The ISW posts on Ukraine were always sprinkled with Liberal brainworms, but has anyone found them to be getting a bit more unhinged during Russia's recent advances?

I don't think trump's Gettysburg address came up in the news mega - https://youtu.be/pq4xSuiueUc

If there was a 12 episode, prestige podcast with trump on the civil war I would be on the patreon in a heartbeat

Fake country solidarity:
https://nitter.poast.org/MOFA_Taiwan/status/1780814843559477597

Annoying person breaks law, calls protesters illegal and annoying

Uh oh

President Lula da Silva, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Gustavo Petro. received a handwritten letter asking for help from Jorge Glas, the former vice-president of Ecuador who is in a maximum security prison in Guayaquil.

"Help me," Jorge Glas asked Lula in a handwritten letter in an Ecuadorian prison

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva received a handwritten letter asking for help from Jorge Glas, the former vice-president of Ecuador who is in a maximum security prison in Guayaquil.

The letter was given to the Brazilian head of state in Bogotá last Wednesday (17) by former Colombian president Ernesto Samper, before the bilateral meeting between Brazilian President Lula and Colombian president Gustavo Petro at Casa de Nariño.

Glas was arrested in an operation at the Mexican embassy in Quito by the Ecuadorian police on April 5th. Mexican diplomats were beaten up by the security forces.

The Ecuadorian courts considered the arrest illegal and the episode, which violated diplomatic norms, was repudiated by the international community.

"I'm Jorge Glas, former vice-president. I'm in prison again, help me," wrote the Ecuadorian politician, who was sentenced to prison for corruption but was sheltered by the Mexican embassy, which granted him diplomatic asylum.

In the text, written in pencil, Glas also says that "only international pressure can help" and claims to be "in the worst prison in the country and on hunger strike".

In an interview with CNN, Samper described the letter as "desperate" and said that he took advantage of Lula's visit to deliver it personally to the Brazilian president, with a transcription, since the handwriting is, according to him, "quite illegible".

Samper says that Lula expressed "great concern" about the invasion of the embassy and was "dismayed" by Glas' situation. "He expressed concern to me about the life and the cry of a person who is in difficulty," he said.

When asked about the choice of the Brazilian head of state as the recipient of the request, Samper said that "President Lula has undisputed recognition and leadership in the region, his opinions are very much heard and I think that's why they turned to him".

The former Colombian president believes that, given the request, the Brazilian president will activate diplomatic mechanisms or make a statement in the coming days.

At the extraordinary summit of the Heads of State of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) last Tuesday (15) to discuss the invasion of the Mexican embassy, Lula defined the episode as "simply unacceptable" and stressed that it doesn't just affect Mexico, but all countries.

"A formal apology from Ecuador is a first step in the right direction," emphasized Lula at the virtual summit.

Is power consumption a leading metric for economic growth? China notched 7.4% electricity consumption growth in March YoY. They've been fairly correlated in the past, with the caveat that growth in services generally leads to contraction in electricity consumption.

I'm notching up my GDP growth estimates for this year from barely above 5% to a healthy 5.5%+. There's a lot of internal development that's not getting reflected, and so something is clearly happening in China. But what?

https://www.intellinews.com/how-much-damage-can-ukraine-s-drone-attacks-on-russian-oil-refineries-do-320853/?source=russia

I thought this was a good article by ben aris on the (limited) impact of ukrainian drones on Russian energy infrastructure. He is worth reading about European energy even though he is a lib

Colombia asks to join Brics.

Lula da Silva pledges his support for Colombia's inclusion in the BRICS after a setback with Argentina. At the beginning of the year, President Javier Milei announced that the country had given up on joining the bloc of developing nations

The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will sponsor the inclusion of Colombia in Brics. On Wednesday 17th, Colombian President Gustavo Petro asked the country to join the bloc of developing nations, which underwent its biggest expansion last year and now has ten members.

"President Petro expressed Colombia's interest in joining BRICS as a full member as soon as possible, and President Lula welcomed this initiative and pledged to promote Colombia's candidacy," the foreign ministries said in a joint statement.

At the beginning of the year, Argentina's president, Javier Milei, announced that the country had given up on joining the BRICS, which is seen as a forum with an increasingly direct influence from China and as a challenge to the economic and political dominance of the West and the G7.

Brazil acted in favor of Argentina at the last summit and, with the refusal of the new government, the idea of a certain regional balance in the expansion, a criterion defended by Brasilia, has been lost. The country remains the only member from Latin America.

Brazil was initially against the expansion of the BRICS, believing it could dilute its leading role, but ended up giving in to Beijing's offensive.

Each of the members sponsored the new countries behind the scenes and all had their invitations approved by consensus, as is customary in the group. A new expansion process is expected to take place at the Kazan summit in Russia in October. Indonesia, Venezuela and Pakistan are also looking to join the BRICS.

The current members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"Maybe our dear Colombia can join the BRICS," said Lula in a statement after meeting Petro.

Colombia will take part in meetings of the G20, coordinated this year by Brazil, and has expressed interest in joining Lula's proposal for a global alliance against hunger and poverty. On the other hand, the Brazilian president said that he would certainly take part in the COP-16 on Biodiversity in Cali in October.

Gustavo Petro and Lula da Silva also repudiated the new sanctions imposed by the US against Venezuela. They say that the United States is worsening the political situation in Venezuela and not fulfilling its promises.

The two had recently criticized Maduro's government for barring two candidates from taking part. Petro and Lula are known to be political allies of Maduro. Relations between the three seemed to have deteriorated, but recently Gustavo Petro visited Caracas where he met with Maduro, whom he called his comrade.

Colombia and Brazil:

Milei:

US:

dubai? more like buh bye

(they have some rain and airports closed)