France & Germany to Ukraine's rescue…Then the assassination… Ukraine on the ground...Elections 24…Chinese at the Mexican border…a Russian spy in France…and Dilem's cartoon.
I have not noticed this....but tis worth checking. The Nikkei reporter (their Washington bureau chief) did a remarkable bit of reporting, finding the camp in California where many of them found their way, some marvelous photos the reporter took !!
David, at the risk of jumping the queue, just want to thank you for this superb report.
On the first item, the rise of the would-be dictator of America, there was an excellent opinion piece in WaPo the other day, outlining all the ways Trumpism is leading to a form of fascism. It was horrifyingly accurate, in my view... but underestimated the danger! For example, it talked about how the 'law-abiding' members of Republican Congress 'didn't have the courage' to convict Donald for Jan 6. That's only a grain of the truth-- every one of those capitulators was bullied and physically threatened to back down. That's the real fascism at work. Also, the article described how Trump was a sort of 'incumbent' who has presidential creds for his followers, and thus, a credible competitor for 2024, and has 'taken over' the Republicans, That doesn't draw the better comparison with Germany 1933, where the Nazis had to remain within their own party and hadn't hollowed out another, thereby grabbing the brand recognition the 'establishment' party had. Which is exactly what the Trump playbook has led to. In many other ways, Germany was better armed against fascism than America is today, but that's an even longer story.
The ascent of Stalin in the USSR is perhaps more complicated: the fall of a semi-feudal Czarism, 1917, into a Bolshevik revolution, then the centralization of power against the counter-revolutions, then Stalin, is mostly a country going from Serfdom to Collective Farms without passing through democracy.
The defense of Ukraine, the litmus test of the West, is linked to the above fragilities in America. Your coverage of Alexei Navalny was excellent to read. Incidentally, I lived on and off, in the France of Giscard, Chirac, and Mitterand. It would be hard to separate them, but one went with Mitterand for historical reasons. Then everybody learned he'd been a functionary for the Vichy regime.
Do Voice of America and Radio Free Asia -- rather less encumbered by domestic political considerations than the State Dept -- make hay of the extent of Chinese immigration to the U.S.?
VERY much looking forward to reading your work on the ‘Butcher,’ professor!
Yes, the Grumbach story is stunning !!
I have not noticed this....but tis worth checking. The Nikkei reporter (their Washington bureau chief) did a remarkable bit of reporting, finding the camp in California where many of them found their way, some marvelous photos the reporter took !!
David, at the risk of jumping the queue, just want to thank you for this superb report.
On the first item, the rise of the would-be dictator of America, there was an excellent opinion piece in WaPo the other day, outlining all the ways Trumpism is leading to a form of fascism. It was horrifyingly accurate, in my view... but underestimated the danger! For example, it talked about how the 'law-abiding' members of Republican Congress 'didn't have the courage' to convict Donald for Jan 6. That's only a grain of the truth-- every one of those capitulators was bullied and physically threatened to back down. That's the real fascism at work. Also, the article described how Trump was a sort of 'incumbent' who has presidential creds for his followers, and thus, a credible competitor for 2024, and has 'taken over' the Republicans, That doesn't draw the better comparison with Germany 1933, where the Nazis had to remain within their own party and hadn't hollowed out another, thereby grabbing the brand recognition the 'establishment' party had. Which is exactly what the Trump playbook has led to. In many other ways, Germany was better armed against fascism than America is today, but that's an even longer story.
The ascent of Stalin in the USSR is perhaps more complicated: the fall of a semi-feudal Czarism, 1917, into a Bolshevik revolution, then the centralization of power against the counter-revolutions, then Stalin, is mostly a country going from Serfdom to Collective Farms without passing through democracy.
The defense of Ukraine, the litmus test of the West, is linked to the above fragilities in America. Your coverage of Alexei Navalny was excellent to read. Incidentally, I lived on and off, in the France of Giscard, Chirac, and Mitterand. It would be hard to separate them, but one went with Mitterand for historical reasons. Then everybody learned he'd been a functionary for the Vichy regime.
Slava Ukraini!
Grumbach a Soviet/Russian spy? Amazing. Thanks for bringing that to us. And for noting Macky Sall's mess. I write tomorrow on the Butcher of Sochi.
Do Voice of America and Radio Free Asia -- rather less encumbered by domestic political considerations than the State Dept -- make hay of the extent of Chinese immigration to the U.S.?