NB—I’m well aware of the dangers of what some refer to as “doomscrolling” and I usually manage to find the balance between ingesting the doom, processing it, and then trying to make sense of it in my writing. But over the last two weeks, for whatever reason, that ability has broken down. I’m working on a couple of longer-form research pieces, and they will be published soon, but I thought I’d get back on the horse and over the mental block by, well, doing this. By writing what I’ve been thinking without worrying too much about form or cohesiveness.

JM—To understand Putin, you must understand Russia. To understand Russia you must also look at a thousand years of history and how cultural behaviors evolved in literally hundreds of ethnic communities spread across the largest country in the world, responding to all kinds of challenges.

Despite ethnic discontinuities, including religious and linguistic differences, most Russians have in common social collectivism born of necessity that a harsh environment imposed on a largely agricultural society where people had to cooperate to survive, not only within their own villages but in concert with others.

DD—The conflict among the jury, which led to a mistrial, stemmed from a lack of consensus on the defendant’s state of mind at the time of the crime (0:47-0:53). The jury was split 11 to 1 in favor of an acquittal, with a single male juror refusing to agree with the others. This division was largely driven by the specific requirements of Massachusetts law regarding the insanity defense, or “lack of criminal responsibility.” Under this state’s law, the burden of proof is placed on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was sane and capable of understanding the difference between right and wrong at the time of the acts, rather than requiring the defense to prove insanity (11:34-12:15, 38:59-39:35). The lone juror likely held the belief that the prosecution had successfully met this burden of proof, while the remaining 11 jurors believed reasonable doubt remained regarding the defendant’s mental state due to her documented struggles with postpartum psychosis and heavy medication.

KK—During his stay in London, Wohlthat also had extensive discussions with Overseas Trade Secretary Robert Hudson, who told him “three big regions offered the two nations an immense field for economic activity.” This included the existing British Empire, China and the Soviet Union. “Here agreement was possible; as also in other regions,” including the Balkans, where “England had no economic ambitions.” In other words, resource-rich Yugoslavia would be Nazi Germany’s for the taking, under the terms of “world political partnership” with Britain.

JK—Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) has on its faculty, for example, Larry Diamond, the editor of the NED’s in-house Journal of Democracy, who was also a former senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq, and Francis Fukuyama, a neo-conservative ideologue and former State Department staffer who was on the NED’s Board, edited and frequently contributed to the NED journal and received the NED’s 2010 Democracy Service Medal.

At least seven additional faculty who teach at FSI are, or have been, affiliated with the NED,[3] including Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State during the Iraq War who served on the Journal of Democracy’s editorial board,[4] and Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia who currently sits on the Journal of Democracy’s editorial board.

INDRAJIT—World War III is a world war in slow motion. Unlike the daily, massed clashes of WW1/2, we get much more precise, often almost symbolic fighting taking place over decades. I date WW3 to when America Pearl Harbored itself in 2001. Since then is has been open war across the world, complete with multiple invasions and genocides, reaching its climax, inshallah, now.

Context (Skip if you like)

Like the Nazis, who romped pretty hard before breaking their teeth on West Asia, the White Empire was winning World War III until they also started multiple land wars in Asia. Now they’ve hit their Stalingrad in Gaza and are finally being pushed back on their heels. After failing to take Tehran, they have been pushed out of their Persian Gulf bases entirely and are fighting from their second offensive line, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.