i’m not carrying out a full “whataboutist” monty so much as saying that american self-righteousness about this is really hard for me to take, especially given the level of abuse i took during the spring of 2003 here in my part of texas for my stand opposing the invasion of iraq to the point that i received some credible threats against my continued employment. i don’t intend to belabor the point any further than to say that.
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His brother was Christopher Hitchens… 
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So it’s genetic?
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That’s a strange way to announce one’s retirement, but what do I know?
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FTFY! 
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That was the needle that needed threaded. Thanks for the assist.
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Evening news on the main Russian state TV channel was extra informative today:
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From The Guardian liveblog
A poignant note of defiance comes from, of all places, the Eurovision Song Contest.
The organizers of the international annual music competition have announced that Ukraine will participate in this year’s contest, in May, Agence France-Presse reports.
The contest is in Italy’s northern city of Turin this year. Russia had already been disinvited.
They will win, inevitably. Eurovision voting has been political, for years.
AFP further reports:
Eurovision Executive Producer Simona Martorelli said the delegation from Ukraine had confirmed and sent in all required materials, even on time.
“This is absolutely admirable, given the situation,” Martorelli said.
Ukraine’s pick this year is the Kalush Orchestra, with the rap lullaby “Stefania”.
Sung to a mother, the song incorporates traditional Ukrainian music and includes the line: “I’ll always find my way home even if all the roads are destroyed”.
Martorelli added that the artists would try to tape a “back-up video” required by all those invited to the contest in case they cannot participate live.
“Hopefully they will be able to make it,” Martorelli said.
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She has shown unbelievable courage in doing this. Fare thee well, brave Maria.
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Ukraine won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with a song about Stalin’s deportation of the Crimean Tartars.
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Yep - did we go round this loop many hundred comments upthread?
… and I said, ‘their entry this year must be a song about 13 border guards on Snake Island’.
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Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist at the Australian National University, said he believed the chance that China would supply weapons to Russia was “small”.
“Doing it would be both too late to help the distant war in Ukraine, and would look very bad for Beijing. It’s not worth it,” he said.
However, Sung said the US’s public airing of Russia’s requests – which were still of real concern – also allowed it to pressure Beijing on its civilian trade with Russia, which could include non-military parts and components which could be used in weapons production.
“By flagging the possibility of Chinese providing military aid, Washington actually is laying down talking points to nudge China into limiting ‘civilian trading relationship’ with Russia and semi-joining (however partially) the international economic sanctions against Russia,” Sung said.
“If it works, it will reduce China-Russia trade and further weaken Russia; if it doesn’t, it will help shore up the ‘China is Russia’s enabler’ image, and claim moral high ground for the US vis-a-vis China.”
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