“I have never found anybody who could stand to accept the daily demonstrative love I feel in me, and give back as good as I give.” - Sylvia Plath, Journals
“We’re really in somewhat uncharted waters. And this is why many of the traditional market indicators, the yield curve, the leading economic indicators, have not worked in this cycle, just because we've been overwhelmed with so much monetary and fiscal stimulus,” Chang said. - Bloomberg
The more the mouthpieces shout that "we're winning," the clearer it is that we're losing. Lying is their craft. We need to get used to that. Life is less secure than before October 7. The beating we took will sting for years to come. The international ostracism won't go away. And, of course, the dead won't be coming back. Nor will many of the hostages. - Haaretz
POLICE HAVE DETAINED two teenage girls and a boy in western Germany on suspicions they were planning an Islamist attack, prosecutors say. The trio, aged from 15 to 16, are “strongly suspected of planning an Islamist-motivated terror attack and of having committed to carrying it out”, prosecutors said in a statement. - The Journal
Idaho man arrested for planning attacks on churches in support of ISIS: Alexander Mercurio, 18, was arrested on Saturday on charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS
In hysterical neurosis the body becomes ill through fear of being ill, and without really being so. - Lacan
“One day corporations will own the entirety of this province’s (Saskatchewan) farmland,” tweeted Kyle Anderson, a molecular biologist. “We will return to the feudal Lords, Barons and Dukes profiting from doing nothing but owning the land, while Saskatchewan peasants toil at low wage & insecure jobs on their estates. - Land Grabs Canada
Russian influence looms large in Western discourse on the Sahel, and now informs U.S. policy and decision-making in places like Niger. This is a mistake. Outsized focus on Russia misunderstands the scale and scope of Moscow’s presence. More importantly, it ignores longstanding patterns of governance and denies the role of Africans in emerging pro-sovereignty movements and political blocs.Neither the U.S. nor Russia are in a position to force Africans to choose sides, efforts to do so will only result in rebuke. - Responsible Statecraft
China imposed sanctions on Thursday against two US defence companies for their alleged arms sales to Taiwan, which China considers its own territory. The sanctions include freezing the assets of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems held in China as well as barring their management from entering the country. - Economic War
Long-Term Investments Pay Dividends in Ukraine: MEDIA REFORM AMID POLITICAL UPHEAVAL WORKING PAPER
English-language Opinion Festival panel on how to deal with misinformation: On the Friday evening, a panel, featuring top diplomats, civil servants and military personnel had taken a dive into the transformation of the Baltic Sea into a "NATO lake", following the progress made on the accession process for both Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, and the implications of the new member states contribution to NATO and the region.
Georgian media suggested that the West is using Ukraine and Georgia to weaken Russia and that the West does not seek peace in these countries. Narratives implied that Georgian policy is influenced by external pressure and therefore actually contradicts national interests. The media also asserted that the West, with the support of Ukrainian officials, encouraged Georgia to engage in military conflict by opening a "second front" against Russia. The implication of these narratives is that the West is willing to sacrifice Ukraine and Georgia in order to achieve its political and economic objectives. - Ukraine Disinfo Working Group
US faces missile supply shortage for Ukraine's Patriot air defense systems
Ukraine says there are more than 100 Patriot air-defense systems its allies could spare if they wanted: Kuleba said during a recent NATO meeting in Brussels: "I'm sorry to spoil the birthday party, but who can believe that the mightiest military alliance in the world cannot find seven batteries of Patriots to provide them to the only country in the world that is fighting ballistic attacks every day?"
The Patriot is a missile air defense system that can reach aerial targets up to 66,000 feet. It's a highly sought-after defense system that costs $1.1 billion each
“I am deeply skeptical that Patriot has ever intercepted a long-range ballistic missile in combat—at the least, I have yet to see convincing unclassified evidence of a successful Patriot intercept,” wrote Jeffrey Lewis in his 2018 review of the Patriot’s performance in Gulf combat. - Defense One
“You can’t be asking the American taxpayer to make even greater public investments while you continue, in some cases, to goose your stock prices through stock buybacks, deferring promised capital investments, and other accounting maneuvers that, to some, seem to prioritize stock prices that drive executive compensation rather than making the needed, fundamental investments in the industrial base, in your own companies, at a time when our nation needs us to be at all-ahead flank,” he said. “Through initiatives like the Taxpayer Advocacy Project, I have directed our contract community and the Office of General Counsel to ensure that we will leverage all legal means at our disposal to ensure that the American people are also getting what they paid for,” he added….Shipbuilder HII this month reported revenue rose 13 percent to $3.2 billon in the fourth quarter of 2023 from the same period a year earlier, as operating income almost tripled to $312 million. General Dynamics said it earned $1 billion, or $3.64 per diluted share, on revenue of $11.7 billion, the highest quarterly EPS and revenue in company history.