[A Pleasurable Headache] imagine unironically calling your group Alpha Men Assemble and keeping a straight face
Another short one I'm afraid. I'm up against a deadline for a story submission window and I have a million and one tasks to do to prep for the little one's arrival in July.
Links
The War in Ukraine Shows That Europe Could Help Refugees if It Really Wanted To
"[A]s someone who has followed and worked on migration and refugee protection for years, it is also maddening to watch this and realize that we were capable of such a response all along. Europe has worked diligently over the last decade or two to build one of the world’s most violent borders; including routine pushbacks that are linked to thousands of drownings every year. Dozens have drowned in the last few days alone."
Also, following on from the last edition of this newsletter comes this story. Oops.
The History Behind Putin’s War in Ukraine
Staying on theme is this interview at Jacobin with the knowledgeable Anatol Lieven. This is one of the better pieces about the current conflict in Ukraine that I have read. Lieven has lived and breathed this subject matter for years.
The interview starts acknowledging the very real warnings back in the 90s regarding what NATO encirclement and enlargement would do to Russia. Bear in mind these warnings predated the Putin administration (I use that term very loosely), with even Yeltsin and his government warning the west what would occur if it continued.
Lieven then goes on to discuss U.S interference, the parallels between Ukraine and Georgia (and how it pertains to the empty promises by the West of NATO membership), and even touched on how isolated and cut off Putin has come in recent weeks as the conflict has escalated. Essential reading.
Some bonus reading can be found over at Current Affairs.
From Construction to Teaching: Seven Writers On Their Day Jobs
https://lithub.com/from-construction-to-teaching-seven-writers-on-their-day-jobs/
Possibly one of the most 'A Pleasurable Headache' links I've ever posted, this LitHub piece looks at the day jobs of several writers. The article explores how each writer is informed and influenced by their job as well as how they fit in that all important writing. My favourite is probably Bud Smith (Construction Worker):
"It’s dangerous, physical work. Often high up in the air. On breaks I write first drafts on my cellphone with my thumbs—sitting in the work truck or in the machine shop. At the end of the day when everybody else is fighting to get out of the parking lot, I write for twenty more minutes. It adds up. "
Crime and the City: Birmingham
https://crimereads.com/crime-and-the-city-birmingham/
CrimeReads takes a look at several crime fiction series located in the city closest to my heart, revealing it's not all Peaky Blinders over here.
The families losing their loved ones to hunger suicide in Afghanistan
An extremely distressing and depressing story. With current sanctions hitting the country hard, more than half of the population of Afghanistan (around 23m people) are suffering from hunger. Many, as a result, are turning to suicide.
This is why sanctions as a whole never usually work. Those at the top, or in power, continue to receive and live in the means they have become accustomed to. Meanwhile, the populace...
Confronting the “Cabal”
https://hopenothate.org.uk/2022/03/17/confronting-the-cabal/
Hope Not Hate comment on the recent developments in the Far-Right scene here in the U.K and how that has been informed and exacerbated by COVID. Several groups and disparate networks have appeared and evolved recently, mostly through Telegram. The latest of these fringe groups, Alpha Men Assemble (Christ), are currently running 'training sessions' lead by ex-servicemen.
I'm off to tame the jungle that is my backyard. See you in two!
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