BBC:

Ukraine’s parliament has voted in favour of banning some Russian music in media and public spaces.

The ban will not apply to all Russian music, but rather relates to music created or performed by those who are or were Russian citizens after 1991.

Artists who have condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine can apply for an exemption from the ban.

The import of books from Russia and Belarus will also be prohibited under the legislation.

…

The document says the ban will „minimise the risks of possible hostile propaganda through music in Ukraine and will increase the volume of national music products in the cultural space,“ BBC Monitoring reports.

The ban will apply to musicians who have or had Russian citizenship at any time after 1991 – the year Ukraine declared independence – except for those who are Ukrainian citizens or were so at the time of their death.

…

In a parallel bill to that affecting music, books imported from Russia, Belarus and occupied Ukrainian territories will also banned, as well as material in Russian imported from other countries.

This law will ban the publishing and distributing of books written by Russian citizens (with similar exemptions to those for music) though this will not apply to books already published in Ukraine.

In addition, translations of books will only be published in Ukrainian, official EU languages or indigenous Ukrainian languages.

This means Ukrainians will not be able to import and read Ludmila Ulitskaya’s Sonechka or Swetlana Alexijewitsch’s Zinkjungen which I read recently. Ukraine has outlawed the publication of books in Catalan, Mandarin, Cantonese.

We have a democracy. Last year that democracy was in danger. There could have been a catastrophe. Lucky for us we had Mike Pence (thank God). Because of The Courage of Mike Pence, while we came dangerously close to catastrophe, catastrophe was averted.

Guardian:

It came as the new head of the British army said British troops must prepare “to fight in Europe once again”.  “There is now a burning imperative to forge an army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle,” Gen Sir Patrick Sanders said, writing to his charges about the challenges they face.

The statements suggest the west believes Ukraine cannot achieve a rapid military breakthrough despite the anticipated arrival of fresh Nato-standard arms, while officials in the country have continued to call for rapid help.

Ukraine’s forces remain on the defensive in the eastern Donbas region, where fighting continues in Sievierodonestsk.

The head of the British army is talking about the UK and its allies „defeating Russia in battle“??

Bild:

BBC:

The West must prepare to continue supporting Ukraine in a war lasting for years, Nato’s chief has warned.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the costs of war were high, but the price of letting Moscow achieve its military goals was even greater.

His comments came as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also warned of the need to brace for a longer-term conflict.

Both Mr Stoltenberg and Mr Johnson said sending more weapons would make a victory for Ukraine more likely.

„We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine,“ the Nato chief said in an interview with German newspaper Bild.

BBC:

In a rare interview, President Joe Biden has said Americans are „really, really down“ as they grapple with soaring inflation after two years of a pandemic.

He told the Associated Press the „need for mental health in America has skyrocketed“.

Mr Biden said he wanted Americans to „be confident. Because I am confident.“

The president’s popularity has plunged as November elections loom that will decide which party controls Congress.

„People are really, really down,“ Mr Biden told the news agency in a half-hour interview from the Oval Office on Thursday.

„They’re really down. Their need for mental health in America has skyrocketed because people have seen everything upset.

„Everything they counted on upset. But most of it’s a consequence of, of, of what’s happening, what happened is a consequence of the, the Covid crisis.

„People lost their jobs. People are out of their jobs. And then, were they going to get back to work? Schools were closed.“

…

Last month, inflation in the US hit 8.6% – one of the highest rates in the world.

During the interview, the AP said Mr Biden became defensive when asked about this issue.

„If it’s my fault,“ he said, „why is it the case in every other major industrial country in the world that inflation is higher? You ask yourself that? I’m not being a wise guy.“

A Fox News reporter challenged the White House press secretary about this claim on Thursday, pointing out that inflation is currently lower in other top economies such as Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and India.

Guardian:

AP: So you’re talking about a country that has undergone profound psychological trauma.

BIDEN: Yes.

AP: What can you as a president do to address that psychology …

BIDEN: Be confident.

AP: … to make people feel more optimistic. Be confident?

BIDEN: Be confident. Be confident. Because I am confident. We are better positioned than any country in the world to own the second quarter of the 21st century. That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact.

Now I don’t know about you dear reader, but personally I see it my duty as a patriotic American to responsibly prepare to own my bit of the second quarter of the 21^st century. And that, needless to say, is not hyperbole. That’s a fact.

Noam Chomsky:

Can we try to bring this horror to an end? Or should we try to perpetuate it? Those are the choices.

There’s only one way to bring it to an end. That’s diplomacy. Now, diplomacy, by definition, means both sides accept it. They don’t like it, but they accept it as the least bad option. It would offer Putin some kind of escape hatch. That’s one possibility. The other is just to drag it out and see how much everybody will suffer, how many Ukrainians will die, how much Russia will suffer, how many millions of people will starve to death in Asia and Africa, how much we’ll proceed toward heating the environment to the point where there will be no possibility for a livable human existence. Those are the options. Well, with near 100% unanimity, the United States and most of Europe want to pick the no-diplomacy option. It’s explicit. We have to keep going to hurt Russia.

Ω Ω Ω

The security of the population is simply not a concern for policymakers. Security for the privileged, the rich, the corporate sector, arms manufacturers, yes, but not the rest of us. This doublethink is constant, sometimes conscious, sometimes not. It’s just what Orwell described, hyper-totalitarianism in a free society.

Robert Reich:

Liz Cheney’s courage and integrity are closer to Paul Wellstone’s than to almost any current politician I can think of. All of America needs her to run for president in the Republican primaries for the 2024 election.

Die Zeit:

Der ukrainische Präsident Wolodymyr Selenskyj mit Frankreichs Staatschef Emmanuel Macron in Kiew © Ludovic Marin/​AP/​dpa

Volodymyr Zelenskiy shakes hands with Olaf Scholz next to Emmanuel Macron in Kyiv, June 16, 2022. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

Guardian:

Report’s author says people died because US healthcare ‘leaves millions without adequate access to medical treatment’

The US could have saved more than 338,000 lives and more than $105bn in healthcare costs in the Covid-19 pandemic with a universal healthcare system, according to a study.

More than 1 million people died in the US from Covid, in part because the country’s “fragmented and inefficient healthcare system” meant uninsured or underinsured people faced financial barriers that delayed diagnosis and exacerbated transmission, the report states.

The US had the highest death rate from the virus among large wealthy countries and is also the only one among such countries without universal healthcare. It spends almost twice as much on healthcare per capita as the other wealthy countries, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data.