JD Vance Speaks at Rod Dreher’s ‘Live Not by Lies’ Screening in DC + More

Economic Manuscripts: Marx: Capital Vol. 3 Ch. 36

JD Vance Speaks at Rod Dreher’s ‘Live Not by Lies’ Screening in DC

“The ruling elite of the societies have become actively hostile to some of the very ideas that those countries were founded on in the first place,” Vance said before an audience of about 100 people at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. In addition to Vance’s speech, the by-invitation-only event featured a screening and discussion of the first episode of the film series Live Not by Lies released April 1, by Angel Studios.

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Pentagon Appointee Opposes ‘Belligerent Military Initiatives’ Aimed at China

The Pentagon official tasked with overseeing U.S. defense policy toward Southeast Asia recently advised against pursuing hawkish defense policies and a major trade war against China, a marked contrast with top Trump appointees.

John Andrew Byers, a longtime history professor who oversaw the Charles Koch philanthropic network’s grants promoting libertarian foreign policy stances at universities, was sworn in this week as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia — a role that immediately thrusts him to the center of America’s response to China’s ongoing military pressure campaign targeting the Philippines, with which Washington holds a mutual defense treaty.

Pentagon Appointee Opposes ‘Belligerent Military Initiatives’ Aimed at China

Related:

Lowy Institute: Trump’s grand bargain? The Philippines caught between US and China by Richard Heydarian

CGS non-resident fellow Andrew Byers co-authors article with The American Conservative

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia: Andrew Byers

Trump Suspends Funding to the National Endowment for Democracy

Full video

The Trump administration has frozen funding to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a US-funded organization that meddles in elections and pushes regime change around the world in the name of “promoting democracy.”

According to The Free Press, an order from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to the US Treasury Department that blocked the disbursement of funds to the NED has crippled the organization’s activities.

Trump Suspends Funding to the National Endowment for Democracy

He’s going to fold it into the State Department, just like he did with USAID (see NED document)!

Journalist to American publication: Ukrainian media antagonize the UOC

A common theme in journalist Flavius Mihăies’s investigation into the religious situation in Ukraine was the role of the media and social networks in fostering antagonism toward the UOC. This is discussed in an article on The American Conservative’s website.

Journalist to American publication: Ukrainian media antagonize the UOC

Related:

The US has a long history of interfering in the Orthodox Church

‘Responsible Statecraft’: What does Ukraine’s incursion into Russia really mean?

‘Responsible Statecraft’, a publication of analysis, opinion, and news that seeks to promote a positive vision of U.S. foreign policy based on humility, diplomatic engagement, and military restraint, asked some experts to gauge the short and long term effects of Kyiv’s bold invasion on the war.

‘Responsible Statecraft’: What does Ukraine’s incursion into Russia really mean?

Orban’s Political Longevity: Hatred from EU Bigwigs Makes Him Popular at Home + Who is Orban’s CHALLENGER? A NEW Navalny.

Tens of thousands march in Budapest against Orban. Who is Orban’s CHALLENGER? A NEW Navalny.

The recent “protests” against Orban in Budapest were a storm in a teacup. Although less than 0.01 percent of Hungary’s population participated, they made the front pages in the mainstream press. What was behind them? Eurocrats’ fear of Orban’s chairmanship at the EU Council of Ministers, which starts in July, and his call for dialogue with Russia.

Orban’s Political Longevity: Hatred from EU Bigwigs Makes Him Popular at Home

I’ll try to look into this more, later.

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Hiroshima, Nagasaki Bombings Were Needless, Said World War II’s Top US Military Leaders

“Three-year old Shinichi Tetsutani, burned as he was riding this tricycle when the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima, died a painful death that night (Hiroki Kobayashi/National Geographic)”

The anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki present an opportunity to demolish a cornerstone myth of American history — that those twin acts of mass civilian slaughter were necessary to bring about Japan’s surrender, and spare a half-million US soldiers who’d have otherwise died in a military conquest of the empire’s home islands.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki Bombings Were Needless, Said World War II’s Top US Military Leaders