Balloon Juice - Open Threads Archives

Problematic (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker| December 8, 20233:03 pm| 276 Comments

Skull cookie screaming

I’ve had a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year for several reasons too boring/stupid to recount. It wouldn’t matter except that I am the official Keeper of the Christmas Spirit™️ in my family. This has always been the case in my immediate family since my husband and kid are bah-humbug types.

Over the past almost-10 years, with the loss of my mom followed by the deaths of my grandmothers, it applies for my extended family too. Dog help us, I am now the family matriarch. Someone has to put up the fucking tree and decorations, plan the gatherings, etc., and that person is now me.

That’s okay because I genuinely love Christmas, but when I do feel grinchy come December, it’s problematic for the aforementioned reasons. So, to address the cheer deficit this year, I’ve been watching my favorite Christmas movies. The movies are also problematic.

One of the problematic movies is “Love Actually,” which I’ve watched every December for about two decades now. It’s an objectively terrible movie. If you don’t believe me, please proceed to this immortal 2013 takedown by Lindy West at Jezebel. Love it, hate it, never seen the movie — go read it. It’s hilarious.

Still, I love that dumb movie regardless of its many, many, many unforgiveable flaws. For one thing, it has an incredible cast, including Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Laura Linney and many other notables.

Also, there’s a reason West’s exhaustive and mostly accurate critique of every problematic “love” scenario in that movie does not include the epiphany experienced by Bill Nighy’s has-been rockstar character, Billy. This occurs when Billy realizes his long-suffering Scottish manager (Joe, played by Gregor Fisher) is actually the love of his life and that their decades-long platonic debauchery has been a lot of fun despite Billy’s constant complaints. So yeah: love, actually. For Billy and Joe, anyway.

My other Christmas movies are the Harry Potter films, which I watch in order. I realize they aren’t strictly holiday-themed, but Christmas figures in several of them, and we generally watch them during the holiday season for whatever reason; it’s a tradition.

The series (books and movies) is problematic mainly due to JK Rowling’s heel turn on trans rights, some legit (IMO) criticism of the use of stereotypes, etc. That said, I’ve personally seen kids who felt like misfits find a tribe — and develop a love of reading — with fellow HP fans.

Also, watching the actors grow up across the eight films is really cool. Especially the transformation of Neville Longbottom! Jesus Christ, who saw that coming? If you’d told me after my first viewing of “Sorcerer’s Stone” that I’d have problematic Mrs. Robinson-type feelings for Neville after “Deathly Hallows 2,” I’d assume someone spiked your butterbeer with Everclear.

Anyhoo, these are my problematic Christmas movies. And since I started watching them earlier this week, I got my tree and decorations done, Drunken Aunties Christmas Cookie night scheduled and family feasts planned. So that’s good.

Open thread.

Problematic (Open Thread)Post + Comments (276)

A Big Biden Deal

by Tom Levenson| December 8, 20231:03 pm| 53 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Science & Technology, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

The FDA has just approved two drugs that could change for the better millions of lives.

Both address sickle cell anemia. Casgevy is the first CRISPR-Cas based drug to get the nod for its gene editing approach to enabling a sickle cell patient’s body to produce the type of hemoglobin needed to carry oxygen through the bloodstream, while the other therapy, Lyfgenia uses a different approach.

Casgevy, which was called exa-cel in clinical trials, works by editing a patient’s bone marrow stem cells to make high levels of fetal hemoglobin — the healthy, oxygen-carrying form of hemoglobin produced during fetal development that is replaced by adult hemoglobin soon after birth.

Unlike adult hemoglobin, fetal hemoglobin resists forming a crescent shape in sickle cell patients, and scientists have long searched for a way to restart it. The researchers behind Casgevy solved the problem by editing a gene called BCL11A, which regulates fetal hemoglobin.

Crucially, these offer something approaching a cure for the disease. A clinical trial of Casgevy saw 29 out of 30 patients eliminated sickle cell flares for at least a year after treatment. Lyfgenia has seen similarly promising results.

The catch: both treatments are difficult and not tolerated by everyone who might benefit:

Casgevy and Lyfgenia requires several months of preparation, including a grueling regimen of chemotherapy to make room in patients’ blood marrow for genetically edited or modified stem cells.

The treatment involves multiple steps over several months. Patients must donate stem cells to be modified at a laboratory. Then the patients undergo chemotherapy. Finally, they get the cells back through a single infusion.

One consequence of the complexity involved is that, at least for now, not that many people will get the treatment. There are only a handful of medical centers able to deliver Casgevy right now, and they can handle roughly ten patients per year each–not a huge bite out of the ~800,000 or so sickle cell patients in the US, much less the roughly eight million world wide. And, of course, both drugs, though still unpriced, are going to be costly as hell:

Although both treatments are expected to cost at least $1 million per patient, advocates for makers of gene-based drugs said people need to compare such transformative medicines to major medical procedures — not to ordinary drugs.

That is, a one time treatment for a chronic and/or ultimately fatal condition can have a huge upfront cost and still be worth it–the example given in the Globe article is the cost of a heart transplant, also well over million bucks. There’s a lot more to be said about this, and David Anderson is the one to say it.

There is of course one elephant in the room. This first gene-editing therapy targets a debilitating and sometimes killing disease that hits mostly Black Americans. The argument over whether private insurance and/or Federal health care coverage should be required to pay for these therapies will be…interesting.

But all those caveats–complexity, cost, equity–aside, this is still an amazing result. It’s not quite like the inflection point when the prospect of vaccinating against infectious disease utterly altered the balance between humans and microbes/viruses. But it’s the same kind of conceptual change. We live in way-too-interesting times, but not all the news is bad.

To put it differently: Science, peeps!

Open thread.

Image: Anna Archer, Harvest Time, 1901

A Big Biden DealPost + Comments (53)

Friday Morning Open Thread: Chag Hanukkah Sameach

by Anne Laurie| December 8, 20236:20 am| 193 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Religion

Tonight, families around the world will light the first candles of Hanukkah. And for eight nights, those flames will light others, spreading their light.

May the glow of our White House Menorah join yours to celebrate the miracle of faith and the strength in each of us. pic.twitter.com/tDsHf6SAYx

— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) December 8, 2023

Happy Hanukkah from my family to our Jewish friends and neighbors in San Francisco and around the world!

In this challenging time, may the Festival of Lights bring peace, perseverance and hope to all who observe. -NP pic.twitter.com/n95NFmqhDx

— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) December 7, 2023

Tonight, we proudly light our menorahs and let them shine out our front windows as a reminder that even in darkness, we can bring forth the light. From our family to yours, happy Hanukkah! pic.twitter.com/oGxtnYtxOn

— Douglas Emhoff (@SecondGentleman) December 8, 2023

This year, Hanukkah starts at sundown tonight. In the past 40 years, presidents have participated in Hanukkah celebrations, a tradition that began when President Jimmy Carter lit one candle in the 30-foot electric menorah in 1979. Learn more: https://t.co/dFJgwg9HIo pic.twitter.com/CICJ0vY0CP

— White House History (@WhiteHouseHstry) December 7, 2023

Friday Morning Open Thread: <em>Chag Hanukkah Sameach</em>Post + Comments (193)

Late Night Twilight Zone Read: Peter Thiel Is A Disappointed Man

by Anne Laurie| December 8, 202312:36 am| 135 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Glibertarianism, Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Schadenfreude, Sociopaths

Vance went full fash with the speed of a Peter Thiel cash transfer. https://t.co/BBMsJrx5VM

— Roy Edroso (@edroso) December 7, 2023

It’s long past the time that Yale Law should have been burned to the ground https://t.co/vmRInqUZ8R

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 7, 2023

Peter Thiel can easily afford to pick up the odd young authoritarian-in-training, the way lesser men might buy Funko Pop figures from their preferred franchises. But, like those Funko Pops, the J.D. Vances and Blake Masters are just cheap plastic gimcracks — even kept mint-in-box, they’ll never rise to the level where their value stands as a sign of their former owner’s historical importance, like Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army or even J. Pierpont Morgan’s library. Our degraded age!…

At no other moment in human history could this guy be living this life. Yet he somehow sees it as a failure that must be demolished. https://t.co/RsEvcuPxER pic.twitter.com/zCp8ujPHo5

— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) November 9, 2023

Barton Gellman, at the Atlantic, “Peter Thiel Is Taking a Break From Democracy”:

… For years, Thiel had been saying that he generally favored the more pessimistic candidate in any presidential race because “if you’re too optimistic, it just shows you’re out of touch.” He scorned the rote optimism of politicians who, echoing Ronald Reagan, portrayed America as a shining city on a hill. Trump’s America, by contrast, was a broken landscape, under siege.

Thiel is not against government in principle, his friend Auren Hoffman (who is no relation to Reid) says. “The ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s—which had massive, crazy amounts of power—he admires because it was effective. We built the Hoover Dam. We did the Manhattan Project,” Hoffman told me. “We started the space program.”

But the days when great men could achieve great things in government are gone, Thiel believes. He disdains what the federal apparatus has become: rule-bound, stifling of innovation, a “senile, central-left regime.” His libertarian critique of American government has curdled into an almost nihilistic impulse to demolish it…

Reid Hoffman, who has known Thiel since college, long ago noticed a pattern in his old friend’s way of thinking. Time after time, Thiel would espouse grandiose, utopian hopes that failed to materialize, leaving him “kind of furious or angry” about the world’s unwillingness to bend to whatever vision was possessing him at the moment. “Peter tends to be not ‘glass is half empty’ but ‘glass is fully empty,’” Hoffman told me.

Disillusionment was a recurring theme in my conversations with Thiel. He is worth between $4 billion and $9 billion. He lives with his husband and two children in a glass palace in Bel Air that has nine bedrooms and a 90-foot infinity pool. He is a titan of Silicon Valley and a conservative kingmaker. Yet he tells the story of his life as a series of disheartening setbacks…

He longs for a world in which great men are free to work their will on society, unconstrained by government or regulation or “redistributionist economics” that would impinge on their wealth and power—or any obligation, really, to the rest of humanity. He longs for radical new technologies and scientific advances on a scale most of us can hardly imagine. He takes for granted that this kind of progress will redound to the benefit of society at large.

More than anything, he longs to live forever…

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Over and over, Thiel has voiced his discontent with what’s become of the grand dreams of science fiction in the mid-20th century. “We’d have colonies on the moon, you’d have robots, you’d have flying cars, you’d have cities in the ocean, under the ocean,” he said in his Seasteading Institute keynote. “You’d have eco farming. You’d turn the deserts into arable land. There were sort of all these incredible things that people thought would happen in the ’50s and ’60s and they would sort of transform the world.”

None of that came to pass. Even science fiction turned hopeless—nowadays, you get nothing but dystopias. The tech boom brought us the iPhone and Uber and social media, none of them a fundamental improvement to the human condition. He hungered for advances in the world of atoms, not the world of bits…

In Thiel’s Los Angeles office, he has a sculpture that resembles a three-dimensional game board. Ascent: Above the Nation State Board Game Display Prototype is the New Zealander artist Simon Denny’s attempt to map Thiel’s ideological universe. The board features a landscape in the aesthetic of Dungeons & Dragons, thick with monsters and knights and castles. The monsters include an ogre labeled “Monetary Policy.” Near the center is a hero figure, recognizable as Thiel. He tilts against a lion and a dragon, holding a shield and longbow. The lion is labeled “Fair Elections.” The dragon is labeled “Democracy.” The Thiel figure is trying to kill them.

Thiel saw the sculpture at a gallery in Auckland in December 2017. He loved the piece, perceiving it, he told me, as “sympathetic to roughly my side” of the political spectrum. (In fact, the artist intended it as a critique.) At the same show, he bought a portrait of his friend Curtis Yarvin, an explicitly antidemocratic writer who calls for a strong-armed leader to govern the United States as a monarch. Thiel gave the painting to Yarvin as a gift…

One night in 1999, or possibly 2000, Thiel went to a party in Palo Alto with Max Levchin, where they heard a pitch for an organization called the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.

Alcor was trying to pioneer a practical method of biostasis, a way to freeze the freshly dead in hope of revivification one day. Don’t picture the reanimation of an old, enfeebled corpse, enthusiasts at the party told Levchin. “The idea, of course, is that long before we know how to revive dead people, we would learn how to repair your cellular membranes and make you young and virile and beautiful and muscular, and then we’ll revive you,” Levchin recalled.

Levchin found the whole thing morbid and couldn’t wait to get out of there. But Thiel signed up as an Alcor client.

Should Thiel happen to die one day, best efforts notwithstanding, his arrangements with Alcor provide that a cryonics team will be standing by. The moment he is declared legally dead, medical technicians will connect him to a machine that will restore respiration and blood flow to his corpse. This step is temporary, meant to protect his brain and slow “the dying process.”

All that will be left for Thiel to do, entombed in this vault, is await the emergence of some future society that has the wherewithal and inclination to revive him. And then make his way in a world in which his skills and education and fabulous wealth may be worth nothing at all.

Thiel knows that cryonics “is still not working that well.” When flesh freezes, he said, neurons and cellular structures get damaged. But he figures cryonics is “better than the alternative”—meaning the regular kind of death that nobody comes back from.

Of course, if he had the choice, Thiel would prefer not to die in the first place. In the 2000s, he became enamored with the work of Aubrey de Grey, a biomedical gerontologist from England who predicted that science would soon enable someone to live for a thousand years. By the end of that span, future scientists would have devised a way to extend life still further, and so on to immortality.

A charismatic figure with a prodigious beard and a doctorate from Cambridge, de Grey resembled an Orthodox priest in mufti. He preached to Thiel for hours at a time about the science of regeneration. De Grey called his research program SENS, short for “strategies for engineered negligible senescence.”

Thiel gave several million dollars to de Grey’s Methuselah Foundation and the SENS Research Foundation, helping fund a lucrative prize for any scientist who could stretch the life span of mice to unnatural lengths. Four such prizes were awarded, but no human applications have yet emerged…

In the HBO series Silicon Valley, one of the characters (though not the one widely thought to be modeled on Thiel) had a “blood boy” who gave him regular transfusions of youthful serum. I thought Thiel would laugh at that reference, but he didn’t.

“I’ve looked into all these different, I don’t know, somewhat heterodox things,” he said, noting that parabiosis, as the procedure is called, seems to slow aging in mice. He wishes the science were more advanced. No matter how fervent his desire, Thiel’s extraordinary resources still can’t buy him the kind of “super-duper medical treatments” that would let him slip the grasp of death. It is, perhaps, his ultimate disappointment.

“There are all these things I can’t do with my money,” Thiel said.

It’s worth reading the whole article, for a comprehensive biography of our modern Ozymandias. For in one man, encapsulated like a malignant cyst, is the tragedy of extraordinary privilege, enabled by democracy and capitalism, attempting to destroy the whole world because it is larger than his own mean little existence.

Peter Thiel wants to be cryogenically frozen so someday he can wake up and argue with Jean-Luc Picard about space socialism. pic.twitter.com/2YZ9H8zM5w

— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) November 12, 2023

Late Night <em>Twilight Zone</em> Read: Peter Thiel Is A Disappointed ManPost + Comments (135)

Talk of Meetups – Open Thread (Followup)

by WaterGirl| December 8, 202312:01 am| 159 Comments

This post is in: Balloon Juice, Meetups, Open Threads

Update: Dec 8: Re-re-upping this post so BJ peeps can add comments. Last posted on Oct 8

Re-upping this post because so many conversations had started in this post from August.

In the comments, I made note if a particular person had offered to coordinate (or help coordinate) the meetup. See comments #94, #98, and #122.

Coordinators welcome for other meetups as well, just speak up in the comments.

Originally published on August 7, 2023 at 11:50 am| 124 Comment – new comments start at #125, but be sure and read the older comments if you are up for a meetup.

Update at 7:45 pm on 8/7. I have added this post to the sidebar under Balloon Juice Meetups!

We have volunteers to coordinate two of the meetups, check out comments #94 and #98.

If you would be interested in any of the meetups that were proposed, or you are up for coordinating any of the others, jump into the comments and let us know.

I am hearing talk of meetups and thought maybe we’d start with a single post where people can throw out an initial feeler about a meetup – in a place where more people might see it than in a comment in one thread.

Talk of Meetups

Mr. Bemused Senior wonders if anyone is interested in a meetup in the SF Bay Area.

I think I saw that NotMax is going to be in New York soon visiting his mom.

Paul in Jacksonville suggests a meetup in the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area in northeast Floriduh.

HinTN suggests a meetup in Mountain View in CA.

cain wonders about a meetup in Portland. (PNW)

MisterForkbeard suggests a possible Ranch Dinner meetup in North Bay.

Dastronomer in Santa Cruz thinks North Bay is far, anyone else in South Bay?

Cephalus Max asks – how about a Research Triangle meet up? (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Pittsboro)

Joy in FL lives in west Pasco County, about 30 miles northwest of Tampa, up for something in Tampa?

JCNZ how about a meetup on Waiheke Island, New Zealand?

Diceros bicornis will be in Paris weekend of 17-17 September, if there are other bj peeps in the vicinity (visiting or residenting) then a meetup would be trop cool!

TXSwede says “No appetite for a North Texas meetup?”

Nancy is up for a meetup in Rochester NY or the surrounding area.

If you’d like to put out a feeler about a possible meetup, please let us know in the comments. I will add it to the list in the block quote above, and folks can jump in with comments below.

Open thread!

Talk of Meetups – Open Thread (Followup)Post + Comments (159)

War for Ukraine Day 652: There Will Be No Miracles in Kyiv This Hannukah

by Adam L Silverman| December 7, 20239:16 pm| 98 Comments

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

(Image by My Dog Sighs)

There will be no miracles in Kyiv this year!

UKRAINE: Lawmakers tell me there is no way House will pass Ukraine aid in 2023. @SpeakerJohnson is firm on House leaving by Dec. 15 and no Senate deal in sight

— Erik Wasson (@elwasson) December 7, 2023

And it will be a long, cold, bleak Christmas as well.

This was preventable and avoidable. The Republicans in the House majority and the Senate minority are once again doing what they’ve done to every other major and important piece of legislation, as well as nominations, since 2009: taking a hostage and threatening to kill it. This was predictable. It has been McConnell’s strategy since the beginning of Obama’s presidency in January 2009. He has used it over and over and over to great effect regardless of whether he has been the majority or minority leader. It is easier for him when, like now, the Republicans have the majority in the House because even if the Democratic majority were able to get around his use of the 60 vote threshold as a legislative blockade and pass a bill to fund Ukraine, it would still be dead on arrival in the House.

The reason this was preventable and avoidable is that up until January 2023 the Democrats held the majorities in both the House and the Senate. That the Biden administration and the Democrats in the House and the Senate did not push through a long term appropriation that also included statutory authority to fund and supply Ukraine when they had the chance, given how slim their majorities in both chambers were at the time and still is in the Senate, was and is strategic malpractice. It was a failure to recognize who McConnell actually is and how he has operated for over a decade. It was a failure to recognize that the Democrats could lose one or both chambers in the 2022 midterms. It was a failure to actually listen to what the Republicans in Congress where telling the world in 2022:

The Biden administration has failed Ukraine. Senate Majority Leader Schumer has failed Ukraine. Then Speaker Pelosi failed Ukraine. And, as a result, the United States is once again leaving an ally to slowly twist in the wind.

The last time I felt this ashamed to be an American was the day in August 2008 when we said farewell to the 33rd Georgian Battalion as we helped to get them home to fight back against Putin’s invasion. They begged us to come help them. They kept asking over and over: “You’re coming right? We came for you, you’re coming? We’ll get started, but you’re coming, right?”

If the ground would have swallowed me up that day, it would have been a mercy.

We betrayed the Georgians’ trust, after manipulating them into joining our coalition, when they needed our help to fend of Putin. And now, fifteen years later, we’ve failed Ukraine and betrayed their trust.

The Ukrainians, of course, will fight on. They have made it clear they will not stop.

We in 🇺🇦Ukraine simply stick to doing what is right and having a good hope in this war.

We were doing so as half of the world was burying us alive in February 2022, we were doing so as our military defeated Russia at Kyiv, we were doing so as we were persuading the free world…

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) December 7, 2023

We in 🇺🇦Ukraine simply stick to doing what is right and having a good hope in this war.

We were doing so as half of the world was burying us alive in February 2022, we were doing so as our military defeated Russia at Kyiv, we were doing so as we were persuading the free world into giving us weapons to curtail the biggest European war of aggression since Adolf Hitler, and we were doing so as our military having so little resources managed to liberate half of our territory lost to the aggressor – and as it continued combating the world’s biggest nuclear power with valor and efficacy rarely seen in history.

And we will continue believing in what is right and doing the only thing that is right in our situation, like it or not.

Putin will be further convinced that his strategy of seeking time is successful and continue to throw bodies at the Ukrainians. Because Putin has far, far more bodies that he can sacrifice than Ukraine does. Putin has blood and treasure to spare. He does not care how much of it he spills or spends as long as he achieves his objective of reclaiming every last piece of land in Europe that he believes is supposed to be under Russian control.

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

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I am grateful to every Ukrainian family that understands the challenges of war and temperature and uses electricity sparingly – address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

7 December 2023 – 21:04

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

A few summaries for this day.

First, I would like to thank Japan for a very timely and much-needed decision to support Ukraine. $4.5 billion is the total amount, and we expect the first part – $1.5 billion – already in January. A significant part of this aid package will come in the spring. Japan is consistent and very principled in its support of our country and our people, and I am grateful for this assistance.

I held an extensive meeting with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. In particular, we discussed cooperation with partners, preparation of new decisions to support our country, and cooperation with donors. Additionally, we covered energy-related matters, the government’s work on Ukraine’s energy sustainability, the stability of our operations and all our systems. Thanks to the integration of our energy system with Europe, we have appropriate support from our neighbors, which is important. I thank every country that helps. And I thank every Ukrainian family – everyone who understands the challenges of war and temperature and uses electricity sparingly and rationally.

This week, we are expecting crucial votes from the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine – we discussed some of them with the Prime Minister today. This also applies to what is expected of us in our relations with creditors, and what Ukraine has to do in preparation for the start of negotiations with the EU. Our priority is the full implementation of all necessary decisions that will enable Ukraine to accomplish everything required in the European direction. We believe that the EU will also fulfill its promise to Ukraine.

This is exactly what I talked about with President of the Government of Spain Sánchez. Our international relations, our cooperation in the European Union. Support for our defense. Steps that can be taken to make the whole of Europe stronger. Thank you for your help!

Today I had a conversation with the ambassadors of our national charity platform United24. It was, in fact, a summary of the fundraising efforts aimed at reconstruction. Andriy Shevchenko, Elina Svitolina, Katheryn Winnick, Oleksandr Usyk, Michel Hazanavicius, Brad Paisley, Imagine Dragons. I thanked them for uniting the world for our people, for the restoration of Ukrainian infrastructure. Overall, this week, we are reaching the $500 million mark that has already been raised during the operation of United24. If we talk about the use of these funds, it includes thousands of drone systems, as well as marine drones, 200 high-end mobile ICUs, armored ambulances, hundreds of generators for hospitals and other equipment… In the process of reconstruction are apartment buildings and schools, there are already restored hospitals, and a demining center has been built. All of this has been made possible by millions of donors from all walks of life. Ordinary people and companies from over a hundred countries. I am grateful to everyone who joined the work of United24 and the entire team of our platform.

As always, I was in touch with the military – with the commanders, there was an intelligence report. I would like to recognize the border guards. They not only defend the state border, but also fight on the frontline for the sake of our country and people alongside all the warriors of the Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine. I would especially like to recognize the warriors of the Kramatorsk border guard detachment – Bakhmut direction, Donetsk region. Soldier Mechyslav Levytskyi and Sergeant Ihor Kulykov – brave, efficient warriors. Thank you, guys! Zhytomyr border guard detachment – Soldier Vasyl Paliy, call sign Kordon and Sergeant Oleksandr Kachur. They are fighting in Donetsk region. Thank you for your bravery and destruction of the enemy! Special unit DOZOR. They work in different areas, and there are results in each of them. Well done, warriors! I would also like to mention the units that defend the south of our country, in particular those of the Southern Regional Directorate and the Sea Guard. Their mobile firing teams hunt down “shaheds” every night, and I thank you, guys, for every enemy drone you have shot down!

There is also a new decision on our state’s sanctions against Russian entities involved in this aggression and working for it. Russian individuals and legal entities. More than 360. And we are working with our partners to synchronize all our sanctions steps.

And one more thing.

Today is Local Government Day in Ukraine. The day of many people who work in communities, for the sake of communities. In areas near the frontline and throughout our country. I congratulate everyone for whom being in local government means being with people, taking care of people’s interests and always bearing in mind the interests of the entire Ukraine. I am grateful to those who really make their communities stronger. Today, I signed a decree on awarding local government representatives – those who work near the frontline. Those who were wounded. But did not abandon people and their communities.

Glory to all who defend our state as their own home! Glory to our strong people!

Glory to Ukraine!

A warm and productive meeting with @SecDef in the Pentagon.

We discussed specific steps and decisions that will significantly affect Ukraine's defense capability. Particularly, Ukraine’s strategic goals and plan of operations for 2024. pic.twitter.com/FCabazKw4h

— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) December 7, 2023

This must have been the most pointless meeting in the history of pointless meetings.

And this will be meager comfort at best:

More weapons to come.

🇺🇦 🇺🇸 Ukraine & US signed a memorandum on joint production and exchange of technical data – during Defense Industries Conference DFNC1: US Edition.

Grateful to the @SecDef Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, our colleagues from the… pic.twitter.com/knNLn0Xtz4

— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) December 7, 2023

More weapons to come.

🇺🇦 🇺🇸 Ukraine & US signed a memorandum on joint production and exchange of technical data – during Defense Industries Conference DFNC1: US Edition.

Grateful to the @SecDef Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, our colleagues from the State Department and the US National Security Council for taking lead in organization of the forum.

An open and honest dialogue between 🇺🇦 and 🇺🇸 governments and companies about the localization of production in Ukraine, the current needs and capabilities of our countries, opportunities for fostering cooperation, investments, and developing joint ventures.

If you’re wondering what the US’s failure to ensure that Ukraine has the material, equipment, and funding to win, our eastern European allies have that answer for you:

Poland’s national security agency estimates that Russia could attack NATO in less than 36 months, the head of the country’s National Security Bureau said in an interview with Polish media outlet Nasz Dziennik on Dec. 2.

The national security agency’s prediction comes in response to a report published by German think tank DGAP, warning Western nations that Russia may launch a direct attack against NATO in “as little as six to 10 years” – an assessment Poland’s National Security disagrees with.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has regularly threatened Poland and the Baltic states with military force, while sabre-rattling using nuclear weapons on multiple occasions.

“If we want to avoid war, NATO countries on the eastern flank should adopt a shorter, three-year time period to prepare for confrontation,” said Jacek Siewiera who heads the National Security Bureau.

Siewiera suggested that Russia might target a NATO alliance member in Eastern Europe, including countries such as Poland, Estonia, Romania, and Lithuania. To strengthen the region’s defense capabilities, he voiced his support for increasing the size of the Polish military.

Earlier this year, NATO’s alliance was expanded with the addition of Finland to the alliance of nations. Neighboring Sweden is also on the cusp of joining NATO, and is expected to do so in the coming months.

Tatarigami has written an article for EuroMaidan Press that further explains what Putin is doing and his strategy for achieving it:

I've written an article for @EuromaidanPress analyzing Putin's recent speech, its implications, and why it should be taken seriously by the West. https://t.co/hbKDZZVG0U

— Tatarigami_UA (@Tatarigami_UA) December 7, 2023

During the World Russian People’s Council forum on 28 November, Putin addressed the participants and delivered a series of important statements, regrettably overlooked by much of the Western press despite their important implications.

In his earlier speech before the invasion, Putin mainly focused on Ukraine and Donbas. However, there’s a noticeable shift in this latest address as he outlines a more expansive vision, indicating aspirations to reshape the existing global order.

Putin initiated his discourse by appealing to the “supreme historical right” and a categorical statement affirming Russia as a distinctive “country-civilization.” He went on to articulate that Russia is actively challenging the “dictatorship of hegemony,” positing that its influence is gradually eroding and unraveling.

Concluding with a strong declaration, Putin positioned Russia at the vanguard of building a novel and more “equitable” world order.

In the address, Putin revisited a familiar theme, referring to the collapse of the USSR and its consequences, stating that generations still grapple with the aftermath of “indulging in separatist illusions and ambitions,” blaming the weakness of the central government. Putin argued that this weakness led to the forceful division of the “Great Russian Nation,” described as a “triune people” consisting of Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians.

In the past, Vladimir Putin blamed the Ukrainian leadership, asserting that power in Ukraine was seized by Neo-Nazis. This time, he expanded his claim beyond Ukraine’s borders:

“We know what threat we are confronting. These days, the official ideology of the Western ruling elites has essentially turned into Russophobia, along with other forms of racism and neo-Nazism.”

It was suggested that the current existence of Russia doesn’t align with the mindset of Western colonialists and racists.

He also pointed at a serious demographic problem:

“It is impossible to overcome the most difficult demographic challenges that we are facing only with the help of money, social payments, and benefits.” Expanding on this point, he stressed the significance of traditional family values and drew parallels between contemporary families and those of earlier generations. Putin prompted reflection, saying, “Remember that in Russian families, many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had 7-8 children and even more. Let’s preserve these wonderful traditions and revive large families.”

Why is it important?
In July 2021, less than a year before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin authored an infamous essay titled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” In this essay, he outlined a revisionist perspective on history, questioned the legitimacy of Ukraine’s existence, attributed early communists for the “Ukrainization” of Ukraine, characterized Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians as a single people, and expressed sorrow over the territorial and geopolitical changes following the collapse of the USSR.

At that time, many experts dismissed it as internal political rhetoric and populist statements targeting his supporters.

However, in the early morning of 24 February 2022, as Russian bombers were preparing to launch missiles at the peaceful and unsuspecting cities of Ukraine, Putin delivered another speech reiterating similar sentiments expressed in his earlier essay.

On 27 November 2023, Putin signed the 2024 Russian federal budget, allocating a substantial 36.66 trillion rubles ($412.5 billion) for state expenses, reflecting a notable 13% increase from the 2023 budget. Particularly noteworthy is the nearly 70% surge in defense spending for 2024 compared to 2023.

The second pivotal change involves Putin’s directive to strengthen the country’s military by an additional 170,000 troops, bringing the armed forces’ strength to 1.32 million.

These drastic measures suggest that Putin not only aims to escalate the war beyond Ukraine but perceives it as a geopolitical opportunity to reshape the current security landscape.

The efforts are directed at undermining the United States and its allies through an extended war of attrition. Simultaneously, there is a focus on inducing political destabilization in Western countries, as well as escalation of existing or emerging conflicts worldwide to divert the attention and resources of Western nations.

Additionally, the strategy includes leveraging humanitarian and immigration crises to exacerbate instability in Europe. Collectively, these tactics aim to weaken the geopolitical standing and resilience of the US and its allied nations.

Russia’s deepening ties with Iran and North Korea, particularly in the realm of ammunition and weapon trade, raises concerns about international security in general. The escalating activities of Iran, as highlighted in a report from the Chatham House, indicate efforts to destabilize the Middle East. This is further compounded by China’s growing influence both in Asia and globally.

In light of these geopolitical shifts, it becomes apparent why Putin might perceive a historical mission to restructure global security. The belief in restoring “historical justness” by occupying states and expanding influence aligns with Russia’s strategic interests in reshaping the world’s security paradigm.

What are the objectives of Russia’s current geopolitical approach?

Unlike the Cold War period, when the world was divided into two major blocs and a group of neutral nations called the “Third World,” Russia isn’t trying to recreate a similar global security setup. This decision is based on the significant gap in economic, demographic, and technological development between Russia and the collective West.

According to the Carnegie Endowment, the goal is to move away from the established monopolar world order and work towards a multipolar system.

When Putin speaks about a more “just” world order, he is expressing revisionist ambitions that extend beyond the occupation and assimilation of Ukraine and Belarus into what he terms the triune Russian people — a concept that goes back to the Russian Empire.

His vision also includes the restoration, either fully or partially, of Russia’s sphere of influence, including many current EU and NATO members.

This ambition has been demonstrated through actions like Russia’s occupation of a part of Moldova in 1992, the invasion of Georgia in 2008, the annexation of Crimea, and the occupation of Donbas in 2014. The subsequent invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is a continuation of this pattern.

Moreover, these ambitions go beyond direct military conflicts.

Russia has been involved in sponsoring political parties in Europe, developing open relations with Hamas, interference in US elections, and assassination attempts on European Union soil.

Additionally, there are efforts to exploit the immigrant crises in Africa and Asia to destabilize the security posture and political environment. All these actions collectively pose a serious challenge and align with the plan Putin has openly claimed in his addresses.

Just as the Ukrainians will not stop trying to liberate their country and their fellow Ukrainians, Putin will also not stop.

Why is Russia a threat to the EU? Just look at the map of Russian drone attacks over the last two months and how close they're getting to the Nato border. The proximity speaks volumes

Mapping @TextyOrgUa pic.twitter.com/Xo0QQ97k4Z

— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) December 7, 2023

The Ukrainian reason:

We defend our kids' future!

The long-awaited hug with father, who returned from the battlefront. pic.twitter.com/ckt65ddAHw

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 7, 2023

For those marking Advent on your calendars this season:

Ukrainian Advent Calendar: Day 7

Today, we express our gratitude to our Swedish friends from @ForsvarsdepSv for their resolute support of Ukraine. Because the colors of freedom are blue and yellow. We are particularly grateful for the Archer self-propelled howitzers provided to… pic.twitter.com/3Pklkutlmy

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 7, 2023

Ukrainian Advent Calendar: Day 7

Today, we express our gratitude to our Swedish friends from @ForsvarsdepSv for their resolute support of Ukraine. Because the colors of freedom are blue and yellow. We are particularly grateful for the Archer self-propelled howitzers provided to #UAarmy.

The Archers are one of the most modern 155mm howitzers in service with our troops. A fully automatic magazine, high precision and mobility make this howitzer an effective weapon to destroy occupiers and liberate 🇺🇦 land.

The first week of Weapons of Victory has come to a conclusion. Stay tuned for more.

Krynky and Korsunka, left bank of the Dnipro, Russian occupied Kherson Oblast:

Magyar’s birds disabled several Russian vehicles in the area of Krynky and the neighboring town of Korsunka.

The two clips attached to this post document eliminated Russian IFVs of the types BMD-2, BMD-4M and BTR-82A.

Coordinates of Video 1:
46°42'38"N 33°04'55"E

Coordinates… pic.twitter.com/wGxJp00Lja

— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) December 7, 2023

Magyar’s birds disabled several Russian vehicles in the area of Krynky and the neighboring town of Korsunka.

The two clips attached to this post document eliminated Russian IFVs of the types BMD-2, BMD-4M and BTR-82A.

Coordinates of Video 1:
46°42’38″N 33°04’55″E

Coordinates of Video 2:
46°45’25″N 33°11’51″E

Source and full video: https://t.me/robert_magyar/722

#Ukraine #Kherson #Krynky

Zaporizhzhia Oblast:

Some housewarming gifts for the occupiers in the Zaporizhzhia direction.

📹: @DPSU_ua pic.twitter.com/0nWHAnjlr3

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 7, 2023

Russian occupied Donetsk Oblast:

Ukraine struck an important facility in Donetsk yesterday using a HIMARS missile. On paper, this was used as a bitumen storage, but we all know that the target must have been important, perhaps something to do with fuel supplying the Russian group in Avdiivka? pic.twitter.com/xZyVlvSsQM

— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) December 7, 2023

Soledar, Russian Occupied Donetsk Oblast:

Targeting of the Russian TOR-M1 in Soledar, Donetsk region. https://t.co/K6fpsyszR3 pic.twitter.com/x0jOTdjyE5

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) December 7, 2023

Moscow:

A plant producing electrical equipment for various industries is burning in Moscow.

Source: https://t.co/NNj3HXTlqI #Russia #Moscow pic.twitter.com/jARhtrZsgI

— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) December 7, 2023

Here’s a bit more on the Ukrainian sniper who established a new record last month:

This is Viacheslav Kovalskyi, a 58-year-old former businessman and now a sniper with the counterintelligence unit of the @ServiceSsu, and his his Horizon's Lord rifle.
He broke the world sniping record by hitting a russian occupier at a distance of 3800 meters.
“I think the… pic.twitter.com/otYzjwZTh9

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) December 7, 2023

This is Viacheslav Kovalskyi, a 58-year-old former businessman and now a sniper with the counterintelligence unit of the @ServiceSsu, and his his Horizon’s Lord rifle.
He broke the world sniping record by hitting a russian occupier at a distance of 3800 meters.
“I think the Russians will now know what Ukrainians are capable of. Let them stay at home and be afraid,” says Viacheslav.

📷: @WSJ

For you sea drone enthusiasts:

The Times article about Ukraine’s new fleet of sea drones. Also an hangar with approximately two dozen sea drones is shown in the video by The Times. https://t.co/LtQlg7X8Sz pic.twitter.com/ckSAaeNYSr

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) December 7, 2023

If you have a little extra this holiday season, consider spending it here:

This Christmas, we aim to express our gratitude to Ukrainian defenders currently undergoing medical treatment at a hospital. Teaming up with Art Catering in Lviv, Ukraine, we're arranging delightful holiday dinners for 100 Ukrainian soldiers, which we'll personally deliver to the… pic.twitter.com/ND1f8Xkb4z

— Tonya Levchuk 🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@TonyaLevchuk) December 7, 2023

This Christmas, we aim to express our gratitude to Ukrainian defenders currently undergoing medical treatment at a hospital. Teaming up with Art Catering in Lviv, Ukraine, we’re arranging delightful holiday dinners for 100 Ukrainian soldiers, which we’ll personally deliver to the hospital. Each dinner, encompassing delivery and all, amounts to about $24. Our target is to raise $2400 to cover the costs for these heartfelt gestures of appreciation. Remember, no donation is too small—every contribution counts towards showing our support for these brave individuals.
To make your tax deductible donation https://paypal.com/pools/c/8ZZokxwgDC
Thank you for your support, @LibertyUkraineF team!

That’s enough for tonight.

Your daily Patron!

There are no new Patron tweets or videos, so here is some adjacent material:

https://twitter.com/Heroiam_Slava/status/1732412817884811605

#UAnimals volunteers evacuated five puppies from #Kramatorsk. Now these dogs are in a home-type shelter in the center of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/lepttzEaam

— Kramatorsk Post (@Kramatorsk_Post) December 5, 2023

https://twitter.com/JuliaPod_art/status/1732051924185203199

Open thread!

War for Ukraine Day 652: There Will Be No Miracles in Kyiv This HannukahPost + Comments (98)

Thursday Afternoon News Open Thread

by WaterGirl| December 7, 20235:03 pm| 175 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics

A few big pieces of news that I’m aware of.

BREAKING: Trump appeals Chutkan immunity decision and seeks stay of whole case. Impudently says he will act now as if a stay is in effect. https://t.co/Jf9ycwt14h

— Andrew Weissmann (weissmann11 on Threads)🌻 (@AWeissmann_) December 7, 2023

🌸

Love this. Laches = unreasonable delay in making a claim. The fact that trump waited so long to stay the DC case should preclude him from trying now. In other words, if this were so urgent, why didn’t you do it months ago? https://t.co/9UEOX2n3tk

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) December 7, 2023

🌸

BREAKING: The Biden Administration says it will use the laws to seize patents of tax-payer funded drugs from Big Pharma manufacturers that price-gouge. This will create competition and lower drug prices! https://t.co/AF73CpLeCl

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) December 7, 2023

🌸

Any other news this afternoon?

Open tread.

Update: Reminder that today, Dec 7, is the day the Washington Post employees have asked all of us to avoid going to the Washington Post for anything – because the employees are on strike, or are walking out. I am fuzzy on the details, but I”m personally all in favor of honoring their request.

Thursday Afternoon News Open ThreadPost + Comments (175)

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

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

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Petty moves from a petty man.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Bark louder, little dog.