MBW - 3/18/2022
Good morning friends. Happy Friday to you all. Your last digest for the week is ready. Let’s get to it.
News briefing
•Ukrainian President Zelensky addressed the German parliament yesterday, but it was an uncomfortable speech for many MPs as he criticized German energy policy and business interests for contributing the wall of division.
•Arnie got a message for the Russian people:
•There’s a rumor that Putin replaced 1000 people from his staff fearing poisoning. More on it here.
•Putin allegedly ordered the FSB security forces to arrest one of his military chiefs. General Roman Gavrilov has been detained. He was the deputy chief of one of the first units to enter Ukraine, the Rosgvardia, spearheading the whole ‘special operation’.
•A budding burger chain in Russia called “Uncle Vanya” is looking to grab business that has been left on the table by McDonald’s — revealing a logo that looks strikingly similar to the “Golden Arches.” More on it here.
•Nestlé is being pressured to leave Russia, but they still won’t budge. Here’s a pic showing how many brands they own:
•In other news, we have previously mentioned Chesa Boudin, the anarchist San Francisco DA, and how he is being recalled in June. A new poll of S.F. voters suggests he might be in trouble. 68% said they would vote yes on recalling Boudin, 74% percent said they have an unfavorable opinion of him, and 78% rated his job performance as “only fair” or “poor.” More on it here.
• Amazon closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM yesterday. MGM, founded in 1924, will bring Amazon a catalog of more than 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV shows, including James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky movie franchises.
De-russification of Ukraine
One of the objectives announced by Putin when the invasion of Ukraine started was the de-nazification of the country (whatever he meant by that), but instead seems like he finalized the de-russification of Eastern Ukraine. This part of the country is overwhelmingly Russophone and up until the 2014 invasion of Crimea they would vote exclusively for pro-Russian candidates.
The de-russification process started with the Donbass nightmare, not the war itself, but the new socio-economic conditions that it brought upon the local population. Under Russian rule, Donbass fell under the rule of criminal gangs, made up by individuals from the lower ranks of the social hierarchy who saw the war as a chance to rise up.
With their power unchecked, they started systematic plunder by taking people’s homes, cars, businesses, killing those who object, arrests, torture, ransoms, the whole book. They destroyed the Donbass economy and inflicted a socio-economic collapse and a humanitarian catastrophe.
Extremely tough Ukrainian resistance against superior Russian forces is understandable only in this context. Eastern Ukraine does not believe Putin will “save” them. They saw what happened on the territories he captured and are fighting hard to avoid the same scenario on their land. The Donbass war triggered the de-russification process and the current invasion completed it. Russian Ukraine is no more.
(Credit to Kamil Galeev)
Hunter Biden’s Laptop
In October 2020 right before the presidential election, there was some controversy related to Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son. Long story short, the New York Post got hold of a copy of the hard drive of Hunter Biden’s laptop. Apparently, he had ditched it at a Delaware repair shop in April 2019 and never claimed it back. According to the Post, the hard drive contained a trove of emails, text messages, photos and financial documents between Hunter Biden, his family and business associates — detailing how the president’s son used his political leverage in his overseas business dealings.
The whole ordeal was deemed a conspiracy theory by the mainstream media. They were asking how could he have sent the laptop to Delaware while he was living in California. Facebook and Twitter blocked the New York Post article from their platforms. And the Wikipedia page titled Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory is still up.
So why are we talking about this you ask? Because fast forward to yesterday the New York Times (the Times, not the Post this time) published an article where it finally admits to the authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop and the data contained within the device. The article discusses Hunter Biden’s tax liability and potential criminal charges, and the NYT reporters note that they and prosecutors gathered evidence from “a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop.” It is the only mention of Biden’s laptop in the article, but the piece goes on to describe how emails pertaining to the tax liability case, “were authenticated by people familiar with them and the investigation.”
Book of the week: Atomic Habits by James Clear
James Clear is one of the world's leading experts on habit formation. In this book he reveals practical strategies that try to teach exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
According to him, if you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here’s an animated summary of the book:
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. In ‘Atomic Habits’ he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. In this book he inspires and entertains readers with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Here’s a short speech by the author:
Pics, vids & memes
Mainstream media.
Another one.
I’ll go with holebowl.
A reminder of how ancient Nancy Pelosi is. This is her at the inauguration of JFK.
Just Milano.
It’s very interesting to see that inflation in Europe is largely driven by energy prices, unlike in the US.
Dust from the Sahara covered this Spanish ski resort yesterday, a visual of North Africa’s importance to the rest of the world The most emptiest and parched area of the world supplies vital nutrients through this dust for rain forests and ocean life 1/Saharan sand on a Spanish ski resort. Crazy.
Old but gold Key&Peele skit.
I’m lost.
That was it for today as well guys. Enjoy your weekend. See you again on Monday. Peace.