Jack Delano Workman at Chicago & North Western repair shops, Chicago, IL Dec 1942 In 8 weeks, on October 26, there are – supposed to be – parliamentary elections in Ukraine. What’s that going to look like? Who’s going to vote? In the presidential elections a few months ago, most of east Ukraine did not vote. How many different ways are there to define democracy and still remain credible? In an interview today on Russian Channel 1, Vladimir Putin commented
Read More...
Esther Bubley Greyhound bus driver off duty, Columbus, Ohio Sep 1943 Given recent developments in Ukraine, and the accompanying PR, spin and accusations, the whole by now familiar shebang, I’m sure you would expect me to address the Kiyv vs Moscow vs the land of the brave issue today. Unfortunately, there are more important issues to talk about today. Suffice it for me to say that the west is losing, and can therefore be expected to grab onto ever more
Read More...
NPC Robey Motor Co., 1429 L Street, Washington, DC 1926 More accusations fly across the media, like so many flocks of Canada geese, of direct Russian involvement in Ukraine. Much is made of an interview with Donetsk National Republic leader Alexander Zakharchenko, in which he “admits” there are Russian volunteers fighting on his side. To the west, that’s all the proof they need. There are 1000 Russians in Ukraine, cries NATO. That doesn’t make them the Russian army though. If
Read More...
Esther Bubley Greyhound garage, Pittsburgh, PA Sep 1943 Our Canadian friend Marina, who has Russian roots, sent me this video today. Marina has also translated several Automatic Earth articles into Russian (I’ll put up a link in a sidebar), see here. This is a taped August 24 international press conference with Alexander Zakharchenko, Chairman of The Council of Ministers of The Donetsk National Republic (DNR), and Vladimir Kononov, Defense Minister of DNR. Since we in the west don’t often get
Read More...
DPC Post and Montgomery, corner of Market, San Francisco post quake Apr 1906 Courtesy of Tyler Durden comes a 22,000+ word ‘essay’ from Mark Blyth and Eric Lonergan at the Council on Foreign Relations (yes, those fine folks) on how and why swaths of dough should be handed to the man in the street. But that’s not what the CFR stands for, so this calls for deconstruction, if not demolition. It might be a really good idea if money were
Read More...
Dorothea Lange Saturday afternoon. 10 cent store, Siler City, North Carolina July 1939 Well, it’s not as if nothing ever happens. One government and one parliament down, all in one day. One planned, the other not so much. Ukraine president Poroshenko dissolved parliament so he can have sole control for the next two months. And smile with a smirk at Putin when they meet tomorrow. Wonder what ‘progress’ they’ll make. Judging from all the accusations thrown around just today, and
Read More...
Marjory Collins On the trolley in Baltimore Apr 1943 As the first subglacial eruption has been registered in the Barbardunga volcano, and there are earthquakes in the region about every minute, a German magazine reports that Berlin (or, actually, even Bonn) has been spying on NATO partners like Turkey for decades. Which is funny, because I was just wondering – with a degree of suspicion – where and how Merkel gets her information. She’s in Kiev calling for a ceasefire
Read More...
Dorothea Lange Siler City, North Carolina Jul 1939 If you’re a girl and you’re old and you’re grey and you’re the size of a hobbit, who’s going to get angry at you? If your predecessor had all the qualities anyone could look for in a garden gnome, and his predecessor was known mainly as a forward drooling incoherent oracle, how bad could it get? Think maybe they select Fed heads on purpose for how well they would fit into the
Read More...
Dorothea Lange Country filling station owned by tobacco farmer, Granville County, NC Jul 1939 I woke up today to a request to comment on an article I hadn’t even read yet at the time. Now, I don’t do requests, but when I saw that it was an article by my favorite nemesis Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, and I read it, I thought alright, let’s have a go. Just this once. Ambrose sings the praise of solar and natural gas in this one,
Read More...
Dorothea Lange Salvation Army, Minna Street, San Francisco, California. Apr 1939 When I think about what an American president should do, and should be, the first thing that pops into my mind is (s)he should be a peacemaker. It would seem to be the no. 1 requirement for someone who’s the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet, and therefore the leader of the free world. If that person is not a peacemaker, if (s)he is not focused
Read More...