New York Press. He now writes for Rolling Stone and will soon release his fourth book, ‘The Great Derangement.’ He’s also covering the ’08 campaign in a special RS diary entitled “Year of the Rat.” His caustic wit often compared to Hunter Thompson, he’s called Mitt Romney “a poll-chasing stuffed suit with a Max Headroom hairdo,” Tom Tancredo a “vengeful midget,” President Bush “a retarded Christian AA version of Woodrow Wilson” and gets Fred Thompson confused with Joe Don Baker. Taibbi was kind enough to answer some questions from S&R’s Mike Sheehan.
S&R: You famously described the last Congress, the 109th, as the worst ever. How is the 110th shaping up so far?
I hate to have to belabor the obvious, but having seen first hand how shallow the notion of freedom of the press is in the US,
1 it is instructive to watch the hissy fit and rapid moves to inflict punishment on Belarus for crimes against journalists (or rather a journalist) and forcing a passenger plane in its airspace to land. This story is the lead item in the Financial Times:
And getting plenty of attention in other major platforms:
European Union leaders have agreed on new sanctions against Belarus, including a ban on the use of EU airspace and airports, over its forced diversion of a plane to the capital of Minsk in order to arrest an opposition journalist. https://t.co/7EDDhdc7sf
“solely based on their conduct in the past,” as they recognize people’s
“opinions and behaviour may evolve over time.”
“It is part of Amnesty’s mission to encourage people to positively embrace a human rights vision and to not suggest that they are forever trapped by their past conduct,” they said in a statement.
When Amnesty designates someone a PoC,
“this in no way involves or implies the endorsement of their views. Amnesty only concurs with opinions that are specifically consistent with the protection and promotion of human rights,” the group said.
“Some of Navalny’s previous statements are reprehensible and we do not condone them in the slightest.”
Yves here. One point to add to Ilargi’s high-level recap of the bizarre allegations the US is making about Russia, apparently to justify a confrontation over Ukraine: Russia has zero interest in occupying the eastern part of Ukraine, often referred to as Donbass. It’s an economic basket case and would be a burden. But Russia most assuredly does not want the US and NATO using Ukraine to put yet more men and materiel on Russia’s doorstep.
So having said that, I’m skeptical of the evacuees idea. I’m pinging Mark Ames and John Helmer and will update this post if they have anything to add. Update: Helmer did not mince words: