Tag: New York Times

Jeffrey Sachs: Bipartisan Support of War, from Iraq to Ukraine, Is Helping Fuel U.S. Debt Crisis

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The United States faces a default on its debt in early June if a deal on the debt ceiling is not reached between the Biden administration and Republicans in Congress before then. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pushing for sweeping budget cuts and new work requirements for recipients of government programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and SNAP. Notably, however, neither Republicans nor Democrats are proposing cuts to one of the biggest drivers of the nation’s debt: the massive U.S. military budget. “We’ve got to get this military-industrial lobby under control, but it’s hard to do, because it’s a bipartisan affair,” says our guest, economist Jeffrey Sachs, whose recent article is headlined “America’s Wars and the US Debt Crisis.”

Jeffrey Sachs: Bipartisan Support of War, from Iraq to Ukraine, Is Helping Fuel U.S. Debt Crisis

Previously:

The War in Ukraine Was Provoked—and Why That Matters to Achieve Peace

This Year’s G7 Summit Doubles as a Club for Unloved Leaders

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Leaders of the Group of 7 are in hot water of domestic discontent for different reasons but their shared struggles highlight the fragility of free societies in a time of deep political and cultural divisions, says an article published by New York Times on Saturday.

G7 summit becomes club for unloved leaders: media

Related:

This Year’s G7 Summit Doubles as a Club for Unloved Leaders

Biden proposes $1 trillion in social spending cuts after announcing $375 million more for war in Ukraine

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

At a press conference Sunday following the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, President Joe Biden called on Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to meet face to face to revive talks on a bipartisan plan to slash social spending in return for raising the nation’s debt ceiling and averting a default.

Biden proposes $1 trillion in social spending cuts after announcing $375 million more for war in Ukraine

Ukraine colonel dismisses reports that Russians are poorly equipped as ‘more TikTok propaganda than reality’

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ukraine colonel dismisses reports that Russians are poorly equipped as ‘more TikTok propaganda than reality’

In the midst of these back-and-forth battles, reports circulated that Russian fighters were poorly equipped. Ukrainian [Neo-Nazi] Col. Andriy Biletsky, however, now says those claims are “more TikTok propaganda than reality.”

“The enemy is ready,” Biletsky, the commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade told The New York Times. “They are well personally equipped, armed, they have means of communication, good armored vehicles and a very good system of unmanned aerial vehicles.”

H/T: Emil Cosman

Biden Is Letting Think Tanks and Dodgy Foreign Funders Get Cozy Again

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

At some point over the past few years, the Biden administration revoked one of the few progressive policies that Trump-era officials implemented in the effort to bring greater transparency to foreign influence in Washington. The New Republic has learned that with little fanfare, and with even less explanation, the White House has stopped requesting that American think tanks disclose funding from foreign governments. “This is not the policy of the U.S. State Department,” an agency spokesperson said last month.

Biden Is Letting Think Tanks and Dodgy Foreign Funders Get Cozy Again (archived)