A Disaster Porn Presidency

PNUT GALLERY
 

This is the third installment of the Daily Pnut Week in Review. The highest scoring winner will be congratulated in next week’s Daily Pnut (unless they prefer anonymity) and mailed a book of their choosing from our book list. If there are multiple people who have perfect scores, then we’ll use a random generator to pick the winner. This online quiz is 10 short questions, and submissions must be made by 12pm EST Sunday, 5/6. Everything in the quiz has been covered in this week’s Daily Pnut. Good luck!

 
 
 
SEASONED NUTS: QUOTABLE
 

“In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s, we do not accept them easily enough.” – C.S. Lewis

“I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.” – C.S. Lewis

 
 
 
IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ
 

Russia’s Disinformation Strategy: Exactly two months ago, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found slumped on a bench near Skripal’s home in Salisbury, England. Ever since, the British explanation for what happened has never changed. Prime Minister Theresa May has continually argued it was “highly likely” the Skripals were poisoned by a Russian-made nerve agent, because only the Kremlin had a motive to kill its former officer.

Russia, however, uses a recognizable tactic to fight a propaganda war; it’s a disinformation strategy called “Deny, Distract, and Blame.” Russia’s embassy in London, and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, are key parts of the strategy. Here are some of the various theories they’ve put out to explain the (alleged) poisoning incident: 1. The Skripals weren’t poisoned; it was all “staged” to make Russia look bad; 2. Yulia was abducted, held in isolation, and injected with “chemicals” by someone before tests were performed, to make Russia look bad; 3. Tests were performed that exonerated Russia but the British destroyed the evidence; 4. A Swiss laboratory used to test the poison identified another toxin that Russia doesn’t have, but the US, UK, and NATO do; 5. British secret services have misled the government; they’re covering up evidence and preventing an independent transparent investigation.

The goal of Moscow’s disinformation strategy, according to a former special adviser to the late foreign secretary Robin Cook, is to lead people into “a wilderness of mirrors.” “There is an endless loop of disinformation and half-formed opinions (that) gets echoed and replicated artificially, by Russian bots, as well as by genuine means.” Inside Russia, “it’s about broadcasting thoroughly tailored narratives, which are not even based on the news. This happens on purpose on major TV channels controlled by the Kremlin.”

 
 
 
NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READ
 

A Disaster Porn Presidency: The newest member of President Trump’s legal team, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, blew up the airways Wednesday evening when he went on Fox News and said the President had reimbursed his attorney Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payment to the porn actress Stormy Daniels. For months the official White House position has been that Trump had had nothing to do with Daniels, and didn’t know what actions Cohen may have taken. Last month aboard Air Force One Trump denied knowing anything about the payment and told reporters to ask his attorney about it.

White House officials were caught off guard by Giuliani’s comments. One White House aide said his appearance “stunned and shocked” the communications staff. Another official said Giuliani had managed, in just one interview, to undermine the administration’s entire defense strategy when it came not only to Daniels, but also former FBI Director James Comey and special counsel Robert Mueller.

However, Giuliani said he had spoken to the president both before and after his appearance on Fox, and a source familiar with the conversation said Trump seemed pleased with Giuliani’s performance. Thursday the former mayor told CNN that he and Trump are on the same page. “You won’t see daylight between me and the President. The strategy is to get everything wrapped up and done with this so that it doesn’t take on a life of its own.” Two White House officials said managing the situation was now out of their control. Others confirmed that Giuliani and Trump do indeed confer before Giuliani goes on cable news, further indication that the President believes he is his own best communications director.

In a series of tweets Thursday morning, Trump reiterated Giuliani’s comments that he’d paid a monthly retainer to Cohen, meaning the $130,000 couldn’t be considered a campaign contribution or a finance violation. And once again he denied having an affair with Daniels, begging the question of why any hush money was paid at all.

 
 
 
MIXED NUTS: QUICK TAKES ON WORLD NEWS
 

-Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted a video message on YouTube Thursday that needed no translation and wasn’t subject to misinterpretation: “Iran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented.” President Trump had warned that unless European allies fix the “terrible flaws” in the JCPOA by May 12, he will refuse to extend US sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic, which he claims has violated the international agreement spearheaded by former president Obama. However, Zarif said it is the US that has “consistently violated the nuclear deal, particularly by bullying others to prevent businesses from returning to Iran.” (Reuters)

-The US State Department lodged a formal diplomatic protest with China alleging injuries were caused to US pilots when Chinese personnel, at the country’s first overseas military base in the East African nation of Djibouti, directed military-grade lasers at US military aircraft from a nearby American base. The US briefly halted air operations last month following a series of accidents and issued a notice to airmen “to exercise caution when flying in certain areas in Djibouti.” About 4,000 US personnel are based there at Camp Lemonnier. (CNN)

-Three African-American 11th grade girls from Washington, DC had an idea so smart it made the finals of NASA’s coveted nationwide high-school science competition. The teens invented a way to purify lead-contaminated drinking water in older public schools. Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner, and Bria Snell are the only all-female, all-black team in the competition, but when NASA opened the contest to online voting, users from a trollish website launched a racist, sexist campaign to hack the results, forcing NASA to shut down the voting. (CNN)   

-It’d be like unearthing King Tut’s tomb and discovering Soupy Sales in there instead. Well, not exactly, but still quite unsettling to find out that world-renowned Swedish Meatballs…aren’t Swedish at all–they’re Turkish. (Come on–Not everybody knew that!) Sweden’s official national Twitter account, @swedense, abruptly revealed last weekend, why, we don’t know: “Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe King Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century.” Some in Turkey were upset that Ikea was selling the dish as though it were Swedish; and one Swede, bemoaning the news as robbing life of its meaning, tweeted “My whole life has been a lie.” (The Guardian)

-The 2011 Arab spring uprisings began in Tunisia, which is often described as the movement’s sole success story. But critics warn austere budget-cutting policies and other financial measures promoted by international lenders and advisers, and enacted by inexperienced Tunisian politicians, are making the country’s economic and political crisis much worse, literally imperiling its democratic experiment. As an economist and co-founder of the Tunisian Observatory of Economy said: “When you impoverish the poor and middle class you undermine democracy.” (NYT)

More News Reads:

 
 
 
KEEPING OUR EYE ON
 

Violent Dust Storms in India Kill Dozens: The states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in northern India were hit by violent dust storms Wednesday. The tumultuous activity flattened houses, toppled trees, knocked out electricity, and killed livestock. At least 109 people died and dozens more were injured. 73 people were reportedly killed in Uttar Pradesh alone. More than half of the dead lived in the Agra district, which is home to the Taj Mahal monument. In the village of Kheragarh, about 30 miles southwest of Agra, 21 people lost their lives. Some houses in the village are made of mud, and entire walls collapsed on sleeping inhabitants. The Uttar Pradesh government announced that 400,000 rupees ($6,000; £4,400) compensation would be paid to the victims’ survivors.

In the Alwar district in Rajasthan, at least 36 people were killed. The owner of the Alwar Hotel abandoned his car after it was almost blown off the road. “I haven’t seen such a devastating storm in at least 25 years. Everyone was scared and running for cover as trees and homes were getting blown away. It was a nightmare,” he said. The secretary for disaster management and relief in Rajasthan said, “I’ve been in office for 20 years and this is the worst I’ve seen.” Storm-related deaths were also reported in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, after it was pummeled by more than 41,000 lightning strikes.  

 
 
 
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LOOSE NUTS: FASCINATING NEWS
 

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