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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Infrastructure week. at last.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

This really is a full service blog.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Come on, man.

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Roast Chicken Chronicles…entry [n]….

by Tom Levenson|  February 6, 202311:40 am| 11 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Open Threads

So…it’s by now very well established that I am a lousy front pager. I will remain so at least through March, as I have truly got to push the latest MS of my desk by then. Which means no posts ’til then that require my little grey cells to exercise themselves much at all.

But that doesn’t mean no posts at all, amirite?

The long-memoried of y’all will remember that I am a roast chicken fanatic.  It is my comfort food, and a staple of the menus in my corner of the Hub of the Universe.

Roast Chicken Chronicles...entry [n]....

Over the years I’ve posted several of the variations that have made it into the rotation–and just a few days ago, I found one more. It’s really good, and I thought I should share.

It comes from Yasmin Khan’s Ripe Figs cookbook.  I’m slowly working my way into it; everything I’ve cooked so far from there has been lovely. (The sheet pan sumac flavored chicken thighs are an incredibly easy weekday delight, for example.)  Last Thursday I got to this recipe, a spatchcocked roast bird with a simple and really good liquid rub under and over the skin.

Uncharacteristically, I followed the recipe almost to the letter this time out (omitting the salad)–just used a mixture of smoked paprika (pimenton) and ordinary sweet paprika. The baking powder move was new to me.  It seemed to work–or at least do no harm.  As the many cooks of Balloon Juice already know, spatchcocking and flattening is another good trick to ensure the breasts and leg quarters cook at the same rate. (I’m also a fan of splaying the legs to achieve the same result–which is the way to go if you want to stuff anything into the cavity.)  Next time out I might add some Aleppo pepper instead of or in a mix with the black pepper.

And finally–the real secret, of course, is to use a good chicken.  Here in the Athens of America, our take-a-second-mortgage-out-at-the-door butcher shop, Savenors, (Julia Child’s local, IIRC) sells Giannone birds from Canada that are excellent. Surprisingly, given the venue, this is the one item in the meat case that isn’t insanely priced (info of value only to fellow locals…).  Even at the price for a premium chicken (now up to $4.75/lb for these), my wife and I get four suppers and enough breast meat left over for one lunch sandwich, so it’s a luxury, but not a crazy one.

Anyway–the result was a delightfully flavorful bird–a really nice mixture of eastern Med. flavors and the bass note of roast fowl.  Highly recommended.

The thread is open, but maybe a focus on the one foodstuff or dish that most comforts and/or delights you?….

Image: attr. to Jacob Mathan, Kitchen Scene, 1625. Something’s cooking there; not sure it’s limited to dinner.

Roast Chicken Chronicles…entry [n]….Post + Comments (11)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Go, Team Biden!

by Anne Laurie|  February 6, 20236:50 am| 256 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You

"It sounds simple, I suppose, if you don't think about it for more than a second" — Pete Buttigieg on Meet the Press on shooting down the balloon pic.twitter.com/ZBNsEiCNAy

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 5, 2023


Pete Buttigieg continues to be very good at communicating Democratic values.

Democrats just endorsed Biden's new 2024 primary calendar proposal:

Feb. 3 — South Carolina
Feb. 6 — Nevada and New Hampshire (pending state law change)
Feb. 13 — Georgia (pending state approval)
Feb. 27 — Michigan

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 4, 2023

New Hampshire, and its Republican governor, is taking this with all the grace you might expect from a state that counts on making bank from the Running of the Journos every four years. But this is a one-off, for-2024-only proposal, and I don’t think the Granite State will do itself any favors with exaggerated threats. (The Iowa planners, who get booted from the head of the primary parade entirely, seem to be making less noise — no doubt for reasons.)

show full post on front page

I think putting South Carolina *first* is actually a way to make it more prominent without being decisive. If everyone has to fight for SC's votes, it makes it a lot harder for them to be delivered to one candidate en bloc than when they're the first state after the first states. https://t.co/6FPVmJrMjP

— chatham harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison) February 4, 2023

Over 12 million jobs have been created.

Wages are up.

Inflation is down.

President Biden is growing the economy from the bottom up and middle out. pic.twitter.com/yXIH9o8P7A

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 5, 2023

JUST IN: The US economy gained an astonishing 517,000 jobs in January – much better than expected.

Unemployment rate: 3.4% –> Lowest in decades.

Wages: +4.4% for past year (up 0.3% in January)

Bottom line: This is NOT an economy in recession

— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) February 3, 2023

Under Pres Biden we’ve added over 12,000,000 new jobs #BidenBoom pic.twitter.com/8M1onqnwgD

— Bill Pascrell, Jr. ???????? (@BillPascrell) February 3, 2023

Jobs are going up, inflation is going down, and my economic plan is working. https://t.co/q9iJdKrmCw

— President Biden (@POTUS) February 3, 2023

ICYMI: Apparently the Permanent GOP Party decided that Arkansas lady was getting uppity, so they set her up for a Jindal-icious career killer…

?? NEWS ?? Governor @SarahHuckabee of Arkansas will deliver the Republican Address to the Nation after the State of the Union next Tuesday, February 7.

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) February 2, 2023

And remember, those of you on Twitter: Caring is sharing!

Pete Buttigieg is a remarkably effective messenger of Biden's accomplishments pic.twitter.com/42SOegFlvw

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 5, 2023

Monday Morning Open Thread: Go, Team Biden!Post + Comments (256)

On The Road – cope – Grand Junction and Beyond, Part II

by WaterGirl|  February 6, 20235:00 am| 12 Comments

This post is in: Grand Junction, On The Road, Photo Blogging

Happy Monday!  We have a 5-part series from cope this week, so Albatrossity gets a day off.

This is actually a 6-part series, but I goofed up the scheduling and somehow posted Part I in December without realizing it was part of a series.  oops!  Anyway, if you click on  Grand Junction in the category list that’s just under the title, you can refresh your memory on the first post.  :-)

cope

The day after our drive up and over Grand Mesa, my grandson and I joined one of my sisters and her hubby for a hike to Devil’s Kitchen in the Colorado National Monument or “The Monument” as the locals call it.  The day after that, one of my brothers drove us around the Rim Rock Drive on The Monument.  Enjoy, I know I did.

On The Road - cope - Grand Junction and Beyond, Part II 8
Devil's Kitchen trailhead

The Devil’s Kitchen Trail at the southern end of The Colorado National Monument sits in the bottom of No Thoroughfare Canyon and is a relatively easy hike of less than two miles with some short, steep switchbacks.  As was true during the entire hike, my sister, her husband and my grandson got out ahead of me quickly.  You can see from the shadows that we got off to a late start on this clear July day.  The trail bends to the right, up toward tilted rocks.

After using one of my sister’s, I am now an advocate for walking sticks on dodgy ground.

On The Road – cope – Grand Junction and Beyond, Part IIPost + Comments (12)

Late Night Open Thread: Debating The Dubious Privilege of Being Obnoxious in Public

by Anne Laurie|  February 6, 20231:04 am| 69 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All

FIRE is looking into reports that a student at @Stanford may be disciplined for reading Hitler's "Mein Kampf."https://t.co/Pi4QmvEVSa

— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) January 25, 2023

Stanford seems to have an unusual affinity for misguided ‘student protection’ (and given prominent recent graduates like Sam Banks Friedman & the Theranos lady, can it be wondered?) … but, on the other hand, learning that there are consequences to being ostentatiously offensive in public is an important part of a college education, isn’t it?

i am always blown away by the large number of people, mostly men, who genuinely seem to believe that free speech means they should be allowed to demonstrate antisocial behaviors in public without a single, solitary person making any assumption about their character

— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) January 27, 2023

this is specifically about the student reading hitler in the library from yesterday, but just in general, this whole phenomenon is just like, a brash and bold defense of being utterly, irredeemably obtuse

in this case, i don’t think the student should’ve been bothered by the university about it, they should have left him alone, but it is *entirely reasonable and normal* to have some suspicions about someone that does this

i am a cis white man, if i am reading mein kampf out in public, you are absolutely right to think i may be a little suspect, that’s a fucking normal thing to think when you see something like this, man

but just generally, like, if you behave in ways that draw attention to yourself, you should not be surprised (and can’t really complain) when people form impressions about you because of it, this is like, earth for humans 101

now, that doesn’t mean those impressions are correct, and that’s not what i am arguing, but if you don’t understand why and how your behavior led to people forming them, i don’t know what to fucking tell you, man, i can’t help you

if i, looking the way i do, roll up to the bar with a, like, copy of the turner diaries, this does not mean i am a terrorist, but it *does* mean i have spectacularly terrible judgment and may be unpleasant to be around!

Maybe I’m just an Old, but so much of the outcry over wokeness! seems to be thoroughly unpleasant people demanding the rest of us not only hear, but endorse, their least attractive opinions.

Late Night Open Thread: Debating The Dubious Privilege of Being Obnoxious in PublicPost + Comments (69)

Sunday Night Open Thread

by John Cole|  February 5, 202311:34 pm| 45 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

Looks like we need one.

You are allowed to talk about anything but that god damned balloon.

Sunday Night Open ThreadPost + Comments (45)

War for Ukraine Day 346: A Brief Sunday Night Post

by Adam L Silverman|  February 5, 20238:51 pm| 41 Comments

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

Just a quick post for tonight.

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

show full post on front page

Good health to you, fellow Ukrainians!

Today we have another sanctions step by our country against the terrorist state. The NSDC decision on sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry has been put into effect. This is not the last decision regarding this industry of theirs. The point of our steps is also to bolster the efforts of our diplomats to extend global sanctions to this part of the Russian aggression machine.

Russia is the only country in the world that allows its military to shell nuclear power plants and use NPPs as a cover for shelling. Russian missiles have repeatedly followed trajectories over Ukraine’s nuclear facilities. The terrorist state uses the nuclear industry as one of the elements of foreign expansion. To put pressure on other states. To create respective threats to the sovereignty of other states.

All of these are sufficient reasons for Russia’s nuclear industry to be subject to global sanctions. And we are working on this with our partners.

We also continue our diplomatic marathon to prevent the Kremlin from using world sports and the Olympic movement for its propaganda. Representatives of a terrorist state should have no place at the Olympics and international tournaments.

Ukraine has sent respective letters to the companies that support the International Olympic Committee the most. These are large international companies that are definitely interested in ensuring that their reputation and support are not used for war propaganda.

We have already begun preparing for the events of the coming week, which could become quite significant. We are preparing decisions and negotiations that should strengthen our warriors, provide Ukraine with more international support and more weapons. Both public and non-public formats of work are planned.

I would like to express my special gratitude to those involved in the recovery from the power accident in the Odesa region. Restoration works are ongoing around the clock. As of today, hundreds of thousands of people in the Odesa region are without electricity supply.

And of course, before the Russian terror, there were no such problems with electricity in Odesa and other regions of the country. Now, extraordinary efforts are needed to ensure the normal operation of the energy system.

I am grateful to the power engineers, repairmen, officials – each and every one who is working to restore normal technical capabilities of electricity supply and to preserve our generation.

By the way, this week we have reached some important agreements with our partners regarding our energy sector. In particular, the European Union is willing to support Ukraine with electricity supplies. I thank our partners for this. We are also stepping up cooperation in the supply of energy equipment. We also have extremely successful examples of energy saving initiatives.

For example, just this week alone, people have already received the first million of LED lamps in exchange for energy-consuming incandescent lamps. More than 800 thousand applications under this program are already in Diia, which means it is as convenient as possible.

When we fully implement the program – which is 30 million LED lamps – it will result in significant savings in consumption. I am thankful to Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, for supporting this initiative.

Separately about the frontline.

There are already many reports that the occupiers want to do something symbolic in February. To try to avenge their last year’s defeats. We see this increased pressure in various areas of the frontline, as well as pressure in the information field.

It is very difficult in the Donetsk region – there are fierce battles. But no matter how hard it is and no matter how much pressure there is, we have to withstand it. We have to use and we do use every day and every week to reinforce our defense at the front, to strengthen our international position, to increase pressure on Russia and to give our people new opportunities to get through this difficult time.

We have no alternative but to defend ourselves and win.

I am grateful to each and everyone who is focused on strengthening the state!

Thank you to everyone who fights for Ukraine! 

Thank you to everyone who helps our state!

Glory to Ukraine!

Soledar from Hromedaske. Here is their description of their video reporting:

Feb 2, 2023
Ukrainian artillery near Soledar is trying to hold back the Russian military, including fighters from the private military campaign Wagner, who are advancing on this section of the front. The situation here is getting more complicated for the Ukrainian defense forces every day. The main roads to the town of Bakhmut are already being shelled by enemy artillery, which has also intensified its activity in the last week. Ukrainian artillery is working mainly to accumulate manpower, preventing Wagner’s forces from occupying key villages so that they can get closer to the main roads leading to Bakhmut. If they succeed, access to the city for the defense forces will be more difficult, as well as supply.

Hromadske visited the positions of rocket artillery of one of the tank brigades. The unit has been working in the Donetsk sector for a month now, having moved here after the liberation of the right bank of the Kherson region, having previously defended its native Kryvbas from the enemy’s offensive.

Now the tank’s hails are helping the infantry of their own brigade, which is holding positions near Soledar to prevent Russians from reaching the main roads to Bakhmut.

The artillerymen are saving shells for hailstones, so they have to hit the target. Although this is not the main task of the grenade launchers.

 

Vuhledar:

2/4 Kyrylivka is located approximately 14 kilometers southeast of Vuhledar. The central part of the town – educational and administrative buildings was turned into an assembly area where enemy forces gathered before dispatching to the frontline. pic.twitter.com/vp6vsBGbPR

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) February 5, 2023

4/4 The estimate varies between 30 and 200 killed.

While russians pretend that nothing happened and even didn't bother to mention it, make sure to retweet this, so we can help them to find out what happened.

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) February 5, 2023

Damage control from the ruzzian propaganda playbook:
Step 1: Fail an offensive
Step 2: Claim that the enemy is planning to attack
Step 3: Wait a few days
Step 4: Claim that the enemy offensive failed due to your pre-emptive strike that thwarted enemy plans to launch an offensive. https://t.co/OarIHHrIOV

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) February 5, 2023

For anyone wondering, this is what service looks like:

Absolutely devastating news today about US marine and volunteer medic Pete Reed being killed in #Bakhmut. His ambulance was apparently hit by #Russian shelling as he evacuated civilians. Pete was one of the most remarkable humans I have ever met in my years on the road. #petereed pic.twitter.com/sbr8kSV8k2

— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) February 3, 2023

3. Pete ended up offering triage to many Iraqi soldiers who had poor medivac facilities for troops, training many of them too. In one day on the front with him I saw him treat several children. Him and his team saved dozens, perhaps hundreds of lives. pic.twitter.com/hv8nB25DYu

— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) February 3, 2023

5. Pete also treated this little boy. His father brought him in after they made it out of ISIS territory. pic.twitter.com/CyMCyDSVqf

— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) February 3, 2023

Pete in his own words on how the work impacted him…. pic.twitter.com/AOOP1pgxSw

— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) February 3, 2023

Rest in Peace.
If we could have more people like him, the world would be a much better place. pic.twitter.com/rsHw9iOjtR

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) February 5, 2023

This too:

Via Google Translate and Facebook: ❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/NsbVcwfSzA

— 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Рейні Буйзен 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@reiniebooysen) February 4, 2023

Here’s a screengrab of the machine translated obit:

The best doggo!

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project brings us a deep dive into Russian influence operations in Europe:

For years, a secret organization run from inside Russia’s parliament successfully interfered with European policies on occupied Ukraine. Leaked emails give a new overview of the operation and show how European Union politicians who helped push Moscow’s agenda were offered cash and perks.

Key Findings

  • Leaked emails show how a Duma insider built a network of analysts, journalists, and others who helped him push the Kremlin’s interests abroad.
  • His group offered cash to European politicians to propose pro-Russian motions in their local legislatures, and paid far-right activists to publish pro-Kremlin articles in European media outlets.
  • The network arranged trips to occupied Crimea for European politicians and businessmen, with travel and accommodation covered by Russian state-funded organizations and honoraria apparently offered to some individuals.
  • It also helped bring European political figures to Russia to act as election observers, with a 68,000-euro budget allocated to the project.

Since Russia launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, condemnation of Vladimir Putin’s overseas aggression has reached a fever pitch. Yet Russia can still rely on the occasional friendly voice in Europe: Last November, for example, far-right Italian local legislator Stefano Valdegamberi penned an op-ed decrying the EU’s decision to designate Russia a terrorist state as “a serious mistake” that “foments conflict by denying historical truth.”

But what Valdegamberi didn’t mention was that he had long been collaborating with a secretive Russian lobbying group with a direct link to the Kremlin. Since at least 2014, that group had designed plans to channel cash to European politicians to help it legitimize Russia’s occupation of Crimea and promote pro-Moscow policies inside EU countries.

Details of the group’s activities have come to light via hacked and leaked emails belonging to its coordinator, Russian parliamentary staffer Sargis Mirzakhanian, who ran the “International Agency for Current Policy” in the years following the annexation of Crimea.

The emails suggest his group paid politicians thousands of euros to put forward pro-Russian resolutions in European legislatures, a new investigation by Eesti Ekspress, in partnership with OCCRP, IrpiMedia, iStories, and Profil, has found.

It also helped arrange for political figures from countries including Germany, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic and Poland to be flown on expensive junkets to pro-Russia events in occupied Crimea, and paid honoraria for their presence.

The lobbying group also flew several European political figures to Russia to act as official election observers.

The emails, which were leaked by a group of Ukrainian hacktivists, reveal especially close ties between Mirzakhanian’s operation and officials in Italy and Cyprus. These ties paved the way for pro-Russian motions to be passed in both countries, with both the Cypriot parliament and multiple Italian regional councils calling for an end to sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Crimea.

Previous media reports have shown links between EU politicians and Kremlin propagandists, but this is the first comprehensive insight into how this campaign was run from Russia. The emails show that Mirzakhanian, a well-connected staffer and adviser in Russia’s parliament, the Duma, built a network of political analysts, journalists, activists, and academics who helped him push the Kremlin’s interests abroad.

Anton Shekhovtsov, chair of the pro-democracy non-profit Centre for Democratic Integrity, said the leaked emails “represent one of the most important sources of our knowledge of how particular engines of the Russian political war machine works.”

Most significantly, Shekhovtsov said, they showed Mirzakhanian’s role coordinating protests, placing media articles, and preparing parliamentary resolutions across Europe, while organizing “fake” election observation missions as he and his associates sought to legitimize the annexation of Crimea and “advance Russian domestic and foreign policy interests.”

The emails run from March 2007 until September 2017, and it’s unclear whether the International Agency for Current Policy is still at work today, although those linked to the network like Valdegamberi continue to make pro-Russian statements.

The International Agency for Current Policy is described in one PowerPoint presentation found within the leaked emails as a “closed association of professionals” that aimed to “cooperate with leading EU parliamentary parties and individual politicians.” Other presentations and draft presentations named Austria, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Romania and Turkey as target countries.

The organization appeared to have a direct link to the Kremlin: Mirzakhanyan exchanged more than 1,000 emails between 2014 and 2017 with Inal Ardzinba, a department head in the Russian presidential administration who worked under Vladislav Surkov, a key adviser to President Vladimir Putin at the time.

The activities of the International Agency for Current Policy are made clear in a series of presentations attached to emails in the leak, as well as details in the emails themselves. They ranged from organizing anti-NATO street protests to peddling influence with European lawmakers.

The documents also discuss bringing European delegations to Moscow and Crimea, and targeting “national parliaments of the EU” with pro-Russian resolutions. The latter included resolutions to end anti-Russian sanctions and recognize Russia’s claim to Crimea.

The emails show how Mirzakhanian’s group arranged to make considerable payments to ensure that EU politicians pushed favorable motions in their home countries. Mirzakhanyan bluntly described these payments as the “price tag of the vote” in an email that contained project outlines for Italy and Austria.

Much, much more at the link!

The Wall Street Journal brings us reporting on the developing munitions industry relationship between Russian and Iran:

Moscow and Tehran are moving ahead with plans to build a new factory in Russia that could make at least 6,000 Iranian-designed drones for the war in Ukraine, the latest sign of deepening cooperation between the two nations, said officials from a country aligned with the U.S.

As part of their emerging military alliance, the officials said, a high-level Iranian delegation flew to Russia in early January to visit the planned site for the factory and hammer out details to get the project up-and-running. The two countries are aiming to build a faster drone that could pose new challenges for Ukrainian air defenses, the officials said.

Tehran has already provided Moscow with hundreds of drones it has used to hit military and civilian targets in Ukraine, U.S. officials have said. And the Biden administration has warned that Russia and Iran are developing a “full-fledged defense partnership.” The White House says Moscow was training Iranian pilots to fly Russian jet fighters, with the intent of sending Tehran those jets by year’s end.

In December, the White House warned that Moscow and Tehran were considering whether to build a joint drone-production line in Russia.

Now, the U.S.-aligned officials said, the talks have morphed into concrete plans with the Jan. 5 visit to the Russian town of Yelabuga, about 600 miles east of Moscow. They toured the empty site where leaders from the two nations are planning to build a new factory that can produce at least 6,000 drones in the coming years, they said.

The officials said the Iranian delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Abdollah Mehrabi, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization, and Ghassem Damavandian, the chief executive of Iran’s Quds Aviation Industry, a key defense manufacturer that the U.S. says is central to developing and building the country’s drones.

Russian and Iranian officials didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Much, much more at the link!

The Guardian reports that President Zelenskyy may shake up his cabinet as part of the anti-corruption initiative:

Ukraine’s defence minister, under pressure from a corruption scandal, is to be reshuffled into another government job as Russian forces close in on Bakhmut amid heavy fighting, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has announced.

The position of Oleksii Reznikov, one of Ukraine’s better-known figures internationally, has been under threat after it emerged the defence ministry paid twice or three times the supermarket price of food to supply troops on the frontline.

On Sunday night, David Arakhamia, chief of Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People parliamentary bloc, said the defence ministry would be headed up by Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence

Reznikov, he added, would become minister of strategic industries, tasked with strengthening military-industrial cooperation, after a day of speculation about the defence minister’s future in Kyiv.

“War dictates changes in personnel policy,” Arakhamia said on his Telegram channel. “Times and circumstances require strengthening and regrouping. This is what is happening now and will happen in the future”

After Arakhamia’s statement there was no immediate comment from Reznikov, but earlier he had given a press conference, in which he suggested that his tenure as defence minister may not last much longer.

“No one is in the chair for his whole life,” Reznikov had said earlier on Sunday amid speculation that he would be forced to resign or be reshuffled, and stressed that his position as defence minister “was up to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine in accordance with the constitution”.

The minister also highlighted the weapons that Ukraine has gradually obtained from the west over the past year, from 155mm artillery to tanks, and argued that “therefore we can say today we are de facto a Nato country”.

Last week, the Ukrainian minister met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, which had appeared to underline his seniority in Kyiv’s government.

But Reznikov faced a string of questions about corruption in the ministry from Ukrainian journalists, at a time when Zelenskiy has instituted a fresh anti-corruption drive to show the country can be ready for EU membership. Efforts to tackle corruption in his ministry needed to be “fully reloaded”, he admitted.

More at the link!

Before we finish, a final thought on the Chinese spy balloon:

“Intelligence analysts are considering the possibility that the Chinese military or hard-line elements within the leadership deliberately sought to sabotage the Blinken visit, the chief goal of which was to explore strategic stability measures” https://t.co/BySc1vBM8B

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) February 5, 2023

This has basically been about 50% of my thinking on this whole canine and equine extravaganza. The hardliners within both the PLA leadership and within the PRC’s overall leadership appear, from the outside looking in, to be high on their own hardline supply. So this would make sense. The other 50% of my thinking is that this was an accident. The PRC never meant for it to do much more than maybe stray into and then back out of US airspace, which appears to be the case in past incidents that didn’t get any publicity and coverage, but it hit a current and the limited ability to steer it by adjusting its altitude got overwhelmed by how the air layer it was in was actually flowing. The truth is we may never know. But I expect the hardliners to use the fact that we brought it down to further push their agenda both domestically within China and internationally.

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

A new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

А міг би вийти справжній хоррор)) #песпатрон

♬ sonido original – Esteve

The caption machine translates as:

It could have been a real horror)) #песпатрон

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 346: A Brief Sunday Night PostPost + Comments (41)

Medium Cool – Who Almost Got the Part Instead?

by WaterGirl|  February 5, 20237:00 pm| 338 Comments

This post is in: Medium Cool, Open Threads, Popular Culture, TV & Movies, Culture as a Hedge Against This Soul-Sucking Political Miasma We're Living In

Medium Cool is a weekly series related to popular culture, mostly film, TV, and books, with some music and games thrown in.  We hope it’s a welcome break from the anger, hate, and idiocy we see almost daily from the other side in the political sphere.

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Who Almost Got the Part Instead?

I bet you guys know all sorts of interesting stories about who almost got the part in some famous movie, but in the end the part went to someone else, and we can’t imagine the movie would have been nearly as good if the original actors being considered had actually gotten the part.  Or maybe you think the film would have been better with the first actor they had in mind?

Tell us about movies that fit that bill, and imagine what the movie might have been like with the original choices.  What would have worked, and what wouldn’t have worked, if the original artist/s being considered had gotten the part?  Can the choice of lead actor make or break a film?  Or would the film possibly have been perhaps less of a hit, or more of a hit, but still a film of mostly the same caliber?

Medium Cool – Who Almost Got the Part Instead?Post + Comments (338)

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