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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Why the US deep state even after departure of Trump, who had the general killed, won’t forgive Russia and Iran
In a stunning interview conducted by the Beirut-based al Mayadeen network, Hezbollah’s secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah outlines how Major General Qassem Soleimani – who was assassinated in an American drone strike at Baghdad airport a little over a year ago – had been instrumental in convincing Russia to help Syria militarily in its war against Salafi-jihadis.
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from Hoover Institution
Nonprofit Organization in Stanford, California
Containing China
Deciding whether the path towards containing China is best served through improved relations with Russia correctly implies that the United States will ultimately need help to do so. The idea of aligning with any country for security is rooted in the principles of realism and balance-of-power designed to create a stabilizing equilibrium among great powers. While realism dictates that interests and power should govern both international affairs and U.S. foreign policy, it is difficult to imagine America’s long-term interests ignoring ideals and values. Overlapping interests and underlapping values is a recipe for a dubious long-term strategic alliance. For example, President Nixon’s opening of U.S. relations with China in 1971 to strengthen America’s position against the Soviet Union was viewed as an act of brilliance based on realism and balance-of-power politics. While evidence suggests that this relationship was initiated by China, it benefitted China immensely and likely more than it did the United States. And Russia still remains a serious threat today. Therefore, the question is: Who should the United States align with to contain Chinese ambitions? Answering this question requires an assessment of our primary enemies, our friends, and of ourselves.
Forget The Russia Card
Why Putin Will Not Work For America As Ally Against China
Like Beijing, Moscow Wants To Dethrone, Not Strengthen The United States
Theoretically, two superpowers—the United States and Russia—should go after China, a rising contender, to preserve the established hierarchy. But it won’t happen. For an instructive historical lesson, go back to a comparable constellation when that master of manipulation, Henry Kissinger, failed to play China against the Soviet Union. The intent was to draw a much weaker and poorer China into the American orbit in order to pressure the Soviet Union, the world’s no. 2.
Vladimir Putin’s arrest of Alexei Navalny, the nationwide protests that followed, and the Solar Winds cyber-attack demonstrate the rough veneer of U.S.–Russia relations that President Biden must now navigate. An Obama-era “reset” is out of the question. Beneath this razor-edged surface are the long-term prospects for Russo-American cooperation as exemplified for instance by the Kremlin’s hybrid intervention in Belarus in the fall of 2020. But it is the statesman’s task to see beyond the immediate political crisis, cut through confusion and contradiction, and chart a wise course into the future. Every possibility must be reviewed. Even a partnership with an ethically repugnant geopolitical foe.
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from The Inlander
Media/News Company in Spokane, WA
Media/News Company in Spokane, WA
It's not uncommon for eyewitnesses to identify the wrong person, criminal experts say. In fact, it factors into more than 70 percent of convictions overturned through DNA evidence in the U.S., according to the Innocence Project, a national nonprofit that works to free innocent people. But Riley's case is unique, says Jim Petro, former attorney general of Ohio and author of False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent. Usually, wrongful identification occurs in a lineup where witnesses must choose the person matching their description out of several. Petro says he hasn't seen any cases where witnesses use social media to misidentify a guy they saw at a bar as a killer.
The West Side benefits directly from what happens in Seattle, but Spokane? Without the clout of a Tom Foley, we get the crumbs. Our governors come from the West Side, our U.S. senators come from the West Side, but here we see the same impulses that voted out Tom Foley are keeping many in the greater Spokane area from understanding that the health of the City of Spokane is the key to the health of the region.
In most circumstances, charging 23 percent annual interest rates is flat-out illegal in Washington state, Spokane County Chief Deputy Treasurer Mike Volz notes. But when it comes to unpaid property taxes, the law makes an exception. "It's wrong for everybody else, but it's OK for property taxes," Volz says.
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from KLFY News 10 (CBS Lafayette, LA)
Over 200,000 people in the oil and gas industry in Louisiana are at risk of losing their jobs, industry leaders say. This comes after President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday banning all new oil and gas leases on public land and waters.
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Magazine of The Living Church Foundation (Anglican)
COMMON OBJECTS OF AMERICAN LOVE: AUGUSTINE AND THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS
By Mark Clavier: Perhaps the place to begin, thanks to Biden’s invocation of an influential Catholic saint, is with Augustine himself. Tolle, lege. Take up and read The City of God and begin to see our country as it truly is: no better than its citizens, each and every one of whom is (as Augustine saw well) a fallen person in need of divine grace.
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from Orthodox Christianity – orthochristian.com
Religious Organization in Moscow, Russia
There are now more and more allegations – even by Turkish agents – about the destruction of ancient and Byzantine churches in Turkey, either by arbitrary construction or by treasure hunters in the hope of finding gold and other relics.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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Affordable housing is headed for a cliff as surely as Thelma and Louise, and Gov. Inslee’s moratorium on paying rent is pressing the gas pedal. The state eviction moratorium is set to expire in June and it may be extended to September. It’s a lose-lose proposition for both tenants and landlords.
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