What Lucas Read 1/07/24

The Best of Current Affairs by Lucas' Suggestion

Jan 07, 2024

Photo by David De Hart

There’s a lot here, decided to not post during the holidays. Happy New Year BTW!

- Lucas De Hart

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/why-true-democratic-systems-are-incompatible-with-class-based-orders-like-capitalism.html

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/12/college-presidents-antisemitism-campus-free-speech-congress-stefanik.html

weaponized immigrant

In the name of all Jews

So a few days ago Israel resumed its high-tech blood-and-soil slaughter of Gazans with full U.S. backing — and this time it’s being a lot more explicit about its intent to thin out the population and to push Palestinians out of Gaza and into Egypt and other third-party countries. It’s a grim situation, already close to a thousand have been killed, maybe more, since the renewed bombardment. Something like 1.8 million people have been displaced — that’s 80 percent of the population — before this latest assault began…

a year ago · 54 likes · 14 comments · Yasha Levine

https://mondoweiss.net/2023/12/biden-works-to-create-plausible-deniability-as-he-backs-israels-assault-on-gaza/

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/venture-capital-defense-companies/

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/the-debate-over-restricting-immigration.html

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/12/thefed/

https://madrascourier.com/opinion/why-are-yemens-houthis-getting-involved-in-the-israel-hamas-war/

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2023/12/07/the-official-story-of-october-seventh/

https://archive.ph/2023.12.06-191259/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/04/ukraine-counteroffensive-us-planning-russia-war/

https://www.drorpoleg.com/urbanism-and-peace/

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/venezuela-just-took-a-big-step-closer-to-war-with-the-us-just-as-washington-wanted.html

https://carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancialmarkets/91161

Lee Fang

Inside the Pro-Israel Information War

Above: Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, speaks to J-Ventures investment fund on Oct. 10, 2023 about the security situation in Israel and how American supporters of Israel can assist with lobbying and public relations…

a year ago · 263 likes · 66 comments · Lee Fang and Jack Poulson

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/12/03/west-sabotaged-ukraine-peace-russia/

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/why-does-germany-continue-to-self-destruct.html

https://sonar21.com/dissecting-the-washington-posts-analysis-of-ukraines-failed-counter-offensive-part-1/

HEALTH CARE un-covered

Hospitals across the country are dumping Medicare Advantage plans and canceling their contracts with insurers

Something strange happened on the way to health insurance nirvana. Hospitals are dumping some Medicare Advantage plans. Such a move would have been unthinkable a year ago when Advantage plans were the high flyers of the insurance business raking in money by signing up new recruits, a substantial number of them with little or no understanding of the tra…

a year ago · 54 likes · 11 comments · Trudy Lieberman

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/free-expression-and-self-censorship-on-campus.html

The Popehat Report

Stop Demanding Dumb Answers To Hard Questions

This post may be less solicitous of your feelings than you may hope. America faces many problems. The easy ones we solve or ignore. We struggle with the hard ones. Hard problems raise complex questions that lack glib, one-word answers. The stubborn thirst for simple answers to hard questions is bad for America. It’s anti-intellectual, pro-ignorance…

a year ago · 468 likes · 543 comments · Ken White

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/what-is-the-us-up-to-in-azerbaijan.html

https://archive.md/T23bb

The 100 Days

Ukraine's Percolating Hatred of America

There’s a haunting video out there of Ukrainian military conscripts being serenaded by a young woman. It takes place in a drab auditorium. The men, their heads newly shaven, sit in red faux-velvet chairs, glum and bored, some looking at their cell phones, clearly wishing they were anywhere else…

a year ago · 226 likes · 138 comments · Matt Bivens, M.D.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/business/economy/profit-margins-inflation.html

John’s Substack

Death and Destruction in Gaza

I do not believe that anything I say about what is happening in Gaza will affect Israeli or American policy in that conflict. But I want to be on record so that when historians look back on this moral calamity, they will see that some Americans were on the right side of history…

a year ago · 689 likes · 530 comments · John J. Mearsheimer

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/lack-of-trust-between-the-us-and-turkiye-sees-same-sticking-points-derailing-swedens-nato-bid.html

https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/47th-mechbrigade-surrounded-lowammo

Trying to Understand the World

What's Left ... And What's Left?

These essays will always be free, and you can support my work by liking and commenting, and most of all by passing essays on to others, and to other sites that you frequent. I have also set up a Buy Me A Coffee page, which you can find here.☕️ Thank you to all those who have already contributed…

a year ago · 62 likes · 43 comments · Aurelien

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/russias-goal-conquering-ukraine-say-western-media-not-so-say-experts.html

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/israel-admits-immense-amount-friendly-fire-7-october

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/hungary-vetos-e50-eu-funding-package-for-ukraine-fuming-eu-leaders-promise-e50workaround-but-how.html

https://thegrayzone.com/2023/12/11/ukrainian-maidan-massacre-false-flag/

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/yanis-varoufakis-europes-15-year-slump.html

https://www.axios.com/2023/12/13/labor-market-jobs-layoffs-hiring-data

https://archive.ph/3ERpG

https://archive.is/HMtjP

https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukrainian-infiltration-drone-destroy

https://www.indianpunchline.com/ukraine-joins-natos-arctic-projects-against-russia/

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/in-a-win-for-the-climate-urban-speed-limits-are-dropping.html

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/renowned-political-scientist-can-we-really-save-american-democracy.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/xi-warned-biden-summit-beijing-will-reunify-taiwan-china-rcna130087

https://compactmag.com/article/the-liberal-plot-against-democracy

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/cia-s-chief-spy-william-burns-emerges-as-key-figure-in-hamas-hostage-crisis

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/breaking-news-chinese-iranian-and-indian-warships-are-now-in-the-red-sea-gulf-of-aden.html

https://asiatimes.com/2023/12/exclusive-150000-ukraine-soldiers-killed-in-action-through-october/

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/russian-trade-corridors-flourish-under-western-sanctions.html

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/21/israel-losing-war-against-hamas-netanyahu-idf

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israelis-wanted--pre-emptive-strike--on-lebanon--did-biden-h

Simplicius's Garden of Knowledge

Breaking Down Thinktank-land's Latest: Estonian MoD & ISW Analysis

Two interesting thinktank policy papers were released over the past two weeks, which somewhat flew under the radar. I wanted to examine them in light of not only Ukraine’s now-announced major battlefield reorientation, but the general pivotal inflection point on which the conflict stands at the cusp of 2024, to see what projections for the future can be…

a year ago · 506 likes · 374 comments · Simplicius The Thinker

https://www-anti--spiegel-ru.translate.goog/2023/reporter-ohne-grenzen-ignoriert-den-tod-russischer-journalisten/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/selfishness-cannot-be-the-basis-of-society.html

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1737529218848772427.html

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/europes-bad-china-bluff.html

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/indias-russian-oil-imports-helped-prevent-a-global-polycrisis.html

https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii138/articles/volodymyr-ishchenko-ukrainian-voices

The Democratic Constitution Blog

Discussion about this post