Via Consortium News, a link to commentary written for ScheerPost. — MCM

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The mess Democrats have made, by Patrick Lawrence | ScheerPost / Consortium News  At writing, we are 16 months from the 2024 presidential election. If a week is a long time in politics, there is too strong a chance that the interim upon us will prove one of awful eventfulness. In my read, the risk of brazen lawlessness in the upper reaches of power and, in consequence, a constitutional crisis, is now greater than at any point in the postwar period. It is time to brace ourselves against this eventuality. Is there any other plausible conclusion as things now stand? I do not see one. Two reasons: . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass, and to commentary from the Epoch Times; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Russia unleashes missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, retaliating for an attack on a tanker. From AP. KYIV — Russia unleashed a missile and drone barrage Sunday across parts of Ukraine that killed six people, Kyiv officials said, as Moscow followed through on its promise to retaliate for an attack on a Russian tanker. Separately, Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights early Sunday following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital. READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says U.S and German air defence systems ‘highly effective’, by Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * Zelenskiy says air defences helping Ukraine’s war effort * Russia launches more air strikes * Ukraine calls Jeddah talks productive; Russia says doomed | KYIV — Ukraine is seeing “significant results” from U.S. and German air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, despite waves of Russian air strikes that Kyiv says targeted civilians and residential buildings. Russia said it had shot down a drone heading for Moscow in the third such attack in a week, while officials on both sides . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says it has advanced 3 km in northeast Ukraine. From AFP. Russia said today its troops had advanced three kilometres (two miles) along the Kupiansk front in northeast Ukraine over the last three days, as it seeks to regain territories it lost earlier in its offensive. “Over the past three days, the advance of Russian troops… amounted to 11 kilometres along the front and more than three kilometres deep into the enemy’s defence,” Moscow’s defence ministry said. READ MORE . . .

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Russian army hits Ukraine’s drone command center east of Makarovka — Defense Ministry. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia’s battle group East has wiped out a temporary deployment site of Ukrainian militants in the Ugledar district, manpower in the Uglesborochnaya district and a drone command center, the group’s spokesman Oleg Chekhov has said. “Howitzer . . . READ MORE . . .

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The terrifying timeliness of Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer,’ by Roger L. Simon | The Epoch Times I went to see “Oppenheimer” on July 24 and, despite a few longeurs, I was riveted by it. The bomb “Oppy” was building, and nuclear weapons in general, as we well know, are as close or closer to being used today than ever since World War II because of the endless war in Ukraine. READ MORE . . .

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TO BE CONTINUED

A column in last Wednesday’s New York Times has touched a nerve. Among those who responded are a writer in Australia and one in Boston, the authors of the first two articles linked below. A link to the Times column follows. (Scroll further down or click HERE for today’s first entry.) — MCM

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Mainstream journalists, by Caitlin Johnstone | caitlinjohnstone.com.au  Iraq war cheerleader David Brooks’ article in The New York Times, “What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?” is another one of those tired old think pieces we’ve been seeing for the last eight years that asks, “Golly gosh could we coastal elites have played some role in the rise of Trumpism?” One worthwhile paragraph about the media stands out though: “Over the last decades we’ve taken over whole professions and locked everybody else out. When I began . . . READ MORE . . .

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‘Elites’ started killing newspapers decades ago, by Howie Carr | Boston Herald  Newspapers ain’t what they used to be, but it wasn’t only the Internet, wokeness and coronavirus that ruined them beyond repair. The Beautiful People started destroying newspapers long before any of the above catastrophes. And finally, David Brooks, a typical product of the . . . READ MORE . . .

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What if we’re the bad guys here? by David Brooks | The New York Times  I ask you to try on a vantage point in which we anti-Trumpers are not the eternal good guys. In fact, we’re the bad guys. This story begins in the 1960s, when high school grads had to go off to fight in Vietnam, but the children of the educated class got college deferments. It continues in the 1970s, when the authorities imposed busing on working-class areas in Boston, but not on the upscale communities like Wellesley where they themselves lived. The ideal that . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, a link to commentary from the Kyiv Post. — MCM

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Overnight airstrikes kill three in Ukraine as Moscow airport halts flights after foiled drone attack. From AP. KYIV — Three people have died during a night of air strikes and intense shelling across Ukraine, officials said today, while Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital. READ MORE . . .

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Russia says hit airbases in western Ukraine. From AFP. Russia said today that its forces struck military airbases in the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne regions in western Ukraine and that “all targets were hit.” Ukraine said it faced several waves of attacks . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia officials say Ukraine hit Donetsk university with cluster shells. From Reuters. * This content was produced in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations | DONETSK — Flames engulfed a university building’s wooden roof in Donetsk following Ukrainian shelling on Saturday, said an emergency official in the Russia-controlled city in eastern Ukraine. “As a result . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia strikes Ukraine blood center, aeronautics group – Zelensky. From AFP. Moscow escalated its attacks in Ukraine on Saturday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing a deadly strike on a blood transfusion centre as a “war crime.” A separate strike struck a key aeronautics factory, both attacks coming just hours after Kyiv hit a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait. “Rescue . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian troops repel eight Ukraine’s attacks in Kupyansk area in past day — top brass. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Russian military have continued to improve the tactical situation in their areas of responsibility in the Kupyansk area in the past 24 hours, repelling eight attacks by Ukrainian troops, Defense Ministry spokesman Lt .Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. “In the Kupyansk area, assault units of the battlegroup West continued . . . READ MORE . . .

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How Washington misunderstood Putin, by Anders Aslund | The Kyiv Post  In 2021, current CIA head and Biden administration Cabinet member William J. Burns published his highly acclaimed memoir, The Back Channel: American Diplomacy in a Disordered World. Given his current prominence, I have just finished reading it to try to figure out where he actually stands on Russia and Ukraine. The book is substantial. Burns spells out his views in uncommon clarity. But the more I read, the more disappointed I became by his . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

For today, links to reports from Reuters, Tass, and National Public Radio, followed by a link to commentary from the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Russian tanker hit by sea drone near Crimea Bridge. From Reuters. A sea drone attack damaged a Russian tanker near the strategic bridge linking Russia to the annexed peninsula of Crimea, Russian authorities said today. Russian media said the SIG vessel, approaching the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, was hit by Ukrainian drones. Ukraine’s Interfax agency , citing an unnamed Ukrainian security service source, also said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Drone boat detected in open sea near Sevastopol, says governor. From Tass. SEVASTOPOL — A drone boat has been detected in the open sea near Sevastopol, the Russian forces are now taking measures to destroy it, the city’s governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said. “In the maritime zone of Sevastopol, in the open sea, the Navy has detected a drone boat, which . . . READ MORE . . .

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Saudi Arabia is hosting a peace conference. Russia isn’t invited. Reported by Scott Simon and Michelle Kelemen | NPR  The conference is this weekend. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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How the use of drones in Ukraine has changed war as we know it. Reported by Scott Simon of NPR speaks with military analyst Kelly Grieco about how the use of drones in the war in Ukraine is changing the very nature of war. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Russia’s war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere, by Jim Heintz | AP  TALLINN, Estonia — On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. And far from the fighting, a related and just as disorienting miasma afflicts those who seek to understand what’s happening in the vast war. Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED

First, a link to an essay published yesterday by its author on Substack. Next, added this evening, a link to an Associated Press report from yesterday, and links two opinion pieces from yesterday’s New York Times, the first by a former chief of the fraud and public corruption section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, and the second by a Times columnist; both are accessible for readers with Times subscriptions or free accounts or who can read the newspaper in a public library or borrow a copy. (Scroll down for today’s previous entry.) — MCM

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‘Happy Indictment Day!: In a deep blue state, recoiling from the celebrations, by Naomi Wolf | Outspoken with Dr Naomi Wolf  “Happy Indictment Day!” shouted the neighbor of my host, as my host and I sat out on a balcony. The neighbor was emerging from a car, three stories below us. The man was certain that everyone who was in earshot of his joyous shout, agreed with his sentiments. He witnessed my silence. “Don’t you agree?” he goaded . . . READ MORE . . .

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Pence fought an order to testify but now is a central figure in his former boss’s indictment, by Jill Colvin | AP  NEW YORK —Mike Pence fought the Department of Justice in court to try to avoid testifying against his former boss. But the former vice president plays a central role in a new federal indictment unsealed Tuesday that outlines the first criminal charges against Donald Trump connected to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The 45-page indictment is informed, in part, by contemporaneous notes that Pence kept of their conversations in the days . . . READ MORE . . .

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What makes Jack Smith’s case* so smart, by Randall D. Eliason | The New York Times  This is the indictment that those whowere horrified by the events of Jan. 6, 2021, have been waiting for. The catalog of misdeeds that Donald Trump is accused of is extensive, some reflected in other prosecutions over classified documents and hush-money payments or in civil lawsuits . . . READ MORE with a Times subscription or free account . . .

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Part thriller, part whodunnit: This filing is a must-read, by Charles M. Blow | The New York Times  The indictment isn’t a pleasant read, but it’s surprisingly readable. It isn’t entertainment, but it’s a must-read document detailing one of the gravest threats the country has ever faced from a president. It most . . . READ MORE with a Times subscription or free account . . .

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* Read about Jack Smith HERE.

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Reuters, the Moscow Times, the Kyiv Post, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, via Popular Resistance, a link to an interview published by the Grayzone on Tuesday. (The second entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM

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Ukrainian official says drones hit naval ship in Russian port. It’s the latest attack inside Russia, by Hanna Arhirova and Emma Burrows | AP  KYIV — Ukrainian sea drones attacked a major Russian port on the Black Sea today, damaging a naval ship, according to a Ukrainian official, the latest in a series of strikes inside Russia as Kyiv vowed to bring the fight home to them. Moscow claimed it repelled the attack. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it thwarted another attack overnight in Crimea, taking down 13 drones. . . . READ MORE . . .

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UN Security Council talks global food supply as Russia attacks Ukraine agriculture. Reported by Michele Kelemen | NPR  Secretary of State Antony Blinken used a meeting at the security council to call out Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s agriculture sector, warning that the rest of the world is paying the price. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Ukraine’s Zelenskiy decries ‘revolting’ practices at recruitment centres. From Reuters. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday decried “revolting” practices exposed during an audit of Ukraine’s military recruitment centres and pledged to fix the system by placing in charge people who understood the meaning of war. Zelenskiy has expressed indignation at corruption uncovered during the audit last month after . . . READ MORE . . .

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8.5K Russian Airborne troops have been wounded in Ukraine, commander says. From the Moscow Times. At least 8,500 members of the Russian Airborne Forces have been wounded in the year and a half since Russia invaded Ukraine, the elite troops’ commander said Wednesday. Airborne Forces commander Mikhail Teplinsky disclosed the figures . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine to deploy robots against Russian troops, by Pete Shmigel | The Kyiv Post  Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Gavrylov revealed this week that the country is now prioritizing the creation of “battle robots” – or unmanned logistics platforms for evacuating injured troops. READ MORE . . .

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Zelensky’s ‘formula’ disregards future of millions of Russians, world should know — Lavrov. From Tass. MOSCOW — “All the countries that the West is courting to push ‘Zelensky’s formula’ definitely need to understand that these people’s future is at stake as the Kiev regime has openly threatened to destroy them,” Russian Foreign Minister Serey Lavrov was quoted as saying about initiatives aimed at resolving the Ukrainian crisis. “The need to put an end to these neo-Nazi threats is clear. However . . . READ MORE . . .

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Mearsheimer: Ukraine war is a long-term danger. Aaron Maté of The Grayzone speaks with John Mearsheimer on the state of the Ukraine proxy war and the dangers ahead. Mearsheimer is R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, a political political scientist and international relations scholar. Click HERE for video and text. (Additionally, Maté links to Mearsheimer’s essay titled “The Darkness Ahead: Where the Ukraine war is Headed,” published on Substack on June 23.)

For today, links to reports from the Associated Press, the Moscow Times, Reuters, and Tass, followed by a link to commentary from the Kyiv Post; other articles from these organizations are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Russian shelling hits a landmark church in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, by Hanna Arhirova | AP  KYIV — Russian shelling today damaged a landmark church in the city of Kherson that once held the remains of the renowned 18th-century commander who exerted Russian control through the southeast parts of modern Ukraine and annexed the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine’s emergency service said four of its workers were wounded in a second round of shelling as they fought the fire at St. Catherine’s Cathedral. Four other . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says downed 6 Ukrainian drones near Moscow. From the Moscow Times. Russian air defense systems shot down six Ukrainian drones outside Moscow, Russia’s military and regional authorities said today. The drones were intercepted while attempting to “fly through” western Russia’s Kaluga region overnight, according to Kaluga Governor Vladislav . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says Russians fail to advance but are well dug in. From Reuters. Russian forces have made no headway along the front lines, but are entrenched in heavily mined areas they control, making it difficult for Ukrainian troops to move east and south, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday. Russian accounts . . . READ MORE . . .

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Kiev deploys 8,000 troops to Orekhov area in Zaporozhye Region, says regional official. From Tass. MELITOPOL — The Ukrainian military deployed some 8,000 troops to the area of Orekhov and Gulyaipole in the Zaporozhye direction, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together with Russia public movement, said today. In that frontline area, the enemy has . . . READ MORE . . .

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The West needs to keep the Black Sea open, by Hans Petter Midttun | The Kyiv Post  The Black Sea Grain Initiative became a necessity because of Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its massive and targeted attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, its maritime blockade of Ukraine, its harassment of and attacks on civilian shipping, its minelaying, communications jamming, electronic interference and cyber-attacks in the Black Sea. The grain deal was terminated on July 17 supposedly . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse; others are accessible by clicking on their names and initials below. Finally, two pieces of commentary, the first from the New York Post and the second, via Consortium News, from ScheerPost; they are presented chronologically as published last month. — MCM

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Russian drone strikes on the Odesa region cause fires at port near Romania, by Hanna Arhirova | AP  KYIV — Russian troops hit port infrastructure in southern Ukraine with Shahed drones near the border with NATO member Romania overnight, the Ukrainian military and prosecutor-general’s office said today, damaging a grain elevator and causing a fire at facilities that transport the country’s crucial grain exports. The prosecutor-general’s office said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Torture, sexual violence commonly used by Russian forces in Ukraine, say experts, by Anthony Deutsch | Reuters  AMSTERDAM — A large number of prisoners held in makeshift detention centres in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine were tortured and sexually violated, a team of international experts said today in a summary of their latest findings. The Mobile Justice Team, established by the international humanitarian law firm Global Rights Compliance, has . . . READ MORE . . .

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Romania says Russian attacks on Ukraine Danube infrastructure ‘unacceptable.’ From AFP. Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis today called Russia’s repeated attacks on Ukraine’s Danube infrastructure near Romania “unacceptable”, after Moscow struck the southern region of Odesa including vital ports used to export grain. “Russia’s continued . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Joe Biden bribe allegations need a special counsel, now, by Miranda Devine | The New York Post  Did the FBI even try to retrieve the 17 covert recordings of Joe and Hunter Biden and two “documents” that allegedly show that Mykola Zlochevsky, owner of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, was “paying the Bidens to ensure Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was fired.? Despite Washington Post reports to the contrary, Shokin . . . READ MORE . . .

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The Bidens’ Burisma bribery, by Patrick Lawrence | ScheerPost / Consortium News  I wasn’t even finished reading the Post piece before I began to wonder, how will The New York Times play this one? The Times prefers to pretend revelations of this kind involving the president, his administration, law enforcement or any major Democratic Party figure never occurred. So . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Drone hits tower housing Russian ministries for second time in three days. From Reuters. * This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine. | MOSCOW — A high-rise building in Moscow’s business district that houses three Russian government ministries was struck by a drone for the second time in three days today, in what Russia called an attempted Ukrainian “terrorist attack”. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said Moscow should expect . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says repelled attack on Black Sea patrol boats. From AFP. Russia said today that it has repelled an overnight Ukrainian drone attack targeting its patrol boats in the Black Sea. Last week, Russia said it had repelled another drone attack on the ‘Sergei Kotov’ patrol boat. . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian assault team destroys two Ukrainian army companies near Krasny Liman — officer. From Tass. LUGANSK — A Russian assault team destroyed over two Ukrainian army companies during five-day battles in the Krasny Liman area in the special military operation in Ukraine, assaulT team commander with the call sign Katun said today. The Russian assault team also wiped out several pieces of the enemy armor, he added. . . . READ MORE . . .

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MAY BE CONTINUED