Trump mulls “pivot” from European conflicts to building Latin American alliances

Source: New York Post

“The Trump administration is considering cutting off additional military aid to Ukraine following Friday’s dramatic Oval Office blowup involving the president, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. President Trump was due to meet Monday with key officials — including national security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — to discuss the prospect of letting European allies take over assisting Ukraine in its war against Russia, a source close to the White House told The Post. ‘This is going to be part of a larger pivot away from conflicts in Europe and a pivot towards building alliances in Latin America and in the Western Hemisphere,’ the source said, name-checking El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Argentina President Javier Milei and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado Parisca as potential beneficiaries.” (03/03/25)

https://nypost.com/2025/03/03/us-news/trump-mulls-pivot-from-european-conflicts-building-latin-american-alliances-after-zelensky-oval-office-blowup/

Steve Trinward

Myanmar’s junta chief travels to ally Russia for talks with Putin

Source: ABC News

“The head of Myanmar’s military government traveled to Russia on Monday on an official visit to a major ally of the Southeast Asian nation that has been shunned by much of the West for overthrowing a democratically elected government and subsequent brutal repression. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who departed from the military airport in the capital, Naypyitaw, will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The general is accompanied by fellow members of the ruling military council and Cabinet, as well as military officials, state television MRTV reported.” (03/03/25)

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/myanmars-head-military-government-travels-ally-russia-talks-119376179

Thomas L. Knapp

Ayn Rand or Steven Pinker: Who is the Real Champion of Reason?

Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden

“Since the publication of her novel, Atlas Shrugged, in 1957 and her subsequent nonfiction writing in her newsletters, Ayn Rand has been regarded by many as the doyenne of reason, and its leading advocate. In more recent times, a challenger to that title has arisen. Steven Pinker, the Harvard polymath and professor of psychology, who published Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress in 2018 and Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters in 2021 has argued passionately for reason. But his understanding of reason differs from Rand’s. The question arises, who is the real champion of reason?” (03/02/25)

https://jollylibertarian.blogspot.com/2025/03/ayn-rand-or-steven-pinker-who-is-real.html

Thomas L. Knapp

CA: Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest needs federal funds to reopen

Source: SFGate

“Rebecca Patterson thought that Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest would be the perfect place to elope. The self-described ‘moss and lichen aficionado’ was fond of waterfall hikes close to her home on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, but she wanted to explore someplace new and special while getting married. She had read about how the Hoh Rain Forest lies along a glacier-fed river of the same name and is nestled in the western lowlands of Mount Olympus. Dotted with grazing elk and gliding banana slugs beneath its old-growth canopy, this iconic destination is home to the quietest stretches of forest in the entire country thanks to its protected remoteness and the noise-softening, mossy wilderness. It seemed an ideal place to share wedding vows with a loved one. But when Patterson consulted social media for hiking suggestions in the area, she got bad news: All access to Hoh Rain Forest has been restricted indefinitely.” (03/03/25)

https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/olympic-hoh-rain-forest-closed-indefinitely-20192069.php

Steve Trinward

Is Industrial Policy a Political Winner?

Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson

“By every economic metric, three signature achievements of the Biden presidency were a resounding success. Its infrastructure bill has led to long-overdue repairs and new construction of the nation’s roads, bridges, and digital interconnectors as well. Its CHIPS Act kick-started semiconductor production, a critically important field for the nation’s technological performance and security, which had been ceded to other countries. And the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act yielded a boom in new factory construction, in which America had lagged for decades as Wall Street and major corporations had preferred to offshore production to anyplace where labor was cheaper. By every political metric, however, American voters appeared largely indifferent to these achievements when they went to the polls.” (03/03/25)

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-03-03-kamala-harris-biden-industrial-policy/

Steve Trinward

Austria: Three-Party Regime Takes Office

Source: US News & World Report

“Austria’s centrist coalition government, the first three-party alliance since the aftermath of World War Two, took office on Monday, ending Austria’s longest-ever wait for a new government and keeping the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) in opposition. Although the FPO won September’s parliamentary election with about 29% of the vote, it failed to form a coalition government. When the FPO last month gave up trying to agree a government, the conservative People’s Party (OVP), Social Democrats (SPO) and liberal Neos revived a bid to form an alliance after abandoning an earlier effort in January. Had their latest effort failed, there would have been few alternatives to a snap election, which polls suggested would have increased the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO’s share of the vote.” (03/03/25)

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-03-03/austrian-conservative-stocker-sworn-in-as-head-of-coalition-government

Thomas L. Knapp