"'One of the most important tasks is to create a new world order,' one of the documents dated April 3, 2023, states. 'Western countries led by the United States have tried to impose their own structure, based on their dominance.'" Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Hamas, Iran, the Middle East crisis, China's threat to Taiwan. These are very different stories in very different places. But they're also all connected to a goal shared by many countries around the world: Knocking America from its superpower position, remaking the world order, and reversing the spread and supremacy of democracy. The divisions in America and the craven politics of self-interest are also part of this story, and represent a key (and perhaps the most pressing) threat to the country. In WaPo (Gift Article), Catherine Belton provides a very interesting look at the bigger picture overlaying many of the world's current hotspots. Russia projects confidence as it pursues alliances to undermine West. "Russia has been buoyed by its success in holding off a Western-backed Ukrainian counteroffensive followed by political stalemates in Washington and Brussels over continued funding for Kyiv. In Moscow’s view, the U.S. backing of Israel’s invasion of Gaza has damaged Washington’s standing in many parts of the world. The confluence of events has led to a surge of optimism about Russia’s global position. Officials in Moscow point to growing trade with China, military cooperation with Iran, diplomatic outreach in the Arab world and the expansion of the BRICS grouping of major emerging economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — to include Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Ethiopia." 2Tracking a Killer"With the aim of deciphering all the aspects of a global problem, EL PAÍS has followed the trail through eight cities, three countries and two continents, tracking the most effective serial killer of American adults between 18 and 49-years-old. It murders them more than traffic accidents and firearms." Right about the time the US states started to legalize marijuana, the DEA was cracking down in opiate-dealing pill mills. That presented a market opportunity to drug cartels that sidelined the weed business in favor of meeting the new demand for fentanyl. The network has gone global and the drug keeps getting stronger and more deadly. Fentanyl, the portrait of a mass murderer. "It’s a trip with stops in the slums where drug traffickers cook fentanyl and in the ports along the Pacific, corroded by corruption. It examines the propaganda machinery of Beijing and the Washington offices where the strategists behind a losing war are at work. It sneaks across the border with Mexico — where, in 2022, the authorities seized 370 million lethal doses, more than enough to kill the entire population of the world’s leading power — and climbs the roads along which the trucks take it, hidden among bean jars, to the streets of Philadelphia or San Francisco, the two cities that top the rankings for fentanyl deaths in the world." 3Borderline Insanity"The radical and dangerous legal theories being advanced by Texas previously provoked a Civil War and have been broadly rejected for more than a century. So, one might expect Texas to get little support from other states. That is not the case." Judd Legum takes you to Shelby Park in Texas where yet another American vs American struggle is playing out. Who's in charge of the border, the federal government or Texas? Like many of today's points of debate, that question used to have an obvious answer. The second insurrection. 4I Cant' Drive 85"Someday in the not too distant future, it might no longer be possible to drive a brand-new car faster than 80 mph in California. That's because state senator Scott Wiener earlier this week proposed a new bill that aims to prevent certain new vehicles from going more than 10 mph over the speed limit. In California, the maximum posted speed limit is 70 mph, meaning anything north of 80 mph would be off limits." (I'm mostly linking to this to provide advance warning to first period teachers at my daughter's high school: If this law passes, we will be tardy.) 5Extra, ExtraFood Chain Gang: " A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here, at an unlikely source – a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison." AP: Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands. 6Bottom of the News"Empty-nest coaching is a growing livelihood—with training certification, support groups and $250-an-hour private-counseling sessions. Demand is driven by parents who feel an emotional and logistical vacuum after years of shepherding children from one moment to the next." WSJ (Gift Article): When Junior Heads to College, Helicopter Parents Turn to Empty-Nest Coaches. (We preempted this issue in our family by only letting our son apply to colleges in towns where we'd be willing to relocate.) Read my 📕, Please Scream Inside Your Heart, or grab a 👕 in the Store. |