Taiwan is existential to Japan

Japan and the United States could not stand by if China attacked Taiwan, and Beijing needs to understand this, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday.

CNN
Former Japan PM tells China, ‘a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency’
Japan and the United States could not stand by if China attacked Taiwan, and Beijing needs to understand this, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Wednesday.

Biden in Mexican standoff with China

But the highly anticipated summit yielded no major breakthroughs — none were expected ahead of time — and officials dismissed the notion the summit was intended to ease what has become an increasingly tense relationship.

CNN
‘Healthy debate,’ but no breakthroughs in Biden’s critical talks with China’s Xi Jinping
When Chinese President Xi Jinping beamed into the White House on Monday evening for a virtual summit with President Joe Biden, the two men needed no introduction.

The future comes at you fast

  • International Space Station crew sheltered in escape pods for two hours Monday after Russia blew up satellite
  • Audio captures the moment Houston Mission Control woke up the crew and ordered them to get to safety
  • Russia has confirmed the satellite was destroyed during a test, but denied that debris ever threatened the ISS
  • NATO has condemned Moscow’s ‘reckless act’
Moment ISS crew scramble to evacuate after Russian missile blast
NASA Mission Control in Houston can be heard waking up ISS Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei early Monday to tell him a satellite has broken up and he needs to start getting the crew to safety.

The Scorpion King

On Friday, Aswan’s governor Ashraf Attia temporarily barred ships on the River Nile and Lake Nasser from travelling too close to the city. He also ordered the temporary closure of some roads due to reports of reduced vision caused by the storms. Road and vessel traffic resumed on Saturday.

Egypt: 3 dead, hundreds injured after scorpion swarm in Aswan
Three people have died and almost 500 were injured following a scorpion swarm in Egypt’s southern city of Aswan caused by thunderstorms since Friday, bringing many of them onto the streets and into …

Democratic party shattererd by divisive ghost of Trump

Thus has the political center been hollowed out … Democrats barely have a majority in the House—but within that narrow majority, progressives have outsize power… The same dynamic holds on the Republican side. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has outraged even other Republicans with her divisive stands.

WSJ
How America’s Polarized Politics Produced Democrats’ Internal Fight
A proliferation of House members have no need to speak to the other party, or even to moderates and independents in the center.
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Sinema: An ‘Obstacle to Progress’

The furious members accused the Arizona Democrat of “answering to big donors rather than your own people,” in the latest sign of the political pressure she faces.

NYT
Calling Sinema an Obstacle to Progress, 5 Veterans Quit Her Advisory Council
The furious members accused the Arizona Democrat of “answering to big donors rather than your own people,” in the latest sign of the political pressure she faces.
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Bio-crime against humanity

BRASÍLIA, Brazil — A Brazilian congressional panel is set to recommend that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with “crimes against humanity,” asserting that he intentionally let the coronavirus rip through the country and kill hundreds of thousands in a failed bid to achieve herd immunity and revive Latin America’s largest economy.

NYT
Brazilian Leader Accused of Crimes Against Humanity in Pandemic Response
A report from lawmakers initially said Jair Bolsonaro should be charged with mass homicide and genocide, accusing him of letting Covid-19 spread in a failed bid for herd immunity.
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