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Here’s coverage from the Guardian. It was a big story that was widely covered so it shouldn’t be hard to find another source if you want one.

I understand the concern about their sale but the conclusion that they aren’t reliable isn’t supported by evidence as far I can tell. Per the included link in the post, they haven’t failed a fact check in the last 5 years – and they were sold to Axel Springer in late 2021. MBFC has reviewed them multiple times since the acquisition. Politico, also acquired by Axel Springer, was rated “Leans Left” in blind bias reviews by AllSides both before and after the acquisition, so it doesn’t appear to have changed their editorial bias much either. I can’t find any evidence of a shift rightward or away from factual reporting.

They’ve been very active targeting Russia since the full-scale invasion, though they’ve been pretty quiet lately.

don’t tase me bro

Gonna go on the record right now and say that this dude is a real turd

dupe doop dewp

There’s an archive link at the bottom of the post.

It has more to do with them being identified and fleeing the country:

Holocaust memorial had recorded two figures arriving at about 3am with spray paint and stencils, as well as two or three other people who may have been involved. They were reportedly quickly identified from mobile phone information.

All were Bulgarian and left Paris by coach for Brussels later the same morning just after spray-painting the graffiti, France Info reported, confirming an earlier report in the satirical weekly Canard Enchaîné.

And the similarity to a previous incident:

In October, about 60 Stars of David were discovered on walls in Paris and districts on the outskirts. All were in a blue similar to the blue of the Israeli national flag.

A Moldovan couple were arrested in that case and their alleged handler, a pro-Russian Moldovan businessman, was identified, according to Agence France-Presse.

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That does make it sound less good, but there’s also a compelling pro-Ukrainian argument for using revenue (and other funds) rather than the seized assets for defense. It’s widely agreed that Ukraine is owed those assets for reconstruction. Many want to liquidate them as an alternative to directly funding the defense effort, which could harm Ukraine’s ability to rebuild after the war. So it’s sort of robbing future-Ukraine to pay for the present. It’s especially risky because countries tend to lose focus of things like reconstruction and get distracted by the next shiny conflict or crisis.

That obviously depends on Ukraine’s allies continuing to fund their defense though.

Correct.

The party’s ruling body, known as the political council, issued a statement on Tuesday in which it insisted that the government would not be blackmailed but also signalled that a way out of the crisis was possible if there was swift progress on preferential trade terms and visa liberalisation.

‘We won’t be blackmailed but we can be bribed!’

They changed it to that considerably less bonkers headline. Perhaps because they became of aware of their legal exposure under international laws against poor taste…? 🧐

Can we talk about a story that’s fallen through the cracks here? CNN claiming this as an exclusive is madness. Who do these people think they are? And should the ICC issue arrest warrants about it? 😉

BBC just reported that Iranian state media has confirmed their deaths:

President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several others are confirmed to have been killed in Sunday’s helicopter crash in north-western Iran, state TV says.

The concern isn’t about the consequences faced by Russia, but the impact on the rest of the world. Like, if Russia were to collapse, I think most would agree that Egyptians don’t deserve to find out what suddenly not having $1.7 billion in wheat would mean, right? I don’t think anyone has any idea what that would mean for, say, Tajikistan and other post-Soviet states with economies closely tied to Russia. Collapse would be chaos and it wouldn’t stay confined within Russia’s borders.

And, again, I don’t think that justifies preventing Russia from losing. There are worse concerns for Russia winning. And the idea that Russia neither winning nor losing could be a sustainable final state is probably a fantasy.

I think that’s one of the meanings. If a Russian loss led to the sudden collapse of the Russian state or a radical retraction of the Russian economy, who knows what the consequences would be?

I don’t think that’s a justification for not letting Russia lose, but it is a big bag of who-the-fuck-knows.

Netanyahu doesn’t need Gantz’s party to remain in power. They’d lose a more moderate voice in the war cabinet. The Unity government would probably lose legitimacy in the eyes of most Israelis. It would be very bad for Netanyahu politically. It would also probably be good for Gantz politically, as recent polling suggests that he might be starting to get some of Netanyahu’s stink on him.

It’s complicated. They don’t have the ability to bring down the government but both Gantz and Gallant are much more popular than Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s choice (again) comes down to placating the far-right to keep his government in power in the short-term at the expense of further alienating the Israeli public. If he bows to this pressure, the far-right might topple his government immediately. All paths probably lead to electoral (then legal) doom for Netanyahu at some point.

Archive link.