Ceasefire Negotiations, Putin’s Re-election, & Elon’s Spy Satellites
March 18, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Monday! Today, we’re talking about Trump’s alarming speech, the Middle East, Russia’s elections, Niger ending an agreement with the U.S., how GOP members feel about the state of the party, and Elon Musk’s spy satellites.
Here’s some good news: Vaughan Gething won the Welsh Labour Party leadership contest this weekend, making him the first Black leader of a government in the U.K. Also, Tarsus Pharmaceuticals is developing a pill that could provide protection against Lyme disease, a tick-borne disease, for several weeks at a time.
“The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” – Christopher McCandless
Trump’s Tongue Gets A Little Too Loose
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump made headlines over the weekend…not for his oratorical skills, a particularly effective policy point, or even one of the countless lawsuits he’s facing, but for some rather alarming statements he made at a rally to endorse Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.
“We’re gonna put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not gonna be able to sell those guys if I get elected,” said Trump while ranting about cars produced overseas. “Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath for the whole … that’s gonna be the least of it, it’s gonna be a bloodbath for the country, that’ll be the least of it,” he added. While his campaign clarified that the bloodbath would be a metaphorical one faced by the U.S. auto industry, the Biden campaign said the quote reflected Trump’s “extremism.”
Trump also used inflammatory language when talking about undocumented people. “I don’t know if you call them people, in some cases, they’re not people in my opinion,” he said. In the past, he’s called immigrants “animals” and claimed that they’re “poisoning the blood of our country,” echoing some very fascist talking points.
The Goings-On In Gaza
Israel and Hamas have come together for yet another round of ceasefire talks. Indirect negotiations are set to begin soon in Qatar (we’re picturing some poor U.S. diplomat running in between two rooms at opposite ends of a hallway) after ceasefire talks broke down earlier this month. Ahead of the meeting, Hamas released a new proposal that involves trading dozens of Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinians being held captive by Israel, as well as a ceasefire in between waves of hostage releases.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the proposal “absurd,” but will send diplomats to Qatar to negotiate for the release of more Israeli hostages. Meanwhile, he also confirmed IDF plans to attack Rafah, where over 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering after being driven from their homes by the IDF’s offensive. Netanyahu said that the plans included provisions to evacuate civilians from the area, though no Israeli preparations have been noted by the media.
In good news, tons of flour, rice, and canned foods were brought into Gaza over the weekend by World Central Kitchen, an international charity, but distribution efforts are being kept under wraps thanks to a recent spike in violence around aid distribution points.
Russian To The Polls
- Sunday marked the last day of Russia’s national elections, in which President Vladimir Putin, as expected, secured a fifth term in office. According to Russia’s Election Commission, over 70% of eligible voters participated in the election, exceeding 2018’s turnout. Protests outside polling stations by supporters of deceased opposition leader Alexey Navalny led to long voting lines on Sunday. According to one rights group, about 60 Russians have been arrested in 16 different cities so far.
- While Russia was busy casting votes for Putin, Ukraine was getting busy in its own way – namely, firing off waves of drones at Russian targets. The Russian Defense Ministry said it downed 35 Ukrainian drones on Saturday night alone, with a few more trickling in on Sunday. A few drones were shot down above the Yaroslavl region, marking the deepest Ukrainian drone attacks into Russian territory, over 500 miles away from the country’s border with Ukraine.
Niger Says No More
- Niger’s military junta, which came to power in a coup last August, announced on Sunday that it was immediately ending an agreement that allowed U.S. military bases and personnel within the country’s borders. The move comes shortly after a U.S. delegation visited Niger last week, which a spokesman for the Niger government said did not follow diplomatic protocol.
- Last year, there were about 1,100 U.S. troops stationed in Niger, operating out of two bases. Colonel Amadou Abdramane said that Niger was never privy to the exact number of U.S. civilian and military personnel on its soil, nor did the U.S. share information about the equipment stashed in the country. He also noted that, under the agreement, the U.S. was never actually obligated to help Niger fight the militant groups that U.S. troops were supposedly stationed in the country to combat.
More Mixed Nuts
- A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels has targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden (ABC)
- Haiti healthcare system on verge of collapse as gang warfare rages on (Guardian)
- India election: Date set for largest democratic vote in human history (CNN)
- Diverse cabinet is no ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’ on racism, says ex-No 10 adviser (Guardian)
- India’s Bengaluru is fast running out of water, and a long, scorching summer still looms (AP)
A Grand Old Mutiny
- Former Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Bill Cassidy both had some choice words for former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump yesterday. On Friday, Pence told Fox News that he wouldn’t endorse Trump for the presidency, nor would he vote for Biden. On CBS’s “Face The Nation” yesterday, he restated that he “cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump,” but he noted, “I respect the right of Republican voters who have made it clear who they’re for, who they want to be our standard bearer.” Pence pointed to January 6, the national debt, abortion, and supporting TikTok as his reasons for refusing to endorse his former superior.
- Meanwhile, the Louisiana Senator told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “The president’s rhetoric has reflected poorly … regarding folks who are coming here illegally — illegally — and they shouldn’t be, but in a dehumanizing fashion. And that’s why again, many people continue to have reservations.” He went on to say “The best thing going for Donald Trump running for president is that he’s running against [President] Joe Biden, about whom many people also have reservations,” calling the entire 2024 presidential election “a sorry state of affairs.”
- Cassidy and Pence agreed on one thing – Trump’s treatment of January 6 participants. “I do not think it’s appropriate. We’re a nation of laws and those folks were convicted,” Cassidy said when asked about Trump calling them “patriots” and “hostages.” “If you plead guilty, i.e., obviously, you’re not a patriot. You’re somebody who committed a criminal act.” Pence, meanwhile, said he found the phrasing of “hostage” particularly offensive considering “there are American hostages being held in Gaza.”
More Nuts In America
- Suspect captured after two-day manhunt in fatal shooting of New Mexico State Police officer (NBC)
- 2 dead, 5 wounded in mass shooting in Washington, D.C., police say (CBS)
- Mike Johnson tries to stop Republicans from campaigning against each other in bitter primary battles (CNN)
- Long recovery ahead for some in path of deadly tornadoes in central US (AP)
- Biden jabs at Trump at Gridiron Dinner before closing on serious note (ABC)
- A TikTok ban could embolden authoritarian censorship, experts warn (NBC)
Starlink Links Up With Space Force
- Do you want some interesting, funny, uplifting news to start your week off? Too bad! According to reporting by Reuters, the Pentagon is working with Elon Musk to build a network of spy satellites. Happy Monday!
- Apparently, Musk’s Starlink satellite company signed a contract with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office in 2021, which will see Starlink build “hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits” to the tune of $1.8 billion.
- While Starlink provides its service to private customers and individuals, this government project will operate under its Starshield division, which is described by Starlink as a government-focused secure satellite network. Starshield’s network, according to Musk, “will be owned by the U.S. government and controlled by DoD Space Force.” Reuters says that the new network, if successfully implemented, would “significantly advance the ability of the U.S. government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.”
Editor’s note: Wasn’t this kind of the plot of Captain America: The Winter Soldier?
More Loose Nuts
- A warming island’s mice are breeding out of control and eating seabirds. An extermination is planned. (NBC)
- Never-Repeating Patterns of Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information (Wired, $)
- Cosmic cleaners: the scientists scouring English cathedral roofs for space dust (Guardian)
- How a surprising detail in bank records helped a historian bust a longstanding myth about Irish immigrants (CNN)
- Piety and Profanity: The Raunchy Christians Are Here (NYT, $)
- A ChatGPT for Music Is Here. Inside Suno, the Start-up Changing Everything (Rolling Stone)