In This Story
From Ms. Magazine:
Rape Rhetoric and Russia’s War on Ukraine
Those who enact state violence also often employ rape rhetoric. Two weeks before giving the order to invade Ukraine, Putin was reported to have made reference to a joke about marital rape, saying, “It’s your duty, my beauty” when he spoke of compelling President Zelinsky to comply with the Minsk agreements.
—Bonnie Stabile
From Foreign Policy:
What Happens When White People Become a Minority in America?
If present trends continue, it will take another generation before the majority-minority milestone is reached in the United States, and a couple more for Canada and Australia. Before that takes place, we can learn from the successes and struggles of the societies that have experienced these milestones.
—Justin Gest
From Foreign Policy:
6 Things NATO Can Do to Help Ukraine Right Now
Each option would be far less escalatory than a no-fly zone and would provide Ukraine’s military forces with quick and valuable assistance. They are based on compelling historical precedents and would allow NATO to manage risks by exploiting the very gray zone tactics pundits have long treated as the exclusive domain of its adversaries.
—Michael Huneker, et al.
From the Washington Post:
How the Left Can Embrace Nationalism While Maintaining Its Values
The historian Benedict Anderson famously wrote that “nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness; it invents nations where they do not exist.” In the face of America’s demographic change and division, liberals must invent the nation anew.
—Justin Gest
From Syndication Bureau:
Ukraine Conflict Complicates Final Phase of Iran Nuclear Talks
It is still unclear if domestic politics in Washington or, to a lesser degree, in Tehran, will present further obstacles to the restoration of the agreement.
—Ellen Laipson
From Cyber Security Intelligence:
The Limits of Social Media Soft Power
In the final analysis, the best that social media can do right now is continue to provide justification and support to arming Ukraine to better fight in the other dimensions. But, make no mistake, as vital as that is, it will not stop a determined and ruthless enemy from its goal.
—Ronald Marks
From the Washington Post:
Virginia’s Legislature Was Built for Agrarian Times. Is It Time for an Update?
Virginia has outgrown a lawmaking methodology created for yesteryear’s drowsy Southern farming state with a smaller, more homogenous populace.
—Mark J. Rozell
From the Hill:
The Russian Military Should Overthrow Putin—for Russia’s Sake and Its Own
Ordinarily, America and the West deplore military takeovers. But in this case, they are likely to welcome it, especially if the new leader called a halt to the Russian invasion, began to pull troops out, turned Putin over to the International Criminal Court for trial as a war criminal, and made good-faith efforts to make peace with Ukraine through internationally sponsored peace negotiations.
—Mark N. Katz
From Inkstick:
Sending Weapons to Ukraine Could Have Unintended Consequences
Russia’s invasion will likely make any future efforts to track these weapons a hornet’s nest, which is only worsened by the obliterated markings on and unreported theft of weapons. Regardless, a holistic assessment is clearly needed and there are two key areas that must change.
—Jordan Cohen
From the Washington Post:
Ukraine Presents a Wrinkle for the GOP Challenging Virginia’s Members of Congress
Though it’s fair to point out where Biden has fallen short on Ukraine, Republicans best be prepared to state clearly where they stand and how they would do things differently.
—Mark J. Rozell
From Ms. Magazine:
Misogyny’s Gatekeeping Role at Judge Jackson’s Supreme Court Nomination Hearings
The sexist treatment of Jackson serves as both a display of dominance on the part of aggressive questioners and a possible attempt on their part to goad her into responding emotionally or angrily—which would play into sexist stereotypes of women as hormonal or hysterical, undercutting perceptions of her ability to exercise judicial forbearance.
—Bonnie Stabile
From the Hill:
How Congress Needs to Oversee Ukraine
Moreover, the ability to get inside a dictator’s head is damned hard. These guys don’t have an enormous group of “friends” to tap. They play their cards close and might even not know themselves what they will do. Please do not try to psycho-analyze them from a distance. Pop psychology simply does not work.
—Ronald Marks
From the Hill:
Will the U.S. Continue to Play a Leadership Role?
That’s the key political question raised by the Ukraine crisis. The answer depends, more than anything else, on U.S. domestic politics.
—Bill Schneider
From the Hill:
Why America’s Middle Eastern Allies Haven’t Condemned Russia’s War in Ukraine
America’s Middle Eastern allies may also calculate that their actions accommodating Russia will not hurt their ties to America—either out of the conviction that America needs them more than they need America, or because of their belief that there is strong American domestic support for them despite any cooperation with Russia.
—Mark N. Katz
From Homeland Security Today:
How Autocrats Exploit the Definition of Terrorism for Their Own Purposes
Domestic politics also prompt authoritarian leaders to use terrorism for self-serving purposes. These leaders intentionally label their opposition as terrorists and use state-run media outlets to shape the minds of the people they govern.
—Mahmut Cengiz
From the Hill:
What Ukraine Shows Us About American Politics
The American political tradition is deeply anti-authoritarian (“Don’t tread on me”), which explains why Putin gets so little support from the American public. But the radical right, which came to power with Donald Trump in 2017, includes a fringe element that sometimes expresses authoritarian sentiments.
—Bill Schneider
From the Hill:
Chattering class and rumor aside, don’t count on any popular uprisings or palace coups.
—Ronald Marks
From the National Interest:
Why Russia Upended the Iran Deal Talks, and Then Backed Down
But having done so, Moscow would not be displeased if the JCPOA negotiations broke down as a result of irreconcilable Iranian-American differences. Indeed, renewed Iranian-American tensions would undoubtedly be welcome in Moscow if they distracted the West from its current focus on the war in Ukraine.
—Mark N. Katz
From the Hill:
What’s Fueling the ‘New Cold War’—in Russia and at Home
A new Cold War could have a big impact on American politics. It might help resolve the country’s bitter political polarization, just as it did in the 1950s and early 1960s. So far at least, Democrats and Republicans do not seem to be deeply divided over Russian aggression.
—Bill Schneider
From Inside Higher Ed:
Unprofessional and Fundamentally Corrupt
After gasping, I then let out a shriek. Was I reading correctly that their dissertation chairs were actually the first author on all but one of the co-authored chapters?
—James Finkelstein
From the National Interest:
Blame It on Lenin: What Putin Gets Wrong About Ukraine
Putin, though, did not provide a full account of why Lenin created ethnic republics inside the new post-Soviet revolutionary state that arose from the collapse of the Tsarist Empire. In fact, Lenin did this to try to resolve a problem that still confronts Russia.
—Mark N. Katz
From War on the Rocks:
The View of Ukraine from Taiwan: Get Real About Territorial Defense
We come at this with unique perspectives. One of us commanded Taiwan’s military, and the other is a close analyst of the country’s security affairs and a veteran of the invasion of Iraq. Based on our experiences, we lay out the case for such an organization, and why it can enhance deterrence, below.
—Michael Hunzeker and Adm. (Ret.) Lee Hsi-Min
From La República:
El Clamor Popular: Que Se Vayan Todos
For their part, the president's defenders deny the accusations of corruption and claim the need to defend the rule of law. The president himself has called for the democratic charter to be invoked in the face of what he considers a coup attempt, without clarifying the serious accusations against him and his closest collaborators.
—Jo-Marie Burt
From La República:
La Crisis No Es Coyuntural, Es Sistémica
In Peru, it is time for citizens to speak out and make their voices heard, as they did in 2000 against the illegal and fraudulent re-election of Alberto Fujimori and in November 2020 against the usurper government of Manuel Merino, to demand the change in the political and economic system that Peru needs.
—Jo-Marie Burt
From the Sentinel:
Climate Investments Will Spur the Economy and Improve National Security
As a former Naval officer, I understand how climate change can pose a significant national security threat, and the entire U.S. intelligence community has confirmed this. If left unchecked, climate change will cause a scarcity of resources that could lead to exacerbated geopolitical tensions and instability.
—Joel Hicks
From the American Conservative:
The U.S. Must Monitor Arms Sales
Failing to oversee these transactions is both negligent and renders the U.S. complicit in homicide. Central America’s Northern Triangle—Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador—contains 47 of the 50 cities with the most murders in the world.
—Jordan Cohen
From Homeland Security Today:
Should the Houthis Have Remained on U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations List?
The debate about whether the Houthis should be designated as an FTO also is likely to continue. How the United States will respond is unclear, even though the Houthis clearly meet the Department of State’s legal criteria for designation as an FTO.
—Mahmut Cengiz