There is a strand in American political thinking which is extraordinary stubborn, strong & wrong. It is to pretend that everything is a struggle for or against democracy when most of interstate conflicts are conflicts of dominance & national liberation.

"Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice." - William Arthur Ward

.David Frum nails it: "Ukraine is a melting pot; a multifaith, multicultural society; a society defined by liberal values. It claims something more than sympathy from the democratic world. It claims membership." theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"There's not enough Black leadership. There's not enough leadership from people of color." Pharrell Williams on increasing Black ownership in the music industry trib.al/W8YXzTO

Arctic sea ice could hit maximum extent ‘much earlier’ than usual theguardian.com/environment/20…

In Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, a bloody civil war is now in its 16th month. The fighting between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s forces and the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front seems at a standstill trib.al/rqGuQOf

Researchers from Belgium’s Ghent University estimate as many as half a million people have died so far: ➡️ Between 50,000 and 100,000 from the fighting ➡️ 150,000 to 200,000 from starvation ➡️ More than 100,000 from the lack of medical attention trib.al/gt5hVqD

Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State and a force of nature. She was a great friend of ours, all of us who covered the Balkans, and it is incredible to hear and remember her legacy when we're right in the middle of another fight in Europe… 1/

It's hard to over-state just how (potentially) prescient Madeleine Albright was about Putin's ambitions in this Feb. 23 essay, her last for New York Times Opinion nytimes.com/2022/02/23/opi…

BREAKING: Ukraine sinks into the ocean, unable to bear the weight of the massive, hulking balls of its people

2nd Lesson of the war. Nations are forged in war --if they prevail against the odds as the Americans did against the Brits, the Greeks against Xerxes at Salamis in 480, the Jews against Arab states in 1948 & the Ukraine is now doing, they are empowered to achieve great things

International law may be powerful against the powerless, but it is powerless against the powerful. The #Ukraine war has made that starkly apparent, notes Dr. Brahma Chellaney. bit.ly/3uerUfQ

BlackRock’s Fink says Ukraine war marks end of globalisation on.ft.com/3wupIne

“A demand for respect was very much driving the whole upwelling of voters that voted for Brexit and voted for Donald Trump” | Francis Fukuyama unherd.com/2022/03/this-w…

This indeed is an important point. When the US starts destructive and unnecessary wars, we have to be critical of it. but that’s precisely why we must do the same here. If you are so anti-US that you are finding excuses for Putin’s invasion, you are actually pro-war

Satellite data shows entire Conger ice shelf has collapsed in Antarctica theguardian.com/world/2022/mar…

Madeleine Albright has died at 84. She was a pioneering imperialist who passionately advocated greater use of deadly violence in pursuit of a US-dominated post–Cold War global order — and killed many, many people in the process. jacobinmag.com/2022/03/madele…

Have received a number of challenges and pushback to my equation of Putin's horrific Ukraine blunder with George W. Bush's Iraq one. Here’s my answer (forgive me: it’s a quiet morning) 1.

How sanctions are killing Russia? Russia's falling. Old sanctions of 2014 sabotaged development of new innovative weaponry. New sanctions of 2022 are undermining Russian military efforts, destroying its technological chains and communications lines, thus breaking country apart🧵