Lùcas M retweeted
I rarely agree with Rahman but this is consistent with what many people have pointed out about LFI and its internal culture: no serious interest in governing, despotic, personalist and centred around JLM, happy to mislead the public about policy, entirely theatrical, self-serving, cynical charlatanry, and, yeah, likely willing to fan unrest even in the knowledge that it might fuel support for the far-right, if it puts them in a better position to grandstand. Not that they are to blame for the escalation, but I resent the credulity of the anglophone left that has thrown in their lot with them, just because JLM babbles something about 'the creativity of the youth' and Guetté is 'slaying' holding a cigarette.
Just a total surrender to the worst bourgeois radical impulses which have kept the left irrelevant and obsolete: a focus on the rhetoric, theatre and aesthetics of activism and street politics, married to arcane theorising and academic solipsism.
Why would @JLMelenchon incite violence knowing it will help Le Pen? Because he wants Le Pen to win and he becomes leader of the opposition. His people talk of a third round of the election "on the streets" if @MLP_officiel wins. If so, Saturday's violence will seem mild.
Lùcas M retweeted
how to lose your allies. Denmark, Estonia, others turned up, no caveats, fought hard, took casualties at or above US levels. (remind me, did Hegseth see combat?)
Hegseth on Afghanistan:
I was a captain in Afghanistan, and we would go to the headquarters in Kabul, and there would be 50 flags at the headquarters.
It was a beautiful thing to see 50 different countries contributing to the NATO alliance and the ISAF mission there.
Except there were like maybe five that contributed. It was actually closer to one or two that, by the end, were actually involved in kinetic operations.
In fact, the ISAF patch, we would joke that it meant "I Saw Americans Fighting."
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Over 1100 non-American soldiers from 31 US-allied countries were killed fighting in Afghanistan, approximately 1/3 of the total combat deaths.
t.co/x4tGhxJiFG
Lùcas M retweeted
Terrible scenes in most large French cities today. But this was not political protest in any true sense. Most of the real demonstrations against high oil prices and failing schools were peaceful. The violence came from a fringe of the ultra left. The looting by opportunistic gangs from the poor suburbs. All good news for Marine Le Pen
Within 30mins the predictable smash of windows in the street, the sound of things being piled up to burn, the shouts of groups, the arrival of police charging with batons, the firefighters dealing with the mess.
Anyone who has seen Paris after a PSG champo game knows this is the same behaviour, the same pattern. Those who excuse the worst excesses are naive, and just projecting their own political impotence onto a fantasised and inaccurate understanding of contemporary French society.
I walked along Bvd Beaumarchais this afternoon. It was sunny, full of protestors, it was political and vibrant and peaceful. The crowds at Bastille were impressive, and looking back towards République - where you could hear the bang of tear gas cylinders - was quite overwhelming.
The young guys were super smart, erudite, political, critical - they all made coherent arguments for the necessity of the protests and all shared a healthy disagreement on the tactics (we were watching someone set fire to a bin).
This is about the rub of it.
I actually think Burnham has been OK so far on Ukraine and Russia, but this clearly is going to demand more of him in the coming weeks - I hope he has people like Sam advising.
Lùcas M retweeted
Latest: Zelenskyy tells reporters over WhatsApp that restrictions on Ukraine's Starlink systems remain. Interceptor drones can't function, logistics and operations hobbled. The maximum speed is 161 kph; "exceeding this limit causes the Starlink connection to cut out completely, resulting in the loss of the drone."
He says Ukraine has done tests to determine whether SpaceX is truly facing technical issues, as has been told Kyiv by the US side, or if this is a "deliberate operation... to restrict us, cut us off, and prevent us from defending ourselves and protecting our people, both at the front and among the civilian population."
He says Ukraine "sent a couple of vehicles equipped with Starlink terminals into European Union territory."
"They moved at speeds exceeding 180kph, and the Starlink systems worked perfectly. We have the relevant logs and evidence to prove this."
He adds: "The conclusion is clear: the restrictions are in effect within Ukraine but do not apply within the European Union. In other words, this is a planned operation."
Lùcas M retweeted
"The Defector" - a 5,500-word espionage tale in today's WSJ that I can guarantee is worth your time.
I spent months speaking to one of the deadliest saboteurs in recent military history, a Russian officer who helped Kyiv kill hundreds of his fellow troops wsj.com/world/russian-defect…
No spoilers please 🥲🍀
On Sunday, Hearts play Celtic for the first time since *that* final day fixture.
@COPA90 & I were there for every second of it, where what we captured resulted in one of the most powerful documentaries we’ve ever made.
Once In A Lifetime: Hearts, out tomorrow on YouTube.
Good overview from @amenka on the policy constraints facing the Russian government as it prolongs its war.
At times bordering on the comically absurd (roaring CB rates -> debt financed deficit -> offset by taxes on… household savings interest).
carnegieendowment.org/russia…
