www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/20/zelensky-un-security-council/
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Neal Katyal’s legal theory on behalf of Nestle and Cargill might be too extreme even for this ultraconservative court.
— Read on slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/12/neal-katyal-supreme-court-nestle-cargill-child-slavery.htmlMany, including Katyal, have done genuinely noble work for free, while actively harming workers, consumers, and vulnerable communities for pay. Do these lawyers deserve a position in a progressive administration? Obama certainly thought so. Soon, Democrats will have to decide whether they will still invite such attorneys into the federal government. It is a shame that Big Law’s many victims—including, most likely, the six former child slaves behind Tuesday’s case—will not have a voice in that conversation.
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Canada Blames India for Murder of Sikh Leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar
— Read on foreignpolicy.com/2023/09/19/canada-india-trudeau-modi-hardeep-singh-nijjar-assassination-sikh-leader/ -
www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/world/asia/trudeau-canada-india-separatists.html
That has led many analysts to believe that Mr. Modi may be stoking Khalistan as a major threat as part of a tried-and-true political and electoral tactic in which he presents himself as the protector of India, particularly its Hindu majority.
The diplomatic clash began on Monday when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in an urgent address to Parliament, said Canadian security agencies had credible evidence that Indian agents were linked to the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia. Canada has the largest Sikh population outside India, and the Canadian government said it would take strong action to protect its citizens and sovereignty
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With a cavalier disregard for Africa and its people, Russia is backing both sides in Sudan’s civil war while looting the country’s resources.
— Read on cepa.org/article/sands-of-time-running-out-for-russias-sudanese-gambit/In a remote corner of Sudan’s expansive deserts, a lone Soviet flag flutters above an antique locomotive. Gold prospectors travel from afar to exchange their modest finds for cash, provided by what they colloquially call “the Russian company.”
Owned by an investment firm aligned with Russia’s Wagner Group, Meroe Gold’s smuggling operation has become pivotal for Russia’s ability to preserve its financial liquidity amidst sanctions.
As Sudan plunges deeper into a devastating civil war, Russia finds itself navigating a precarious situation. With relations between the Wagner Group mercenaries and the Russian government — the presumed assassin of their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin — already strained, the two now find themselves aligned with opposing factions. The issue reaches a crescendo just as Russia needs to balance its revenue streams, its geopolitical aspirations in the Arab world, and the cohesion between its official and semi-official arms.
The current tumult in Sudan traces back to the Darfur conflict, where Arab militias known as the Janjaweed wreaked havoc on the largely Nilotic native peoples, leading to what is widely considered a genocide. Subsequently absorbed into Khartoum’s intelligence infrastructure, these militias, now called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), played a pivotal role in the 2021 military coup that installed Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the military, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) as head of state. When the military recently attempted to incorporate the RSF into its fold, the group revolted.
Russia’s approach has been two-fold. The Kremlin seeks to build a Red Sea naval port and expand its influence in the Arab world through its diplomatic ties with the SAF. Concurrently, Wagner Group oversees a sprawling gold mining operation, and its smuggling routes run through RSF’s base of power. A CNN investigation reported that Radimir Kuznetsov, a potential successor to Wagner’s deceased leader and a convicted kidnapper who was later badly wounded in Ukraine, oversaw this gold smuggling via the Central African Republic.
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TUESDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2023
Israel (msnbc)
- Thousands are in the streets protesting the attack on a democratic judicial system conducted by Netanyahu and his allies. What is afoot here is to change the very nature of Israeli society – to make it more strictly religious and authoritarian. The mainstream media rarely covers this story, and even when it shows the number of people in the streets, doesn’t explain the significance of the events. Two minutes later, back to the Trump soap opera and Biden being “too old.”
Trump
- In 2016, Donald Trump was trying to gain power and perhaps fulfill a debt to Vladimir Putin. In 2024, Trump is trying to keep himself from going to jail. He is more dangerous in 2024 than he was in 2016. In addition, a Trump victory was something like an added benefit for Putin. In 2024, a Trump victory means the difference between fighting Ukraine and the West and being given Ukraine.
- As John Brennon, former CIA director, says (MSNBC), a Trump victory is for Putin “absolutely essential.” Putin is prolonging the war as long as he can, in anticipation of a Trump win. It is “Putin’s main lifeline” if Trump returns to the White House.
- Even John Bolton, says that other world leaders regard Trump as a “laughing fool.” (Note: I am not sure I have ever heard this expression in my life, but there you go).
- Katy Kay (MSNBC) dutifully repeats Trump’s propaganda about why he wanted to leave NATO as if it were a sincerely held political position. Katy Kay is, in my opinion, just not very bright.
- Putin and the right-wing media are saying the same thing.
- Gen. McCaffrey: It would likely be the end of NATO. He has called for the withdrawal of troops from South Korea. “An utter disaster” if Trump came back into office. The international community sees Trump as a “laughing stock and a fool.” (Note: I guess this is what John Bolton was talking about). We have Republicans who want to defund Ukraine.
- John Brennon: “I think Donald Trump…will be even more vicious as he seeks to gain the presidency…” He will use “any tactic….Donald Trump and Putin have the same ambitions as far as the United States is concerned, divide the country…” If he is elected, he will do anything he can to “push his own personal agenda.” Putin is looking for any way to facilitate Trump’s victory. “push Donald Trump over the line.” “It will be the demise of NATO.” Propaganda, amplifying messages negative about Biden. They have very sophisticated means. Pushing the essential states in the “digital environment.”
- Georgia is saying that a Russian company is the source of some of the doxing of grand jury members.
- Katy Kay: there was a report after the 2016 election that Russia had meddled in some 18 elections in Europe. They interfered in the Brexit election. She doesn’t see Russia stopping trying to interfere in elections.
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MONDAY 11 SEPTEMBE 2023
Thoughts for Today
Ukraine
- The American military needs to stop running its collective mouth about the fighting in Ukraine, unless these comments (for example Milley’s warning that the Ukrainians had a 30-day window to finish the counteroffensive) are coordinated with the Ukrainians. I don’t believe they are since for the first time, even the Ukrainians, are complaining about the statements. The Ukrainians, since the beginning of the second invasion (February 2022) have been astoundingly disciplined about not criticizing the US. Zelensky, for example, has even started pointing out the delay in supplying essential arms.
- The British Newspaper, The Telegraph, has the best coverage of the war against Ukraine. They have an entire section of the paper which is about Ukraine every day and they have the best podcast by far (Ukraine: The Latest) about the war. When the second invasion was launched, the media in general gradually moved on to other stories. The Telegraph had started the podcast about Ukraine. The reporters who were contributing to the podcast argued vehemently that the podcast deserved to be continued until the war was over. It is just the best thing out there. At the beginning of every podcast, you can hear a Ukrainian translator saying: “Nobody is going to break us. We are strong. We are Ukrainians.” Every time I try to repeat that to somebody, I tear up.
According to the Telegraph today:
- The Ukrainians have retaken strategic drilling rigs near Crimea. The Russians have controlled the rigs since 2015.
- Putin’s political party (United Russia) has warned its members running in regional elections to stay away from focusing on the war against Ukraine. This is a turn-around from the Party’s position earlier when they advised their candidates to run on the war issue.
- Ukrainian drones are now regularly hitting Moscow.
- Numerous explosions have been heard around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. (I cannot remember how to spell Zaporizhzhia without looking).
- A top official with the European Commission has been recalled and admonished for his comment characterizing Austria’s payments for Russian gas as “blood money.”
According to the New York Times
- The NYT characterizes Biden as “stunned” over the possible federal indictment of his son Hunter.
In Foreign Affairs
- “The Real Origins of the Border Crisis: How a Broken Asylum System Warped American Immigration.”
- “…a toxic combination of political instability, criminal violence, and the punishing economic aftereffects of the COVID pandemic has unleashed the highest levels of migration in the Western Hemisphere since WWII.”
- The migrants flee “rapacious gangs and hopeless poverty” “misrule and repression”
- “At the core of the crisis…is the US asylum system.”
- It has “turned into the main channel for mass immigration” on the southwestern border.
- At the end of 2022, almost 800,000 cases were waiting adjudication.
- “The average asylum claim took more than four years to decide.”
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Russia ‘could recruit up to 700,000 extra soldiers’
Ukraine’s military believes Russia could recruit hundreds of thousands more soldiers from Russia and occupied Ukraine to plug their losses on the battlefield.
“A mass forced mobilisation of the population is expected soon in the Russian Federation and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine due to the occupiers’ catastrophic losses,” the General Staff said.
The mobilisation campaign could target between 400,000 and 700,000 recruits, it said, citing different estimates.
It did not provide evidence to support the claim in a statement to support its assertion. Russian officials have said there are no current plans for a new wave of mobilisation -
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tried to reassure Ukraine on Sunday that it will have continued support from its Western allies. Russia, however, just had local elections in four Ukrainian areas it illegally annexed and Moscow appears determined to solidify its gains. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has the details.
— Read on www.voanews.com/a/blinken-several-considerations-in-play-before-sending-long-range-missiles-to-ukraine/7262266.html
