Notations On Our World (Special Month-End Edition): On the #TrumpIndictment

 The former President of the United States was indicted this week by a Grand Jury in Manhattan, New York.    Our team pulled together a snapshot of the week that was in America as we will launch The Q2 2023 weekly "Virtual Route 66" next week:  

On Our Virtual Route 66: On the Week That Was

 We present a compilation of the week that was in our World with thoughts courtesy of Politico, The Financial Times, Crooked Media, the Bulwark, Atlantic Media, the National, Institute for Economics & Peace and Le Monde Diplomatique:

In the news this month

Recent events as seen through our archive

• Iraq: invasion that will live in infamy

  Noam Chomsky, August 2003
  
  MONDAY
  20 MARCH 2023.On 20 March 2003, a coalition led by the United States (US) launched a ground invasion of Iraq under the false pretext, supported by many in the media, that the country had weapons of mass destruction. In doing so, it flouted the United Nations (UN) charter and international humanitarian law.
  
  Twenty years ago, Noam Chomsky commented on this excuse, and the strategy at play: 'The grand strategy authorises the US to carry out preventive war: preventive, not pre-emptive. Whatever the justifications for pre-emptive war might be, they do not hold for preventive war, particularly as that concept is interpreted by its current enthusiasts: the use of military force to eliminate an invented or imagined threat, so that even the term "preventive" is too charitable. Preventive war is, very simply, the supreme crime that was condemned at Nuremberg.' Hundreds of thousands of civilians died as a result of the Iraq war, which plunged the country into chaos.
  
  Both main US political parties align to back wars, agreeing on a species of 'moral neo-imperialism' that launches democratic crusades, and protects authoritarian leaders who are allies.
  
  Back in December 2003, at a press conference Vladimir Putin said: 'The use of force abroad, according to existing international laws, can only be sanctioned by the United Nations. (...) Everything that is done without the UN Security Council's sanction cannot be recognised as fair or justified.' In 2022, Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. 'The idea,' Serge Halimi and Pierre Rimbert write in our current issue, 'that other people might compare Russian imperialism to that of the US — wars without a UN mandate in Kosovo and Iraq, Washington's denunciation of several disarmament agreements with Moscow, embargoes and boycotts against Cuba and Iran, extra-judicial executions by drone, the persecution of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning — is unwelcome in most newsrooms.'

• One against all

  Serge Halimi, February 2023
  
  MONDAY
  20 MARCH 2023.Last Thursday the French president urgently gathered his cabinet ministers to trigger Article 49.3 of the constitution. This is the only means still available to him to impose his pension reform, despite the opposition of parliament, the unions and the people.

• The Internet and me

  Kenzaburo Oe, December 1998
  
  TUESDAY
  14 MARCH 2023.On 3 March, the great Japanese writer Kenzaburō Ōe died. Born in 1935, he experienced war as a child of six to ten years old and, as an adult, parented a son with disabilities, feeding his novels with these experiences — from Hiroshima Notes (1963) to Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness (1982), to M/T and the Narrative About the Marvels of the Forest (1986). When, in 1994, Ōe received the Nobel Prize for Literature, he gave a speech provocatively titled 'Japan, the Ambiguous, and Myself'. He joined progressive struggles, publishing a manifesto against State nationalism, and taking positions against consumerism and new technologies. In 1998, Ōe articulated his expectations , impressions and questions regarding a new medium that promised to change our way of understanding texts and language: the Internet.

• Five Eyes on the world

  Philippe Leymarie, April 2022
  
  TUESDAY
  14 MARCH 2023.Eighteen months after the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia signed the AUKUS pact to provide Canberra with nuclear submarines that use UK and US technology, the three countries have published a road map of their plans. These are extensive and longterm, looking decades ahead with the aim of containing China's ambitions in the Pacific. Back in May 2022, Philippe Leymarie mentioned AUKUS in an article on Five Eyes, the spy alliance that has brought together the agreement's signatories, as well as Canada and New Zealand, since 1943.

• How states divide up the world's oceans

  Didier Ortolland, January 2023
  
  MONDAY
  13 MARCH 2023.The United Nations (UN) has finalised a treaty on the protection of the high seas. The new legal framework was the result of intense negotiations and has been hailed by activists as an important step forward. Last December, Didier Ortolland looked at the future of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was ratified 40 years ago, a 'miracle' that the new treaty will extend.

• Xi Jinping's challenges in historic third term

  Martine Bulard, October 2022
  
  MONDAY
  13 MARCH 2023.On Friday, 2,952 deputies of the National People's Congress reelected Xi Jinping to the presidency of the People's Republic of China for a third five-year term. Xi had already been reelected secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party and president of the Central Military Commission in October. He is the first Chinese leader to serve more than two mandates since Mao Zedong's death, having abolished term limits in 2018. His trusted ally Li Qiang will replace Li Keqiang as prime minister.
  
  Last October, Martine Bulard identified the challenges that will be faced by the man sometimes dubbed 'chairman of everything'.

• The Saudi predicament

  Gilbert Achcar, March 2018
  
  MONDAY
  13 MARCH 2023.On 10 March, a major diplomatic agreement was struck between Saudi Arabia and Iran under the aegis of China. Negotiations between the countries' national security advisers took place over four days, from 6-10 March, culminating in the restoration of ties after a seven-year rift.
  
  Saudi Arabia is the heart of Sunni Islam and allied to the West; Iran, a Shia power, is under American sanctions and accused of wanting to produce an atomic bomb. The two countries, which seemed irreconcilable, have brokered what is, in effect, a geopolitical turning point.
  
  The consequences of this deal could be considerable. Will Saudi Arabia push on with the war in Yemen (see 'Who wants what in Yemen?')? What will the effect be on matters of security in the Gulf region? Will the normalisation of relations between Iran and a US ally cause Israel to revise its regional strategy and reconsider the treatment of Palestinians (see 'Palestine: still resisting, against all the odds')? These are important questions. What is clear is that China has made a dramatic entry into the diplomatic Great Game in the Middle East.

• Georgia's love-hate affair with Russia

  Pierre Daum, October 2021
  
  MONDAY
  13 MARCH 2023.After large-scale protests, last week the Georgian government dropped a planned law on 'foreign agents'. The text stipulated that NGOs and media organisations with more than 20% overseas funding had to officially register as 'foreign agents'. According to its detractors, the law was inspired by Russian methods of repressing opposition.
  
  In October 2021, Pierre Daum wrote about 'the great Georgian paradox: a people who are suffering from the Russian occupation of a fifth of their territory and who at the same time welcome hundreds of thousands of Russian tourists every year and maintain the tradition of legendary Georgian hospitality'. The war in Ukraine has accentuated this contradiction. Unlike countries in the European Union, Georgia has not closed its airspace to Russian flights, and several thousands of Russian exiles, opposed to the Kremlin's military aggression, have joined the usual tourists. But this massive influx is increasingly worrying a section of the population.
•  

  World Israel passes new law that limits when PM can be removed from office Critics say amendment is aimed at protecting prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from his legal woes MARCH 23, 2023 by James Shotter in Jerusalem

- Kellyanne Conway, talking about the very serious issue of China making domestic shipments.  All week we’ve been talking about catastrophic consequences to malfeasance in the American financial system. Now it seems that lawmakers are, once again, realizing they have to do something about it.   President Biden released a statement today calling on Congress to give fiduciary regulators more power over the banking sector, including imposing higher fines on managers, reducing executive compensation, and barring certain officials from failed banks from ever returning to the banking industry. Can I get an, “It’s about fucking time!”??? According to Biden, current laws limit the White House’s authority to hold executives responsible for, you know, tanking the economy through the classic combination of greed and being bad at their jobs.   Biden specifically asked Congress to give the FDIC greater authority to tamp down executive compensation “including gains from stock sales - from executives at failed banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.” SVB CEO Greg Becker sold $3.6 million worth of shares in late February (interesting timing, Greg!!) just two weeks before the bank entered FDIC receivership.    Answer: Current laws stipulate that the FDIC can only prohibit this kind of executive self-dealing if one of the country’s largest banks were to fail, and can only bar executives from the industry if they are found to have engaged in “willful and continuing disregard,” in running the bank securely. SVB announced today that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company said it has about $2.2 billion in liquid assets, compared to $209 billion at the end of last year. For their part, Republicans (and way too many centrist Democrats, it turns out) have taken a break from feigning moral outrage about the bank failures to…oppose legislation that would prevent it all from happening again!   A group of Democratic lawmakers led by (our girls) Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) introduced a bill on Wednesday to repeal the partial rollback of Dodd-Frank the GOP Congress passed during the Trump administration in 2018. The Secure Viable Banking Act would put banks with at least $50 billion in assets under strict Federal Reserve oversight and Dodd-Frank Act stress tests. There’s one problem: A bunch of their Democratic colleagues joined Republicans in voting to loosen Dodd-Frank back in 2018, and now they’re standing by those votes. Politicians? Not admitting huge, obvious errors? They would never! So now, not unlike what happened with the train derailments, Republicans are in faux hysterics about the bank bailouts, while ignoring that their deregulation caused it, and also opposing any additional regulations that would prevent future bank failures. And moderate Dems are standing with them! In case there was any confusion, these are the kinds of Democrats worth primarying!    The problem with trying to stamp-out malfeasance and highlight the perils of insufficient regulation is that in the United States, the call is coming from inside the house. When federal regulators prepared the emergency measures they ultimately deployed on Sunday to secure deposits at SVB and Signature Bank, the Biden administration wanted to emphasize the shortcomings of financial regulation, but Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell blocked the inclusion of any mention of regulatory failures. The final statement only spoke of regulation in positive terms, referring to the laws enacted after 2008, but omitting the fact that they didn’t go far enough, and that some measures that were sufficient had been rolled back with bipartisan support.  As we continue to take stock of the damage, Democrats have an opportunity to actually distinguish themselves as the party that stands up to big banks and big business and on the side of working Americans who are time and again harmed by deregulation. Those who don’t should be shown to the door. Two major BNSF trains derailed Thursday, one in Arizona and the other in Washington state, with the latter resulting in 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel being spilled on Swinomish tribal land along the Puget Sound. Officials said there were no indications that the spill reached the water or affected wildlife, but…5,000 gallons were spilled on tribal lands so that’s not particularly comforting?? A spokesperson for BNSF said the cause of the derailments were “under investigation.” Might it have something to do with industry deregulation and greedy corporations skimping on safety measures? No, no, a grand conspiracy of *wokeness run amok* is probably the more logical explanation.  A federal judge ruled Friday that Trump attorney Evan Corcoran must provide additional testimony before the grand jury investigating mishandling of classified presidential documents, invoking the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.    The International Criminal Court announced today that it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes against children in Ukraine.    The Justice Department and the FBI are investigating TikTok, focusing on previously disclosed allegations that employees used company technology and data to spy on journalists.    A new study shows that negativity in headlines drives online news consumption, and each negative word in a headline increased clicks by 2.3 percent.    YouTube restored disgraced former president Donald Trump’s channel today, over two years after suspending it in the wake of the January 6 insurrection.    After taking a fine-toothed comb to…math textbooks to weed out “prohibited topics,” the state of Florida is reviewing its social studies curriculum, and is expected to make dramatic changes to what students learn about history.    Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) is asking the FDA to investigate the potential health risks of chemical hair straighteners after the National Institutes of Health published research showing that women who use the products are twice as likely to develop uterine cancer by the time they reach age 70.    According to a new report from House Dems, federal officials cannot locate two gifts received by disgraced former president Trump and his family from foreign nations. Trump and his family failed to report over $300,000 worth of gifts to the State Department, which is, you guessed it, a violation of federal law. It’s important to note that one of the missing gifts is a massive portrait of Trump himself from the president of El Salvador. Huge mystery as to who stole that one.   Character actor Lance Reddick, best known from The Wire, Fringe, and John Wick died suddenly today at age 60.  A U.S. appellate court has revived a lawsuit brought by Uber and Postmates challenging a California law that makes it more difficult for them to exploit their workers.

SPECIAL EDITION: UKRAINE Poland will send Ukraine four MiG-29 jets. Poland will send Ukraine four MiG-29 fighter jets according to the Polish president, making it the first of Ukraine's allies to provide such aircraft. China's Xi Jinping visits Russia. Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in Russia for a state visit after he was invited by President Vladimir Putin. The visit comes as China offers to broker peace in Ukraine, an effort that has been met with scepticism in the West.  Russia vows to respond proportionately to US provocations. Intensified spying by American drones near Ukraine could lead to an escalation and Russia will respond proportionally to future intelligence-gathering operations, Russia's defence chief has told his US counterpart.

POLITICS Controversial judicial law passes first vote in Israeli Knesset. The Israeli parliament has advanced a bill that would allow it to overrule Supreme Court rulings, alongside a bill that would protect PM from removal, and another that would allow more settlements in northern Israel.  Honduras to switch ties from Taiwan to China. The Honduras president, Xiomara Castro, has instructed her foreign minister to establish official relations with China. The move would leave Taiwan with formal diplomatic relations with only 13 countries. Yoon visits Japan, hoping to restore ties amid North Korean threat. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is set to pay an official visit to Japan, amid North Korea’s rapidly expanding nuclear program. It is the first bilateral visit to Japan by a South Korean president in 12 years. Pakistani police file terrorism charges against ex-PM Khan. Police in the Pakistani capital filed charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, 17 of his aides and scores of supporters, accusing them of terrorism and several other offenses. Turkey, Hungary to approve Finland’s NATO membership. Turkey and Hungary announced that they will sign off on Finland’s NATO membership removing the biggest barrier to Finland’s joining the alliance.

CONFLICT Senegal rocked by more unrest as police quell protests. Police fired tear gas at protesters in Senegal’s capital ahead of a court case involving a prominent opposition politician. The outbreak of violence has impacted Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy. South Africans march, calling for president Ramaphosa to resign. The Economic Freedom Fighters, the country's third-largest party, has called for a national shutdown of walkouts and protests, sparking fears of a repeat of unrest that turned deadly two years ago. UN nuclear watchdog warns tons of uranium missing in Libya.  Approximately 2.5 tons of natural uranium stored in a site in Libya have gone missing, said IAEA, raising safety and proliferation concerns. India approves purchase of military equipment worth $8.5 bn. India approved $8.5 billion in military purchases including missiles, helicopters, artillery guns and electronic warfare systems. All the orders would be placed with Indian companies to boost domestic defence manufacturing. Serbia and Kosovo reach pact on implementing peace plan. Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on implementing an EU-backed deal to normalize relations. Both countries have fully committed to honor all articles of the agreement.

ECONOMICS UBS to acquire Credit Suisse in Swiss government-brokered deal. UBS is to acquire Credit Suisse in an effort to avoid further turmoil in global banking. Credit Suisse is one of only 30 financial institutions designated as being globally systematically important by the Financial Stability Board. Colombia and Venezuela revive trade deal talks after four-year suspension. The leaders of Colombia and Venezuela renewed a trade deal that had been suspended for four years. The agreement updates tariffs and trade regulations. China cuts banks' reserve ratio for the first time in 2023 to aid recovery. China's central bank cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves to help keep liquidity ample. The move follows data showing a gradual but uneven recovery in the economy in the first two months of the year and a stronger than expected credit expansion. US and Ethiopia to strengthen bilateral ties. US Secretary of State and the Ethiopian Prime minister agreed to strengthen relations between the two countries. Discussion included the recently signed peace deal that ended a civil war.  50,000 Cambodian workers laid off amid garment sector decline. In the midst of industrial downturns, 50,000 Cambodian employees have been stood down in an attempt to cut costs. Experts claim it is due to the partial loss of the EBA preferential trade status with the EU.

DEVELOPMENT 10 million children in need of humanitarian assistance in the Sahel. Conflict in the region has left millions of children facing hunger, water shortages and violence. The number of child deaths have doubled since 2020 pointing to the need for urgent action. The generation 6G of wireless communication will take a big leap forward. A research team has invented a ground-breaking tunable terahertz (THz) meta-device that can control the radiation direction and coverage area of THz beams. It is expected to provide a highly adjustable, directional and secure means for future 6G communications systems. Albania designates Europe's last 'wild river' as a national park. Albania's government has designated the Vjosa River in the southern part of the country as a national park, marking a victory for environmentalists who have been fighting for years against plans for hydropower plants along the waterway. Tropical storm Freddy could lead to spiral of cholera outbreak in Malawi. Destruction from tropical storm Freddy has seen some areas go without clean running water renewing fears of another cholera outbreak. Thousands have been displaced and many others are missing in Mozambique and Malawi.  Nuclear leak contaminates water in Minnesota. A nuclear power plant’s leak has contaminated the waters of Monticello, Minnesota. Experts, however, report no possibility of environmental danger.

SOCIAL China reopening borders to foreign tourists for first time since Covid. China is to resume issuing visas to foreign tourists for the first time since the Covid pandemic broke out three years ago. 2023 World Happiness Report released. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network has released the 2023 World Happiness Report, using the Gallup World Poll data. The report measures global trends in happiness and formulates annual rankings. Bar exam score shows AI can keep up with human lawyers. GPT- 4 can now outperform most law school graduates on the bar exam. The AI scored 297 on the bar exam, which places it in the 90th percentile of actual test takers, and this score is enough to be admitted to practice law in most states. Belgium to become the second EU country to recognize Buddhism. Belgium to officially recognize Buddhism after the federal government approved a draft law which opened the door to federal funding, official delegates and school classes. The only other EU country where Buddhism is recognized is Austria. Education crisis in Lebanon spells disaster. The UN says a third of Lebanon's children are not attending school. The country's economic crisis is rippling through the education system, which is threatening to collapse. The hardest hit in the disruptions are Syrian refugees. Trump’s perp walk (Nota bene: If there are indictments, the actual arrest probably won’t take place ‘til next week, and there probably won’t be an actual perp walk.) Via the NYT: “Trump at Mar-a-Lago: Magical Thinking and a Perp-Walk Fixation.” As he waits for a likely criminal indictment — making him the first current or former American president to face criminal charges — Mr. Trump has often appeared significantly disconnected from the severity of his potential legal woes, according to people who have spent time with him in recent days. He has been spotted zipping around his Palm Beach resort in his golf cart and on one recent evening acted as D.J. at a party with his personally curated Spotify playlists, which often include music from the Rolling Stones to “The Phantom of the Opera.” ** In today’s Bulwark: “Expecting a Trump Indictment, Republicans Attack the Prosecutor.” Dennis Aftergut writes: Meanwhile, in their letter to Bragg, Reps. Jordan, Comer, and Steil say they “expect” him to appear before Congress. Of course, as federal legislators, none has any business meddling with state prosecutors. As Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor, tweeted, “Defending Trump is not a legitimate legislative purpose for Congress to investigate a state district attorney.” ** Via ABC: “Special counsel claims Trump deliberately misled his attorneys about classified documents, judge wrote.” Prosecutors in the special counsel's office have presented compelling preliminary evidence that former President Donald Trump knowingly and deliberately misled his own attorneys about his retention of classified materials after leaving office, a former top federal judge wrote Friday in a sealed filing, according to sources who described its contents to ABC News. U.S. Judge Beryl Howell, who on Friday stepped down as the D.C. district court's chief judge, wrote last week that prosecutors in special counsel Jack Smith's office had made a "prima facie showing that the former president had committed criminal violations," according to the sources, and that attorney-client privileges invoked by two of his lawyers could therefore be pierced. ** Via CBS: “‘Significant increase’ in threats online ahead of possible Trump indictment.” Intelligence sources told CBS News that there's been a "significant increase" in threats and violent rhetoric online from domestic violent extremists as former President Donald Trump claimed he will be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury…. Domestic violent extremists in online postings have warned that prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office would cross a red line if Trump is indicted and it would be met with more violence than the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the sources said. There have also been postings calling for civil war.  But… As I said yesterday, it would be a mistake to think that the magnitude of the threat will manifest in the next week. This will be a long, hot spring and summer, as more criminal charges loom and Trump stokes the flames. While, it seems unlikely that there will be mass protests in downtown Manhattan, the danger of lone wolf and scattered acts of violence will remain high through 2024. Leave a comment DeSantis escalates Interesting choice of interlocutors. Hours after taking a shot at Trump for paying hush money to a porn star, Ron DeSantis sat down for a lengthy interview with… Piers Morgan. “It was clear that the governor has had enough of Trump’s constant baiting and felt ready to take him on in what could end up being a ferocious battle for the White House,” Morgan writes. And in a series of jabs at his likely biggest Republican nominee rival, DeSantis slammed Trump over his character failings, chaotic leadership style, and for his handling of the COVID pandemic — especially in keeping controversial health chief Dr. Anthony Fauci in his post helping to run the White House Coronavirus Taskforce. When I asked DeSantis to cite specific differences between him and Trump, he said: “Well I think there’s a few things. The approach to COVID was different. I would have fired somebody like Fauci. I think he got way too big for his britches, and I think he did a lot of damage.” DeSantis also slammed Trump’s chaotic, self-obsessed, and divisive management style, saying: “I also think just in terms of my approach to leadership, I get personnel in the Government who have the agenda of the people and share our agenda. You bring your own agenda in you’re gone. We’re just not gonna have that. So, the way we run the Government I think is no daily drama, focus on the big picture and put points on the board and I think that’s something that’s very important.”.. Morgan also asked him about the “porn star” jab: When I asked if he meant to be as censorious as he sounded when talking about Trump allegedly paying off porn stars, he doubled down and replied: “Well, there’s a lot of speculation about what the underlying conduct is. That is purported to be it, and the reality is that’s just outside my wheelhouse. I mean that’s just not something that I can speak to.” The message was clear: I’m nothing like Trump when it comes to sleazy behavior. Needless to say, TrumpWorld is not taking this well. Noah Rothman writes: “DeSantis Exposes Trump World’s Glass Jaw.” “If this is how Trump and his acolytes respond to a glancing blow, just imagine how they’ll respond when the Florida governor starts throwing real punches.” Leave a comment Fox News is leaking Via the NYT: “Fox Producer Says She Was Set Up in Dominion Case.” A Fox News producer who has worked with the hosts Maria Bartiromo and Tucker Carlson filed lawsuits against the company in New York and Delaware on Monday, accusing Fox lawyers of coercing her into giving misleading testimony in the continuing legal battle around the network’s coverage of unfounded claims about election fraud. The producer, Abby Grossberg, said Fox lawyers had tried to position her and Ms. Bartiromo to take the blame for Fox’s repeated airing of conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems and its supposed role in manipulating the results of the 2020 presidential election. Dominion has filed a $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox. Ms. Grossberg said the effort to place blame on her and Ms. Bartiromo was rooted in rampant misogyny and discrimination at the network. The details in the suit are brutal. According to the lawsuits filed by Ms. Grossberg, Fox superiors called Ms. Bartiromo a “crazy bitch” who was “menopausal” and asked Ms. Grossberg to cut the host out of coverage discussions. Last year, she began working as a senior booking producer at “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” On her first full day, according to the lawsuit, Ms. Grossberg discovered that the show’s Manhattan work space was decorated with large pictures of Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, then the House speaker, wearing a plunging swimsuit. The next day, Justin Wells, Mr. Carlson’s top producer, called Ms. Grossberg into his office, she said, to ask whether Ms. Bartiromo was having a sexual relationship with the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy. In her account, Tucker’s staff sounds like a bigoted, anti-Semitic, misogynistic frat house. Which sounds very much on brand for the Fox News superstar. Mr. Carlson’s staff joked about Jews and freely deployed a vulgar term for women, according to the complaint. Later that fall, it said, before an appearance on the show by Tudor Dixon, the Republican candidate for Michigan governor, Mr. Carlson’s staff held a mock debate about whether they would prefer to have sex with Ms. Dixon or her Democratic opponent, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Meanwhile: “Judge sounds skeptical of some Fox arguments in Dominion lawsuit.” Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis pushed back on assertions from both sides during the day-long hearing. But the judge seemed particularly skeptical of Fox’s claims that its hosts were merely voicing opinions — not asserting false facts — when they suggested to viewers that Dominion may have manufactured fraudulent votes for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. “That sounds like a statement of fact, and we know that’s not true,” Davis said at one point during Fox’s presentation, referring to a Nov. 30, 2020, show in which Sean Hannity suggested Democrats and Republicans both agreed Dominion’s voting machines were subpar…. Davis also said during the hearing that Fox has “a Dobbs problem sometimes,” referencing former Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs and his suggestions that Dominion was engaged in mass voter fraud. Share Morning Shots That James Comer interview Well, he sounds nice. “James Comer admitted to stealing a server, hacking emails, and leaking them in a brazen attempt to intimidate a former girlfriend who credibly accused him of abuse and a blogger making her accusations public.” You can read the whole tawdry thing in the NYT. Leave a comment Bad News/Good News for Biden From the new Grinnell College national poll: “The bad news for President Biden is that his favorability numbers have fallen over the past two years,” said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Company. “The good news is that he still has a higher favorability rating than anyone else tested. “Not only are former President Trump’s overall numbers down from two years ago, but we also find that the former president’s positives are becoming less intensely positive, and his negatives are becoming more intensely negative,” said Selzer. “His very favorable rating is down five points, and his very unfavorable rating is up six points from 2021.” The Souq Ramadan in Dubai. AFP ISRAEL Israel has come under a barrage of criticism from Arab and European nations after its finance minister denied the existence of the Palestinian people. IRAQ Exclusive: A climate change-induced drop in water levels at Iraq's biggest dam has revealed three Yazidi landmarks that were submerged for about 40 years. Curbing corruption across Iraq’s state institutions must be a top priority for future governments, experts told The National, as the country marked two decades since the US-led invasion. A campaign of air strikes against ISIS in Iraq that killed several civilians is probably linked to UK forces, despite long-standing claims from the government that British weapons did not harm a single non-combatant there, a report has shown. Iraq and Turkey agreed yesterday to boost relations and co-operation in all fields during the first day of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani's visit to Ankara. IRAN The US announced yesterday a new round of sanctions against Iranian companies and individuals suspected of being involved in procuring equipment for building drones. SYRIA Israeli air strikes hit Aleppo International Airport early today, causing some damage, the Syrian Defence Ministry said. TUNISIA An EU delegation visited Tunisia yesterday, hours after the bloc's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell described the country's political situation as “dire”. UAE The UAE has pledged to deliver a “transformational road map” to guide climate action at Cop28 this year after a new report warned there is much to be done to limit global warming. A Japanese lander that is carrying the UAE's Rashid rover has entered the lunar orbit, ahead of its landing attempt next month. LEBANON Lebanon's central bank said it would sell unlimited US dollars at a discounted rate of 90,000 liras on its Sayrafa platform, in yet another attempt by the embattled financial institution to prop up the spiralling currency. PLUS … Weam Ghazal writes that Ramadan for Turkey-Syria earthquake survivors carries a different meaning. Our editorial team explains how the UAE's One Billion Meals campaign is reshaping Ramadan charity. On today’s Trending Middle East podcast, we feature a 6.5-magnitude earthquake hitting parts of Afghanistan, with tremors felt as far as Pakistan and India yesterday. We close out this weekly edition with the following: