Let’s figure this out. My raw material is Time magazine’s June 24, 2024, cover story (here). It’s mostly about foreign policy; I can only quote short excerpts, for space and fair use reasons, and encourage you to read the entire article linked above. It begins, “During his 40[...]
Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category
Is Biden senile?
Foreign policy …
… is the most important task a president does. It’s literally about war and peace. But this poses a conundrum, because presidential campaigns are waged and won or lost on domestic issues; politics is very much a “what will you do for me” affair. (The softer and more polite wa[...]
Fact-checking Trump’s CPAC lies
Journalist, pesky creatures they are, like to fact-check political speeches. CNN says Trump delivered a “doozy” at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington D.C. on Saturday, March 4, 2023 (see story here). By now, his M.O. is familiar: Portray America as a post-a[...]
Map of Russian gas pipelines to Europe
(Source: CNN; click to enlarge.) Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
What the heck is going on in Britain?
In a nutshell, Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party prime minister, was run out of office by a series of scandals; and his replacement, Liz Truss, is incompetent and faces eviction from No. 10 Downing Street (Britain’s equivalent of the White House) after fumbling economic policy. BritainR[...]
Should Biden invite Trump to the Queen’s funeral?
It looks like Trump wants to be photographed at the Queen’s funeral. He’s furiously posting photos of himself with her when she was alive (e.g. photo below; see story here). There are three ways he can attend: (1) With the official U.S. delegation, (2) by invitation, or (3) gatecrashing.[...]
Why Venice is smaller than Bellingham
Venice, Italy (pop. 50,011) has lost 70% of its population, and now has barely half as many permanent residents as Bellingham, Washington (pop. 92,289 as of 2021), a city that has grown despite loss of the big and smelly toilet paper factory that used to be there. (The whole city smelled like sulfur[...]
Yale study says Russia sanctions are working as intended
“No path out of economic oblivion for Russia as sanctions crush Putin’s regime,” the Raw Story headline reads (story here). That conclusion is the result of a study by a Yale professor in business management (c.v. here) who advises CEOs and U.S. presidents. He’s not a neutral[...]
U.K.’s 2050 climate is here now
“Two years ago,” CNN reports, “forecasters in the UK conducted an interesting thought experiment: What will our forecasts look like in 2050?” Meteorologists at the U.K.’s official weather agency produced “super long-range climate models in the sum[...]
How Biden could have prevented high gas prices
He couldn’t have prevented the years of low oil prices and cheap gas that gutted oil company profits. (For example, Exxon’s profit dropped from $32.5 billion in 2014 to $7.8 billion in 2018, and the company lost $22.4 billion in 2020.) That was engineered by Saudi Arabia to kill off the [...]