Thursday Screening: February 22, 2024
On the ground with Myanmar's rebels and an American grifter's rise to prominence
Good morning and happy Thursday. Tomorrow the White House is expected to announce the details of a new sanctions package against Russia in the aftermath of Alexei Navalny’s execution in an Arctic penal colony. It’s infuriating there are any sanctions left in the barrel to levy at this point. No tool (financial or otherwise) should be spared in this existential battle. We’ve sat through two years now of talk about “escalation dynamics” from the Biden administration but as far as I can tell every time we violate some self-imposed red line in Ukraine…nothing happens. It’s difficult to help your ally win a war when your administration is scared of its own shadow.
Anyway, on to the screening. This week we’ve got a rare look at one of the world’s ongoing silent wars and a quick profile of a notorious pro-Russian American grifter.
France 24: Myanmar's young people take up arms against junta
I’ve been following Myanmar’s civil war since it began in 2021 but unlike the more prominent wars in Ukraine and Gaza it’s been difficult to find quality on the ground footage from the war against the ruling military junta. Last week France 24 released a report from a journalist who was able to embed with the rebels despite the junta’s media restrictions and censorship. The result is astonishing and in many ways moving. Seeing people in their early twenties willing to die for the prospect of a representative federal republic is a stark reminder of how good we have it in the West.
The Soup Central: Anatomy Of A Grifter: Jackson Hinkle
Pekka Kallioniemi does such a good job breaking down the hypocrisies and general awfulness of the people who have made a career out of going to bat for the autocrats of the world. Tucker Carlson is (deservedly) getting all of the attention right now for his embarrassing tour of Moscow but there are plenty of others who have turned ‘useful idiot’ into a full-time profession. If you want to feel better about your life choices, I recommend watching Kallioniemi’s five minute biography of American bullshit artist Jackson Hinkle:
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