02-20-2022
Afternoon Update:
From today's New York Times live updates of developments in the Ukraine/Russia crisis: "U.S. intelligence learned last week that the Kremlin had given the order for Russian military units to proceed with an invasion of Ukraine, information that prompted President Biden to announce that President Vladimir V. Putin had made the decision to attack, U.S. officials said." The updates also were linked earlier (below).
About Those Swiss Bank Accounts. Jesse Drucker & Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "... an extraordinary leak of data from Credit Suisse, one of the world's most iconic banks, is exposing how the bank held hundreds of millions of dollars for heads of state, intelligence officials, sanctioned businessmen and human rights abusers, among many others. A self-described whistle-blower leaked data on more than 18,000 bank accounts, collectively holding more than $100 billion, to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The newspaper shared the data with a nonprofit journalism group, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, and 46 other news organizations around the world, including The New York Times. The data covers accounts that were open from the 1940s until well into the 2010s but not the bank's current operations.... The leak shows that Credit Suisse opened accounts for and continued to serve not only the ultrawealthy but also people whose problematic backgrounds would have been obvious to anyone who ran their names through a search engine. Swiss banks have long faced legal prohibitions on taking money linked to criminal activity, said Daniel Thelesklaf, the former head of Switzerland's anti-money laundering agency. But, he said, the law generally hasn't been enforced." ~~~
~~~ The OCCRP summary report is here.
Rats! Anabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: "A rodent infestation at a Family Dollar warehouse has prompted the discount store chain to recall a wide range of products sold at hundreds of stores throughout the southern United States. Health concerns about the rat infestation at an Arkansas distribution center have also led to the temporary closure of more than 400 stores in six states. Family Dollar, which is owned by the retail giant Dollar Tree, announced a voluntary recall late Friday of some products that came from the West Memphis facility."
Oregon. Sergio Olmos, et al., of the New York Times: "One person was killed and five others were wounded in a shooting on Saturday night during a protest in Portland against killings by police officers. The Portland Police Bureau said a woman was dead when officers arrived. Two men and three other women were taken to a nearby hospital, the police said. Information on their conditions was not immediately released. The shooting took place near a park in Portland that has been the staging ground for a number of protests against police killings in recent years."
Canada. Natalie Kitroeff & Sarah Nir of the New York Times: "Police officers on Saturday cleared out the central area of a sprawling demonstration in Ottawa, moving from truck to truck and arresting protesters as they continued to subdue the occupation that has disrupted the Canadian capital for weeks." This is an update of a story linked below.
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The New York Times' live updates of developments in Ukraine are here. The Washington Post's live updates are here. The Guardian's live updates are here.
Souad Mekhennet, et al., of the Washington Post: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky forcefully demanded stronger actions from world leaders as the threat of full-scale attack by Russia intensifies amid increased shelling in the eastern separatist regions of his country. 'The security architecture of our world is brittle, it is obsolete,' Zelensky said on Saturday during a defiant speech at a security conference in Munich. He accused governments of 'egotism,' 'arrogance' and 'appeasement' as he urged Western leaders to publicly state their plans for sanctions on Russia, saying that after the war begins would be too late. 'Action is needed,' he insisted, adding that 'this is not about war in Ukraine, this is about war in Europe.'"
Lori Hinnant & Jim Heintz of the AP: "Hundreds of artillery shells exploded along the contact line between Ukrainian soldiers and Russia-backed separatists, and thousands of people evacuated eastern Ukraine, further increasing fears Sunday that the volatile region could spark a Russian invasion." ~~~
~~~ Isabelle Khurshudyan & Steve Hendrix of the Washington Post: "For the Ukrainians living in the eastern Donbas region, where conflict between Ukrainian government forces and the separatists they say are Russian proxies has been a daily reality since 2014, the threat of a fresh invasion didn't faze them much. But the sharp upswing in firing from the separatists' side over the past three days has shaken even the war-weary. They now fear that the Russian-backed forces will continue to hammer their homes as a way to provoke Ukrainian troops, who are under instruction not to open fire.... 'We have no doubt in our minds where this shelling is coming from and who is firing it,' [resident Diana] Levenets said, pointing to the hills where the separatist forces are posted. 'We can literally see where it's coming from.' The shelling in the government-controlled side of the Donbas region has increased 'tenfold' since Thursday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement."
Jim Heintz, et al., of the AP: "Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, facing a sharp spike in violence in and around territory held by Russia-backed rebels and increasingly dire warnings that Russia plans to invade, on Saturday called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet him and seek resolution to the crisis. 'I don't know what the president of the Russian Federation wants, so I am proposing a meeting,' Zelenskyy said at the Munich Security Conference, where he also met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. Zelenskyy said Russia could pick the location for the talks. 'Ukraine will continue to follow only the diplomatic path for the sake of a peaceful settlement.' There was no immediate response from the Kremlin.' (Also linked yesterday.)
Holy Guacamole! Avocado War Ends! Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: “The United States lifted a temporary ban on avocados from Mexico on Friday, allowing exports of the fruit to resume, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. The ban had been issued on Feb. 11 after a verbal threat was made to a U.S. inspector working in the country. That prompted the U.S.D.A. to warn that the suspension would 'remain in place for as long as necessary to ensure the appropriate actions are taken' to secure the safety of inspection service personnel working in Mexico" MB: That would be me, standing out in front of Market Basket in the cold, waving tiny American & Mexican flags in celebration of the Avocado Peace Accord of 2022.
Josh Dawsey & Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's company is angling to host events at his golf courses for the controversial Saudi golf league, according to three people familiar with the matter, potentially handing Trump a lucrative business partnership with an oppressive regime he defended as president. At least two of Trump's courses in Bedminster, N.J., and Doral, Fla., could be named as sites for the nascent tour.... As president, Trump frequently defended the Saudi government even as it committed a wide range of human right abuses, including the 2018 murder of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the imprisonment and execution of gay citizens."
Fox “News": All the Crap That's Fit to Pull from Social Media. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Jesse Watters Primetime ran with a fake story involving the U.S. ambassador to Germany that actually drew two members of Congress into a Twitter spat on Friday. Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) quote-tweeted a video of Ambassador Amy Gutmann at a meeting in Germany. It ... features overlaying text claiming she is being told to stand between the U.S. and German flags, but that 'she doesn't know which flag is the U.S. flag.' The idea that Gutmann doesn't know which flag is the U.S. one is obviously absurd. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) seized upon the tweet and called out Banks, saying, 'You can't be a bigger ass than this guy.'... Nevertheless, Jesse Watters ran with the story on his Fox News primetime show." Somehow, Swalwell & Watters changed the story to assert that Gutmann couldn't ID the German flag, still absurd because Gutmann's father is a native of Germany. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I wish some news show would invite Jim Banks on the teevee and make him explain how a U.S. Congressman, someone we're supposed to respect, would try to humiliate a U.S. ambassador abroad by posting an unsubstantiated lie about her. Give that SOB a "homina, homina" moment. The quality of our representatives mirrors the quality of the people who elect them, and for the most part, the Republicans are, well, as Hillary might say, deplorable.
QWho? A Couple of Loons. David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times: "... two teams of forensic linguists say their analysis of the Q texts shows that [South African software developer Paul] Furber, one of the first online commentators to call attention to the earliest messages of Q, actually played the lead role in writing them.... [QAnon booster Ron] Watkins appears to have taken over from Mr. Furber at the beginning of 2018. Both deny writing as Q. The studies provide the first empirical evidence of who invented the toxic QAnon myth, and the scientists who conducted the studies said they hoped that unmasking the creators might weaken its hold over QAnon followers.... QAnon has been linked to scores of violent incidents, many of the attackers who stormed the Capitol last year were adherents, and the F.B.I. has labeled the movement a potential terrorist threat."
The Pandemic, Ctd.
New Mexico, et al. The Teacher Wore Camo. Erica Green of the New York Times: "For the last month, dozens of soldiers and airmen and women in the New Mexico National Guard have been deployed to classrooms throughout the state to help with crippling pandemic-related staff shortages. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has also enlisted civilian state employees -- herself included -- to volunteer as substitute teachers. New Mexico has been the only state to deploy National Guard troops in classrooms. But since the fall, when districts around the country began recruiting any qualified adult to take over classrooms temporarily, several other states have turned to uniformed personnel. National Guard members in Massachusetts have driven school buses, and last month, police officers in one city in Oklahoma served as substitutes."
Katherine Huggins of Mediaite: "Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-NM) compared Canada's handling of vaccine mandate protesters to 'an authoritarian regime like Venezuela' and said she will introduce legislation to temporarily grant asylum to Canadians protesting vaccine requirements." MB: Here I thought I'd never be one to protest against asylum-seekers. This country doesn't need more white wingers & nutters. ~~~
~~~ Canada. Get Out! Rob Gillies & Robert Bumsted of the AP: "Police aggressively pushed back protesters in Canada's besieged capital on Saturday, seizing control of trucks and clearing the streets in front of Parliament, the heart of the protests. Scores of trucks left under the increasing pressure, raising authorities' hopes for an end to the three-week protest against the country's COVID-19 restrictions and the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Authorities took control of the street in front of Parliament Hill which has been occupied by protesters and their trucks since late last month and had been turned into a carnival on weekends." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Natalie Kitroeff & Sarah Nir of the New York Times: "Canadian police officers advanced on demonstrators [in Ottawa] at gunpoint, smashing truck windows and arresting protesters in front of the country's Parliament building, an aggressive escalation in the government's effort to finally end the protests that have roiled the nation's capital for three weeks. Officers in riot gear, brandishing batons and rifles, pushed to regain the area around Parliament, expanding an operation that began on Friday to remove parked trucks that have blocked the city's downtown core. In the heart of the encampment, the police pushed people back with batons, and toppled over a table displaying dubious information about vaccine injury. They advanced methodically truck by truck, shoving protesters back, some people getting pushed over by the police, as demonstrators shouted, 'Shame on you!'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
U.K. Guardian: "The Queen [Elizabeth II] has contracted Covid, Buckingham Palace has announced. The monarch, 95, has tested positive for the virus and is experiencing 'mild cold-like symptoms' but expects to continue carrying out light duties this week." At 7 am ET, this is a breaking story; it will be updated.
Beyond the Beltway
Texas, et al. Freeedumb Does Not Include Academic Freedom. Nick Anderson & Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "Appalled at efforts to limit what they can teach about race and other sensitive subjects, faculty leaders at prominent public universities around the country have rallied in recent weeks behind resolutions to reaffirm academic freedom and denounce legislation that would undermine it[.]... The latest skirmish has erupted in Texas. On Monday, the Faculty Council of the University of Texas at Austin approved, on a 41-to-5 vote with three abstentions, a resolution rejecting 'any attempts by bodies external to the faculty to restrict or dictate the content of university curriculum on any matter, including matters related to racial and social justice.'... PEN America, an organization that advocates the freedom to write, is tracking 113 bills across the country that it describes as proposed 'educational gag orders.' More than 40 touch on higher education. How many will be enacted is unclear."
Way Beyond
France. Timothy Bella & Kelsey Ables of the Washington Post: "Jean-Luc Brunel, the former head of a French model agency who was accused of rape in the 1990s and later of supplying young girls to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, was found hanged in his Paris prison cell early Saturday, French prosecutors confirmed to local media. The 76-year-old was found dead in his cell at around 1 a.m. Saturday during an overnight check by guards at La Santé prison in Paris, prosecutors told Le Monde. Brunel was being held as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged rape of minors and trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation. Several models had accused him of sexual assault and rape, and French police had interviewed many potential witnesses in the case. Brunel had denied the allegations.... Brunel's attorneys ... told Le Monde that the apparent suicide of their client 'was notdriven by guilt, but by a deep sense of injustice.'" The Guardian's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Lede
AP: "The terrarium of a Winter Games that has been Beijing 2022 came to its end Sunday, capping an unprecedented Asian Olympic trifecta and sending the planet's most global sporting event off to the West for the foreseeable future, with no chance of returning to this corner of the world until at least 2030.... On Sunday night, Xi [Jinping] and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach stood together as Beijing handed off to Milan-Cortina, site of the 2026 Winter Games. 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' echoed as dancers with tiny, fiery snowflakes glided across the stadium...."
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Reader Comments (13)
Sunday Sermon:
Though winter is almost over, there are still snowflakes everywhere.
Only a few years ago, “snowflakes” was a term the political Right used to demean those it deemed too delicate to deal with books or speakers that might make them uncomfortable.
The Right railed about “cancel culture,” and mocked the “trigger warnings” some schools placed on readings that contained subjects or language that might be upsetting.
The Right had a point. Because some things in life are necessarily disturbing, healthy maturation requires development of a mental toughness that avoidance and denial do nothing to foster.
Turns out, though, the mental toughness promoted by the Right was only a sham. In multiple states, Republicans are now proposing laws that would question or ban in schools any readings or discussions of subject matter that might cause students’ or their parents’ discomfort.
According to the AP article in Sunday’s paper these laws “arose over last year’s debate over the teaching of race, diversity and sexuality.” The same article points to Parents Bill of Rights laws that would allow parents to object to any school materials they do not like and even to sue schools over them.
When cancel culture removes “Huckleberry Finn” from the classroom because some find its portrayal of “Nigger Jim”*offensive, one might question the decision, but when all curriculum choices are subject to second-guessing by anyone, regardless of their expertise, we have without question lost our way.
Since we know history, literature, economics, and even settled science are open to controversy, the only way to avoid all dissension would be to eliminate most school subjects entirely.
That’s, of course, absurd.
Equally so is the certainty that with every snowflake parent invited to fall on our schools, our winter of educational, social, and political discontent will never end.
*edited prior to publication per wishes of the local paper to "escaped slave Jim"
@Ken Winkes: Excellent essay; interesting edit.
Wow!!!!! "Escaped slave Jim?"–––so changed your example entirely. Talk about snowflakes falling≠≠≠
Rep. Herrell (R-NM) calling Canadian officials authoritarian, just
like those in Venezuela, is absolutely ludicrous. Canada should
tell her to STFU and solve your own problems.
Instead, she should be comparing Canadian anti-vaxxers to other
low lifers like US Republicans who will jump on board with any
nut who tries to make President Biden look bad.
P.D.
Year, the change did kinda blunt the point, but I do understand the paper's hesitancy. In fact, I almost expected it and had some alternatives in mind.
Now, since it's a short month, it's already time to come up with a topic for the next bi-weekly sermon...
The challenge as always is to find another way of saying the same ole thing about the same ole things.
Gotta scramble. But today is, I'm told, has been designated a Day of Rest.
@Ken Winkes: If I may say so, it appears that looking for new ways to say the same ole thing is working for you. You're a much tighter writer now than you were when you first began contributing your "Sunday sermons," and that makes your writing more compelling. Ergo, you get your point across better. The trick to writing is editing. I'm no Hemingway, who tried to edit out every possibly-superfluous word, but in principle, he was on to something.
Thanks, Marie. I try.
Had some good teachers long ago, who served as inspiration.
And, yes, Hemingway (and E.B. White) had something to do with it all.
As did one teacher-writer and mentor who among much more that he did for me told two stories I remember, one about how long Hemingway worked to perfect the last lines of "A Farewell to Arms," the other about his own friend and quasi-mentor (about whom he wrote a biography), who said the secret to successful writing was to run it through the typewriter again...and again.
BTW, just read "Adios, Hemingway" by Leonardo Padura which brought back many memories of those days when I read Hemingway and toyed with the idea of writing for a living.
Fortunately, I didn't go that route.
No loss to the world--and much less stressful for me to write a little here and there for fun.
FYI: just like the USA has Texas, so too does Canada have Alberta.
My husband keeps asking me why Russia (Putin) wants to invade Ukraine. I don't really know, just that it's complicated with historic roots, but could someone please give the Cliff Notes version?
Try this article for reasons Russia is doing it:
newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-is-russia-threatening-to-
invade-ukraine
Let's not forget in all the Ukraine crisis that's it's a little over a week until President Biden reveals the name of the chosen Supreme Court nominee so that the right wing can begin to fan it's fury.
Joynone,
I don’t think anyone knows for sure why Purim’s doing what he’s doing, and threatening to do (he may not know for sure himself, except he loves chaos—that he controls, or thinks he does); he certainly hates the US and Western Europe, but most of all he hates NATO.
Putin, remember, is an old school Soviet spy who grew up under the shadow of Soviet Union resentment and aggression. He sees himself as a sort of czar who wants things (some things) back the way they were. I’m sure he also loves the billions he’s scarfed up for himself and his criminal oligarch buddies. But he is resentful of the fact that Russia has been downgraded from its super power status back when he was an up and coming murderer.
He sees Ukraine as a Soviet state and insists that they have no right to join NATO against his wishes. For him, NATO remains an existential threat to his power and Russia’s position as the biggest bully on the block. Part of this buildup, I’m guessing, is a bit of muscle flexing for the folks back home (Putin is through and through a Macho, Macho Man) although I heard a Russian source the other day relate that Ukraine is not much of an issue inside that country. But there again, not much gets in print or goes out over the air of which Putin doesn’t approve.
I’ve also read that because of his new friendship with fellow authoritarian tyrant Xi, that he wouldn’t invade until the Olympics were over so as not to rain on China’s parade. That means this week some time, if so.
Putin needs very much to be thought of as a giant among world leaders, a man to be feared and respected. He also loves screwing with the West.
A lot of factors are in play here, but he was perhaps hoping that he could do whatever he wanted without much pushback. That hasn’t happened. Biden is keeping the light shining on what he’s doing at the Ukraine border which places Putin in the uncomfortable position of “put up or shut up”. But he’s nothing if not a wily survivor.
Still, his demand that NATO not allow Ukraine to join, which has been roundly rejected, must stick in his craw. He’s not banging his shoe on the table, but he hopes he’s doing something far more attention getting.
Pointing guns at Ukraine.
All of this, however, is just my opinion based on what I’ve been reading. I’m sure there are other more learned and informed opinions out there.
We shall see what happens.
Haha…
Interesting that Otto Correct interpolates the term “Purim” into a discussion of Putin. I’m gonna go waaaay out on a limb and suggest that a holiday celebrating survival of the Jews isn’t a big one for Putin.