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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

The revolution will be supervised.

Everybody saw this coming.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Republicans do not pay their debts.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The words do not have to be perfect.

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Sunday Morning Open Thread: Chef José Andrés

by Anne Laurie|  April 2, 20236:53 am| 29 Comments

This post is in: Food, Something Good Open Thread

"My dream is to become local everywhere, but the world is too big to do that, right?" @chefjoseandres tells us what he's learned: https://t.co/ihHrOkDW6E

— Esquire (@esquire) March 26, 2023

From Esquire, a mood-lifter for a Sunday morning:

José Andrés got his big start as a chef at Ferran Adrià’s elBulli in Spain, the original temple of molecular gastronomy. He immigrated to the U. S. from Spain in 1991. Today the José Andrés Group operates more than thirty restaurants including Jaleo, minibar, and several Bazaars, a kind of Spanish cuisine wonderland—Washington D.C. and New York get theirs this year. World Central Kitchen, the relief organization Andrés founded to help feed people in crisis, is the biggest food-aid organization in Ukraine.

Moving has been very important for me, discovering new places, realizing that the more you know, the more you know that you know nothing—especially cooking.

The rituals that go into the process of cooking and enjoying the meal are a gigantic ritual of feeling. Feeling is the most important thing we do from the moment we’re born to the moment we die. Next to breathing, it’s the thing we have to do all the time…

Luck is luck. It happens sometimes even when you don’t wish it. But everything else in life needs to be more than luck. It needs to be effort. It needs to be hard work. It needs to be repetition and error.

My favorite Spanish saying? “No le pidas peras al olmo.” Don’t ask for pears from the elm tree…

My father would invite everybody for a Sunday paella once a month or whatever and not keep track of who he invited, so it was very random who would show up. And my mother was always like, “What happens if more people show up?” And my dad would say, “Well, we add more rice to the pan.” It’s always the way. It’s always the way.

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Chef José AndrésPost + Comments (29)

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Living With Orchids

by Anne Laurie|  April 2, 20234:51 am| 10 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Living With Orchids 1

Thank you, commentor Glidwrith:

Orchids are a blog favorite. I usually have around twenty, though not all will re-bloom for me.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Orchids 3

I choose my orchids for not just the flowers, but for the structure of the plant. If it never blooms for me again, at least I have something interesting to look at…

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Orchids

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Orchids 4

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Living With Orchids 2

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Orchids 1

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Living With Orchids

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Orchids 2

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Living With Orchids 3

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Orchids 5

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Orchids 6

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Living With Orchids 4

***********

What’s going on in your garden (planning / prep / indoor), this week?

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Living With OrchidsPost + Comments (10)

Late Night Open Thread: Same Bullsh*t, Different Decade

by Anne Laurie|  April 2, 20231:11 am| 71 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Venality, Trump Indictments, Trumpery

How are so many people confidently claiming that Trump is simply too important to go to jail. https://t.co/HNHyPZnAtW

— Franklin Stove Expropriator (@agraybee) April 1, 2023

Upon news of The First Indictment, Dave Roth re-upped one of his excellent Defector essays:

… The basic premise of Trumpism and the fundamental promise that Trump has made during his political career is that those who are with him will be treated one way, and those who are not will be treated in another, much worse way. Because of how Trump is—because of how avaricious and joyless he is, and because of how fearful and paranoid he is, and because of how unrelentingly aggrieved he is—this promise is fundamentally negative. Only the most powerful of the people that fell into formation behind him will receive any positive benefit from anything that he does; this is axiomatic, as Trump doesn’t do anything for anyone other than himself. Everyone that follows him understands and accepts this to some extent, and the less influential of those who lined up behind him either out of perceived interest or some rote and sour habit or pure servile instinct surely know as much. They also know that they will receive a more diffuse but still quite valuable dividend for their service, which is the certainty that they will never be treated as badly as the people on the other side.

That certainty is false, of course, but that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Trump has lived his life inside a curdled and childish belief that he can do and take and keep whatever he wants, without consequence, forever. As a sort of tabloid cartoon of a rich person, an adult Richie Rich that had somehow figured out how to use a smartphone and commit adultery, this delusion has served him decently well; the realities of his wealth and the structural forces that the country has built to protect people of similar fecklessness and similar means conspired to sustain it for decades. The version of this impunity that Trump sells to his audience is a cheaper reproduction, not sold in any store and available exclusively through this limited-time television offer, in which they can feel as invulnerable and unaccountable as him, and be just as lazy and just as cruel, without actually being anywhere near as well-insulated from the consequences of their actions. “I play to people’s fantasies,” Trump “writes” in the ghostwritten Art Of The Deal. “People may not always think big themselves. but they can get very excited by those who do.”

“That,” Trump continues, “is why a little hyperbole never hurts.” When it comes to building a brand or a public image, the utility of this sort of theatrical dishonesty is at least debatable. But the open secret with Trump is that there is nothing underneath all of this—not just no actual values beneath the pretend ones or actual product behind the pitch, but nothing at all. There is just bottomless idiotic appetite and unstinting demand, the urgency and endlessness of which makes any number of outlandish cruelties not just possible but inevitable. Trump is not the only person who is like this, but it may be that no one is more like this than him. Discernment isn’t on the menu, but it also fundamentally isn’t an option—admitting any kind of error or demonstrating any kind of vulnerability would mean not just defeat but a sort of death. The nature of this country and its economic and political depravities guarantee that such a person—someone rich enough and determined enough, stupid enough and frightened enough and selfish enough—can go a very long way. The idea of being that way is something that can be sold, because the shiny false certainty of it is something that people want to display, and feel themselves. It is a poisonous lie, but an aspirational one…

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A lot of the people mad that Trump was indicted were furious Clinton wasn’t.

— Undeclared Cheese Computer (@Hal_RTFLC) March 31, 2023

Remember when Clinton was sued and argued that you can't tie up a president in court only for the Supreme Court to laugh at him?

— C🔆co Writes (@WritesCoco) March 31, 2023

Seriously, what’s to stop every Republican congressman and senator and governor from doing this, each raising a paltry $5K for it, and declaring themselves preemptively immune?

— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs) April 1, 2023

I was told the libs would rehabilitate Trump yet it's not the libs saying he shouldn't be prosecuted.

— Franklin Stove Expropriator (@agraybee) April 1, 2023

Late Night Open Thread: Same Bullsh*t, Different DecadePost + Comments (71)

War for Ukraine Day 402: Putin Has Signed a New Foreign Policy Concept.

by Adam L Silverman|  April 1, 20237:50 pm| 70 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Military, Open Threads, Russia, Silverman on Security, War, War in Ukraine

(Image by NEIVANMADE)

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump:

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Today, the terrorist state began to chair the UN Security Council, and yesterday the Russian army killed another Ukrainian child – address of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

1 April 2023 – 20:02

Dear Ukrainians, I wish you health!

I signed two decrees on sanctions against those who work for Russian aggression.

These are officials of the aggressor state, its defense industry – hundreds of companies – and collaborators. It is about more than 650 newly sanctioned persons.

The NSDC will continue this work. And none of those who help terrorists, work for them, supply or manufacture weapons for terror – none will escape liability.

The blocking of accomplices of terror, the isolation of the terrorist state, its defeat, and trials are what await all those who started and are waging war against Ukraine and the international order.

By the way, this week Switzerland joined the tenth sanctions package of the European Union.

It is important when the states that are neutral in the military-political sense nevertheless take a clear moral position towards Russian terror, towards Russia’s destruction of the global order based on rules.

Only in unity can we preserve peace as the basis of international relations, and I thank Switzerland for the relevant decisions.

I spoke today with President of France Emmanuel Macron. In detail, one hour. About the situation at the front, our political interaction, about how we are moving in implementing the Ukrainian Peace Formula. Thank you, France for your unwavering support.

In general, the week brought a number of positive news for Ukraine, for our defense, and for defending the regular life of all free nations.
Within the framework of the OSCE, work on the first separate international report, which will be dedicated to Russia’s forced deportation of Ukrainian children and attempts to assimilate our children, began.

This crime committed by Russia is one of the most cynical and anti-human crimes of our time.

Russia commits it systematically and calculates it, at the state level. Accountability for it will be systemic too. Accountability of Russia as a state and everyone involved.

Thanks to Germany for the new steps in defense support that were taken this week.

Thanks to Croatia for another defense support package. Thanks to North Macedonia for the decision on helicopters. Thanks to Slovakia, Slovenia.

Thank you to Canada for the financial support, the funds have already arrived in the state budget of Ukraine.

Thanks to the IMF for the new programme for Ukraine. The programme is approved. The size is more than $15 billion. This will help us preserve social stability.

Unfortunately, we also have news that is obviously absurd and destructive. Today, the terrorist state began to chair the UN Security Council.

Yesterday, the Russian army killed another Ukrainian child – a five-month-old boy named Danylo. From Avdiyivka, in Donbas, together with his parents who were injured. Russian artillery… One of the hundreds of artillery strikes that the terrorist state launches every day.
And at the same time, Russia chairs the UN Security Council.

It is hard to imagine something evident that proves the complete bankruptcy of such institutions…

There is no such form of terror that has not yet been committed by Russia. And there will be no such reason that will stop the reform of global institutions, in particular, the UN Security Council. The reform that is clearly overdue – so that a terrorist state and any other state that wants to be a terrorist cannot disrupt the peace.

Terrorists must lose, must be held accountable for terror, and not preside anywhere.

Glory to all who are now in battle!

I thank everyone who helps Ukraine. Who defends the international order based on rules! Thank you to everyone who saves and helps save our people after being injured by Russian shelling!

Eternal memory to all adults and children whose lives were taken by the terror of Russia!

Glory to Ukraine!

Here is a machine translation of the latest operational update from the Ukrainian MOD:

Ministry of Defence Ukraine✔
‼️Operational information as of 18.00 01.03.2023 regarding the Russian invasion

▪️During the day, the enemy launched 2 missile strikes, 25 air strikes and launched 6 attacks from rocket salvo systems.

▪️Today, the Russian Federation again launched missile attacks on civilian objects in the city of Druzhkivka, Donetsk region, and other populated areas of Ukraine, using ballistic missiles. There are wounded among the civilian population.

▪️The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on conducting offensive actions in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiiv and Marin areas.🔰 During this day, units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled more than 50 enemy attacks. Найзапеклішими залишаються бої за райони населених пунктів Бахмут, Авдіївка та Мар’їнка.

▪️In the Lymansky direction, during the day, the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the areas south of Kreminnaya and Verkhnokamyansky. Nevske, Kolodyazi, Dibrova, Belogorivka and Rozdolivka of the Luhansk region were hit by artillery fire.

▪️In the direction of Bakhmut, the enemy does not stop the assault on the city of Bakhmut. However, our defenders courageously hold the settlement. At the same time, the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in Bohdanivka, Donetsk region. During the day, the enemy shelled the settlements of Vasyukivka, Orihovo-Vasylivka, Novomarkove, Bakhmut, Ivanivske, Chasiv Yar, Kurdyumivka, Diliivka, New York and Druzhkivka.

▪️On the Avdiivka and Maryinka directions, the enemy unsuccessfully conducted offensive actions in the areas of Avdiivka, Severny, Pervomaisky and Maryinka. Fired at Avdiivka, Orlivka, Netaylovka, Krasnohorivka, Georgiivka, and Maryinka.

▪️In the Shakhtarsky direction, during the day, the enemy actively used UAVs to adjust artillery fire, shelled the settlements of Pobyeda, Novomykhailivka, Vugledar, Velika Novosilka of the Donetsk region.

▪️The Russian occupiers continue the forced passporting of the population of the temporarily occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region. In particular, in the city of Tokmak, Russian invaders are restricting the movement of Ukrainian citizens who have not received passports of the Russian Federation at checkpoints. The occupiers purposefully and deliberately search vehicles without further opportunity to enter the city. In the absence of a Russian passport, citizens of Ukraine are threatened with a ban on entering the city. In turn, FSB representatives, during house searches, threaten local citizens of Ukraine with job loss and employment problems without a Russian passport.

✈️Aviation of the Defense Forces during the day made 8 strikes on areas of concentration of the occupiers, a🇺🇦units of missile troops and artillery hit 3 areas of concentration of manpower, weapons and military equipment and 2 warehouses of enemy ammunition.

🇺🇦General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
🚀 Ministry of Defence Ukraine👆

Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s latest assessments of the situations in Bakhmut:

NOTE: The previous city map posted ay 2125 UTC 1 APL did not display an accurate depiction of the ‘zero line’ in S Bakhmut. Though the line of contact is variously reported, this inset shows the Foward Edge of the Battle Area based on latest reports. Updates will follow. pic.twitter.com/vtAD7cn14d

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) April 1, 2023

BAKHMUT CITY /1315 UTC 1 APL/ The 0600 report : ‘Bakhmut axis: the enemy does not stop storming the city of Bakhmut, trying to take it under complete control”. UKR Lines of Communication & Supply are functioning, but RU is registering gains in heavy and costly urban fighting. pic.twitter.com/gRb174jQin

— Chuck Pfarrer | Indications & Warnings | (@ChuckPfarrer) April 1, 2023

 

Bakhmut:

It’s snowing in Bakhmut.

🎥 @operativno_ZSU pic.twitter.com/9rjEaavw4r

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 1, 2023

🇺🇦👊🏻
The defense for #Bakhmut is unstoppable🔥🔥

📽 April 1, 2023 pic.twitter.com/5kWR7m6Vpz

— АЗОВ South (@Azovsouth) April 1, 2023

Tochka-U on Russian positions inside AZOM, northern Bakhmut. pic.twitter.com/1Kjk26th5P

— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 1, 2023

Vuhledar:

Russian incendiary strikes on Vuhledar. Horrible munition that can burn everything it finds in its way. pic.twitter.com/ESnaz5G61z

— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 1, 2023

Avdiivka:

The 36th Marine Brigade, first class heroes that are kicking *ss in Avdiivka environment are clearing enemy trenches. Brave warriors. pic.twitter.com/cgA38tIJwe

— NOËL 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) April 1, 2023

– I'm not going anywhere! I am NOT going anywhere.
– You endanger the life of your husband, baby and your own only for a house!
– That's right. Because I built it myself!
– It's just bricks. You can build another one.
– I will not go anywhere, that's it.

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) April 1, 2023

Here is the third part of the Ukrainian officer serving in/near Vuhledar who tweets as Tatarigami’s analysis of how the US and NATO have not fully committed to support Ukraine and that the Ukrainian military is not properly organized. First tweet below, then the rest from the Thread Reader App:

Thread🧵

1/ It is my belief that NATO and the US have not fully committed to stop russia in Ukraine. However, there are areas within our own military that require attention. As discussed in Part I, I will reference an article by Glen Grant to discuss these issues pic.twitter.com/L65qr6SU6D

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) April 1, 2023

2/ Glen suggests that a priority policy should be implemented to replace all military personnel who are not performing frontline tasks with civilians who have comparable or better related skills. Additionally, the use of TrO volunteers should be considered. 
3/ In some cases, commanders have been selected through nepotism or connections rather than their performance and results. This is a concerning issue that needs to be addressed immediately to ensure that the most qualified individuals are appointed to leadership positions. 
4/ It is imperative to establish a policy that streamlines the identification process of potential commanders for promotion and simultaneously identifies those who are unsuitable for command. 
5/ A fundamental area that requires urgent action is collective training. It is crucial for units to receive collective training to improve their skills and ensure that they can work effectively as a team. 
6/ In larger NATO countries, collective training is regularly conducted at battalion and brigade levels and even at the division level during major exercises. Lessons learned from the front line should be passed on to every soldier and instructor to improve their training. 
7/ Staff appointments such as Chief J7 (Training) should not make command decisions about training requirements. Commanders should only be appointed to command operations or to command the creation and training of units for operations. 
8/ The lack of standardization across the Ukrainian army is a significant problem that hinders successful operations. The mix of the Soviet system, NATO standards, and improvisation has led to chaos. It is essential to establish a unified system. 
9/ The reliance on Ukroboronprom to produce defence weapons has resulted in a monopolistic system that is not perfectly suitable for war. It has proven to be slow in delivering the necessary weapons and equipment. 
10/ The military medical system has major weaknesses. Uncoordinated training for soldiers in battlefield medicine, and poor policies at the national level for supporting and funding the seriously injured or those needing basic medical drugs. 
11/ It is crucial to have an officer in each unit who is not in the battle space and can assist with necessary documentation for families when a partner dies or is critically injured. 
12/ In order to ensure a streamlined logistics process, each area must have a dedicated logistics hub, that ensures that no brigade has to reach back more than one hour’s drive to obtain what they require. 
13/ In instances where extreme distances are involved, the logistics “socket” should be extended to bring the required supplies closer to the unit. The logistics power socket should encompass the essential elements of combat supply 
14/ including medical supply and evacuation, unit combat supplies such as food, fuel, ammunition, batteries, vehicle spares, and drones, personal equipment of all types through digital registration 
15/ reach-back ability for technical equipment for replacement and repair such as phones, computers, and radios, and forward maintenance of all soft-skin and armored vehicles up to engine and barrel changes, and minor body repair, 
16/ In addition to the insightful observations made by Glen Grant, I would like to contribute my own observations regarding the current state of Ukraine’s military organization. It is important to note that Ukraine’s highest organizational unit is the brigade, 
17/ as it does not have standing armies or divisions. However, there exist de facto “territorial” organizational units that coordinate the actions of multiple brigades. While these units may function like divisions in some ways, they lack a proper division structure 
18/ and their assigned officers are typically temporary. In comparison, division or an army has a clearly defined structure that operates as a single mechanism with clearly defined duties and responsibilities. 
19/ In my forthcoming conclusion thread, I intend to provide a summary of the pressing concerns that require attention. In my view, merely seeking assistance from our allies is insufficient; it is imperative that we undertake internal changes to preserve the lives of our soldiers 

Full version of the article by Glen Grant that I am referring to can be located here: https://t.co/tYaUCu8UNr

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) April 1, 2023

The first post is here, one addendum to it is here and another here, the second thread is here.

He also brings us news of Wagner’s latest war crime:

Thread🧵

1/ A well-known pro-Russian channel called "Поздняков 3.0" with over 240,000 subscribers recently uploaded a video that allegedly shows members of the "Wagner" group torturing a man who is tied up. pic.twitter.com/y5GiJFamhv

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) April 1, 2023

3/ The man appears to be semi-conscious and is being held by another masked individual while a third person plays the violin next to him. The act of playing the violin is a reference to the Wagner group, who are often referred to as "musicians."

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) April 1, 2023

5/ It is worth noting that many of the emojis posted in response to the video appear to approve such a behavior. It also should be noted that the authenticity of the video has not yet been confirmed and efforts are being made to identify the man in the video.

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) April 1, 2023

I thought some of you might find this interesting:

The chart below shows how control of the country has developed each month over the course of the war.

Prior to the invasion on 24th February 2022, Russia occupied approximately 6.45% of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/sw46qxZciR

— War Mapper (@War_Mapper) April 1, 2023

A final graph highlighting the net changes to control each month. pic.twitter.com/qhrk7d9VJP

— War Mapper (@War_Mapper) April 1, 2023

Aerobatics from our MiG-29 pilot ✈️🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/k3FBDNN6F5

— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) April 1, 2023

Putin has signed a new foreign policy concept for the Russian Federation. Here’s some machine translated excerpts. And yes, it is as delusional as you might expect:

4. More than a thousand years of experience of independent statehood, the cultural heritage of the previous era, deep historical ties with traditional European culture and other cultures of Eurasia, the ability developed over many centuries to ensure the harmonious coexistence of various peoples, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups on a common territory determine the special position of Russia as an original state-civilization, a vast Eurasian and Euro-Pacific power that rallied the Russian people and other peoples that make up the cultural and civilizational community of the Russian world.

5. The place of Russia in the world is determined by the presence of significant resources in all spheres of life, its status as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UN), a member of leading interstate organizations and associations, one of the two largest nuclear powers, a successor state (successor) Union of the SSR. Russia, taking into account its decisive contribution to the victory in World War II, as well as its active role in the creation of a modern system of international relations and the elimination of the world system of colonialism, acts as one of the sovereign centers of world development and fulfills a historically unique mission to maintain a global balance of power and build multipolar international system, ensuring the conditions for a peaceful,

6. Russia is pursuing an independent and multi-vector foreign policy course dictated by its national interests and awareness of its special responsibility for maintaining peace and security at the global and regional levels. Russia’s foreign policy is peaceful, open, predictable, consistent, pragmatic, based on respect for the universally recognized principles and norms of international law and the desire for equal international cooperation in order to solve common problems and promote common interests. Russia’s attitude towards other states and interstate associations is determined by the constructive, neutral or unfriendly nature of their policy towards the Russian Federation.

II. The Modern World: Main Trends and Development Prospects

7. Humanity is going through an era of revolutionary change. The formation of a more just, multipolar world continues. The non-equilibrium model of world development, which for centuries ensured the outstripping economic growth of colonial powers by appropriating the resources of dependent territories and states in Asia, Africa and the Western Hemisphere, is irreversibly becoming a thing of the past. The sovereignty is being strengthened and the competitive opportunities of non-Western world powers and regional leaders are increasing. Structural restructuring of the world economy, its transfer to a new technological basis (including the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies, the latest information and communication, energy, biological technologies and nanotechnologies), the growth of national self-consciousness,

8. The ongoing, generally favorable, changes, however, cause rejection among a number of states, accustomed to thinking according to the logic of global domination and neo-colonialism. They refuse to recognize the realities of a multipolar world and, on this basis, to agree on the parameters and principles of the world order. Attempts are being made to restrain the natural course of history, eliminate competitors in the military-political and economic spheres, and suppress dissent. A wide range of illegal tools and methods are used, including the use of coercive measures (sanctions) bypassing the UN Security Council, provoking coups d’etat, armed conflicts, threats, blackmail, manipulation of the consciousness of certain social groups and entire nations, offensive and subversive operations in the information space. A common form of interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states has been the imposition of destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes that contradict traditional spiritual and moral values. As a result, the destructive impact extends to all spheres of international relations.

9. Serious pressure is being exerted on the UN and other multilateral institutions, whose purpose as platforms for coordinating the interests of the leading powers is artificially devalued. The international legal system is being tested for strength: a narrow group of states seeks to replace it with the concept of a world order based on rules (the imposition of rules, standards and norms in the development of which the equal participation of all interested states was not ensured). It becomes more difficult to develop collective responses to transnational challenges and threats, such as the illegal arms trade, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, dangerous pathogens and infectious diseases, the use of information and communication technologies for illegal purposes, international terrorism, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, transnational organized crime and corruption, natural disasters and man-made accidents, illegal migration, environmental degradation. There is a degradation of the culture of dialogue in the international sphere, the effectiveness of diplomacy as a means of peaceful settlement of disputes is declining. There is an acute shortage of trust and predictability in international affairs.

10. The crisis of economic globalization is intensifying. The existing problems, including in the energy market and in the financial sector, are caused by the degradation of many previous development models and instruments, irresponsible macroeconomic decisions (including uncontrolled emission and accumulation of unsecured debts), unlawful unilateral restrictive measures and unfair competition. The abuse of individual states by their dominant position in some areas increases the processes of fragmentation of the world economy and inequality in the development of states. New national and cross-border payment systems are spreading, interest in new international reserve currencies is growing, prerequisites are being formed for diversifying the mechanisms of international economic cooperation.

11. The role of the force factor in international relations is growing, and the conflict space is expanding in a number of strategically important regions. The destabilizing build-up and modernization of offensive military potentials, the destruction of the system of arms control treaties undermine strategic stability. The use of military force in violation of international law, the development of outer space and information space as new areas of military operations, the blurring of the line between military and non-military means of interstate confrontation, the aggravation of chronic armed conflicts in a number of regions increase the threat to global security, increase the risks of clashes between large states, in including those with the participation of nuclear powers, increase the likelihood of such conflicts escalating and escalating into local,

12. A natural response to the crisis of the world order is the strengthening of cooperation between states subject to external pressure. The formation of regional and trans-regional mechanisms for economic integration and interaction in various fields, the creation of multi-format partnerships to solve common problems is being activated. Other (including unilateral) steps are also being taken to protect vital national interests. The high level of interdependence, global scope and the transnational nature of challenges and threats limit the possibilities for ensuring the security, stability and prosperity of individual states, military-political and trade-economic unions.

13. Considering the strengthening of Russia as one of the leading centers of development of the modern world, considering its independent foreign policy a threat to Western hegemony, the United States of America (USA) and its satellites used the measures taken by the Russian Federation to protect their vital interests in the Ukrainian direction as a pretext for exacerbation of many years of anti-Russian policy and unleashed a new type of hybrid war. It is aimed at weakening Russia in every possible way, including undermining its creative civilizational role, power, economic and technological capabilities, limiting its sovereignty in foreign and domestic policy, and destroying territorial integrity. This course of the West has acquired a comprehensive character and is fixed at the doctrinal level. It was not the choice of the Russian Federation. Russia does not consider itself an enemy of the West, does not isolate itself from it, has no hostile intentions towards it, and expects that in the future the states belonging to the Western community will realize the futility of their confrontational policy and hegemonic ambitions, take into account the complex realities of a multipolar world and return to pragmatic interaction with Russia, guided by the principles of sovereign equality and respect for each other’s interests. On this basis, the Russian Federation is ready for dialogue and cooperation. will take into account the complex realities of a multipolar world and return to pragmatic interaction with Russia, guided by the principles of sovereign equality and respect for each other’s interests. On this basis, the Russian Federation is ready for dialogue and cooperation. will take into account the complex realities of a multipolar world and return to pragmatic interaction with Russia, guided by the principles of sovereign equality and respect for each other’s interests. On this basis, the Russian Federation is ready for dialogue and cooperation.

14. In response to the unfriendly actions of the West, Russia intends to defend its right to existence and free development by all available means. The Russian Federation will concentrate its creative energy on the geographic vectors of its foreign policy, which have obvious prospects in terms of expanding mutually beneficial international cooperation. Most of humanity is interested in constructive relations with Russia and strengthening its position in the international arena as an influential world power making a decisive contribution to maintaining global security and ensuring the peaceful development of states. This opens up broad opportunities for the successful activities of the Russian Federation in the international arena.

IV. Priority directions of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation

Shaping a just and sustainable world order

18. Russia strives to form such a system of international relations that would ensure reliable security, preservation of cultural and civilizational identity, equal development opportunities for all states, regardless of their geographical location, size of territory, demographic, resource and military potentials, political, economic and social devices. In order to meet these criteria, the system of international relations must be multipolar and based on the following principles:

1) sovereign equality of states, respect for their right to choose models of development, social, political and economic structure;

2) rejection of hegemony in international affairs;

3) cooperation based on a balance of interests and mutual benefit;

4) non-interference in internal affairs;

5) the supremacy of international law in the regulation of international relations, the rejection of all states from the policy of double standards;

6) indivisibility of security in global and regional aspects;

7) the diversity of cultures, civilizations and models of organization of society, the refusal of all states to impose on other countries their development models, ideological and value orientations, reliance on a spiritual and moral guideline that is common to all world traditional religions and secular ethical systems;

8) responsible leadership of the leading states, aimed at ensuring stable and favorable conditions for development both for themselves and for other countries and peoples;

9) the leading role of sovereign states in making decisions in the field of maintaining international peace and security.

19. In order to facilitate the adaptation of the world order to the realities of a multipolar world, the Russian Federation intends to give priority attention to:

1) elimination of the vestiges of the dominance of the United States and other unfriendly states in world affairs, creating conditions for the rejection of any state from neo-colonial and hegemonic ambitions;

2) improvement of international mechanisms for ensuring security and development at the global and regional levels;

3) the restoration of the role of the UN as a central coordinating mechanism in coordinating the interests of the UN member states and their actions to achieve the goals of the UN Charter;

4) strengthening the potential and enhancing the international role of the BRICS interstate association, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), RIC (Russia, India, China) and other interstate associations and international organizations, as well as mechanisms with a significant participation of Russia;

5) support for regional and sub-regional integration within the framework of friendly multilateral institutions, dialogue platforms and regional associations in the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East;

6) increasing the stability and progressive development of the international legal system;

7) ensuring fair access for all states to the benefits of the world economy and the international division of labor, as well as to modern technologies in the interests of fair and equitable development (including solving the problems of global energy and food security);

8) intensifying cooperation in all spheres with Russia’s allies and partners, suppressing attempts by unfriendly states to prevent such cooperation;

9) consolidation of international efforts aimed at ensuring respect and protection of universal and traditional spiritual and moral values ​​(including ethical norms common to all world religions), neutralizing attempts to impose pseudo-humanistic and other neoliberal ideological attitudes, leading to the loss of traditional spiritual and moral values ​​by humanity. moral guidelines and moral principles;

10) constructive dialogue, partnership and mutual enrichment of different cultures, religions and civilizations.

Rule of law in international relations

20. Ensuring the rule of law in international relations is one of the foundations of a just and sustainable world order, maintaining global stability, peaceful and fruitful cooperation between states and their associations, is a factor in reducing international tension and increasing the predictability of world development.

21. Russia consistently stands for the strengthening of the legal foundations of international relations and fulfills its international legal obligations in good faith. At the same time, decisions of interstate bodies adopted on the basis of the provisions of international treaties of the Russian Federation in their interpretation that contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation are not subject to execution in the Russian Federation.

22. The mechanism for the formation of universal international legal norms should be based on the free will of sovereign states, and the UN should remain the main platform for the progressive development and codification of international law. Further advancement of the concept of a world order based on rules is fraught with the destruction of the international legal system and other dangerous consequences for humanity.

23. In order to increase the stability of the international legal system, prevent its fragmentation and weakening, and prevent the selective application of generally recognized principles and norms of international law, the Russian Federation intends to give priority attention to:

There’s a lot more at the link. It goes on and on and on and on like what I’ve copied and pasted above. If you feel the need click through and see for yourselves. I do, however, recommend using a good VPN.

That’s enough for tonight.

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War for Ukraine Day 402: Putin Has Signed a New Foreign Policy Concept.Post + Comments (70)

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread (and reminder, BJ zoom tonight at 7 pm)

by WaterGirl|  April 1, 20235:05 pm| 121 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I loved this image the second I saw it.  I don’t know the original context for the photo, but when I saw it earlier this week it was obviously supposed to be Hillary hearing about the indictment.

The fact that both Hillary and Al Gore didn’t shrivel up with anger and bitterness after each respective election was stolen is absolute proof that we have the best people.

Speaking of all the best people, we have 25 RSVPs for tonight’s zoom at 7 pm Eastern.

Anyone else want to join us?  Send me an email, and include your nym please, and I will send you a link.

If you haven’t received the zoom link I sent out, please drop me an email and I will try again.

Doors open at 6:45.

What’s everyone up to on this fine Saturday?

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread (and reminder, BJ zoom tonight at 7 pm)Post + Comments (121)

Interesting Read: How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?

by Anne Laurie|  April 1, 20233:56 pm| 79 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Republican Politics

Interesting Read: <em>How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?</em>- STOCKPILE

How did freedom-loving Florida fall for an authoritarian governor? @helenlewis traveled from England to Ron DeSantis’s magic kingdom in search of an answer. https://t.co/1yOGpIUPeX

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) March 28, 2023

A view from elsewhere — longish, but it’s the weekend:

… Internet memes sometimes refer to Florida as “the America of America,” but to a Brit like me, it’s more like the Australia of America: The wildlife is trying to kill you, the weather is trying to kill you, and the people retain a pioneer spirit, even when their roughest expedition is to the 18th hole. Florida’s place in the national mythology is as America’s pulsing id, a vision of life without the necessary restriction of shame. Chroniclers talk about its seasonless strangeness; the public meltdowns of its oddest residents; how retired CIA operatives, Mafia informants, and Jair Bolsonaro can be reborn there. “Whatever you’re doing dishonestly up north, you can do it in a much warmer climate with less regulation down here,” said the novelist Carl Hiaasen, who wrote about the weirder side of Florida for the Miami Herald from 1976 until his retirement in 2021.

But under the memes and jokes, the state is also making an argument to the rest of the world about what freedom looks like, how life should be organized, and how politics should be done. This is clear even from Britain, a place characterized by drizzle and self-deprecation, the anti-Florida.

What was once the narrowest swing state has come to embody an emotional new strain of conservatism. “The general Republican mindset now is about grievances against condescending elites,” Michael Grunwald, the Miami-based author of The Swamp, told me, “and it fits with the sense that ‘we’re Florida Man; everyone makes fun of us.’ ” But criticism doesn’t faze Florida men; it emboldens them.

It is no coincidence that the two leading contenders for the Republican nomination both have their base in Florida. In one corner, you have Donald Trump, who retired, sulking, from the presidency to his “Winter White House” at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach. (When Trump entered the 2024 presidential race, the formerly supportive New York Post jeered at him with the front-page headline “Florida Man Makes Announcement” before relegating the news story to page 26.)

In the other corner stands the state’s current governor, Ron DeSantis, raised in the Gulf Coast town of Dunedin, a man desperately trying to conceal his attendance at the elite institutions of Harvard and Yale under lashings of bronzer and highly choreographed outrages. In his speeches, the governor likes to boast that “Florida is where ‘woke’ goes to die.” In his 2022 campaign videos, he styled himself as a Top Gun pilot and possibly even Jesus himself. You couldn’t get away with that in Massachusetts…

For so many who choose to live here, arriving in Florida feels like a relief: a liberation from cold winters, from COVID mandates, from the paralyzing fear of political correctness, from the warnings of climatologists and guilt trips by Greta Thunberg. “This is an irresponsible place,” Grunwald told me—a counterweight to Plymouth Rock and the puritanism of the Northeast. When I drove across the border into Georgia, a battery of signs greeted me, warning against speeding and littering, as if to say: Look, we’re relaxed here, but not Florida relaxed. In freedom-loving Florida, you presume, every warning and restriction has been reluctantly imposed in response to a highly specific problem. (Exhibit A, the hotel swimming-pool sign: No swimming with diarrhea.)…

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Any serious consideration of DeSantis inevitably runs headlong into his lack of charisma. Can you win the presidency without being able to make small talk? The Republican donor class is very keen to lubricate his path to power, but they worry he can’t schmooze and flatter as well as he bullies and schemes. He has courted partisan YouTubers and talk-radio hosts, but throughout his reelection campaign last year, he did not grant a sit-down interview to any mainstream publication, and declined to cooperate with profiles in The New Yorker, the Financial Times, and The New York Times. His press team specializes in insults that read as though ChatGPT has been trained on Trump speeches—gratuitous, yet somehow bloodless. (Asked to respond to fact-checking queries for this article, DeSantis’s press secretary, Bryan Griffin, replied by email: “You aren’t interested in the truth; this is just yet another worthless Atlantic editorial.”)…

Buoyed by Trump’s blessing and the support of right-wing media, DeSantis won Florida’s Republican primary for governor in August 2018 by 20 points. Two months later, he went on to win the general election by just 32,463 votes. In The Courage to Be Free, he recalls asking his transition team to draw up an “exhaustive list of all the constitutional, statutory, and customary powers of the governor. I wanted to be sure that I was using every lever available to advance our priorities.” If DeSantis ever sits behind the Resolute Desk, you can bet he’ll do more than order Diet Cokes and compulsively check Twitter…

At 44, DeSantis represents a new generation of Republicans who have learned to speak Rumble—the unmoderated alternative to YouTube—as well as fluent Fox. He knows which of his actions to shout about, and which ones are better smothered in boredom. At a flashy press conference on April 19, 2021, for example, DeSantis surrounded himself with cops to sign the Combating Public Disorder Act, which was presented as taming the excesses of the Black Lives Matter movement but—according to Jason Garcia, a former Orlando Sentinel investigative reporter who now runs a Substack called Seeking Rents—gave police extra power to quell dissent and civil disobedience more generally. That was a moment worth staging for applause by the Blue Lives Matter contingent. By contrast, the governor waited until just before midnight the same day to approve Senate Bill 50, a blandly worded law that collects sales tax from online shoppers while giving tax breaks to Florida businesses. The difference between the splashy staging of the anti-riot bill and the quiet enactment of S.B. 50 “illustrates DeSantis to me so perfectly,” Garcia said. “He’s a governor that is masterful at driving these angry social-war fights that divide people, then turning around and governing like a pro-corporate Republican.”…

Nothing is more damning of the modern Republican Party than the fact that DeSantis needs to flaunt his authoritarianism, anti-intellectualism, and casual cruelty to court its base. Even then, the routine falls flat. DeSantis lacks the weirdness, effervescence, and recklessness that makes his home state so compelling. A true Florida Man does not master bureaucracy and use his powers of patronage to reshape institutions in his image. A true Florida Man does not make the trains run on time. A true Florida Man tries to soup up his boat with a nitro exhaust and accidentally burns down the illegal tiki bar he built in his backyard. Some are born Florida Men, some achieve Florida Manhood, and some have Florida Manhood thrust upon them by the demands of right-wing politics.

if they wanted competent authoritarian leadership, they wouldn’t have gotten behind trump in the first place, that’s not what they’re here for, they’re here for the show, and desantis is not a showman

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) March 27, 2023

Interesting Read: <em>How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?</em>Post + Comments (79)

Repub Enablement Open Thread: The NYTimes Has *CONCERNS*

by Anne Laurie|  April 1, 202312:34 pm| 116 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Our Failed Media Experiment, Trump Indictments

He’s just the absolute fucking worst https://t.co/lGAb2hVwGl

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) March 31, 2023

‘What if the proles start harrassing… *our* sort of people? Reputable men with the right addresses, who summer in the same coastal resorts we prefer?’…

This "analysis" article by Petey Baker consists of little more than attempting to change the subject to unanswerable questions about What It All Means, along with side notes that lots of currently-functional democracies have charged criminal executives with crimes. Why write this pic.twitter.com/PuQlwnr4GQ

— your himbo boyfriend (@swolecialism) March 31, 2023

Allow me to help the NYT: it is an important test for democracy and the way you pass is applying the law equally to all citizens pic.twitter.com/G0NPfyZwju

— Hemry, Local Bartender (@BartenderHemry) March 31, 2023

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@peterbakernyt shouldn’t it matter whether he committed the crimes or are you arguing that it’s good and just for presidents to be above the law forever

— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs) March 31, 2023

The NYT is telling me that former presidents have been "effectively" "declared immune from prosecution" in a piece that contains zero evidence for that claim. To the contrary…

— Jonathan Bernstein (@jbview) March 31, 2023

Conclusion: There was no immunity. One more time: What's different with Trump is the (alleged, I suppose) crimes, not the prosecution.

— Jonathan Bernstein (@jbview) March 31, 2023

This is mostly a lie, but to the extent it was ever true, it was a catastrophic mistake that ought to have been corrected from the start. That important people ought to be held to a lower standard than their lessers is the most pernicious idea the NYT has ever peddled. https://t.co/jqvdPI0EUh

— chatham harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison) March 31, 2023

i don’t think it’s unreasonable to be worried that prosecuting trump will open the flood gates to prosecuting all presidents and former presidents for crimes, i just don’t think that’s a problem any normal person needs to worry about.

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) March 31, 2023

like the bar is *unbelievably high* to actually be convicted of crimes as a former president, and trump’s degenerate criminality is the *only* reason he’s in this position

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) March 31, 2023

The concern is misplaced. It's not that there will be good faith prosecutions that are unnecessary – it's that the fascistic right wing will launch bad faith prosecutions against political opponents – something they've already promised to do. This isn't a "both sides" problem

— Phillip Burgart (@PhillipBurgart) March 31, 2023

lol, just set a reminder to watch john oliver this weekend https://t.co/M3Qd3Lx6OY

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) March 31, 2023

Repub Enablement Open Thread: The <em>NYTimes</em> Has *CONCERNS*Post + Comments (116)

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