Stephan: I am deeply concerned that the United States is being outplayed by China geopolitically. I know from talking with Chinese officials in China that they have a long-term view of geopolitics while American business leaders, and the congress members they rent, generally seem to think about only short-term profit. Nothing makes this clearer than China's one trillion dollar belt and road initiative. This article lays out what I mean.
A Chinese freight train leaves Khorgos, on the border of China and Kazakhstan Credit: Davide Monteleone
The landscapes in Davide Monteleone’s images of China’s belt and road initiative are very familiar to me. We can see desert, uninhabited wasteland and views along the Yangtze River and in north-west China. There are also photographs showing the characters “Stay strong, Wuhan!” on skyscrapers in neon lights.
They are reminiscent of images I took in China, which captured dilapidated cities before they were rebuilt; energy plants; the development of impoverished areas and large-scale architecture. At that time, I wanted to write a new encyclopedia to elucidate new concepts and thoughts that emerge with rapid urbanisation, and to form a new language. The project was too ambitious, and I did not complete it. It was my failed “belt and road”.
The initiative, which has been likened to the Silk Road trade routes of imperial China, was proposed by the current Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, as a blueprint to reposition China in the era of globalisation, and to change the world order in a Chinese […]
Bernie Sanders, Senator (D-VT) - Reader Supported News
Stephan: In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that I was a Washington State delegate for Bernie Sanders, the person I backed for President. I am running this as the lead story for today's SR edition because I think what Senator Sanders is saying is very important. The world is now in the midst of a confrontation of historic importance: democracy vs authoritarianism, and it is far from clear, to me at least, which way America will go. Just as Hitler had many German supporters for his nationalistic fascism, so the world of MAGAt Trumpers, and their representatives in the House and Senate are doing everything they can to create in America a White supremacy fascist system. How you vote in November will tell the tale.
Democratic Senator Bernie SandersCredit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
There must be no ambiguity in acknowledging that what the whole world is seeing from Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is nothing less than a blatant violation of international law and human decency.
This war, in which a large powerful nation invades a smaller neighbor, has already killed thousands of innocent people, including many children. A large number of cities throughout the country are being leveled by long-range Russian missiles while others are under siege as people are running low on food, water and much-needed medical supplies. In the first week of the war alone, more than a million refugees crossed borders into neighboring countries. Some estimates now put the number of refugees at more than 3 million while many more have been displaced from their homes within Ukraine.
This has been a humanitarian disaster for the people of Ukraine, but it is much more than that. The Russian invasion threatens global energy and food supplies, is contributing to greater economic instability and the rising prices we see everywhere. And oh, by […]
Stephan: There is a correlation amongst those who are Trumper Republicans, anti-vaxxers and favoring Russia in Ukraine. This is a consistent group of people who also favor White supremacy Christian fascism. We need to recognize them and vote in sufficient numbers to make sure they never come to power.
David French speaking at CPAC conference Credit: Gage Skidmore
According to a Yahoo News/YouGov survey released in mid-March, Democrats are much more likely to favor helping Ukraine during the Russia-Ukraine war than Republicans. The survey found that 76% of Democrats believed the United States should back Ukraine during the conflict compared to only 57% of Republicans.
Never Trump conservative David French, in a think piece published by The Atlantic on March 18, argues that the GOP/Democrat divide on Ukraine speaks volumes about the childish mentality of a certain type of MAGA Republican: the “right-wing contrarian,” who he slams as childish reactionaries who are guided by emotion rather than by facts or logic.
French compares the results of that Yahoo/YouGov survey to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey from February, which found that 92% of Democrats had been vaccinated for COVID-19 compared to only 57% of Republicans.
“Vaccines have nothing to do with Russia, and Russia has nothing to do with vaccines,” French writes. “So, why are those two numbers so similar? […]
Stephan: Given what you have been seeing on the television every day it may seem almost impossible that 8 Republicans from the stupid wing of Trump world could vote not to sanction Russia and Belarus for their war crimes, but they did. Now can we please vote these cretins out of office?
From left: Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado; Matt Gaetz of Florida; Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia; and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. All voted against the Russia trade bill. Anna Moneymaker/Getty
The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to suspend normal trade relations with both Russia and Belarus amid the war in Ukraine.
The Suspending Normal Trade Relations With Russia and Belarus Act, which passed by a 424-8 margin, allows President Joe Biden to increase tariffs on products coming from the two countries and requires the US trade representative to seek suspension of Russia’s participation in the World Trade Organization.
The legislation must now pass the Senate and be signed by Biden to be enacted into law.
This move came one day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to Congress, and a week after the House also voted to enact tougher sanctions on Russia and ban the importation of oil from the country. Seventeen members of Congress, overwhelmingly Republicans, voted against that measure.
Belarus, though not the primary aggressor in the conflict, is a close ally of Moscow and has allowed […]
Stephan: What this suit is about is straight out of Hitler's playbook. Uncannily similar. And destructive of democracy. This is how Hitler came to power. It is time we started holding all these people and their leaders, particularly Trump, accountable
Gun owner with holstered gun at belt Credit: Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty
Voting rights groups have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a pro-Trump group from going door-to-door in Colorado in search of evidence to support voter fraud allegations that have already been debunked and rejected by courts.
The lawsuit alleges that the U.S. Election Integrity Plan — led by Shawn Smith, an ally of former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell — is sending armed members door-to-door in areas with large numbers of voters of color, questioning people about how they voted and taking photographs of their homes.
The lawsuit, which is backed by the state chapter of the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and Mi Familia Vota, alleges that the “voter intimidation” campaign violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, a post-Civil War law aimed at preventing white vigilantes from terrorizing Black people to stop them from voting.
The lawsuit cites the “County & Local Organizing Playbook” used by the group, which instructs members to “undertake citizen audit activities to […]
