OT subject but worth a main-stream read- OT News Feeds...

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia's upper house of parliament unanimously sanctioned the accession of four Ukrainian regions into Russia today in violation of international law. The Federation Council passed the constitutional laws on the annexation of the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The lower house, the State Duma, yesterday voted unanimously to authorize the illegal annexation, Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported. Anna Chernova and Radina Gigova report for CNN. 

As Russia’s parliament moves to approve President Vladimir Putin’s decision to annex four parts of Ukraine, there remains uncertainty about the exact boundaries of the territories Russia is attempting to absorb. Russian forces have suffered a series of surprising defeats in eastern Ukraine, forcing them to retreat and abandon several positions in areas the Kremlin declares it is annexing. For instance, much of the territory Moscow claims as its own in the Donetsk region is under the control of Ukrainian forces. Similarly, pro-Russian officials yesterday said that Ukrainian forces had pushed into the Luhansk region - another area that is set to be annexed. Ukrainian forces are also advancing in Kherson. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow needed to “continue consulting” with the local populations before establishing its borders. Olga Voitovych and Joshua Berlinger report for CNN. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sought to reassure Ukrainians living in territory the country has reclaimed that they will be treated fairly. “Our approach has always been and remains clear and fair: If a person did not serve the occupiers and did not betray Ukraine, then there is no reason to consider such a person a collaborator,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly speech. “Hundreds of thousands of our people were in the temporarily occupied territory,” he said. “Many helped our military and special services. Many simply tried to survive and waited for the return of the Ukrainian flag,” he added. Zelenskyy also assured those in recaptured territory that his government was focused on getting their lives back to normal as soon as possible. Juston Jones reports for the New York Times. "

lousubcap

A later commentary Russia-Ukraine for Tuesday:

"The latest: Kyiv's forces have made "substantial gains around Lyman and in Kherson Oblast in the last 48 hours," according to the Institute for the Study of War. That includes new advances "through the Luhansk Oblast border in the direction of Kreminna." According to NPR, Russia now lacks complete control over each of the four regions Vladimir Putin claimed to annex this past Friday before a rapturous audience at the Kremlin.
Developing: The U.S. is sending Ukraine four more HIMARS artillery systems, and an estimated 200 MRAP armored off-road vehicles, Reuters reported Monday afternoon. It's worth noting that these four HIMARS are different from the 18 promised in an announcement last week; and that's because "the [U.S.] government has to procure [those 18] weapons from industry, rather than pulling them from existing U.S. weapons stocks," as it will do for these four, according to Mike Stone of Reuters, who cautioned that "the weapons package can change in value and content" until it's formally announced, presumably sometime later Tuesday.
According to the Pentagon, "Down in that Kherson region where Ukraine is conducting their counter offensive… the Russians essentially are in a defensive crouch," a senior military official told reporters Monday. "They are fighting, obviously, but they're in a defensive crouch, as opposed to further north up near Bakhmut, where it's more offensive in nature."
On the eventual appearance of Putin's troop mobilization: "We have not seen a large-scale reinforcement of forces at this stage," the official said. "In other words, we're not talking about brigade-size forces coming into Ukraine; we're seeing, you know, some replacement forces coming in to assist as they are attrited and as they have fallen back to try to shore up some of the defensive lines. But nothing large scale at this stage of the game."
"If you look into the future, clearly there's a reason [Putin is] mobilizing 300,000 troops, with the intent of employing those forces at some point in time," the defense official said, but didn't elaborate a great deal. "We could expect to see them move, but we have not seen that in the large scale at this stage," they added. "

Botch

lousubcap said:

A later commentary Russia-Ukraine for Tuesday:

On the eventual appearance of Putin's troop mobilization: "We have not seen a large-scale reinforcement of forces at this stage," the official said. "In other words, we're not talking about brigade-size forces coming into Ukraine; we're seeing, you know, some replacement forces coming in to assist as they are attrited and as they have fallen back to try to shore up some of the defensive lines. But nothing large scale at this stage of the game."
"If you look into the future, clearly there's a reason [Putin is] mobilizing 300,000 troops, with the intent of employing those forces at some point in time," the defense official said, but didn't elaborate a great deal. "We could expect to see them move, but we have not seen that in the large scale at this stage," they added. "

One of the news sources I normally watch/read daily, just in the last day or two, inferred about a recent history event in Russia (last 100 years) wherein a tyrannical government armed their own unwilling citizens to fight an unpopular war; the citizens turned their newly-issued guns around and ended that regime.  
I'm assuming that's the last Tsarist government, but I've gaps in my history knowledge there (tomorrow's homework?  Eff that, I'm retired and should be clipping coupons and watching cat videos).  
But, I'm marginally smart enough to hope that, for the world's sake, that bit of history repeats itself before an evil, arrogant, narcissistic ego decides to reach for the red button.  
 
"May you live in Interesting Times..."      - some Chinese guy  

lousubcap

Wednesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin signed documents today for the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions of Ukraine. Documents on Russian plans for the regions say the Luhansk and Donetsk militias will be incorporated into Russia’s military, while residents will become Russian citizens upon taking an oath of loyalty. The annexations have no legitimacy under international law. Eric Cunningham, Rachel Pannett, Jennifer Hassan and Robyn Dixon report for the Washington Post. 

The U.S. and its international allies are engaged in a large-scale lobbying effort to convince countries to vote in favor of a U.N. resolution slamming Russia’s territorial claims. Csaba Kőrösi, president of the U.N. General Assembly, has convened an emergency special session of the body to begin debate next Monday, with a vote expected later next week. If passed, the resolution would boost the Western effort to isolate Putin, undermine his argument that he is a liberator and, ideally, convince him that escalating the war will only invite more global backlash. Nahal Toosi and Ryan Heath report for POLITICO. 

Ukrainian forces have liberated a key village in the southern region of Kherson, hastening another Russian military retreat. The defense ministry in Kyiv posted a video showing the 35th marine brigade hoisting a Ukrainian flag above the village of Davydiv Brid, amid reports of several other nearby villages being recaptured. Russia still controls Kherson city, the regional capital, in the south. But its grip is looking increasingly shaky on the entire area north of the River Dnieper, known as Dnipro in Ukrainian. Paul Kirby reports for BBC News. "

lousubcap

A good read regarding "How long should the US send aid to Ukraine?"
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/10/just-how-long-should-us-send-aid-ukraine/378015/  

lousubcap

Late to this posting but here you go.
Thrusday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russia is lobbying for a secret ballot instead of a public vote when the U.N. General Assembly considers whether to condemn its annexation of four regions of Ukraine following so-called “referenda.” Ukraine and its allies have denounced the votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as illegal and coercive. A Western-drafted U.N. General Assembly resolution would condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referenda" and the "attempted illegal annexation" of the areas where voting occurred. “This a clearly politicized and provocative development aimed at deepening the divide in the General Assembly and bring its membership further apart," Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia wrote in a letter to U.N. He argued that a secret ballot was needed because Western lobbying meant that "it may be very difficult if positions are expressed publicly."  Michelle Nichols reports for Reuters.

Russia has carried out a deadly spate of missile attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. One woman was killed and seven people, including a 3-year-old girl, were hospitalized. Authorities are still working to rescue people from the rubble. The attacks come just hours after the Kremlin said it was formally seizing the nearby Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Olga Voitovych and Joshua Berlinger report for CNN. 

The director of the U.N.s’ nuclear watchdog plans to visit Kyiv today to continue talks about establishing a nuclear safety zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a Tweet that this goal had become “more urgent than ever” since Russia said it would seize operational control of the plant. Grossi will also visit Russia later in the week, according to a statement released by the agency. Carly Olson reports for the New York Times. "

lousubcap

A follow-on read re: US and China-

"GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS - CHINA 

Chinese fighter jets or drones that intrude into Taiwan’s territorial airspace will be regarded as a “first strike,” Taiwan’s Defense Minister warned yesterday. Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng made the remarks while addressing lawmakers on the threats posed by China’s recent spate of escalatory measures, which has seen Chinese warplanes and drones fly near to the self-governing island. “In the past, we said we won’t be the first to strike, which meant we will not fire the first shot without [China] firing artillery shells or missiles first,” Chiu Kuo-cheng said. “But now the definition has obviously changed, as China used means such as drones. So we have adjusted, and will view any crossing of aerial entities [into Taiwan’s territorial airspace] as a first strike,” Chiu said during a meeting of the Legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee. Wayne Chang and Brad Lendon report for CNN. 

Ahead of this month's communist party congress, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has sent a stark warning against disloyalty to the top ranks of the ruling party. In the weeks leading up to the congress, in which Xi is expected to secure a third term as party leader, China’s courts have orchestrated a series of high-profile corruption trials of senior cadres from the state’s police and security apparatus. Death sentences were last week handed down to Fu Zhenghua, Xi’s former justice minister, Sun Lijun, the former deputy minister of public security, and Wang Like, a former top official in Jiangsu. Jail terms of more than 10 years were also issued to other former police and security chiefs. “This clearly was a warning . . . against overt acts of factionalism and disobeying Xi Jinping diktats in the run-up to the 20th party congress, and beyond,” said Victor Shih, professor of Chinese political economy at the University of California, San Diego. Edward White reports for the Financial Times. "

dmchicago

lousubcap said:

A follow-on read re: US and China-

"GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS - CHINA 

Chinese fighter jets or drones that intrude into Taiwan’s territorial airspace will be regarded as a “first strike,” Taiwan’s Defense Minister warned yesterday. Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng made the remarks while addressing lawmakers on the threats posed by China’s recent spate of escalatory measures, which has seen Chinese warplanes and drones fly near to the self-governing island. “In the past, we said we won’t be the first to strike, which meant we will not fire the first shot without [China] firing artillery shells or missiles first,” Chiu Kuo-cheng said. “But now the definition has obviously changed, as China used means such as drones. So we have adjusted, and will view any crossing of aerial entities [into Taiwan’s territorial airspace] as a first strike,” Chiu said during a meeting of the Legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee. Wayne Chang and Brad Lendon report for CNN. 

Ahead of this month's communist party congress, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has sent a stark warning against disloyalty to the top ranks of the ruling party. In the weeks leading up to the congress, in which Xi is expected to secure a third term as party leader, China’s courts have orchestrated a series of high-profile corruption trials of senior cadres from the state’s police and security apparatus. Death sentences were last week handed down to Fu Zhenghua, Xi’s former justice minister, Sun Lijun, the former deputy minister of public security, and Wang Like, a former top official in Jiangsu. Jail terms of more than 10 years were also issued to other former police and security chiefs. “This clearly was a warning . . . against overt acts of factionalism and disobeying Xi Jinping diktats in the run-up to the 20th party congress, and beyond,” said Victor Shih, professor of Chinese political economy at the University of California, San Diego. Edward White reports for the Financial Times. "

Guy's name is Wang Like?

lousubcap

Friday Russia-Ukraine update:

"The director of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said yesterday that he did not recognize Russia’s claims to control the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Speaking during a visit to Kyiv, Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A), said that the agency still viewed the plant as a Ukrainian facility, since the U.N. charter does not recognize illegal annexations. “This is a matter that has to do with international law,” he said at a news conference. Grossi said that I.A.E.A.’s primary goal is to prevent a nuclear accident, which he warned was still a “clear possibility,” rather than punish Russia for its attempted takeover of the plant. He also reiterated his goal of establishing a nuclear safety zone at the plant. Carly Olson reports for the New York Times. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that his country’s military has retaken hundreds of square kilometers of territory in the Kherson region following Russia’s illegal annexation of the area. “Since October 1, and only in the Kherson region, more than half a thousand square kilometers of territory and dozens of settlements were liberated and stabilized from the Russian pseudo-referendum,” Zelenskyy said in a public address. Zelenskyy additionally touted “successes” in eastern Ukraine in the address. “The day will surely come when we will report on successes in the Zaporizhzhia region as well — in those areas that are still under the control of the occupiers,” he added. Chloe Folmar reports for The Hill. "

lousubcap

Some insights on the latest POTUS comments on the nuclear option that Putin is tossing around:

"Most nuclear experts and former officials NatSec Daily spoke to don’t think President JOE BIDEN’s comparison of today’s dangers to the Cuban missile crisis and the impending threat of nuclear “Armageddon” is overblown. Some actually say it’s spot on, and arguably not alarmist enough.

“This crisis is more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis,” ANDY WEBER, a former assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological programs, told NatSec Daily. There wasn’t a “hot war” in 1962 like there is now, he said, and Russia’s military doctrine allows for the use of nuclear weapons when faced with an existential threat, “which is how he has defined Ukraine.”

“President Biden’s reported reference to ‘Armageddon’ is not an exaggeration,” Weber said.

The good news, as our own LARA SELIGMAN reported, is the Pentagon sees no signs of Russian President VLADIMIR PUTINplanning to use a nuclear weapon any time soon. For now, the United States has no reason to change its strategic posture.

The current threat “is high enough to take seriously, but that doesn't mean the probability is high,” said JEFFREY EDMONDS, who served as Russia director in the Obama administration’s National Security Council."

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1578608211191427072

https://twitter.com/just_whatever/status/1578608277591851009

Damaging Putin's new Crimea bridge seems like a serious move.

Legume

Damn.  That’s gonna sting a little.  

HeavyG

https://twitter.com/WarintheFuture/status/1578617196661833733

Gulfcoastguy

I speculate that the Ukrainians used a Norwegian Naval Strike Missile . They have a few of them and it has a secondary land attack function with a 275 pound high explosive fragmentation warhead. They could have hit the road bridge and fragments ripped up the fuel tankers on the railway bridge. Either way the Russian resupply situation just got real difficult.

Legume

F-it.  Tired of links not embedding.

HeavyG

Gulfcoastguy said:

I speculate that the Ukrainians used a Norwegian Naval Strike Missile . They have a few of them and it has a secondary land attack function with a 275 pound high explosive fragmentation warhead. They could have hit the road bridge and fragments ripped up the fuel tankers on the railway bridge. Either way the Russian resupply situation just got real difficult.

Hard to say at this point how but the Russians are saying it was a truck bomb, Ukraine was claiming credit but quickly backtracked from that statement. Videos available show the explosion emanating from underneath the the bridge and this source is saying it was possibly/likely from a boat underneath the bridge (although it appears to me that the video seems to show the truck exploding):

https://twitter.com/SquireDigital/status/1578788781280595968

https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1578799719924785152

The roadway section looks, from the videos, to be relatively undamaged and just collapsed due to loss of support from one end.

Not hires enough to see any detail but interesting nonetheless:

https://twitter.com/Tendar/status/1578793338970705920

Canugghead

Legume said:

F-it.  Tired of links not embedding.

Is this embedable? asking for a friend. I’m afraid to click on obscure url
https://fb.watch/f_HCjD5Gkh/

Gulfcoastguy

The road way damage is not the critical issue. The heat warped and spalled railroad bridge is the real loss. Russian logistics are heavily tied to railroads. If Ukraine cuts the railroad running from Russia to Kherson along the captured land that finishes the whole southern flank. Ukrainian forces are already within rocket range of that railroad.

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1578799828842459138?s=20&t=xEzVtS26I3W2tw__lreL8g

lousubcap

Too bad it's real conversation and not something fake.  

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/JeffreyGoldberg/status/1579168770488426498?s=20&t=9NA8-_It-gDs9-UEGaNh9A

lousubcap

Monday Russia-Ukraine updaye:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday accused Ukraine of being behind the attack on the bridge linking Crimea to Russia, calling it an act of terrorism. “There is no doubt that this is a terrorist attack aimed at destroying the critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” Putin said, summing up the attack in just two sentences. “The authors, performers, and customers are the secret services of Ukraine.” After the president’s remarks were published, a reporter from the state-run Russian news outlet RIA Novosti asked Putin’s spokesperson whether the “terrorist attack” fell within the category under Russian defense doctrine that allowed for a nuclear response. “No,” the spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, responded, according to the outlet. Neil MacFarquhar reports for the New York Times. 

Putin will hold a meeting of his national security council today, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state-owned news agency TASS. Although Peskov declined to say whether they would discuss the explosion on the Kerch Bridge connecting Russian-occupied Crimea to Russia, it is bound to be on the security council’s agenda. Russia has opened an investigation into the explosion. Sarah Anne Aarup reports for POLITICO. 

In what appears to be the heaviest wave of missile and rocket attacks since the opening week of the war, Russia hit cities across Ukraine on Monday, including the capital Kyiv, where at least five people were killed. Explosions were reported across other major Ukrainian cities, including in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Lviv, as Moscow unleashed a barrage of missiles in waves. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Kyiv was reaching out to its Western allies to organize a response to the strikes, which appear to be retribution for Saturday’s attack on the Kerch Bridge. Missy Ryan and Isabelle Khurshudyan report for the Washington Post. 

China has expressed hope that the situation in Ukraine will be “de-escalated soon,” following apparent Russian strikes on Kyiv. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said China had noted reports of both the explosion on the Kerch bridge linking Crimea with mainland Russia on Saturday and Monday’s strikes on Kyiv. Speaking during a daily briefing in Beijing, Mao reiterated China’s position on the situation in Ukraine, stressing China has “always maintained that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected.” Niamh Kennedy reports for CNN. 

Power cuts have been reported in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv following an explosion "at a critical infrastructure facility," Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi posted on Telegram. "Part of the city is without electricity. A third of the traffic lights do not work," Sadovyi wrote. "Due to the lack of electricity, the operation of the city's thermal power stations has been temporarily suspended. Therefore, hot water is not provided at the moment." Tim Lister reports for CNN. 

External power has been restored to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after repeated shelling caused an outage lasting nearly two days. This is according to a statement by the director of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi, who is set to visit Russia early this week for talks about establishing a safety zone around the plant. Carly Olson reports for the New York Times. "

lousubcap

Tuesday Russia-Ukraine update:

"Russian forces on yesterday fired 84 missiles along with drones in a series of strikes that coincided with Ukraine’s morning rush hour. The death toll from those attacks has risen to 19, with 105 injured, Ukraine’s emergency services said today. Jared Malsin reports for the Wall Street Journal. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine are running out of weapons and ordinary Russians can now see that his invasion is badly misjudged, according to a senior British spy chief. Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of British cyber intelligence unit GCHQ, called the decision to invade a “high-stakes strategy” where “the costs to Russia — in people and equipment — are staggering” and the “Russian population has started to understand that.”“We know — and Russian commanders on the ground know — that their supplies and munitions are running out,” Fleming said. “Russia’s forces are exhausted. The use of prisoners to reinforce, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation.” John Paul Rathbone reports for the Financial Times."

Edit to add-

"NATO member states are working on ways to align their weapons purchases to better prepare for future conflicts, as they gear up for an increase in military spending to replace material sent to Ukraine. By improving purchasing cooperation, NATO hopes to make a leap in how its members would together fight a future conflict, including buying weapons systems that are easily interchangeable, plentiful, and more effective on the battlefield. NATO members also believe that Russia’s hostility and other threats mean the alliance must have more arms on hand to deter and combat any future threats. Defense ministers from NATO’s 30 countries, plus aspiring members Finland and Sweden, are set to gather in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday. Daniel Michaels and Doug Cameron report for the Wall Street Journal. 

Germany will deliver the first of four air defense systems promised to Ukraine within the “next few days,” Berlin’s Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has said. In a statement issued yesterday, Lambrecht explicitly linked the need for a speedy delivery of the weapons to Moscow’s renewed strikes on nonmilitary targets across Ukraine in recent days. “Russia’s attacks with missiles and drones terrorize the civilian population in particular. That is why we are now providing support especially with air defense weapons,” she said, adding that the three remaining systems would follow. Leo Sands reports for the Washington Post. "

JohnInCarolina

This guy Musk man, I don't know.

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spoke-vladimir-putin-before-ukraine-peace-plan-report-2022-10

lousubcap

Worth a read from The Atlantic's Tom Nichols-

"

Tom Nichols STAFF WRITER

Every nation has fringe candidates and public spectacles in its political life, but today, the American right celebrates the abandonment of dignity and virtue.

Clowns and Charlatans Ohio Republican Senate Candidate JD Vance speaks to supporters in Youngstown, Ohio on September 17, 2022. (Jeff Swensen / Getty) Ohio’s U.S. Senate candidates, Tim Ryan and J. D. Vance, held their first debate last night in Cleveland. I wrote last year about why I find Vance so execrable, but my friend Jim Swift, a native Ohioan, argued today that while “Ryan gave a serviceable performance,” he “didn’t beat Vance into the ground, and given how far Ohio has gone in a MAGA direction, that’s what he needed to do.” One moment, however, struck me. At a rally in Ohio last month, Donald Trump declared, “J. D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support so bad”—while Vance was standing right by the stage. Last night, Ryan slammed Vance for selling his dignity: I don’t know anybody I grew up with—I don’t know anybody I went to high school with—that would allow somebody to take their dignity like that and then get back up onstage. We need leaders who have courage to take on their own party. And I’ve proven that. And he was called an “ass kisser” by the former president. I understood Ryan’s exasperation. I’m not from Ohio, but I was raised in a working-class neighborhood. Where I grew up, if you sneered that a man was kissing your ass—and said it to his face—that other fellow might react by knocking you on that particular part of your anatomy. But Vance’s reaction to Trump calling him out as a spineless loser at his own rally was to run up to Trump like a puppy that just got a treat, wagging his tail for another tasty biscuit. It is possible, even likely, that Vance will gain a Senate seat. But he can never regain his dignity. He doesn’t seem to care—and neither, apparently, do voters. Americans once expected politicians to carry themselves with a seriousness that indicated their ability and willingness to tackle problems, whether poverty or war, that were too difficult for the rest of us. We elected such people not because we wanted them to be like us but because we hoped that they were better than us: smarter, tougher, and capable of being leaders and role models. We often failed, and sometimes we even enjoyed electing scoundrels, such as James Traficant and James Michael Curley. Democracies always welcome a certain amount of playacting and mischief as reassurance that our leaders are not too far removed from our own experiences as citizens. And yes, many politicians have used that as cover for their misdeeds. But even some of the most flawed people we elevated to high office at least pretended to be better people, and thus were capable of inspiring us to be a better nation. Today, we no longer expect or even want our politicians to be better than we are. The new American right, however, has blown past the relatively innocuous populism of the past 40 years and added a fetid cynicism about almost everything related to public life. Not only are the MAGA Republicans seemingly repelled by the idea of voting for someone better than they are; they support candidates who are often manifestly worse people than the average citizen, so that they may slather their fears about their own shortcomings and prejudices under a sludgy and undifferentiated hatred about almost everyone in public office. These populists not only look past the sins of their candidates but also defend and even celebrate them. Let us leave aside the cult around Trump, which has now reached such levels of weirdness that the specter of Jim Jones is probably pacing about the netherworld in awe. Instead, consider how many people cheer on unhinged cranks such as Marjorie Taylor Greene or allow themselves to be courted by smarmy opportunists such as Vance and Ted Cruz. This new populism, centered in the modern Republican Party, has no recognizable policy content beyond the thrill of cruelty and a juvenile boorishness meant largely to enrage others. The GOP’s goals now boil down to power for its elected royalty and cheap coliseum pleasures for its rank and file. Republicans, therefore, are forced to lower their—and our—standards for admission to public office, because the destruction of dignity is the only way they can find the candidates who will do what decent men and women will not, including abasing themselves to Donald Trump. The same Republicans who claim to venerate the Founders and the Constitution have intentionally turned our politics into a scuzzy burlesque. Last night, Fox News—home to some of the loudest carny barkers on the freak-show midway—played a snippet of a 2018 phone call from Joe Biden to his son Hunter. The message revealed a father’s love and worry; the Fox host Sean Hannity tried to make it seem scandalous. Meanwhile, GOP leaders continue to defend the Georgia candidate Herschel Walker, whose callousness to his own children (and their mothers) is on full display. They ridicule Biden—a decent and good man who was worried that his son was going to die from addiction—and make excuses for Walker, who seemingly forgot about multiple children he’s fathered and has made incoherent responses to charges from the mother of one of those children that he financed an abortion for her. She has also said that he later asked her to undergo a second abortion; Walker continues to deny all of these claims. I’m an adult. I get it. Our elected officials aren’t saints, and only rarely are they heroes. But must they now be a cavalcade of clowns and charlatans, joyously parading their embrace of vice and their rejection of virtue? The Republican Party seems to think so."

nolaegghead

“Today, we no longer expect or even want our politicians to be better than we are. The new American right, however, has blown past the relatively innocuous populism of the past 40 years and added a fetid cynicism about almost everything related to public life. Not only are the MAGA Republicans seemingly repelled by the idea of voting for someone better than they are; they support candidates who are often manifestly worse people than the average citizen, so that they may slather their fears about their own shortcomings and prejudices under a sludgy and undifferentiated hatred about almost everyone in public office.”  

Sadly I agree

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1580001641939750912?s=20&t=Q4jAS3LMEH0Mxmgy8O1jCw

JohnInCarolina

http://twitter.com/anneapplebaum/status/1580092845813161985?s=20&t=Q4jAS3LMEH0Mxmgy8O1jCw

lousubcap

Wednesday Russai-Ukraine update:

"Russia’s domestic intelligence service has announced the arrest of eight people in connection with the bombing of the Kerch Bridge which linked Russia to Crimea. Five are citizens of Russia, according to the agency, the F.S.B., and the others are Ukrainian and Armenian. In a statement, the F.S.B said that Ukraine’s military intelligence service, the G.U.R., had masterminded the blast, saying that the agency’s commander, Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, bore personal responsibility.  A senior Ukrainian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that Ukraine’s intelligence services had carried it out, and other senior officials have not denied Ukraine’s role. Michael Schwirtz and John Ismay report for the New York Times. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Wednesday, a Turkish official has said. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that potential talks between Russia and the West might be discussed during the meeting, which will take place on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. During a televised interview yesterday Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called for a ceasefire “as soon as possible.” Wilhelmine Preussen reports for POLITICO. 

Sending air defense systems to Ukraine will be top of the agenda at the gathering of NATO defense ministers in Brussels this week, the U.S. ambassador to the alliance said yesterday. “We are now shifting again to air defense,” Ambassador Julianne Smith said in a briefing organized by her office, noting that in previous phases, NATO’s response centered on what Ukraine needed at specific moments of the war, namely munitions and coastal defense. Air defenses will form the “crux of the conversation tomorrow,” the first of two days of meetings at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The events will include a meeting of the NATO defense ministers, as well as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a gathering of military leaders headed by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Lara Seligman and Alexander Ward report for POLITICO. 

President Biden told CNN yesterday that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “rational actor” who nonetheless badly misjudged his ability to invade Ukraine and suppress its people. Biden said in the interview that threats emanating from Russia could result in catastrophic “mistakes” and “miscalculation,” even as he declined to spell out how precisely the U.S. would respond if Putin deploys a tactical nuclear device on the battlefield in Ukraine. He also said that he had no plans to meet with Putin at next month's Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, and warned of consequences for Saudi Arabia after it partnered with Moscow to announce a cut in oil production. Kevin Liptak reports for CNN. "

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Opinion piece from George Will advocating for supplying Ukraine with advanced US drones...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/05/ukraine-war-aid-us-drones-needed/