How Sweden’s NATO Accession Changes Europe’s Future
How Sweden’s NATO Accession Changes Europe’s Future
Plus: Why Pro-Life Republicans Are Tripping Up Over IVF
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TOOMAS HENDRIK ILVES: How Sweden’s NATO Accession Changes Europe’s Future.
SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER NATO’s CREATION, with laggard, obstructionist Hungary’s ratification of Sweden’s accession, the transatlantic alliance now defends every state that was outside the Soviet Union before World War II. (Even the European states that aren’t members—Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ireland, Kosovo, Serbia, and Switzerland, plus a few microstates like Andorra and Monaco—still benefit from the stability and interdependence NATO creates.) Not only has NATO demonstrated its continuing relevance in the twenty-first century, but the addition of Sweden and Finland has added to the Alliance’s capabilities and readiness. The center of gravity in NATO has moved north and east, away from the original members in Western Europe, and toward the newer members on Russia’s borders.
A.B. STODDARD: Bright Spots in a Bleak February 🌞
THIS LAST MONTH WAS HISTORIC, in a bad way. The United States left the free world waiting and in doubt about the future of Ukraine, because the Republican party’s once unshakable commitment to liberty has been overtaken by its commitment to Donald Trump.
The former and potentially future American president invited Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to attack NATO nations, and continued ordering his own party to oppose the defense of the sovereign nation Putin invaded two years ago.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Join Bill & JVL live at 7:30 for a special edition of Ballot Box as they discuss the high court’s consideration immunity claim Trump is pushing and what it means for the January 6 case.
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: John Avlon: Winning Back the House from the MAGA Minions [Ad-Free🔐]
The Next Level:
Tim’s Take: Mitch McConnell Quits, Destroyed His Own Legacy…
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Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.
WILL SALETAN: Why Pro-Life Republicans Are Tripping Up Over IVF.
MIKE JOHNSON, THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, claims to have a clear and compelling moral position: Human life begins at conception and must be legally protected. Johnson thinks people who disagree with him on this issue are incoherent. How they can defend babies outside the womb, he asks, while treating babies inside the womb as expendable?
But now Johnson has a problem of his own. He says he supports in vitro fertilization, a technique that, as generally practiced in the United States, involves the creation, long-term cold storage, and disposal of surplus embryos. How can he defend embryos inside the womb while treating embryos outside the womb as expendable?
ADDISON DEL MASTRO: The Huge Effect of Parking Policy on How We Live.
JUST ABOUT EVERY URBAN PARKING LOT once housed a building. Unpack that one curious fact and you can learn a lot about how the logic of cars as the default mode of transportation is inherently at odds with the logic of cities as dense, vibrant, bustling places.
If you take only this insight away from Paved Paradise, a fascinating, pithy, and information-packed book on the seemingly arcane topic of parking, author Henry Grabar will have succeeded. But there’s much more here. Grabar treats parking with a rare, exacting, possibly unprecedented seriousness. Architects build parking grudgingly and without much design effort, and planners would rather ignore it entirely. It is, in a word, unsexy. Yet it might be the single most important factor to consider for anyone who would answer James Howard Kunstler’s indignant question: “Why is America so fucking ugly?”
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Wednesday! Typically, today’d be the last of a dreary month, but the calendar gives us a special day, Leap Day. So enjoy it, especially if it’s your birthday, a unique day to be sure, even if the law doesn’t really care about it.
Unfortunate Truth Dept: “Liberals are going to miss Mitch McConnell when he is no longer there to stop Josh Hawley or Tommy Tuberville from doing whatever they want.” —Eric Michael Garcia
🎵On the Jukebox🎵… Noah Kahan - Stick Season
SCOTUS takes up Trump’s immunity defense… Which will be on an expedited schedule… in late April, putting the hope of a pre-election J6 trial in peril. Michael Beschloss observes: “Justice delayed can be justice denied--especially in 2024.”
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What Democrats can learn… From #NeverTrump. Tim joins the Politix pod for the other side of the pod-swap.
The frustrating thing about Nikki Haley… Our friend & former colleague Amanda Carpenter goes on a tear.
A Dangerous Philosophical Confusion… Pierre LeMieux on classical liberalism vs. the "nationalists” (EconLib)
[T]here seems to be a dangerous philosophical confusion between classical liberals and libertarians on one side and, on the other side, the current intersection of the Trumpian, evangelical, and old-conservative movements. This Trumpian connection, as we may call it, shows little interface with the values and philosophy of classical liberalism. The main and perhaps only interface is that both sides are opposed to collectivism of the left, but the Trumpian connection welcomes the collectivist right.
Why? Because it’s finger lickin’ good! WaPo reviews the new KFC “Chizza”, which I tried yesterday.
Meanwhile, in Ohio… Wendy’s has backed down with their plans to try out “surge” pricing on burgers (Reuters).
…And in Idaho… Police Bodycam Shows Sheriff Hunting for 'Obscene' Books at Library (404).
Introducing… The Danville Dairy Daddies.
Check out Zeteo… Mehdi Hasan has started a new publication!
When I left MSNBC in January, I found myself at a crossroads. I could either throw myself at the various job offers in my DMs and stay in mainstream media full-time or I could take the biggest gamble of my career and start something new… something different.
We’ve been there, haven’t we? Best wishes to Zeteo! Go check it out.
The Fairy-Tale Promises of Montessori Parenting… “No matter how hard you work to organize a playroom, you can’t eliminate chaos or uncertainty from the task of raising kids” argues Kate Cray in The Atlantic.
The Battle to Keep Georgetown’s Transformers Statues From Rolling Out… Isn’t Over (Washingtonian).
Trump’s last-minute pardons… Would be the end of any ordinary politician, argues NPR’s Peter Sagal. Jonathan Braun is just one example.
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