Jackson, Jackson….buzz on Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary reminded me of wandering, in Paris, into a British retrospective featuring a 1970s movie with Glenda Jackson, Sunday Bloody Sunday. rewatching. there is a small child smoking pot.
Everyone in the film, from 1971, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Looking over photos of what looks like a KKK demonstration, the young artist character is asking the middle aged Peter Finch doctor character about being Jewish.
oh, when the Glenda Jackson character, babysitting her sister’s kids, and the family dog gets hit by a truck, flashes back to the WWII bombing of London 😭😭
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🧵 Oped by new Iran nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani ahead of resumed nuclear talks in Vienna tomorrow, suggesting Iran position hardening. “…To ensure any forthcoming agreement is ironclad, the west needs to pay a price for having failed to uphold its part of the bargain….”
“As in any business, a deal is a deal, and breaking it has consequences.
“Iran remains committed to the process and we will adhere to our commitments. From our perspective, the principle of ‘mutual compliance’ cannot form a proper base for negotiations since it was the US gov’t
“which unilaterally left the deal. The US should therefore demonstrate that it is serious this time, and that it possesses the necessary competence to fulfil its commitments. …
just to note, much of Israeli national security establishment recently on record to acknowledge trump leaving jcpoa was actually a catastrophe & got only worse outcomes. while current Israel MFA senior officials going around returning to deal would be bad & an interim deal bad.
have not taken the latter too seriously because, of the Iranian side, neither seems imminent.
but there seems to be a true strategic incoherence on the Israeli side.
US Asst. Sec. of State for Europe Karen Donfried, in phone briefing on Blinken trip to NATO ministerial in Riga & OSCE meeting in Sweden next week, asked about Ukraine Pres. Zelensky allegations today that a group of Russians and Ukrainians been planning a coup against him 1/
She said: We are in touch with the Ukrainian government to discuss this further. We are working to obtain additional information. That is where we are right now. Engaging with our Ukrainian partners
Donfried also said, in response to a question about what options are available to try to counter possible new Russian against Ukraine, that the goal was still to deter that: Well, as you can appreciate, all options are on the table, there is a tool kit that includes a whole
Don’t have any problem with Biden trying to find a potential off ramp with Putin. Trust he is not doing it to protect his own interests. not sure there was an equivalent for Trump with the anti Iran crowd. Think they were terrified if he ever got to table with Iran.
& did whatever they could to make sure it did not happen.
on the strategic catastrophe of Trump quitting the Iran deal, see most of the Israeli national security establishment has now gone on the record that it was a catastrophe, as was obvious then to most. a few of them say was bad he quit it with no plan for getting anything better.
🧵Re: US declarations of “ironclad” support for Ukraine territorial integrity, “Such statements are eerily reminiscent of political support signaled to Georgia in the run-up to the Russia-Georgia war in 2008. Not only is Russia unlikely to be deterred by diplomatic terms of art
“that lack credibility, it will try to injure the US’ reputation when Washington appears so overextended. The US must act, but it should take care not to mislead Ukrainian leadership into expecting support that will not materialize…
“If the White House does not see a military role for itself in Ukraine, as was the case in 2014, it should tell this privately and candidly to Kyiv so that Ukraine’s leaders can operate with a full awareness of the geopolitical reality.” foreignaffairs.com/articles/ukrai…
Sudan FM Miriam al-Mahdi, on Atlantic Council zoom event, says the ministers were surprised by announcement yesterday on Hamdok allegedly being restored to PM, saw it on TV, see it the move as potentially supportive of the coup.
guess ex foreign minister, because she says several ministers submitted their resignations yesterday.
She praises the Biden admin/Feltman for swift condemnation of the coup, says US response helped shape international reaction. AU suspended Sudan in 24 hours after coup. Says even countries that wanted to support the coup, like Egypt, they couldn't do it. stayed silent.