone running back to the office. Oh, there was that one cool party, though, right? You be the judge.

And so, it poses a question that may have lasting consequences on the future of the internet and the digitally connected world. Is this merely a Bitcoin-esque blip on the path to these new technologies establishing themselves, or is this the bubble bursting already? Of course, these technologies will stick around and might one day establish themselves and become the building blocks of the new 'decentralized' internet they champion so hard. But at present, they are a pointless, expensive, resource-sucking result of capitalism gone mad. The words of Amanda Yeo, from a Mashable article published just before Beeple's sale that started it all, hit the digital nail on the digital head:

"We don't need NFTs. We don't benefit from NFTs. The only anemic value gained upon purchasing an NFT is the ability to truthfully say, "I own this NFT" -- a sentence with so little significance it's laughable.'

BIGGEST LOSER:

THE NATION AS A POLITY RATHER THAN A RACE:

[E]uropean-era Ukraine, which emerged in 2014, overturned its own political fundamentals. Faced with an existential struggle against a powerful, ruthless neighbour, Russia, where nationalism now serves autocracy, an emergent class of Ukrainian liberals made common cause with Ukrainian nationalists. It's been an uncomfortable alliance but it has kept the country together. As Ukraine defends itself against Putin's terror campaign, mutually estranged liberals and nationalists in other countries - the US, England, France - would do well to watch.

To talk about "European Ukraine" isn't to describe an achieved state but a state of hope: hope of membership in the European Union - more meaningful to Ukraine, at least until Russia attacked, than membership of Nato.

Ukraine's hope of Europe had its material side, a hope of grants, jobs and trade. Since the "revolution of dignity" - also known as "Maidan" - in 2014, trade with the EU soared while trade with Russia plunged. More than a million Ukrainians went to work, legally or otherwise, in the EU. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, much has been made in Britain of the EU's openness to Ukrainian refugees compared with the barriers put up by London. But it's a depressing reflection of how mainstream anti-immigrant assumptions have become in the UK that virtually no one in Britain is aware the EU gave Ukrainians visa-free access years ago, as a reward for their country's sacrifices in Europe's name. Since 2017, as a result of that and of Brexit, Ukrainians have levelled up and Britons levelled down to identical rights of EU entry: 90 days' stay without a visa.

Ukraine crisis: claims Mariupol women and children forcibly sent to Russia

Beyond the material hopes of European-era Ukraine, there is the prospect, less tangible and more powerful, of an alternative form of nationhood. Rather than the archaic, romantic, racial mystifications of old Ukrainian nationalism, or Putin's neo-imperial vision of Ukraine pulverised and remade as a puppet state to serve Russian nationalism, it's of Ukraine pursuing its free course as an equal member of a self-constraining, self-governing association of countries, the EU.

The beauty of the EU, for Ukraine, is the capaciousness of its model for both liberals and nationalists. In some ways, the aims of European-era Ukraine closely resemble those of the Scottish National party and the Irish republic: to use the economic power of the EU to leverage their own, to break out of the orbit of a delusional post-imperial culture, to find national self-determination by accepting multinational rules. As Tom Nairn wrote of Scotland, a country could aspire to "a new interdependence where our nationhood will count, rather than towards mere isolation".

CIIRCADIAN ARCADIA:

Many of America's leading sleep scientists and researchers spent this week in Rome. They were attending the annual World Sleep Congress, discussing the importance of regular sleep and circadian rhythms. Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the Senate swiftly and unanimously passed a bill to make daylight saving time permanent.

One of the American sleep scientists in Rome, Dr. Candice Alfano, said she laughed when she found out. "A host of top sleep and circadian scientists leave the US for a few days to discuss (among other things) the dangers of daylight saving time, so the US government picks the same moment to push for permanent daylight saving time?" she said over email. "It's fitting with our government's overall relationship with science." [...]

According to scientists, a lack of morning light can lead to sleep and metabolic disorders, depression, and cardiovascular disease, among other ailments. Exposing ourselves to less light in the morning for more light in the afternoon leads to sleep deprivation; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared sleep deprivation a national endemic in 2014.

Daylight saving time causes circadian misalignment -- our bodies are not synched to the sun or to social clocks. Contrary to popular belief, it's not just the first week after the clock changes that we lose out; it's a chronic circadian misalignment.

There is no data to prove that our circadian clocks catch up with daylight saving time, even after eight months of it. Now it seems we could be an hour off our natural time for as long as it takes the government to realize that they should've switched to standard time.

YEAH, BUT OIL DEPENDENCE IS THE rIGHT'S SCHEME FOR FUNDING REGIMES THAT OPPRESS MUSLIMS:

Miles below ground, where pressures are intense and temperatures far exceed the boiling point of water, dense layers of super-hot rocks offer the promise of a natural, inexhaustible supply of clean energy.

Environmentalists have long dreamed of a way to reach those depths to tap the potential geothermal energy in those rocks, but the technological and financial barriers have been too great.

Now, officials at an MIT spinoff say they believe they've figured out how to drill as deep as 12 miles into the Earth's crust, using a special laser that they say is powerful enough to blast through granite and basalt.

In the coming years, Quaise Energy, named for a section of Nantucket, plans to dig some of the deepest boreholes in history to reach rocks that can exceed temperatures of 1,000 degrees and surface a kind of heavy steam that has the potential to provide enormous quantities of energy. By the end of the decade, their hope is to capture the steam and use it to run turbines at power plants.

AS LONG AS EVERYONE SWITCHES TO EASTERN STANDARD TIME:

Older Americans, it turns out, are also much more likely than younger Americans to dislike the time changes. The Economist/YouGov poll found that an overwhelming majority of respondents 65 and over (77 percent) wanted to eliminate the twice-yearly time change compared with less than half of respondents age 18 to 29 (42 percent). To be clear, those younger people aren't strongly in favor of keeping the clock change: They were just about as likely to say they didn't want to change the clocks (27 percent) as they were to say they weren't sure (31 percent). But they were also less in favor of permanent daylight saving time than older people were, by 30 percent to 54 percent.

This division could hint at one of the big reasons why people really don't like changing the clocks: It can be physically disruptive. Messing with sleep patterns can affect our eating habits or mental functioning throughout the day. And an abrupt shift like adding or losing an hour can be especially troublesome for older people, who may already have more fragmented sleep. It can also upset bedtimes and nap routines for small children, and even make pets fussy.

But in exchange for later sunsets, people have to be OK with dark mornings. And that's not a universally popular tradeoff. Americans actually experimented with permanent daylight saving time starting in January 1974, and it didn't go well. As reported in The Washington Post, support for year-round daylight saving time fell from a majority in late 1973 to around 30 percent in February and March 1974. According to Louis Harris polling that March, people were much more likely to say the change was a bad idea (43 percent) than a good one (19 percent). Parents who found themselves sending their children to school on pitch-black, cold winter mornings were particularly upset.1 But anyone who wakes up on the early side -- which many Americans do -- might also dislike slogging through an extra hour of darkness as they begin their day. 

Some sleep scientists have argued that permanent standard time is more in sync with our body's natural rhythms. We might like an extra hour of light at the end of the day, their argument goes, but we need that extra hour of morning light.

MINDFULNESS:

THE lEFT/rIGHT IS JUST THOSE...:

[W]hat if economic and political phenomena do not -- or cannot -- comply with moral reason as though they were deliberately caused? What if causation, as we apply the concept to social arrangements, is a myth? What would that mean for political life?

It might, as we have seen, mean a proliferation of ill-considered attempts at control. But it might also mean an acceptance of the seemingly arbitrary. This would be a good in the same sense as mystery is a good: because it enables faith. Acceptance of mystery requires the virtue of humility. It discourages radicalism without justifying quietism. The fact that we will always have the poor with us does not excuse us from the duty of charity: On the contrary, the inevitability of poverty, and the influence of arbitrary events on whom it touches, accentuates our social responsibility to address it.

But there is a difference between a regime that insures against the inherently harsh edges of a free economy and one that seeks to re-order -- as Rawls would -- every phenomenon to moral criteria. A state with that degree of authority must wield power it would be difficult not to abuse. Similarly, there is a difference between a regime that recognizes it is partly the product of accident and force, not simply reflection and choice, and one that subverts political institutions that are not, strictly speaking, morally reasonable.

A regime that embraces the fact that not everything is known or knowable will be cautious about the use of power. Perhaps an acceptance of mystery would also lead to a renewal of faith -- not the severe and unforgiving faith that sees natural tragedy as divine punishment, but a faith based on the reasonable limits of reason.

These limits are essential to an adult's view of the world. The child, just learning causation, sees a world without moral causation as a terrifying place, but the adult recognizes that such is often unavoidably the case. Sometimes events occur without someone to blame, in which case it is the consequences of those events, not the events themselves, that deserve social attention. Sometimes we operate under constraints that complexity imposes, and in these cases, we must limit our expectations. Adults know these facts in private life but often forget them in politics.

The statesman knows that recognizing when events are within our control and when we must accede to them is the hinge of prudence. But he also knows the price of total control is total submission. Such is the tension between liberty and the conquest of chance. It is, in a political sense, the difference between the perspective of an adult and the fantasy of a child. Politics, of course, does not always arouse our most mature qualities. But political reflection can.

MET ONE nATIONALIST...:

Putinism is Trumpism. https://t.co/eGL4vmHgez

— brothersjudd (@brothersjudd) March 19, 2022

THE XI STANDS ALONE:

[T]here are growing signs that China is unwilling to shoulder the costs of its partner's strategic blunder. At least two prominent Chinse scholars, Wang Huiyao and Hu Wei, have openly called on Beijing to distance itself from Russia's mishaps and help mediate an end to the conflict. China's Ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, has been quoted claiming, "Had China known about the imminent crisis, we would have tried our best to prevent it."

But while a prevaricating China tries to distance itself from Russia's mishaps and minimize its potential exposure to crushing Western sanctions on Moscow, Taiwan has been carefully drawing lessons from the military quagmire. Ukraine's stiff resistance, which has exposed Russia's operational vulnerabilities, has inspired Taiwanese strategists as well as the broader population of the self-ruling island, which Beijing brands as a renegade province.

A new authoritative poll shows that more than 70% of Taiwanese citizens would be willing to militarily defend Taiwan in the event of war with China. There is also growing public support for overhauling military reservists' training and, if necessary, extending mandatory military service in order to ensure "total defense" against any prospective invasion by Taiwan's giant neighbor in the future.

CITIES WERE A MISTAKE:

His working life -- he routinely put in seventeen-hour days -- was facilitated by a vast expense account with teams of secretaries, chefs and chauffeurs. He died in 1981, aged ninety-two. Considering what he built, his life sounds like a cause for celebration. Except for one thing: Moses was a psychopath. If power is a drug, then Moses was a massive user. His undoubted genius hid a vindictive, cruel personality that became deranged. His façade was ever the humble public servant. Yet he despised the poor, especially if they were black or Puerto Rican.

Though there is talk of a Netflix series, there is still no film about this extraordinary man. The Bridge Theatre in London, however, has taken up his story. Nicholas Hytner is directing a new play the theater has commissioned from David Hare. "It's the greatest work of non-fiction I've ever read," says Hytner of Caro's book. "The first thing you realize is that there isn't a play in the Caro book because it's just too immense. The play David has written is narratively narrower than the book. It's about who Moses is, what he stands for, and what might resonate for audiences today." Ralph Fiennes will play Moses. Hytner reckons "that slightly mad glint in his eye" should come in useful. Hare, incidentally, has form at writing villains. Back in 1985, he co-invented a fictitious newspaper tycoon, Lambert Le Roux, for his comedy Pravda. Anyone who saw it will remember Anthony Hopkins, fists balled, face jutting, like a human mastiff: 'Who are you? You're fired.'

"This is a much subtler play than Pravda," says Hytner. "It's not a big, ribald epic. It's a more private play." It presumably helps that villains are all the rage and good box office? "I wouldn't say we are doing this just because Moses was a villain. But it is true -- if you get a villain right, it always works."

Moses was actually a most sophisticated man. He was a visiting Rhodes scholar at Oxford who wrote a book about the British civil service. He loved the English poets. He was a big Dr. Johnson fan and he knew screeds of Shakespeare by heart. Throughout his life, he was dapper, handsome, always the perfect host, always civil to his wife.

It is the case against Moses that makes the book so gripping. 

ALL COMEDY IS CONSERVATIVE:

Vlad who? https://t.co/d3wbOjNmeQ

— brothersjudd (@brothersjudd) March 19, 2022

LEGENDS OF THE fALL:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Gothic fantasy "Christabel" (1816) begins with an archetypal moment, familiar to fans of monster stories everywhere. The innocent maiden Christabel has been wandering at midnight in the dark forest surrounding the castle of Sir Leoline, her father. In the forest she encounters the lady Geraldine, who appears to be a damsel in distress. The kindly Christabel offers Geraldine her father's protection, but something strange happens as the two women approach the castle's entrance:

The lady sank, belike through pain,

And Christabel with might and main

Lifted her up, a weary weight,

Over the threshold of the gate:

Then the lady rose again,

And moved, as she were not in pain.

Naive as she is, Christabel does not see anything suspicious here, but those of us who know our monster lore realize that something sinister is afoot. Geraldine is some kind of evil being--perhaps a witch or vampire--and as such she cannot enter a household uninvited. She feigns pain to account for her inability to cross the threshold, inducing Christabel to carry her over it and thereby to invite her in. Her pain then disappears as mysteriously as it appeared, and Geraldine has successfully invaded Sir Leoline's castle.

This invitation motif is most familiar from Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), but it persists to this day, even in the titles of contemporary vampire movies, such as the Swedish Let the Right One In (2008) and its American remake Let Me In (2010). The prevalence of this motif reflects an intuition that evil is more complicated than we would like to think. We believe that good and evil are polar opposites, and therefore that, when evil enters the lives of good people, it does so wholly from outside, as a completely alien force. Good people are in no way responsible for or even implicated in the invasion of evil. But the folk wisdom embodied in vampire lore knows better. As innocent as good people may appear to be, if they were not somehow open to the influence of evil, they could not be possessed by it. It may sound like blaming the victim, but folklore is relentless, and it suspects that good people must have some affinity with the evil they claim to abhor and reject. That is why in so many horror stories the monster comes to mirror the hero or heroine.

In "Christabel," for example, the heroine appears to be as pure as she could be, and yet one might well ask: What is an innocent maiden doing walking in a forest at midnight? Christabel is acting suspiciously, as if she were trying to conceal her movements. ("She stole along, she nothing spoke"; later she will "creep in stealth.") She has been dreaming of her "betrothèd knight"--in a "dream that made her moan and leap." Is Christabel experiencing a sexual awakening that has caused her to flee the confines of her father's castle, in search of a freedom greater than he allows her? The opening of "Christabel" is filled with ambivalent images: It is midnight, yet the cock is crowing; "the night is chilly, but not dark"; the cloud "covers but not hides the sky"; the moon is "at the full; / And yet she looks both small and dull." With all these lines blurring before our eyes, it is no wonder that when Christabel confronts Geraldine, it is not a case of absolute good versus absolute evil.

Geraldine brings trouble into Leoline's castle, but it is by no means clear that his household was untroubled until her arrival. Christabel's mother evidently died giving birth to her. Does Leoline perhaps on some level blame his daughter for his wife's death? In any case, Leoline has imposed a regime of perpetual mourning on his castle that makes it feel more like a tomb than a home--hardly a place for young Christabel to flourish. The poem is filled with love-hate relationships. Leoline was once the great friend of Geraldine's father, Lord Roland de Vaux of Tryermaine. But they fell out and now are enemies. The narrator adds, "And to be wroth with one we love / Doth work like madness in the brain." As a conclusion to Part II of the poem, Coleridge attached a seemingly irrelevant passage about why a father might speak bitter words to a child he loves. Coleridge offers a lame explanation for this phenomenon, but the poem itself provides a more direct one: Sometimes we come to hate the people we profess to love. Having mixed feelings about people is the central theme of "Christabel," as it is of several of Coleridge's poems.

That ambiguity of feeling is conveyed by the way Christabel--the supposedly good character--becomes the mirror image of Geraldine--the supposedly evil character. Evil proves to be contagious in "Christabel." Geraldine is imaged as some kind of serpent--Christabel responds to her with a "hissing sound." When Bracy the bard relates his dream of a snake attacking a dove--Geraldine is clearly the snake and Christabel the dove--the two creatures mirror each other, with the snake "swelling its neck as [the dove] swelled hers." Entranced by Geraldine's "serpent eyes," Christabel "passively did imitate" her and, "with forced unconscious sympathy," she glares at her father.

Geraldine is Christabel's monstrous double. She appears fair in public but in private, preparing for bed, she reveals that she is half a witch-hag. If Geraldine is half a beautiful lady, half a monster, perhaps the fair Christabel contains a dark side as well. Coleridge never completed "Christabel," but he took the poem far enough for us to realize that Geraldine is not creating evil out of nothing in Leoline's household; she is merely exploiting ill feelings and conflicts that were already present, simmering beneath the surface and ready to break out at the first opportunity.

The Monster in Us

"Christabel" can stand for many horror stories in the way that it portrays the monstrous as inextricably intertwined with the everyday--it feeds on something already inside us. That is why the monster always has to be invited in--it must have links to something that is already there. Often we are blind to the evil that lurks around us and within us.

MORALITY PRECEDES THE eND OF hISTORY:

Consider, first, what I call Smith's moral anthropology, the particular way in which he invited his readers to understand the moral dimensions of human nature. For Smith, this anthropology centered on a particular psychology enabled by the faculty of sympathy. Although the word sympathy usually indicates benevolence, pity, or some other altruistic feeling, Smith repurposed it to signify a design, something like humanity's operating system. In this usage, sympathy describes the instinctual cognitive and affective ability individuals have that enables them to understand the motivations and feelings of others by imaginatively identifying with them. In the absence of immediate experience of what others suffer, for example, he surmised that we put this capacity into action by "conceiving what we ourselves should feel in the like situation...[and] by changing places in fancy with the sufferer."3 A virtuous person can hone this faculty, to be sure, but its presence doesn't depend on virtue. According to Smith, even "the greatest ruffian" feels at least traces of the sentiments and emotions that sympathy enables.4 Sympathy is a load-bearing concept in Smith's moral anthropology. First, it enables moral judgment. When judging others, he thought, we evaluate the propriety of their actions by imaginatively identifying with them, and deciding whether we would act and feel the same way if we were in their shoes.5 It follows that we apply this mode of examination when judging ourselves, in that we "place ourselves in the situation of another man, and view [our conduct and motives], as it were, with his eyes."6 In addition to imagining the gaze of an actual other, we also use sympathy to imagine the gaze of an "impartial spectator," whose reason serves as our conscience, and can counter our excesses of self-love, should we choose to heed its voice.7 The voice of this spectator is not perfect--by both lack of perspective and actual self-deception, we may delude ourselves regarding its impartiality.8 Even so, the voice remains audible in even the most hardened criminal, issuing judgments on conduct, motivation, and sentiments.

For Smith, the faculty of sympathy is also the font of both virtue and vice, given that humans naturally desire the approval of others.9 He noted that it is natural to desire to be worthy of this approval. We want "to be respectable" as well as "to be respected."10 The virtuous person builds on this hunger for approbation by moderating her conduct and sentiments so as to earn the respect of others and to satisfy her impartial spectator. The mere fact of this desire for approval does not guarantee moral rectitude, of course. Ever the moral realist, Smith admitted that the desire for respect is always tainted by self-love, and that it is easy to mistake the conditions for respect, and to both seek and bestow it inappropriately.

Susceptible to misuse as it may be, the presence of this impartial spectator, alongside the natural human desire for moral approval, is the loving design of the ultimate impartial spectator: God. It was the plan of the "Author of our nature," according to Smith, that moral norms exert themselves on the human psyche both cognitively and affectively, and that all humans be constituted so as to be aware of these norms.11 Given this, it is appropriate that humans discern moral rules with reference to each other, and to their own sentiments.12 This is a design with which humans can cooperate in varying degrees; it facilitates moral action, without commanding it.

In blending reason and sentiment in this way in his ethics, Smith joined his contemporaries in developing what can be called a "moral sense theory," or "ethical intuitionism." It is possible to see in Smith's own version of this the influence of both Stoicism and his Scottish Calvinist context, including his sense that Providence has planned human nature in a particular way, and that this design participates in a natural ordering of creation. Neither of these influences, however, led Smith to the conclusion that such an ordering always produces agreeable outcomes, either at the level of individual behavior or at that of the social whole. First, such an idealistic picture is inconsistent with Smith's acknowledgment that individuals regularly reject the judgment offered by the voice of the impartial spectator, and accordingly fail to act with propriety and virtue. Moreover, Smith disagreed vociferously with the provocative claim of his contemporary, Bernard Mandeville, who, in his half-verse, half-prose commentary on economic relations in eighteenth-century England, The Fable of the Bees, asserted that "private vices are public benefits."13 Indeed, Smith had a deep and, at times, pessimistic awareness of unresolved injustice.14

Set alongside the more sanguine alternatives of the time (such as those offered by Mandeville and by Smith's mentor, Francis Hutcheson, who proposed a theory of moral senses in which benevolence was the root of most actions), the moral psychology Smith sketched appears fairly modest, realistic, and even ambivalent: By his reading, humans are designed to be moral persons--that is, both aware of and capable of meeting moral norms--and this design has both cognitive and affective dimensions having to do with our ability to imaginatively identify with others.

ALWAYS:

Those who see dark humor as blasphemy misunderstand the human inclination to turn to comedy in the face of tragedy. It's a sad sort of posturing that conveys a rigid and ineffectual understanding of moral seriousness and solemnity that no one is actually rejecting or contradicting with jokes made at Russia's expense. In Ben Lerner's 2014 novel, 10:04, the protagonist remarks on how humor worked where the "elegy cycle" couldn't:

The Challenger joke cycle, which seemed to exist without our parents knowing, was my first experience of a kind of sinister transpersonal syntax existent in the collective unconscious, a shadow language to Reagan's official narrative processing of the national tragedy. The anonymous jokes we were told and retold were our way of dealing with the remainder of the trauma that the elegy cycle initiated by the Reagan-Noonan-Magee-Hicks-Dunn-C.A.F.B (and who knows who else) couldn't fully integrate into our lives.

The narrator goes on to say that the Challenger jokes weren't particularly good, interesting, or even funny--but wonders if they could be thought of as "bad forms of collectivity that can serve as figures of its real possibility: prosody and grammar as the stuff out of which we build a social world, a way of organizing meaning and time."

Joking can also work as a digestive aid, or a way to metabolize despair rather than be consumed by it. "Morale wins wars, solves crises, is an indispensable condition of a vigorous national life," wrote Arthur Upham Pope in 1941. This is as true today as it was then. And humor assumes a base level of optimism because it is a shield against despair, even when it is tempered by caution and grief.

There is a paradox to comedy: It "must attract and repel at the same time," wrote Paul Woodruff in 1997.

"Comedy itself sometimes separates what is laughable from what we are supposed to care about," Woodruff writes, "and this may be part of the way it defines community--we, who laugh, versus the outsiders at whom we laugh." It's not that Westerners are trying to turn the Russian-Ukrainian conflict into a superhero narrative of good guys and bad guys, but to reinforce that Putin has chosen a path that puts him at odds with the rest of the world.

MR. POPPER'S PLATO:

Today, The Open Society and Its Enemies is perhaps best remembered for two things: Karl Popper's coinage of the terms "open society" and "closed society," and his scorched-earth attack on Plato as the original architect of the latter. For Popper, Plato was the first and the most influential authoritarian thinker. (Popper's analogous charges against Aristotle, Marx, and Hegel have not proven as memorable.)

Popper conceived of the difference between open and closed societies as a difference in their respective cultures of knowledge. Open societies were distinguished by their democratic culture of criticism, which made commonly held beliefs available for critique and revision, and in so doing, embraced innovation. Closed societies, by contrast, lacked this "critical attitude." They were instead sustained by the "dogmatic" power of myths, which preserved existing power structures and stifled social change.

SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FUSION:

Math is, first and foremost, a language. More specifically, it's a universal language, spoken by billions of people. Of course, some speak it better than others. Some are fluent; others, meanwhile, struggle. In the US, millions of people fall into the latter category. Why? There appears to be a fundamental problem with the way math is taught in schools, as well as the ways in which it is conceptualized. Too much focus is placed on rote memorization, rather than learning concepts in a sequential manner. Because of this, children are being raised with an inability to speak the language fluently, largely because they lack the fundamentals, like appropriate "vocabulary," "grammar," and "syntax."

Which brings us to chess, a board game that is a metaphor for life. Every action has a reaction. Decisions have consequences. The game of chess teaches people basic life skills, like the importance of patience, perspective, and proper planning. It is, in many ways, a highly effective, highly instructive educational tool. Right now, the US is very much lacking such tools.

The game of chess has the power to create a generation of smarter students.

Playing chess from an early age is strongly associated with greater cognitive flexibility, enhanced coping and problem-solving skills, and even socio-emotional enrichment. Anyone who has played the game knows that rigorous thinking and high levels of mental agility are required. Researchers have found that the schema used by chess players is eerily similar to the scientific method, with great emphasis placed on calculations and assessments. Other researchers have documented the ways in which chess improves attention, memory, concentration, and reasoning among players.

Chess can help create a new generation of smart, confident students, people capable of making the United States a competitive player on the STEM stage.

Additionally, there appears to be a strong association between chess and mathematical prowess. This should come as no surprise, as chess introduces players to geometric concepts. It helps to develop spatial reasoning skills. Interestingly, the countries where children excel at math--China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Estonia--all possess cultures that emphasize the importance of chess or games similar to chess (like Go, for example).

In the US, meanwhile, math phobia reigns supreme, with 93 percent of Americans suffering from some form of math anxiety; one in six suffer from high levels of math anxiety. Not surprisingly, with such a fear of math, very few US high school graduates are actually prepared for the rigors of STEM majors.

This is why the introduction of chess in classrooms and on campuses across the country is necessary. Chess is a STEM activity. It is based on mathematical fundamentals. Like math, chess is a  science of pattern and order.  In the words of Dr. Milan Vukcevich, a Yugoslav-American chemist and a grandmaster of chess problem composition, "chess forces one to develop one's own methodology for solving problems that can be applied throughout life." The game, according to the academic, "makes better thinkers and should be played, not with the idea of becoming a professional player, but that chess players become doctors of sciences, engineering, and economy." In other words, chess can help create a new generation of smart, confident students, people capable of making the United States a competitive player on the STEM stage.

H AS IN JET:

In July 2020 a team from Delft University drove across the border from the Netherlands to Fassberg air base in Lower Saxony, Germany, on a mission to test a radical new design of hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft called the Flying-V. In the back of their van was a 3m-wide (10ft) scale model in the distinctive blue-and-white KLM livery. The team - including researchers, engineers, and a drone pilot - had a week to prove that their one-and-a-half years of hard work in the university's aerospace laboratory had not been a waste of time.

Delft is one of the top technical universities in the world and has one of the largest aerospace engineering faculties in northern Europe. The Flying-V was conceived by TU Berlin student Justus Benad, supported by KLM and Airbus. It is a radical new design that is 20% more efficient than a conventional aircraft, with the passenger cabin, cargo hold and fuel tanks integrated into the two arms of its V-shaped structure. Full-sized, the Flying-V would be around the same size as an Airbus A350, carry a similar number of passengers (more than 300) and could use the same departure gates.

The Flying-V is a type of aircraft called a "blended wing" because the wings and fuselage are smoothly blended, with no clear dividing line. Often called flying wings, they are seen as a natural fit for hydrogen-powered aircraft because they are more efficient than traditional tube-and-wing aircraft and have plenty of space for the hydrogen tanks.

Airbus itself has unveiled three Zeroe concepts for liquid hydrogen-powered aircraft, one of which could enter service by 2035. They are a rather conventional-looking short-haul turboprop and an intercontinental jet airliner, as well as a more radical blended wing that looks more like a space plane.

FlyZero, a British project aiming to realise zero-emissions commercial aviation, assessed 27 different configurations for hydrogen-powered airliners before producing its own. These included planes with two fuselages, one for hydrogen and one for passengers, through to gondola designs, with the tanks above the passengers, and a flying wing. Its own, recently unveiled concept, is for a mid-sized aircraft flying non-stop to San Francisco or Delhi which looks like a bloated version of a conventional airliner with ultra-thin wings.

There are many other designs for future hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft. "It is a question of where you can site these hydrogen tanks in an aircraft for the minimum penalty," says David Debney, a chief engineer at FlyZero. "We looked at wacky ideas, for example, where you could put a giant hydrogen tank between the wings and have two cabins, one at the back, one at the front, but they'd be separate. And you couldn't get from one to the other. That's not allowed under the regulations.

"Aircraft design is a compromise between many things, and you can get into get into a spiral when designing a plane. If you make it heavier, then you need more lift, and that means a bigger wing; a bigger wing means more weight, so you need even more lift but a bigger wing weighs more, and so on."

For the Flying-V, hydrogen means trade-offs that Kelly Johnson would have recognised, and which the kerosene powered version doesn't need. "We sacrificed two things: the first is about two-thirds of the cargo volume [which will hit profitability]," says Roelof Vos, an assistant professor at the Aerospace Engineering Faculty of Delft University of Technology. He is also technical lead on the project. "We will have sufficient volume for the passengers' luggage, but nothing more. The second is the amount of volume we have available for hydrogen, and how far we can fly on that." While a hydrogen-powered Flying-V could fly from London to Cape Town non-stop, a kerosene-powered version could reach as far as Sydney.

On 16 July 2020 the Delft team's hard work paid off. The scale model of the Flying-V was carried through the doors of the old wartime hangar onto the concrete apron at Fassberg. A little after 3.30pm, with a whine of its two electric motors, it rose sharply into the air for its successful five-minute-long maiden flight. "The flight of the scale model demonstrates that the Flying-V can be flown controllably with good handling qualities without any problems," says Vos.

"Hydrogen aircraft have flown now, so we know the fundamentals of the fuel, and we know the fundamentals of the aircraft," says Mark Bentall, head of operations for technology at Airbus, "and like we do with a traditionally fuelled aircraft... we will always take the benefit of the latest technologies."

Thanks to computer modelling our level of understanding of combustion is way, way more advanced than in Kelly Johnson's day - David Debney

Carbon fibre allows engineers to build lighter, stronger structures. Easily overlooked new manufacturing techniques such as friction stir welding (FSW) deliver more accurate high-quality joins. It uses the heat generated by friction from a rotating tool to fuse two different materials together. The Skunk Works team used wooden models and wind tunnels to design Suntan; today computer design and simulation tools help engineers to produce highly accurate designs, quickly and cheaply.

"Thanks to computer modelling our level of understanding of combustion is way, way more advanced than in Kelly Johnson's day, and this has helped kerosene engines, but it will help hydrogen-powered aircraft more," says David Debney. "Greater efficiency of aircraft helps massively with the volume of hydrogen fuel that you need to accommodate, and that's the big thing that's changed.

"If you were using 1950s aerodynamics and engine technology, for the same missions you'd need a lot more hydrogen, and that's hugely penalising from the volume perspective."

The innovation continues. Ultima Forma is a British technology company based south of London. Fuel tanks are heavy. Hydrogen causes corrosion embrittlement in metals such as steel, but less so in copper. Ultima Forma is developing ultra-thin liners made from copper for the inside of lightweight carbon-fibre fuel tanks. The same technology could be used in the transportation of hydrogen.

It is in everyone's interest, as well as the planet's, if the lessons learned by different teams could be shared. "I know for sure that the best design cannot come from one party," says Arlette van der Veer. "What would be really disruptive is an open knowledge-sharing economy to combine the knowledge of different manufacturers to produce the best designs."

TEA PARTY ON WHEELS:

"What's gonna happen up here in D.C., Black Lives Matter Street, we're gonna take it back," said one of the protesters the organizers invited on stage to speak. "All that paint is coming off that street," he said. "Before I get put in my grave, it's gonna get tarred and feathered."

THE WRONG SIDE OF hISTORY:

YEAH, BUT SHE'S A BLACK WOMAN:

In February 2020, Jackson spoke at the James E. Parsons Award Dinner for the Black Law Student's Association at the University Of Chicago. During her speech, Jackson told students that "microaggressions ... are real," echoing sentiments she had given months earlier in an October 2019 keynote address at the Husch Blackwell Retreat. Jackson advised students:

I absolutely know and understand that you will face prejudice and other obstacles that other people in your environment do not have to endure. Life is not fair, and I totally get that the microaggressions that you are observing are real. The question I am encouraging you to think about is whether being confrontational will actually solve the problem, and even more important, whether it is worth your time! Having a thick skin means recognizing when you're being disrespected, but also understanding that marshaling a response each time something happens is a big distraction that takes your mind and attention away from what really matters, which is doing the best job that you can possibly do so that you can rise to a level in which you will actually be able to address the kinds of issues that you've witnessed.

PAYS TO BE ANGLOSPHERIC:

1. Finland

2. Denmark

3. Iceland

4. Switzerland

5. Netherlands

6. Luxembourg

7. Sweden

8. Norway

9. Israel

10. New Zealand

11. Austria

12. Australia

13. Ireland

14. Germany

15. Canada

16. United States

17. United Kingdom

JOE LURING VLAD INTO UKRAINE TRUMPS THE UR LURING HIM INTO SYRIA:

Ukraine has won the war. This may seem a strange thing to say as Russian shells and missiles continue to rain down and Russian forces edge slowly forward on the ground, but a little thought should make its truth obvious. 

To judge by President Vladimir Putin's essay and speeches before the war, the Kremlin's intention was to bring the whole of Ukraine back into some form of dependence on Russia. That aim has been defeated, for all foreseeable time.

THERE IS NO BEAR IN THE WOODS:

VOZNESENSK, Ukraine--A Kalashnikov rifle slung over his shoulder, Voznesensk's funeral director, Mykhailo Sokurenko, spent this Tuesday driving through fields and forests, picking up dead Russian soldiers and taking them to a freezer railway car piled with Russian bodies--the casualties of one of the most comprehensive routs President Vladimir Putin's forces have suffered since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine.

A rapid Russian advance into the strategic southern town of 35,000 people, a gateway to a Ukrainian nuclear power station and pathway to attack Odessa from the back, would have showcased the Russian military's abilities and severed Ukraine's key communications lines.

Instead, the two-day battle of Voznesensk, details of which are only now emerging, turned decisively against the Russians. Judging from the destroyed and abandoned armor, Ukrainian forces, which comprised local volunteers and the professional military, eliminated most of a Russian battalion tactical group on March 2 and 3.

The Ukrainian defenders' performance against a much-better-armed enemy in an overwhelmingly Russian-speaking region was successful in part because of widespread popular support for the Ukrainian cause--one reason the Russian invasion across the country has failed to achieve its principal goals so far. 

GAS IS TOO CHEAP:

MARKETS ARE A CREATION OF LAWS (profanity alert):

PUNISH THE LEGEND:

STAGNATION?:

Hysata, a company using technology developed at the University of Wollongong, said its patented capillary-fed electrolysis cells achieve 95 percent efficiency, meaning little wastage, beating by about one-quarter the levels of current technology.

The achievement, published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications, could see the Morrison government's so-called hydrogen stretch goal of $2 a kilogram to make the fuel competitive reached as soon as 2025, the Hysata chief executive, Paul Barrett, said. "We've gone from 75 percent [efficiency] to 95 percent--it's really a giant leap for the electrolysis industry," Barrett said.

Renewable energy from sources such as wind and solar is making big inroads into the power sector, supplying more than a third of eastern Australia's electricity in the final three months of 2021. However, decarbonizing industry and some transport, such as trucking, is likely to be tougher unless fuels such as hydrogen become much cheaper.

CAN'T BLAME XI FOR PANICKING:

China's ambassdor to Ukraine has praised the strength of the Ukrainian people and promised to respect the choices of its sovereign government in a subtle move to balance its pro-Russia complexion.

At a meeting with regional authorities in Lviv on Monday, Fan Xianrong pledged to help Ukraine rebuild after the war.

ISN'T THIS STORY TWO WEEKS EARLY?:

He came across Georgina Corrick by accident. University of South Florida and Team USA softball coach Ken Eriksen was attending an 18-and-under game to scout another player but was shocked by the 5-foot-11 hurler absolutely dominating batters.

"This [kid] on the mound was doing things and I thought, 'That's pretty special. I wonder where she's going next year?'" Eriksen told me.

So, he sidled up to the coach and asked, pointing to the mound.

"You talking about George?" the coach asked. "Yeah, she's 13, 14. She's just gonna be a freshman in high school."

Eriksen couldn't believe it. Far from entering college, Corrick had never even stepped foot in a high school classroom.

There was only one name that came to mind when he saw her:

"To me, it was like I just found Sidd Finch."

The numbers were always good. Corrick, who graduated with a degree in marine biology and conservation science but was granted a fifth year of eligibility because of Covid, entered this year with a career 1.24 ERA and 884 strikeouts in just 711 1/3 innings pitched. She had thrown six no-hitters and racked up accolades, from being a 16-time conference pitcher of the week to an academic All-American.

This year, she's found another level. If you thought what Jacob deGrom was doing before he got hurt last year was special, Corrick has him beat.

Through 20 appearances entering Wednesday's action, Corrick has thrown 111 innings, striking out 169 batters and allowing only 35 hits. She threw an 11-inning, 19-strikeout shutout and a few weeks later followed that with the first perfect game of her career and just the fourth in USF history. Seven batters have drawn a walk against her and, perhaps even more astonishing, she's allowed one -- just one -- run in all that time, giving her a sparkling ERA of 0.06. She's now closing in on Danielle Henderson's 105 consecutive scoreless innings streak.

SPELUNKING WITH VLAD:

KEYSTONE KREMLIN:

NO ONE HATES JUST MEXICANS:

Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor, a frequent Fox News guest, has denigrated South Asian immigrants as insufficiently patriotic, described Indigenous Americans displaced by European settlers as "Stone Age" cannibals who lived in "unspeakable filth," deployed antisemitic tropes about "rootless cosmopolitans" being "largely responsible" for society's ills, and claimed that Democrats who "bring in large numbers of illegals" may have stolen the 2020 election from former President Donald Trump, according to a review by Media Matters of his publicly available speeches and recent interviews.

Macgregor, a conspiracy theorist with a long history of xenophobic commentary, has made dozens of Fox appearances since 2017 and become network star Tucker Carlson's go-to voice for foreign policy discussions. 

Carlson has described Macgregor as "our first choice for foreign policy analysis," and defended the retired colonel when Macgregor's declaration on Fox that the United States should "absolutely" allow Putin to annex as much of Ukraine as he wishes drew criticism from one of Carlson's colleagues (Macgregor's comments were so favorable to Putin that Russian state TV channels reaired clips from the interview).

Macgregor's appointments to federal posts during the Trump administration were dogged by a series of reports from CNN's KFile unearthing his past comments about Muslims, immigrants, the urban "underclass," American slaves, women serving in combat roles in the armed forces, and the "Israeli lobby," among other topics. [...]

Macgregor explained during his October 2021 speech that his interactions with his South Asian neighbors helped him realize that America's troubles are caused by an elite class of "what the Russians used to call ... rootless cosmopolitans." That term was used by the Soviets to slur Jewish intellectuals during Josef Stalin's antisemitic purges. 

"I remembered Philadelphia in the 1960s, then I heard this and something dawned on me," Macgregor said. "This is a microcosm of everything that's wrong now in the United States, because we have a huge problem with a class of so-called elites, the people who are wealthy, very wealthy in many cases and they are, as the Russians used to call certain individuals many, many years ago, rootless cosmopolitans."

"These are the people we refer to as Davos, or Davos people," he added. "They live above all of this, they have no connection to the country. There is nothing there that holds them in place, and they are largely responsible, in my judgment, for the condition that we are in today."

"That group more than anything else is what we're up against, and the other things that you see, whether it's BLM or antifa - those are just foot soldiers, they are being deployed to attack us," he concluded.

Macgregor has similarly described the 2020 presidential election as "almost a spiritual battle" against "globalists caught up in the international finance arena."

"Globalist is used to promote the antisemitic conspiracy that Jewish people do not have allegiance to their countries of origin, like the United States, but to some worldwide order--like a global economy or international political system--that will enhance their control over the world's banks, governments, and media," according to the American Jewish Committee.

MURDER IS A FUNCTION OF GUNS:

The US saw an alarming 30% increase in murder in 2020. While 2021 data is not yet complete, murder was on the rise again this past year.  Some "blue" cities, like Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, have seen real and persistent increases in homicides. These cities--along with others like Los Angeles, New York, and Minneapolis--are also in places with wall-to-wall media coverage and national media interest.

But there is a large piece of the homicide story that is missing and calls into question the veracity of the right-wing obsession over homicides in Democratic cities: murder rates are far higher in Trump-voting red states than Biden-voting blue states. And sometimes, murder rates are highest in cities with Republican mayors.

For example, Jacksonville, a city with a Republican mayor, had 128 more murders in 2020 than San Francisco, a city with a Democrat mayor, despite their comparable populations. In fact, the homicide rate in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco was half that of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's Bakersfield, a city with a Republican mayor that overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Yet there is barely a whisper, let alone an outcry, over the stunning levels of murders in these and other places.

We collected 2019 and 2020 murder data from all 50 states. (Comprehensive 2021 data is not yet available.) We pulled the data from yearly crime reports released by state governments, specifically the Departments of Justice and Safety. For states that didn't issue state crime reports, we pulled data from reputable local news sources. To allow for comparison, we calculated the state's per capita murder rate, the number of murders per 100,000 residents, and categorized states by their presidential vote in the 2020 election, resulting in an even 25-25 split.

We found that murder rates are, on average, 40% higher in the 25 states Donald Trump won in the last presidential election compared to those that voted for Joe Biden. In addition, murder rates in many of these red states dwarf those in blue states like New York, California, and Massachusetts. And finally, many of the states with the worst murder rates--like Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and Arkansas--are ones that few would describe as urban. Only 2 of America's top 100 cities in population are located in these high murder rate states. And not a single one of the top 10 murder states registers in the top 15 for population density.

IT DIDN'T START WITH HILLBILLY HEROIN:

Frederick Law Olmsted, a young, Yale-educated farmer from Staten Island (soon to tackle the design of New York's Central Park) made three trips across the South in the early 1850s, traveling by steamboat, train, stagecoach, and horse. Olmsted's letters on his travels began to appear in the recently founded New York Times in 1854, and in book form two years later, and his descriptions of southern society appalled his well-bred readers.

Olmsted's central conclusion was that the cotton cartel had done the southern people more harm than good. The mass of its citizens were impoverished and "their destitution is not just material... it is intellectual and it is moral." Olmsted described the city of Norfolk as "a dirty, low, ill-arranged town... It has a single creditable public building... No lyceum or public libraries, no public gardens, no galleries of art."

Olmsted was dismayed to find acre after acre of uncultivated land, testifying to an attitude of wasteful "complacency." Inefficiency abounded. At one stop, he encountered six mules and five Blacks tugging a stuck wagon. He also meticulously described the condition of the slaves. Those in the steamy pine barrens worked in "coarse gray gowns" and heavy shoes while an overseer rode among them, "carrying in his hand a raw-hide whip, constantly directing and encouraging them." The slaves slept in windowless huts, unfit for animals.

But--Olmsted's point--their condition was inferior only by a degree to that of poor whites. Olmsted described some of the latter in North Carolina leaning vacantly against the sides of their hovels as he passed--saying nothing, only blinking, "as if unable to withdraw their hands from their pockets" and shade their eyes from the sun.

BUT VLAD IS SO MACHO!:

Russia is teetering on the edge of a possible sovereign debt default, and the first sign could come as soon as Wednesday.

The Russian government owes about $40 billion in debt denominated in U.S. dollars and euros, and half of those bonds are owned by foreign investors. And Russian corporations have racked up approximately $100 billion in foreign currency debt, JPMorgan estimates.

On Wednesday, $117 million in interest payments on dollar-denominated government debt are due.

But Russia is increasingly isolated from global financial markets, and investors are losing hope that they will see their money. As the government strives to protect what's left of its access to foreign currency, it has suggested it would pay its dollar- or euro-denominated debt obligations in rubles instead. That has prompted credit rating agencies to warn of an imminent default.

THE GND IS TOO CAUTIOUS:

An ambitious target of using hydrogen to partly power homes in the UK within three years has been set by the National Grid, the BBC has learned. On the east coast of Scotland, a small neighbourhood is playing a key role in this energy revolution.

From next year, about 300 homes in Buckhaven, and Methil, in the area of Levenmouth, will be powered by green hydrogen gas in a project called H100. Customers will be offered free hydrogen-ready boilers and cookers in the scheme, which will initially last five and a half years.

For the first time in its history, the National Grid (NG) plans to use something other than natural gas in its distribution network and start blending hydrogen with natural gas in the next three years.

DOMI-NATION:

Dominoes "is the favorite past-time for everyone ... in the rich people's clubs just like poor neighborhoods, in urban centers and rural areas," wrote late former president Rafael Caldera in the prologue for Alfredo Fernandez Porras's book "The Art of the 28 Pieces."

In Venezuela it is played in pairs, like Bridge, making it a more strategic game than when played one-on-one.

Efrain Velazquez, the president of the Venezuelan Dominoes Federation, says "70 to 75 percent" of the country's 30 million people play the game.

"You will always find a dominoes set in any house and whenever there is a family get together."

Dominoes is often played in bars while drinking alcohol and in many places, like Chichiriviche, some 50 kilometers north of Caracas, it is played only by men.

Far from the tourist beaches, young men play on old wooden tables, sat on plastic chairs, tree stumps or old beer barrels while the drink itself flows, as does rum, whiskey and anise liquor.

DONALD WHO?:

Former President Trump is staring at a real chance that his endorsed candidates go zero-for-three in competitive Senate primaries in May, an outcome that would underscore his already mixed record in primaries and raise serious questions about the depth of his political clout within the Republican Party. Trump's undisciplined political strategy, seeking to punish any candidate he deems disloyal, faces a wall of resistance in the South, one of the most pro-Trump regions of the country during his presidency.

From North Carolina to Alabama, Senate candidates are failing to capitalize on the Trump seal of approval. Former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has weathered millions in outside attacks from the Trump-allied Club for Growth and leads Trump-endorsed Rep. Ted Budd in several publicly released polls. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp now leads former Sen. David Perdue by double digits in multiple polls, while holding a significant financial advantage down the home stretch. Trump-endorsed Rep. Mo Brooks has underperformed so badly in Alabama's Senate race that the former president is reportedly considering endorsing one of his leading rivals. All these primaries will be taking place in May.

nATIONALISM DOESN'T WORK:

Last year, President Xi Jinping seemed all but invincible. Now, his push to steer China away from capitalism and the West has thrown the Chinese economy into uncertainty and exposed faint cracks in his hold on power.

Chinese policy makers became alarmed at the end of last year by how sharply growth had slowed after Mr. Xi tightened controls on private businesses, from tech giants to property developers. Meanwhile, China's stringent Covid lockdowns, part of Mr. Xi's approach to handling the crisis, have ramped up again as Covid cases surge, hurting both consumer spending and factory output.

Add to that a pact with Russia in early February, just weeks ahead of its invasion of Ukraine, that has widened a gulf between China and the West and underlined how high the costs could be for China of implementing Mr. Xi's agenda at home and in foreign policy.

As Beijing works to manage the entente with Russian President Vladimir Putin while preventing a collapse in its relationship with the West, underpinning the disquiet is the plunge in economic growth to 4% in the fourth quarter from 18.3% at the beginning of 2021. Officials are now speaking of a "course correction" to mitigate some of the effects of Mr. Xi's policies.

The maneuverings come as Mr. Xi sets the stage to extend his rule, which began in late 2012, for a third term. Party insiders said there is little doubt that he will prevail at a Communist Party conclave later this year--for one thing, there is no potential successor candidate.

But other voices in the party have recently suggested a measure of skepticism over whether now is the right time to pursue Mr. Xi's vision of remaking China in the spirit of Mao Zedong.

LEADING TO INDEPENDENCE...AGAIN:

Just as we were the Arsenal of Democracy when fascism threatened Europe 80 years ago, today we must become the Arsenal of Clean Energy. That means we should finance and export clean energy to Europe in large quantities as quickly as possible. This approach would help protect our own security and economic interests, as well as the sovereignty, democracies, and economies of Europe, all while working to combat climate change.

Our goals should be: 1) make European energy secure; 2) help shift European countries to cleaner energy; and 3) create a massive clean energy market that strengthens supply chains and job creation in the U.S. [...]

That starts with an energy version of the "Candy Bombers" who supplied Berlin during the Soviet Union's blockade in 1948. In this case, we could provide a temporary natural gas lifeline to Europe as they wean themselves off Russian energy. America has some additional capacity, and more coming online very soon, to send liquefied natural gas to Europe. We should combine a near-term increase in U.S. gas production and exports to Europe with assistance for European countries to, over the medium-term, reduce their reliance on natural gas by switching to other, lower-carbon fuels and increased energy efficiency.

Second, to ensure this lifeline leads Europe to a safe and sustainable future, the United States needs to create an American clean energy sovereignty fund. We should commit to $10 billion per year for the next decade to finance the export of U.S. hydrogen, nuclear, and carbon capture technology that can be deployed across Europe. The new technologies should be supported by both U.S. and European supply chains and workers to ensure economic growth across both continents. This government-backed entity would provide a significant cost-share for countries importing U.S. clean energy, particularly technologies that will be primarily made in and exported from the U.S.

As we are seeing now with Germany's reconsideration of its decision to close its nuclear plants, even renewable-heavy countries need firm clean energy provided by technologies like nuclear power. This is even more important in industrial areas of Eastern Europe that need both the steady electricity and high heat that nuclear, or hydrogen, can provide.

KNOWING YOUR ALLIES:

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has condemned what he described as the "West's silence" over Saudi Arabia's execution of 81 people, Tasnim News Agency has reported.

"The application of double standards by the Western countries and the instrumental use of the concept of human rights, as well as the silence and inaction of self-proclaimed human rights advocates towards the death penalty for innocent people, are condemned," said Raisi.

He added that this reflects the West's hypocrisy as it exploits the concept of human rights to achieve its own political ambitions, often against independent governments. The Iranian leader called on international organisations, free media and relevant institutions to break their silence.

RUSSIA IS IRAQ, NOT THE U.S. HERE:

In 2003, the U.S.-led forces initially conquered Iraq easily in no small part because Iraqi society was divided and many Iraqi soldiers deserted. But the Ukrainian military is far superior to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi military in terms of morale, training, equipment, and weapons. One likely reason that Russian forces are out of fuel is that Russian troops had been selling it on the black market. Russian forces are not paid well and seem to have little desire to be in Ukraine--which is why this time around it's the invaders who reportedly have been having trouble with deserters. So many Russian troops have been abandoning their posts and their equipment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joked overnight, that Russia has become "one of the suppliers of equipment for our army."

In 2003, Hussein was a hated, brutal, and corrupt thug who went into hiding once the shooting started and was not heard of until he was found in a spider hole. By contrast, Zelensky is a democratic, charismatic, and inspirational figure, willing to stay and fight for his country, showing that he won't ask of his people anything he isn't willing to do himself.

In 2003, Iraq's economy had been under sanctions for over a decade, and so its military was neither well trained nor well equipped. By contrast, Ukraine has been receiving foreign military and financial assistance, while Americans have been training the Ukrainian military since 2014.

In 2003, the invading forces came from open, democratic societies where the airing of criticism and opposing views is normal and expected. So when the U.S.-led coalition struggled to pacify Iraqi insurgents, the Bush administration came under intense political pressure to change course. It eventually did, implementing the "Surge" of 2007, which brought with it new ideas as well as new troops. By contrast, Russia's forces have been ordered into Ukraine by a dictator. The Russian government does not have the channels of dissent or overlapping layers of accountability. For Russians to criticize Putin or the conduct of his war is to put their freedom or their lives in danger. This makes it challenging (to put it lightly) for Putin to be informed about his problems, accept the criticism, and change course. If things had been otherwise, Putin might not have so wildly misunderstood Ukraine in the first place.

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS RACE, JUST CULTURE:

Ukrainians really are "Russian" in every sense of the word. I'm not implying that Ukrainians don't have a sovereign nation--they absolutely do. But culturally, and ethnically, and in any other way that matters--they're the same people. They tell their children the same fairy tales, they listen to the same musicians. Heck, I'm Russian but until the Soviet Union broke up I never even considered that my best friend was "Ukrainian" (he's from Kyiv) or even that my father's parents were both from Ukraine. So maybe this makes me half Ukrainian? It's hard to say. My family were Jews on a long slog from Spain by they time they made it to that part of the world. And today I live in Canada.

The point is: Until the Maidan, Ukraine existed in the same bucket of excrement in which Russia has lived since the revolution. They've had one strongman after another robbing the nation blind and subjugating the people.

But then a small miracle happened: The young people of Ukraine had enough. And they managed to overthrow Putin's puppet and elect someone with eyes squarely on the West.

Now Putin can't have this.

Not because he's jealous or because he's worried about his borders. He can't have it because until recently when Russians looked to, say, Belgium, or France, or Germany, and asked, "Why can't we have what they have?"--the answer was always "Because they're different! We're Russian. We operate differently."

And Russians bought this explanation because there's a grain of truth in it.

But what happens to that sangfroid if Ukraine turns into Belgium? (And they're well on their way to doing that.)

Then Putin would be left standing naked in his garden of lies. 

THE WHEEL EXISTS:

Masks can obscure a smile, muffle a voice, and make lip reading impossible.

But those are minor obstacles to human interaction, says Lindsay Yazzolino, who is blind.

"It's interesting to me how face-seeing is considered to be the be-all and end-all in so many contexts," she says.

That's why Yazzolino says she is puzzled by the current debate over masks in the classroom.

Some parents express worry that masks might interfere with children's ability to learn or to socialize. Other parents fear that unmasking will lead to more COVID-19 cases.

Amid the debate, a small but growing body of research is offering hints that masks do not have a significant impact on speech or social skills.

Some of that research involves people like Yazzolino, who are blind. Their ability to master language and social skills shows that the human brain is really good at finding a way to communicate.

Yazzolino, an accessible-technology consultant, has been blind since birth. But she went to school with sighted kids.

"I always had a really great experience in school," she says. "I had a lot of really supportive teachers, I was reading at an early age. I loved math and science."

She relied on braille to read and write. And it was hard for her to get some course materials in that format.

But social interactions were never a problem, she says.

"You hear emotion in people's voices, so I definitely used that as a cue," she says. "And I talk to people."

Yazzolino's experience is unsurprising, scientists say, because the human brain is really good at finding a way to communicate.

...AND CHEAPER...:

In the Swiss municipality of Arbedo-Castione, a 70-meter crane stands tall. Six arms protrude from the top, hoisting giant blocks into the sky. But these aren't building blocks, and the crane isn't being used for construction.

The steel tower is a giant mechanical energy storage system, designed by American-Swiss startup Energy Vault, that relies on gravity and 35-ton bricks to store and release energy.

When power demand is low, the crane uses surplus electricity from the Swiss grid to raise the bricks and stack them at the top. When power demand rises, the bricks are lowered, releasing kinetic energy back to the grid.

It might sound like a school science project, but this form of energy storage could be vital as the world transitions to clean energy.

THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

A Russian oligarch linked to men previously charged with making an illegal donation to a political action committee set up for former President Donald Trump was himself indicted by a federal grand jury in New York for using those men to funnel contributions to other politicians, authorities revealed Monday.

The oligarch, Andrey Muraviev, already was publicly known to have been the source of political donations made on his behalf by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, former associates of Trump's ex-lawyer Rudy Giuliani, for the purposes of obtaining licenses for retail cannabis and marijuana businesses.

But it was not known until Monday that Muraviev, 47, had been charged along with the Soviet-born Parnas and Fruman, and two other men in a September 2020 superseding indictment. It was only unsealed with Muraviev's name on it in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, "the Southern District of New York is committed to rooting out efforts by foreigners to interfere with our elections." 

Fruman and Parnas worked with Giuliani, himself a former New York City mayor and Manhattan U.S. attorney, to try to dig up damaging information about President Joe Biden in Ukraine in 2019 and 2020. Biden had then emerged as a leading challenger to White House incumbent Trump.

Muraviev, who is at large and believed to be in Russia, is accused of wiring $1 million to Fruman and Parnas to fund the political contributions in November 2018 in advance of the elections that year.

OTHER THAN THAT HOW ARE YOU ENJOYING TRUMPISM?:

Among the assistance Russia requested was pre-packaged, non-perishable military food kits, known in the US as "meal, ready-to-eat," or MREs, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The request underscores the basic logistical challenges that military analysts and officials say have stymied Russian progress in Ukraine -- and raises questions about the fundamental readiness of the Russian military.

ONE ECONOMY TO RULE THEM ALL:

Household net worth rose to a new record in the fourth quarter of 2021. Household net worth totaled $150.3 trillion, up 3.7 percent or $5.7 trillion from the previous quarter, and 14.4 percent from the end of 2020 (see first chart). Total assets rose 3.5 percent to $168.6 trillion while total household liabilities increased 2.2 percent or $387.0 billion, to $18.4 trillion.

REAL, NOT ARTIFICIAL:

ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS NOT BE DONALD:

In its own statement, the head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) said "enough is enough" with Title 42. "It is long overdue to completely end the Trump-initiated Title 42 policy and stop using the pandemic as an excuse to keep it going," he said.

THE STUFF THEY HAVE TO DO TO BE ACCEPTED BY THE rIGHT:

Welp. The Russian Embassy in the United States is now retweeting Candace Owens, who is amplifying a slogan ("Russian Lives Matter") that is part of a coordinated disinformation campaign. pic.twitter.com/tWeLRMSe16

— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) March 14, 2022

YEAH, BUT HUNTER'S LAPTOP!:

SARS-CoV-2 is a member of a subgenus of the betacoronaviruses called the sarbecoviruses, named after their prototype member, SARS-CoV-1, which caused the SARS epidemic in 2002 and 2003. The zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV-1 has been firmly established by research that also showed that the bat sarbecoviruses pose a clear and present danger of pandemic overspill from bats to humans.

One key feature of sarbecoviruses is that they undergo extensive amounts of recombination. Parts of their genomes are being regularly swapped at a rate that implies a vast ecosystem of these viruses is circulating, most of which have not been discovered. The area of the genome that is most likely to recombine is also the area that encodes the "spike" proteins--the very proteins that play a crucial role in initiating an infection. Many sarbecoviruses encode spike proteins that can bind to a wide range of mammalian cells, suggesting that these viruses can easily move back and forth between different species of mammals, including humans.

SARS-CoV-2 is not as virulent as SARS-CoV-1, but it is transmitted far more easily between people. Two of the most prominent features of the SARS-CoV-2 spike are its receptor-binding domain (RBD), which binds very tightly to human ACE2, the protein that allows it to enter lung cells, and the so-called furin cleavage site (FCS). This site divides the spike protein into subunits. The FCS is present in many other coronaviruses, but so far SARS-CoV-2 is the only sarbecovirus known to include it. It allows the viral spike protein to be cut in half during its release from an infected cell, priming the virus to spread to new cells more efficiently.

The RBD and FCS are central to initial virological arguments by expert proponents of the lab-leak hypothesis. Such arguments are based on the supposition that neither the RBD nor the FCS "appears natural" and therefore that they can only be the product of lab-based engineering or selection. Nobel laureate David Baltimore, an early proponent of the lab-leak hypothesis, referred to the FCS as a "smoking gun" that points to a lab origin. [...]

Recently, for example, bat colonies on the border between Laos and China were discovered to carry sarbecoviruses that have RBDs almost identical to those of SARS-CoV-2 in both sequence and ability to enter human cells. This finding refutes the claim that SARS-CoV-2's binding affinity in humans is unlikely to have a natural origin.

Similarly, although some lab-leak proponents contend that the lack of an FCS in the closest relatives of SARS-CoV-2 is indicative of its manual insertion in a lab, very recent evidence from SARS-CoV-2 population sequencing suggests that the insertion of new sequences from human genes next to the FCS can be detected. Moreover, the closest relative of the SARS-CoV-2 spike in the Laotian bat viruses would require the addition of only a single amino acid to generate a putative FCS. Thus, in a species where it would have a major selective advantage, it would probably be very easy for some of these bat coronaviruses to rapidly evolve an FCS.

This research sketches a clear zoonotic path to the emergence of the RBD and FCS. Although some evolutionary gaps along this path persist, their number and size have been dwindling. A detailed analysis in late 2021 further strengthened the link to the Huanan markets as the point of origin of the virus and the initial source of community transmission. This rapidly growing body of evidence for a zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV-2 creates increasing difficulties for the lab-engineering hypothesis.

In normal scientific inquiry, as evidence emerges, the remaining space for plausible hypotheses narrows. Some facets continue to be supported, and others are contradicted and eventually precluded altogether. Some of the strongest advocates for a lab origin for SARS-CoV-2 changed their views as they learned more. Baltimore, for instance, withdrew his "smoking gun" comment when challenged by additional evidence, conceding that a natural origin was also possible. Revising or rejecting failed hypotheses in light of refuting evidence is central to the scientific process. Not so with conspiracy theories and pseudoscience. One of their hallmarks is that they are self-sealing: as more evidence against the conspiracy emerges, adherents keep the theory alive by dismissing contrary evidence as further proof of the conspiracy, creating an ever more elaborate and complicated theory.

XI HARDEST HIT:

Taiwan has also figured more prominently in U.S. foreign policy than Ukraine. China, not Russia, is the U.S.'s principal rival, and Taiwan sits in waters that are critical for global trade, military and even internet activity. (Important undersea cables run around Taiwan). "It occupies the most critical strategic terrain arguably on the planet today," said Ian Easton, senior director of the Project 2049 Institute, an American think tank that advocates for U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific.

Taiwan is also an economic powerhouse. It is the U.S.'s ninth-largest trading partner, while Ukraine takes the 67th slot. Its GDP ranked 21st in the world last year; Ukraine's was 57th. And Taiwan is the world's leading manufacturer of semiconductors -- the chips that are central to modern technology worldwide.

Another significant difference involves geography. Taiwan is an island. From a tactical perspective, that makes it a far more difficult target than Ukraine; it would be much harder for China to launch an invasion across 100 miles of water than it has been for Russian troops to cross the land border with Ukraine.

"It is well known that any potential Chinese attempt to invade Taiwan would be extremely high-risk in military terms," Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher at the Rand Corporation, told Grid.

Grid spoke with military and strategic analysts and Taiwan experts about the conflict's lessons for Taiwanese policymakers and ordinary citizens. These experts don't always agree -- and all note that the lessons may change as the war plays out. But they offer initial answers to the question: What are the main takeaways from the war in Ukraine, as seen from Taiwan?

For many in Taiwan, Putin's invasion has made clear the need for greater preparedness. If a war that had seemed unlikely could come to Ukraine, then the same may prove true for Taiwan, and the Taiwanese have seen the effectiveness of fierce resistance put up by Ukrainian soldiers and civilians.

"I think one of the consequences of the Ukraine invasion is telling people in Taiwan that the people matter and the will to resist matters," said Lai, "and Taiwan actually enjoys better odds to defend itself in the face of invasion. If Ukraine can do it, then Taiwanese people can do it as well."

FUN WHEN HUAC OPPONENTS PORTRAY AMERICAN COMMUNISTS AS IDEALISTS:

The Holodomor, or "murder by starvation," refers to the state-engineered famine in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-33, which was accompanied by simultaneous repressions against the Ukrainian cultural elites. The origins of Stalin's all-encompassing attack on Ukrainians can be traced back to the political and military struggles in Ukraine in 1917-20, when he was involved in determining Bolshevik policies toward Ukraine [the Bolsheviks were a revolutionary party committed to the ideas of Karl Marx, led by leftist revolutionary and politician Vladimir Lenin. The Bolsheviks later became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union].

Stalin was unpleasantly surprised by the strength of Ukrainian patriotism and the emergence of a non-Bolshevik Ukrainian state, which forced the Bolsheviks to create their own puppet Ukrainian republic. Following the Bolshevik victory, it became a constituent part of the Soviet Union under the name of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet (after 1937, Soviet Socialist) Republic.

Stalin also dreaded the Ukrainian peasantry, whose staunch resistance to Bolshevik rule forced the Soviet state during the 1920s to recognise the importance of Ukrainian culture and delay the violent collectivisation of agriculture. When the wholesale collectivisation of land and cattle began in 1929, the Ukrainian peasants actively resisted it. In 1930, the police reported 4,098 anti-state actions in the Ukrainian countryside, with the participation of 965,587 peasants. In most cases the peasants beat up the enforcers, took back the grain, and burned office buildings, but the police also classified 15 mass disturbances as "armed rebellions" sometimes involving the murder of Soviet officials and activists.

Because of these factors, in 1932-33, Stalin and his henchmen used starvation to crush the resistance of the Ukrainian peasants. They saw peasant rebelliousness as part of a wider Ukrainian effort to overthrow Soviet rule, which explains the repressions between 1930 and 1934 against Ukrainian cultural figures and those Ukrainian communists who criticised Moscow's imperialist attitudes.

THEY CAN'T BE SHAMED:

Back in February, we had a pretty good idea what was going on. Video and satellite imagery had shown the steady increase and massing of Russian troops, tanks, and military supplies around Ukraine's borders. Vladimir Putin had started wars before -- and here he was again, on the precipice of something truly horrific.

What bothered me was the extent to which several high-profile populist conservatives were seeming to reflexively side with the cruel Russian autocrat. I watched as Tucker Carlson and J.D. Vance defended Putin, or adopted the Kremlin's critique of Ukraine. The country was a "pure client state of the United States State Department" said Carlson. "Spare me the performative affection for the Ukraine" said Vance on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast.

These interventions, made as Russia began an invasion that looks set to result in the deaths of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, look high risk and low reward. These commentators are undermining the credibility they have accrued for taking bold stances on the "security and identity" issues their base really cares about. Namely: wokeness, the border, crime and defending national heritage.

EVERY HOME A NODE:

South Australia - already leading the world in the uptake of wind and solar and operating its grid at high levels of renewables - could be the first gigawatt scale grid in the world to operate without synchronous generation.

The possibility has been flagged by the Australian Energy Market Operator in one of a series of stakeholder briefings that canvass the changes to technology and operating procedures that were once imaginable, and for some energy people still are. [...]

[AEMO] is also looking to run the grid at times with no synchronous generators, meaning no fossil fuels. Up until recently, at least four gas units were required to be online even if there was enough wind and solar to meet local demand.

THE QUIETUS:

Russia is dying. In just the first week of Putin's war, the country lost somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 men, according to western sources, an immense and needless tragedy for the poor families left behind to grieve.

Whether those in the Kremlin will weep for them, they must shudder at the thought that in the average week the country loses another 2,000 through population decline, a rate that rose to 20,000 during Covid. But even in normal periods, Russia is now shrinking by more than 100,000 people a year and with no prospect of raising fertility above the 2.1 total fertility rate (children-per-woman) replacement threshold.

The incomprehensible thing about this war is that Russia is not a belligerent young nation in need of expansion; it is not filled with frustrated young men hoping to assert themselves in conflict, as with Syria, Afghanistan or the world's other conflict zones; it is already elderly, ageing quickly and in some parts heading for oblivion. 

"...AND, BOY, HAVE YOU SEEN HIM HALF-NAKED ON A HORSE?":

Former President Donald Trump said there is "a lot of love" behind Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to make "his country larger" on Sunday as Russian troops continued to invade Ukraine.

OH, HO, HO, IT'S MAGIC:

In one provocative chapter, Mosebach tries to explore the thesis that contradicts his own: the idea that Christianity does not need a ritual. Wasn't Christ constantly setting aside the ritual law, relativizing the letter of the law by championing its spirit?  Did not Christ move through ancient Israel in such a way as to practically forbid his followers from setting up shrines to him? And ultimately, did he not prophesy the destruction and religious displacement of Jerusalem itself, the holy city meant to be an image of the heavenly temple?

The anti-ritualism of the modern mind suspects that there always is a dichotomy between the outward appearance and the inward reality. As one of Mosebach's English reviewers put it, this anti-ritualist attitude shaped the new Mass. "Since nearly everything is optional and unnecessary, the Ordinary Form [the post-Vatican II Mass), for Mosebach, perpetually communicates the disunity of spiritual intent and external gesture. The plethora of options for both laity and priests in the liturgy contributes to the sense that physical gestures and symbols are merely sentimental adornments to real internal worship."

SUBTRACTION BY ADDITION:

"For China, geopolitics is crucial when it comes to its relations with Russia," explained Maximilian Mayer, a junior professor of international relations at the University of Bonn in western Germany.

In fact, that is what is at the heart of the two countries' partnership, Mayer told DW. It is "a form of strategic cooperation that seeks to push against what Moscow and Beijing see as American hegemony, and to push for the formation of another, oppositional pole in a multi-polar world order," Mayer said.

EVEN gOD AGREES WITH THE PROSECUTION:

By the end of 2017, what felt like an ongoing societal collapse compounded various personal problems and led to the most abysmal depression of my life. Despair called; it was quite hard to find a reason to keep going. Screw it, I thought. Let's see if God has anything to offer.

I started going to synagogue. I started studying the Hebrew Bible--the Torah--first in English and then in halting Hebrew.

I started reading Job.

The first time I read it all the way through in English, I could barely make out what was happening in the plot. That's not surprising. If modern scholarship is right, the ancient scribes may have accidentally placed sections of the text out of order in the canonical version; even they, it seems, were thrown off by Job's notoriously obscure verbiage. But as anyone who's read it in any tongue can tell you, that doesn't stop you from being awed by its imagery and immediacy.

These lines from the 28th chapter struck me in particular, as they had many before me:

But whence does wisdom come

And what is the site of understanding?

It is hidden from the eyes of the living

Concealed from the birds of the sky

Even though I'd later learn the passage was likely put in the wrong place, the words stirred me. I knew that, many centuries ago, there was a poet who understood what it was like to feel completely lost.

Edward L. Greenstein's astounding recent translation taught me that Job's suffering is only half the story. It's not even the most important half. Greenstein's version does not rob readers of the comfort that comes from sympathizing with Job. But it also exhorts us to rebellion against power and received wisdom.

Greenstein points out that a huge portion of what looks like Job praising God throughout the text may be meant as the opposite: Job sarcastically riffing on existing Bible passages, using God's words to point out how much He has to answer for. Most importantly, Greenstein argues, there's something revolutionary in the mysterious final words Job lobs at God, something that was buried in mistranslation.

In the professor's eyes, various words were misunderstood, and the "dust and ashes" phrase was intended as a direct quote from a source no less venerable than Abraham, in the Genesis story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In that one, Abraham has the audacity to argue with God on behalf of the people whom He will smite; however, Abraham is deferential, referring to himself, a mortal human, as afar v'eyfer--dust and ashes. It is the only other time the phrase appears in the Hebrew Bible.

So, Greenstein says, Job's final words to God should be read as follows:

That is why I am fed up:

I take pity on "dust and ashes" [humanity]!

Remember, for this statement, God praises Job's honesty.

The deity does not give any logic for mortal suffering. Indeed, He denounces Job's friends who say there is any logic that a human could understand. God is not praising Job's ability to suffer and repent. He's praising him for speaking the truth about how awful life is.

Maybe the moral of Job is this: If God won't create just circumstances, then we have to. As we do, Job's honesty--in the face of both a harsh, collapsing world and the kinds of ignorant devotion that worsen it--must be our guiding force.

ALL IN YOUR HEAD:

LIFE IN THE BUBBLE:

On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson.

"It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, [and] the defiantly provocative behavior from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally," advises the 12-page document written in Russian. It sums up Carlson's position: "Russia is only protecting its interests and security." The memo includes a quote from Carlson: "And how would the US behave if such a situation developed in neighboring Mexico or Canada?"

CO-DEPENDENT NO MORE:

"This moment is a clarion call for the urgent need to transition to domestic clean energy so that we are never again complicit in fossil-fueled conflict," said Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the senator who helped devise the Green New Deal platform.

The climate measures in Biden's moribund Build Back Better legislation may now be resurrected, Democrats hope, with several of the party's senators unveiling a flurry of bills to ensure renewable energy replaces the banned Russian oil imports and to tax oil companies enjoying a financial bonanza from oil prices that have soared due to the crisis in Ukraine.

More than 200 environmental and indigenous organizations have signed a letter demanding he use the Defense Production Act, normally used in times of war to compel companies to churn out tanks, aircraft, and other weapons, to force businesses to produce solar panels, wind turbines, heat pumps, and other climate-friendly material.

"Biden is in the ideal position to declare a national climate emergency and use his existing emergency powers to push the accelerator on renewable energy," said Jean Su, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the signatories.

"There's a war with a fossil fuel oligarch and we are in a climate war, so we need to attack this on a wartime footing. The best thing we can do is defend the world from the violence of fossil fuel combustion. This is the defining moment of the Biden presidency and of the climate emergency itself."

Biden has said that the fallout from the Ukraine war "should motivate to us accelerate to a transition of clean energy". But he has also jarringly boasted that more oil is now being pumped in the US than during Donald Trump's tenure, in order to counter accusations that not enough is being done to tamp down the spiraling cost of gasoline for drivers.

The conflict has underscored the volatile grip fossil fuels continue to have over geopolitics and people's everyday lives, causing a reckoning for Europe, which relies upon Russia for 40% of its gas supply, and dealing painful gasoline price increases to low-income people in car-dependent America.

The burning of fossil fuels also directly kills nearly 9 million people around the world each year from toxic air pollution and is the primary driver of global heating that scientists warn will acutely harm half of the planet's population. The International Energy Agency has warned no new fossil fuel projects can commence if the world is to avoid disastrous climate change.

"We live in a world where a product we rely on to function is subject to the actions of dictators and a cartel," said Robbie Orvis, senior director of energy policy at Energy Innovation. "We have to decide if we want to continue that way."

IN FROM THE COLD:

"The two flags of the US and Venezuela were there, they looked really pretty, the two of them, united as they should be," said President Maduro of the meeting in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, last weekend. "A new opportunity has been opened. We had a respectful, cordial and very diplomatic meeting. It's time for diplomacy, truth and peace."

Indeed, Mr Maduro also said he was ready to return to talks with the Venezuela opposition, hosted in Mexico. And a few days after the US-Caracas meeting, Venezuela released two jailed US citizens.

So far, so positive - but where will this thawing of relations lead?

"In the US, for a while now, internal forces have been saying that the strategy of oil sanctions didn't make much sense after all this time and its objective wasn't working," says Luis Vicente Leon, director of Caracas-based consulting firm Datanalisis. "When the conflict with Ukraine started, it became clear that a policy of oil sanctions put it in a predicament."

MET ONE nATIONALIST...:

You know, 30 years ago I was quoted approvingly in Pravda, just once. It bothered me then. This guy is practically a pet parakeet for Chinese and Russian media and it doesn't seem to bother him one bit. https://t.co/DtZfWgEVoH

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) March 13, 2022

VLAD'S NEW MAIN EXPORT:

"The number of bodies was unbelievably large. People at the Mozyr station were simply shocked by the number of bodies being put on the train," a local resident in Mazyr told RFE/RL.

The morgues in Homel and Naroulia are also filled up, according to local residents.

Belarusian doctors have been threatened with the loss of their job if they are caught spreading information about the dead and injured Russian soldiers.

DEFLATIONARY PRESSURES CAN NOT BE OVERSTATED:

There are two things we're certain of: people love turning stuff into diamonds, and people love ranch dressing. The latest Hidden Valley Ranch stunt makes perfect sense, then, because unlike those peanut-butter-and-coal viral videos, this diamond-creation is absolutely real.

Yeah, the company made a two-carat diamond from ranch and is selling it for charity.

CAN'T HAVE A CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS WHERE THERE IS ONLY ONE:

OPEN THE BORDERS:

For the first 12 months in the UK, asylum seekers cannot undertake paid employment of any kind, and are expected to live on just £39.63 a week. If their asylum application is still pending after this period, they can work - but only in jobs listed on the Government's Shortage Occupation List. Here too they may encounter the full might of British box-ticking. The list includes players of string instruments, but only in orchestras which are members of the Association of British Orchestras, and secondary school teachers, but only if they are teaching Gaelic. Asylum seekers' access to the labour market is therefore superficial at best.

The pointlessness of this policy can scarcely be overstated. For one, it makes it doubly difficult for new arrivals to integrate into the UK, as well as slowing down their acquisition of the language. Just as importantly - as the OECD has documented - rendering a group of people unable to work makes them vulnerable to unscrupulous, exploitative black market employers. The terrible working conditions faced by vulnerable migrants in textile factories in Leicester has been one particularly prominent example.

Just as the UK's current position on Ukrainian refugees is less generous than our European neighbours, the 12-month work ban is also an outlier. No other country in Europe has such a long proscription; in Italy the wait is only two months, and in Sweden asylum seekers are permitted to work on arrival.

The ban is also nonsensical from an economic standpoint. New figures from Refugee Action have shown that the ban on employment will have cost the taxpayer upwards of £876 million by the end of 2022. Conversely, lifting the ban removes asylum seekers from state support and would mean that they would be able to pay taxes. The Office of National Statistics has found there is now a record 1.2 million job vacancies across all industries in the UK - it is surely common sense to allow asylum seekers to help fill these gaps while they await a decision on their asylum claim.

Fortunately, the Government now has a great opportunity to lift the ban

NO HEAVY LIFTING REQUIRED:

In the space of a single day, February 28, Vladimir Putin's "Fortress Russia" collapsed. The ruble plunged by about 30%, and Russian authorities closed all financial markets. Russians raced to ATM machines to withdraw as much money as they could, desperate to exchange it for anything that wasn't the ruble. Failing that, they stormed shops to buy whatever they could find before prices skyrocketed. [...]

Nonetheless, the contours of Russia's economic disaster are clear to see. In the days following Russia's invasion on February 24, a united West responded with sanctions far more severe than those it had imposed after Putin's annexation of Crimea and incursion into eastern Ukraine in 2014.

The most important sanctions have been financial. The United States has barred transactions with four of Russia's biggest state-owned banks; prohibited the trading of Russian sovereign bonds; limited the ability to lend to 13 major Russian companies; blocked key banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system; and, most important, frozen the Russian central bank's foreign-exchange reserves. In one fell swoop, Russia has been locked out of international finance. No Westerner will dare interact with Russian financial institutions for the foreseeable future.

Other sanctions have prohibited the export of about half the key technological inputs that Russia buys from US suppliers. And hundreds of Western technology companies - led by Apple - have declared voluntarily that they will stop doing business in, or selling to, Russia.

WHICH IS WHY YOU KEEP THE PRICE OF GAS EXTORTIONATE:

First, the transition would be universal. Every country and economic sector contributes to GHG emissions, directly or indirectly. Getting to net zero thus means that transformation has to happen everywhere. And, given the interdependence of energy and land-use systems, coordination will be essential. The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), for example, will lead to significant emissions reductions only if the electricity used to power them comes from low-emissions sources.

Second, a successful net-zero transition would entail significant economic shifts. We estimate that getting to net zero would require $275 trillion in capital spending on physical assets by 2050 - an average of $9.2 trillion per year. That is $3.5 trillion per year more than is currently being invested today. Expected increases in spending as incomes and populations grow, and transition policies that are already legislated, narrows the gap, but the required rise in annual spending would still be about $1 trillion. [...]

The net-zero transition's fifth characteristic is that it is exposed to short-term risks, including worker dislocation and stranded assets. We estimate that, in the power sector, $2.1 trillion worth of assets could be retired or underutilized between now and 2050. And if the deployment of low-emissions technologies does not keep pace with the decommissioning of high-emission technologies, there could be shortages and price spikes, potentially eroding support for the transition.

At the same time, the net-zero transition holds major opportunities - the sixth key characteristic. For companies, decarbonization could make existing processes and products more cost-effective, and new markets for low-emissions goods will become increasingly lucrative.

THE SUICIDE BOMBER:

Russia's unprovoked war on Ukraine is now entering its third week and the much-anticipated fall of Kyiv, estimated by various Western officials last month to be likely within the space of about 72 hours, has not yet occurred. Nor has Russia managed to sack any major population center. The one city it "holds," the regional capital of Kherson region, is restive: Ukrainians turn out daily to protest their armed occupiers, and now fresh reports are trickling in of mass arrests of civilians and anyone thought to have been associated with Ukrainian authorities.

One country in Europe has been bolder in making projections that this war will not end in Putin's favor: Estonia, for which Russia has historically been the overriding national security and military preoccupation at all levels of government. On Feb. 28, Mikk Marran, the head of Välisluureamet, Estonia's foreign intelligence service, told New Lines that he didn't believe Putin could "keep up an intensive war for more than two months" and that ultimately "Russia will not win this war."

A senior Estonian analyst with years of experience tracking Russia's military affairs concurs with that assessment but doesn't even think it'll take another two months to bear fruit -- it already is doing so.

ANDROPOV IS DEAD:

Amid the rosy public assessments in Moscow, there's been only hints of criticism and dissent about the war in Russia. That's due mainly to the fact that Russian authorities have censored any honest press coverage within Russia, forcing independent media and social networks to shut down, and even going so far as to ban the use of the word "war" or "invasion."

On March 11, however, a report by another well-sourced Russian journalist said that the head of the FSB's Fifth Service and his deputy had been arrested and suspected of embezzling funds earmarked for Ukraine operations.

The report by Andrei Soldatov said they were also accused of knowingly feeding bad information about the political situation in Ukraine.

"I see by the quality of the analytics that is available in Russia today, by the way it assesses its place in the world, how it assesses its relations with neighbors, how it assesses the ongoing processes-- it's all very far from reality," Mykhaylo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukraine's president, said in an interview with Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.

"In principle, they do not have a real picture of what is happening in the world, including in Ukraine," he said.

NATIONALISM DOESN'T WORK:

NO ONE HATES JUST MEXICANS:

Eight women have accused Éric Zemmour, a Jewish candidate in France's presidential elections, of sexual misconduct dating as far back as 1999.

The women spoke on camera to Mediapart, a left-leaning news channel, about Zemmour, a far-right politician, with some saying he groped and kissed them against their will. Seven of the interviewees had already come forward with their accusations last year; an eighth woman added her testimony ahead of an expose aired by Mediapart this week.

nATIONALISM DOESN'T WORK:

Overall, the early days of the Russian invasion were characterized by small units moving on their own, without logistics support or air cover, getting into skirmishes with Ukrainian defenders. An example was a seemingly halfhearted attempt by small detachments of Russian forces to take Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, in the first days of the war. This spread-out and haphazard approach was baffling to some of those who study Russian military tactics, which typically emphasize heavy artillery.

"From what we understand, or what we thought we understood, about Russian doctrine, they're doing everything wrong," David Shlapak, a senior defense researcher at the Rand Corporation, told Grid. "They came in completely ignoring the principles of combined arms. They came in without employing artillery and firepower the way we would have expected them to. They undertook some fairly risky operations. Their doctrine is actually pretty clear on how they intend to fight. And they just didn't do that."

Another mystery for many observers is why we haven't seen more concerted use of Russian air power. The invasion began as generally expected, with cruise and ballistic missile salvos against Ukrainian air defenses and radar systems. As Justin Bronk, an air power analyst at the Royal United Services Institute recently wrote, the logical next step "would have been for the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) to mount large-scale strike operations to destroy" the Ukrainian Air Force. It's a maxim of modern war; the first thing you do is take control of the skies. Instead, Russian fighter jets have launched only limited sorties into Ukraine, usually in singles and pairs at low altitudes to avoid Ukrainian air defense systems.

A "significant majority" of Ukraine's air force is still operational, according to U.S. officials. All this led Bronk to conclude in a follow-up analysis that the VKS simply "lacks the institutional capacity to plan, brief and fly complex air operations at scale."

Reports have been emerging of Russian troops surrendering en masse, sabotaging or abandoning their vehicles to avoid fighting, and even being forced to ask Ukrainians for food or loot grocery stores. These reports, which the Ukrainian government and its allies have an incentive to highlight, should be taken with a grain of salt. But it is becoming abundantly clear that many Russian officers were not aware they were going to be part of an invasion of Ukraine until just before it began. Some rank-and-file troops may not have known they were no longer on a "training mission" until after they crossed the Ukrainian border. This is all the more remarkable given the detailed accounts of Russian plans being publicized by Western intelligence agencies. It appears that officials in Washington and certain European capitals knew more about the mission than the Russian soldiers themselves.

MASKING AND VACCINES ALSO REDUCE FLU DEATHS:

A combination of high levels of immunity and the reduced severity of the Omicron variant has rendered Covid-19 less lethal than influenza for the vast majority of people in England, according to a Financial Times analysis of official data.

But the speed with which Omicron infects people still pushed the total number of deaths this winter whose underlying cause was a main respiratory disease to 9,641 since the first week of January, 50 per cent higher than in a typical flu season despite lower levels of social mixing, the Office for National Statistics figures revealed.

IT'S NOT ACTUALLY ABOUT US:

The push to repair relations with the Saudis triggered outrage from progressives and activists. They continue to demand Biden hold Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accountable for the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The letter from Strada, who lost her husband in the 9/11 attacks, opens a new front in the pressure campaign to halt any movement toward warmer ties with Saudi Arabia.

9/11 Families United represents 3,000 family members who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals.

TRUMPISM IS PUTINISM:

As the crisis in Ukraine continues, most elected officials in the United States have expressed support for their allies in Kyiv. There are however, some notable exceptions.

WRAL in North Carolina reported this morning on Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who told a group of supporters this past weekend that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a "thug" leading an "evil" government.

"Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug," Cawthorn said in a video obtained by WRAL. "Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies."

In recent years, there have been too many instances in which Republicans have peddled anti-Ukraine talking points, without regard for accuracy.

IT ONLY RHYMES WITH APARTHEID:

Israel's parliament on Thursday passed a law denying naturalization to Palestinians from the occupied West Bank or Gaza married to Israeli citizens, forcing thousands of Palestinian families to either emigrate or live apart.

IT'S A MYSTERY...:

The results show that the 2020 Census undercounted the Black or African American population, the American Indian or Alaska Native population living on a reservation, the Hispanic or Latino population, and people who reported being of Some Other Race.  

On the other hand, the 2020 Census overcounted the Non-Hispanic White population and the Asian population. The Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander population was neither overcounted nor undercounted according to the findings.

THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

The former Trump lawyer John Eastman - who helped coordinate the scheme from the Trump "war room" at the Willard hotel in Washington - conceded in an email to counsel for then vice-president Mike Pence, Greg Jacob, that the plan was a violation of the Electoral Count Act.

But Eastman then urged Pence to move ahead with the scheme anyway, pressuring the former vice-president's counsel to consider supporting the effort on the basis that it was only a "minor violation" of the statute that governed the certification procedure.

The admission that the scheme was unlawful undercuts arguments by Eastman and the Willard war room team that they believed there was no wrongdoing in seeking to have Pence delay the certification past 6 January - one of the strategies they sought to return Trump to power.

It additionally raises the prospect that the other members of the Willard war room - including Trump's former attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon - were also aware that the scheme to delay or stop the certification was unlawful from the start.

NEVER A BAD MOMENT TO STOP SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY:

Dallas Heard, chair of the Oregon Republican Party, has resigned, citing "evil" inside the party he leads. Heard, who is also a state senator from Myrtle Creek, wrote a blistering letter to inform the party of his decision.

"My physical and spiritual health can no longer survive exposure to the toxicity that can be found in this community," wrote Heard.

TAX THE EXTERNALITIES (INCLUDING THE WAR):

We need to massively raise gas taxes. https://t.co/bUr30J0Qvo

— brothersjudd (@brothersjudd) March 10, 2022

OTHER THAN THAT, HOW ARE YOU ENJOYING nATIONALISM?:

Russia has banned its citizens from buying US dollars, completing the isolation of an economy that once had ambitions to join the global club of financial powers.

As recently as the 2008 global financial crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his lieutenants had promoted the ruble as a potential alternative to the US dollar, arguing that it should be an integral part of the global financial system. Russia would become one of the world's five biggest economies, they claimed.

Putin's quest to dominate his neighbors, starting with his assault on Georgia in 2008, and continuing with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and last month's invasion of Ukraine, has shredded what remained of the authoritarian leader's economic dreams.

In early 2008, one US dollar would buy roughly 25 rubles. The Russian currency has depreciated significantly since then, and Western sanctions imposed in response to the invasion of Ukraine have pushed it into freefall. On Wednesday, one US dollar could buy 117 rubles in Moscow after the currency fell 10% and hit a new record low. The ruble has been even weaker in the offshore market this week.

LET US HEAR NO MORE OF THE rIGHT BEING PRO-LIFE:

Babies have a 25 percent higher chance of low birth weight if they are born in areas with high air pollution, an Israeli study has found.

Authors say the research, based on just over 381,000 births over 11 years, gives a rare glimpse into the effects of pollution on fetuses, and may well be a barometer of other health impacts.

Childhood lead exposure in the United States is ubiquitous and much more concerning than previous estimates have suggested, according to a new study.

When researchers analyzed leaded gas use from 1940 and combined it with data on blood-lead levels from the mid 1970s, they found more than 54 percent of Americans alive in 2015 had been exposed to dangerous levels of lead as children.

That's more than 170 million adults who are now at greater risk of neurodegenerative disease, mental illness and cardiovascular issues, because of the lead they breathed in, ingested or absorbed as kids.

No level of lead exposure is safe at any point in a person's life, but this highly toxic metal can be especially detrimental for children as it can impede brain development, leading to permanent learning difficulties and behavioral issues.

Altogether, researchers estimate leaded gas has reduced the nation's cumulative IQ score by 824 million points, which is nearly three points per person.

TRUMPISM IS PUTINISM:

A new conspiracy theory has become popular among some of the online communities that formed around QAnon -- one simultaneously being promoted by the Kremlin as a justification for its invasion of Ukraine. The false claim: the United States is developing bioweapons in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin has stepped in to save the day and destroy the weapons.

QAnon's core prophecy has always been that there is a "plan" and that former President Donald Trump will rid the world of an evil cabal, culminating in the unmasking, imprisonment or even execution of cabal members. But that prophecy dates back to when Trump was actually president -- now that he's not, believers have been convincing themselves there is evidence that the plan is still very much in place, maybe even more so than ever before. In the Kremlin's disinformation, some have seen that hope.

There are US-funded biolabs in Ukraine, that much is true. But they are not building bioweapons. Actually, it's the opposite: Part of the reason for their creation was to secure old Soviet weapons left behind in the former Soviet republics. The State Department has described the claims as nonsense -- and the US and Ukrainian governments have repeatedly, and for years now, tried to bat down conspiracy theories about the labs and spoken about the work that is actually being done in them

Russia's falsehoods about labs like this have not been limited to Ukraine. Similar claims were made about a lab in Tbilisi, Georgia; those were proven false. Dr. Filippa Lentzos, co-director of the Centre for Science & Security Studies at King's College London, visited the lab along with other experts and debunked the Russian claims. She told CNN the Russians are spreading the same lies about labs in Ukraine.

"IF THE GOOD LORD DID NOT WANT THEM FLEECED...":

For starters, many Convoy leaders are actually experienced industry lobbyists, and some participants are wondering what their angle may be. For many of the actual truckers, they put their jobs on hold to join the rolling demonstration. And yet, those who signed up for action watched with disappointment and frustration as the project appeared to morph into a last-minute lobbying campaign. Some donors have expressed confusion about the funding and the mission, wondering whether the convoy will "finish what they started."

The ad hoc, figure-it-out-as-we-go mentality has raised all sorts of questions about whether the organizers have hewed to the law--or if the People's Convoy has been, intentionally or not, a scam.

And according to fundraising totals, that's looking like a $2 million question.

GETTING OUT OF THEIR OWN WAY:

The pivot away from Russian energy imports will require Germany to double down on its energy transition efforts and apply a speed similar to that of Tesla with its new factory near Berlin, economy and climate minister Robert Habeck said at a press conference following a meeting with state minister colleagues.

"We cannot continue at our dozy pace," said Habeck, a member of the Greens Party in the coalition government, arguing that the fast construction of Tesla's European flagship gigafactory set an example of how ambitious large-scale energy transition projects can be implemented quickly.

The construction of new renewable power installations, of grid and hydrogen infrastructure but also of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals would have to happen at a similar speed.

The US carmaker's gigafactory has been planned and built in just about three years, sparking a debate in the country about the hurdles that bureaucracy and hesitancy pose for the energy transition.

MAU-MAUING THE FAUX CATCHERS:

As we have written elsewhere, the novelty of NFTs has been much exaggerated. In fact, they are the logical conclusion of a long historical process which was identified almost 50 years ago in Wolfe's notorious satire of aesthetic modernism, The Painted Word (1974). Wolfe's extended essay adumbrated modern art's inexorable drive toward abstraction. It described a revolt against object-based, realist art, which began in the middle of the 19th century and continued throughout the 20th, moving from Cubism through Abstract Expressionism, and culminating in the often entirely abstract genre of Conceptual Art. Wolfe emphasized the continuity of these developments, pointing out that Abstract Expressionism "was a reaction to Modernism itself ... an abstraction of an abstraction, a blueprint of the blueprint, a diagram of the diagram."

During this process, the physical manifestations of an artwork gradually ceded their significance to the abstract theory it exemplified. The New York Times critic Hilton Kramer complained that realism lacked the "crucial" element of "a persuasive theory," without which he quite literally could not "see a painting." According to Wolfe, by the 1960s, abstract theories had become the whole point of art: "the paintings and other works exist only to illustrate the text." In his view, the rise of theory (which took place in literature as well as in the visual arts) was a betrayal of the original, 19th-century modernism, which had largely eschewed theory as a matter of principle. As the painter George Braque declared: "The aim is not to reconstitute an anecdotal fact, but to constitute a pictorial fact."

Reading The Painted Word nearly five decades after its initial publication is quite a trip. Peter Plagens was not incorrect when he labeled Wolfe's prose "relentless glib" in his Artforum review. Wolfe admitted as much in 1975, when he appeared on Firing Line with William F. Buckley. He described The Painted Word as "a social comedy" intended to reveal the ways in which cultural mores shape the artistic canon, to expose the mysterious "process by which art becomes serious, by which it becomes praised." Wolfe's "social comedy" has now had time to mature into a full-blown tragedy for the kind of art that Plagens and others so valiantly defended 50 years ago. The art world's evolution since 1975 confirms Wolfe's claims about the primacy of theories over objects. And his merciless exposé of the socio-economic motives that determine aesthetics is more important than ever in the age of the NFT.

As Wolfe pointed out, the disembodied character of art is a weathered cliché in art theory. As theory grew increasingly influential on practice, it was only a matter of time until the object disappeared altogether from the artwork. By 1968, Lawrence Weiner could contend that an artwork doesn't "need to be built" in order to exist. And as an old Russian proverb goes, "a holy place is never empty." The missing object was supplanted by the new importance of the artist's personality on one hand, and by validation through purchase on the other. Wolfe described how an artist's image, their "story," or what Dave Hickey called their "creation narrative," came to take precedence over their work.

The emergence of NFTs brought the financialization of art to a climax. NFTs exist only in theory. An NFT is not a material entity. It comes into being through a financial transaction, in which the purchaser acquires ownership rights to a digital image otherwise available to anyone with an Internet connection. Anyone can view the artwork, but only the buyer of the NFT can own it. The pleasure of ownership is now an aesthetic experience. The blue-chip auction houses fell over themselves in their rush to validate digital art NFTs: these days money talks and walks (and runs) too. An artwork's total lack of physical existence is evidently no obstacle to its acquisition of financial value.

DID DONALD EVEN EXIST?:

UP WHERE THE AIR IS CLEAR:

Look up over the white sand beaches of Mauritius and you may see a gigantic sail. It's much like the kind used by paragliders or kite surfers but the size of a three-bedroom apartment, looping figures-of-eight overhead. The sail isn't a tourist attraction - it's creating electricity for the power grid of this island nation off the east coast of Africa.

Launched in December 2021 by German company SkySails Power, the massive wing is the world's first fully autonomous commercial "airborne wind energy" system. For the past two months, the company says, it has been delivering a little under its goal of 100 kilowatts - typically enough to power up to 50 homes. That's just a tiny fraction of the island's electricity demand, but, SkySails hopes, a sign of things to come.

As the world heads towards net-zero emissions, pretty much every pathway for future electricity production foresees a big role for wind. The International Energy Association forecasts wind energy skyrocketing 11-fold by 2050, with wind and solar together accounting for 70% of the planet's electricity demands. Thanks to the expanding number of wind turbines dotting fields and adorning ridgelines worldwide, the cost of wind power has plummeted by about 40% over the past decade.

WE ARE ALL DESIGNIST:

THE BEST THEORY physicists have for the birth of the universe makes no sense. It goes like this: In the beginning--the very, if not quite veriest, beginning--there's something called quantum foam. It's barely there, and can't even be said to occupy space, because there's no such thing as space yet. Or time. So even though it's seething, bubbling, fluctuating, as foam tends to do, it's not doing so in any kind of this-before-that temporal order. It just is, all at once, indeterminate and undisturbed. Until it isn't. Something goes pop in precisely the right way, and out of that infinitesimally small pocket of instability, the entire universe bangs bigly into being. Instantly. Like, at a whoosh far exceeding the speed of light.

Impossible, you say? Not exactly. As the Italian particle physicist Guido Tonelli has pointed out, it actually is possible to go faster than light. You simply have to imagine spacetime, and the relativistic limits imposed by it, not quite existing yet! Easy peasy. Besides, that's not even why the theory makes no sense. It makes no sense for the same reason every creation myth since the dawn of, um, creation makes no sense: There's no causal explanation. What, that is to say, made it happen in the first place?

Tonelli, in his confidently titled book Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began, calls the "it" that made it happen the inflaton. It's the mystery thing/field/particle/whatever that jump-starts the engine of cosmic inflation. (They thought it might be the Higgs boson, but it's not. The true God particle is still out there.) Imagine, Tonelli says, a skier cruising down a mountain, who then stalls a little in a depression on the slope. That depression, the unexpected dip or hiccup in the ordered way of things, is the inflaton-induced disruption in the foam out of which the entire known universe, and all the matter and energy it would ever need to make stars and planets and consciousness and us, suddenly springs. But, again, the same question intrudes: What made the inflaton make the dip?

It makes no sense ... until you imagine something else. Don't imagine a snowy slope; it's too passive. Imagine, instead, someone sitting at a desk. First, they boot up their computer. This is the quantum-foam stage, the computer existing in a state of suspended anticipation. Then, our desk person mouses over to a file called, oh I don't know, KnownUniverse.mov, and double-clicks. This is the emergence of the inflaton. It's the tiny zzzt that launches the program.

In other words, yes, and with sincere apologies to Tonelli and most of his fellow physicists, who hate it when anybody suggests this: The only explanation for life, the universe, and everything that makes any sense, in light of quantum mechanics, in light of observation, in light of light and something faster than light, is that we're living inside a supercomputer. Is that we're living, all of us, and always, in a simulation.

INCELLULAR PHONE:

ITS:

ELECTION FRAUD IS A CRIME OF THE rIGHT:

GONNA NEED A LOT MORE IMMIGRANTS:

Job openings outnumbered available workers by nearly 5 million in January, the latest sign of a historically tight employment picture, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE ALLIES AGAIN:

President Joe Biden on Tuesday banned imports of Russian oil, gas and coal in response to what he called President Vladimir Putin's "vicious war of choice" in Ukraine, but he warned Americans that the decision to inflict economic pain on Russia would inevitably mean higher gas prices at home.

"Defending freedom is going to cost," Biden said in televised remarks announcing the ban at the White House.

The president's move immediately shut off a relatively small flow of oil into the United States, but it was quickly followed by a British pledge to phase out imports of Russian oil by the end of the year and a declaration from the European Commission -- the executive arm of the European Union, which is heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas -- to make itself independent of that supply in the coming years.

IT'S ALWAYS FUKUYAMA TIME:

A lack of democratic accountability is more often a source of weakness than an indication of strength, however. Subordinates in dictatorships survive by telling their superiors what they want to hear instead of the truth. This is true of all such systems, whether communist or, as in the case of Russia, nationalistic and chauvinistic. Accurate information is discouraged by a system that rewards obedience and loyalty. Yes-men thrive, while whistle-blowers are ruthlessly purged.

Russia has not yet lost the war in Ukraine; however, there can be little doubt that the conflict is unfolding contrary to how the Kremlin had hoped it would. As Lawrence Freedman writes for the New Statesman, "Russia has now committed well over 90 per cent of the tremendous force that was gathered around Ukraine before 24 February, and is still unable to take its early objectives." According to the Ukrainian government, Russia lost 11,000 troops in a little over a week of fighting.

It seems increasingly clear that one of the reasons Putin's war in Ukraine is going badly is because Kremlin courtiers are feeding bad information to their increasingly isolated president. In the lead-up to the invasion, Putin was clearly badly informed about the strength of Ukrainian resolve and its sense of national identity.

NO ONE HATES JUST MEXICANS:

Far-right French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour said on Tuesday that if Ukrainian refugees have links or relatives in France they are welcome, but "Arab or Muslim immigrants are too unlike us" to be given visas, Anadolu has reported. Zemmour made his comments on BFM TV.

With previous convictions for inciting racial hatred, he said that it is acceptable to have different rules for would-be asylum seekers from Europe and those from Muslim countries.

VLAD WHO?:

Venezuela's move is seen as a goodwill gesture toward the Biden administration, which seeks to undercut support for Russia in Latin America.

It follows a rare trip by a high-level US delegation to Venezuela over the weekend to meet President Maduro.

Besides the fate of the Americans held in Venezuela, the talks also focused on energy supplies. They discussed the possibility of easing US oil sanctions on the OPEC member.

Washington has been looking for ways to replace Russian oil imports, which it banned Tuesday in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

nATIONALISM DOESN'T WORK:

Wars are expensive. Every day in Ukraine is costing Russia billions by default.  Russia currently has 2400 tons of gold and about $640 billion in foreign reserves. Then there's the rest of Russia to pay for, with a very iffy revenue base.

The Russian revenue base will be maimed by the loss of trade. If oil, gas and wheat aren't bringing in revenue, it's going to get tough. China is an offset to these losses, but only to a point. China can't cover the full impact of lost business with the rest of the world.

Russian export trade with China has surged, but again, that's a finite position. It doesn't, and more importantly, can't compare with global trade. China can't be compelled to do more business with Russia.

Much less impressive is the fact that China can now call the shots with Russia on any subject it wants. It's barely comprehensible why Putin would want to be in this position at all, let alone during a major crisis. The word "expedient" can only be stretched so far before it becomes a liability.

The lethal reality check for Russia here is that this self-hanged position can only have one outcome - Massive long-term ongoing losses in capital and a possibly decades-long drought of financial inputs. That IS a recipe for bankruptcy. It's also a stunningly lousy economic position for Russia in that the economy won't be able to keep up with the rest of the world at all. If and when this situation ends, Russia will be behind every economic eight ball imaginable.

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE KEYSTONE!....OOPS, NEVERMIND:

The controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was halted over Russia's invasion of Ukraine is "dead," a senior US official said Tuesday, appearing to dash any hopes that the $12-billion gas venture could have a future.

OIL CAN'T COST ENOUGH:

Australia's emerging green hydrogen industry could become cost competitive for the domestic market within the next few years, Origin Energy chief Frank Calabria told an analyst's briefing on Wednesday,

Calabria said Origin was looking to enter the market for the local production of renewable hydrogen within the next few years, targeting the "mid-2020s", with the further potential for renewable hydrogen exports before the end of the decade.

NEVER MIND HAVING TO GIVE UP ON TAIWAN:

"Given the success that the U.S. has had in coordinating the financial sanctions and export controls not just with Europe but also with Japan, a key player in tech value chains -- this is extremely alarming for China," said Reva Goujon, senior manager for the China corporate advisory team at Rhodium Group.

"This is a very multilateral moment," Goujon said. "At a high level, you would think China would benefit from [the U.S.] having a big distraction in Europe, but actually [this] only accentuates those policy debates over critical exposure and vulnerabilities to Chinese supply chains."

From Germany to Japan, many countries have joined the U.S. in freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs, restricting access of Russia's biggest banks to the global financial system, and cutting off Russia from critical technology.

DONALD UNDONE:

If there's anything we've learned about President Vladimir Putin over the 22 years or so that he's been in power in Russia it's that he has systematically and repeatedly tried to weaken and undermine the West.

But in his invasion of Ukraine he seems to have achieved exactly the opposite, managing to unite most of the international community in its condemnation of Russia's aggression toward its neighbor.

"NATO is united -- more so than at any point since the Soviet collapse -- with a renewed sense of purpose and mission," Ian Bemmer, president of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, commented this week.

"So too is the European Union: Germany supports ending their economic dependence on Russia and is nearly doubling their defense spend; France is on board ... even Moscow-tilting Hungary has condemned the invasion, favored a crippling sanctions regime, and is allowing in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees," Bremmer said in emailed comments on Monday.

PHILADELPHIA STORY:

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff who helped former President Donald J. Trump spread false claims of voter fraud in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is facing questions about his own voting record, following a report that he registered to vote from a North Carolina mobile home where he did not live.

There's no indication that Mr. Meadows, a former congressman from North Carolina, ever resided -- or even spent the night -- at the rural mountain home, according to The New Yorker, which first reported on the residence that Mr. Meadows listed on his 2020 voter registration.

THANKS, VLAD!:

The European Union announced new plans today to swiftly shrink its reliance on Russian gas and accelerate its transition to clean energy. Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine and continued threats to further squeeze Europe's gas and oil supplies have made clean energy an even more critical priority.

"It is time we tackle our vulnerabilities and rapidly become more independent in our energy choices. Let's dash into renewable energy at lightning speed," European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans said in a March 8th statement.

IT'S A GOOD START; NOW COMMENCE SHOOTING:

TRUMPISTS HARDEST HIT:

BREAKING - Fitch cuts Russia's rating, says debt default imminent​ - Reuters News

— Phil Stewart (@phildstewart) March 8, 2022

HUG A TRUMPIST TONIGHT:

A Texas man who joined the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by former President Donald Trump supporters was found guilty for his role in the attack on Tuesday, a milestone victory for federal prosecutors in the first such case to go before a jury.

The defendant, Guy Reffitt, was found guilty on all five of the felony charges he faced, including bringing a gun onto the Capitol grounds and obstructing an official proceeding.

MET ONE NATIONALIST...:

Twenty years ago, there was no significant reservoir of opposition to Ukrainian independence and democracy. The burgeoning alliance between Russian nationalists and America Firsters was set in motion when Paul Manafort went to work for the pro-Russian Party of Regions in Ukraine in 2004. Manafort, once one of the most powerful Republican lobbyists in Washington, had begun a globetrotting career selling his services to dictators. His Ukrainian client, Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions, was Putin's main organ for maintaining control of his neighboring country.

Putin nurtured a cadre of pliant Ukrainian oligarchs and functionaries who served a devious double purpose. They would faithfully weaken Ukrainian democracy on his behalf, and then he could turn around to the outside world and hold up Ukraine's corruption as a justification for why it should not be treated like a real country.

He paired this with a slowly escalating campaign of violence. Putin and his allies would violently intimidate their political opposition to prevent them from gaining control of Ukraine. In 2004, Putin's agents poisoned Viktor Yushchenko, the pro-western presidential candidate. (This occurred four years before the United States invited Ukraine to join NATO, a sequence that shows Russia's threats against Ukraine drove its interest in joining the alliance, rather than the reverse, as Putin and his defenders have suggested.) Ten years later, Manafort's client unleashed snipers and thugs to drive away peaceful protesters before a democratic revolution forced him to flee the country. After Russophiles lost control of Ukraine's government, Putin started using militias to seize chunks of territory.

At the tail end of the Obama administration, both Democrats and Republicans supported democratization, westernization, and reform in Ukraine. When the Obama administration pressured Ukraine to fire ineffective prosecutor Viktor Shokin -- a key step forward for advancing the rule of law in Ukraine -- a bipartisan letter commended its efforts and did not draw any significant domestic opposition.

Trump's rise introduced to the Republican Party a figure who shared Putin's perspective toward Ukraine and often echoed his propaganda. When Putin ginned up demonstrations in eastern Ukraine as a pretext to hive off chunks of land in 2014, Trump gushed, "So smart, when you see the riots in a country because they're hurting the Russians, Okay, we'll go and take it over ... You have to give him a lot of credit." After winning the nomination, Trump promised to consider recognizing Putin's land seizure because "the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were."

Trump brought on Manafort to run his campaign, which further linked Ukraine's conflict with Russia to the American domestic struggle. Ukrainians released a "black book" of evidence of secret payments by the previous, pro-Russian regime, which implicated Manafort in an embezzling scandal for which he was eventually convicted. After it hacked Democratic emails and released them to aid Trump's candidacy, Russia claimed it had been framed by Ukraine. Trump subsequently endorsed this theory. ("They brought in another company that I hear is Ukrainian-based," he told the Associated Press a few months after taking office. "I heard it's owned by a very rich Ukrainian; that's what I heard.")

Trump, of course, was impeached the first time for pressuring Zelenskyy to smear Biden, and his motive was primarily to gain an advantage over his opponent. But he also had clearly absorbed Putin's idea that Ukraine was corrupt and undeserving of sovereignty. Trump regularly flummoxed his staff by insisting Ukraine was "horrible, corrupt people" and "wasn't a 'real country,' that it had always been a part of Russia, and that it was 'totally corrupt,'" the Washington Post reported. (The element of Russian propaganda here is not the claim that corruption exists in Ukraine, which is true, but the premise that this somehow destroys its claim to sovereignty or justifies subjugation to its far more corrupt neighbor.)

By the end of Trump's presidency, the distinction between his agenda in Ukraine and the Russian agenda in Ukraine was difficult to discern.

THE ANTI-DONALD:

President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The move follows pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to U.S. and Western officials to cut off the imports, which had been a glaring omission in the massive sanctions put in place on Russia over the invasion. Energy exports have kept a steady stream of cash flowing to Russia despite otherwise severe restrictions on its financial sector.

WE CAN'T DRIVE GAS PRICES HIGH ENOUGH:

General Motors on Tuesday announced a pilot program with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in California that would make its electric vehicles capable of powering a home in the event of a power outage or grid failure.

"This is really significant because it's another benefit of owning an electric vehicle," GM CEO Mary Barra said Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

HE SHOULD BE GOING TO IRAN...:

Joe Biden attracted criticism from both progressives and Republicans after a report indicated the White House was planning a visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss global oil supply.

Axios reported on Sunday that Biden's senior advisers were considering a spring trip to Saudi Arabia in an effort to improve relations and to propose a potential increase in oil exports.

hISTORY eNDS EVERYWHERE:

The reaction to Pakistan's first women's march was relatively mild: criticism and condemnation from Islamist parties and conservatives, who called the participants "antireligion" and "vulgar."

That did not deter the organizers of the 2018 march in Karachi, the significance of which reverberates to this day.

What started as a single demonstration to observe International Women's Day has become an annual lightning rod for religious conservatives across Pakistan, who have been adopting harsher attitudes toward female activists. Now, as women prepare to march Tuesday in Karachi and other cities, powerful figures in Pakistan want the event banned altogether.

Women planning to join the Aurat Marches, as they are called -- Urdu for "women's march" -- have faced countless threats of murder and rape, along with accusations that they receive Western funding as part of a plot to promote obscenity in Pakistan.

"The growing uneasiness surrounding Aurat March every year shows that the campaign for women's rights has been making an impact," said Sheema Kermani, one of the march's founders.

WHAT ABOUT CUBA?:

Maduro confirmed details of the meeting late Monday night, speaking on Venezuela's state-run television. He said he met the U.S. delegation for a two-hour meeting at the presidential palace in Caracas, joined by his wife, Cilia Flores, and Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly and one of the most powerful people in the Venezuelan government.

The meeting was "respectful" and "very diplomatic," Maduro said, and the two countries "agreed to work on an agenda moving forward." He said Venezuela's state-owned oil company, once recovered, is prepared to ramp up production "for the stability of the world."

"The flags of Venezuela and the United States were there and they looked nice, the two flags, united as they should be," Maduro said. "I thought it was very important to discuss, face to face, issues of maximum interest to Venezuela and the world."

THERE IS NO BEAR IN THE WOODS:

When it comes to war, generals say that "mass matters."

But nearly two weeks into President Vladimir V. Putin's invasion of Ukraine -- Europe's largest land war since 1945 -- the image of a Russian military as one that other countries should fear, let alone emulate, has been shattered.

Ukraine's military, which is dwarfed by the Russian force in most ways, has somehow managed to stymie its opponent. Ukrainian soldiers have killed more than 3,000 Russian troops, according to conservative estimates by American officials.

Ukraine has shot down military transport planes carrying Russian paratroopers, downed helicopters and blown holes in Russia's convoys using American anti-tank missiles and armed drones supplied by Turkey, these officials said, citing confidential U.S. intelligence assessments.

The Russian soldiers have been plagued by poor morale as well as fuel and food shortages. Some troops have crossed the border with MREs (meals ready to eat) that expired in 2002, U.S. and other Western officials said, and others have surrendered and sabotaged their own vehicles to avoid fighting.

WHY TRUMPISTS FEEL LIKE THEY'RE LOSING THEIR COUNTRY:"

Shortly before 7 p.m., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer came to the Senate floor to pass Sen. Cory Booker's (D-N.J.) bill unanimously. No one objected.

OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING:

Moderna pledged on Monday to "never enforce" its patents for Covid-19 vaccines against manufacturers that are based in or producing in 92 low- and middle-income countries, a shift for the biotechnology firm that has come under pressure to share its mRNA technology to help address global vaccine inequity.

The 92 countries are members of the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment, a mechanism aimed at securing financing for vaccines to go to those areas.

THE IDEAL TIME FOR THE IRAN DEAL:

President Joe Biden is racing to avoid a fight with Congress over banning Russian oil imports as he faces the increasing possibility that his own party will act if he doesn't.

The White House's posture this week amounts to an about-face for an administration that just days ago feared an import ban would send gas prices skyrocketing. At the very least, officials were hopeful to enact a ban in lockstep with European allies. But they are adjusting to what has become an overwhelming bipartisan interest on Capitol Hill -- and within corners of the administration -- in ridding American markets of Russian oil as Vladimir Putin continues his bloody assault on Ukraine.

The administration's newfound interest in an import ban is motivated in part by a desire to avoid a protracted debate over bipartisan oil-ban legislation that could include even more unwelcome provisions further tying the administration's hands diplomatically. It also helps avoid the potential embarrassment of lawmakers appearing tougher on Putin than the president by forcing his hand and sending him a bill to sign.