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In today’s edition:
- Could a frustrated Ukraine actually win with aid? (America certainly would.)
- The Kennedys try to keep their torch lit
- The Tortured Poets Department, as trading cards
What will it take to win?
Up and down the front of its war with Russia, Ukraine’s military is digging in, not least because there’s nothing else it can do.
During journalist Anna Husarska’s time just north of Kharkiv, part of a larger trip reporting on Ukrainian frustration along the conflict’s battle lines, she witnessed a unit using a machine donated by a Polish volunteer group to excavate trenches. “They were grateful to get it,” Husarska writes of the excavator. But they would have preferred arms.
This is the story everywhere on this side of the conflict. The Ukrainians can surveil the Russians, have the perfect attack position, even — but then must make the difficult decision whether to use their dwindling munitions on a hit that might take out only a dozen Russians, rather than a more justifiable “40 or 50,” one commander told Husarska.
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If Ukraine were to get all the foreign aid and munitions it dreams of, would it prevail over the invading Russia?
“The answer is a solid maybe,” Brookings Institution defense analyst Michael O’Hanlon writes.
His op-ed explains the uphill battle a second counteroffensive would be, but he lays out how a more concentrated effort than last year’s push could succeed. You can practically see him pushing little pawns across the battle map.
Such an effort would require a boost in Ukraine’s troop recruiting — it simply needs more men — as well as the long-awaited deliverance of fuller U.S. support. Even then, O’Hanlon writes, “the odds are tough.”
The folks who would absolutely, unquestionably benefit from increased aid to Ukraine are … right here in the United States, Marc Thiessen writes. He observes that most of the military assistance Congress approves for the country gets spent domestically, boosting American manufacturing defense production.
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Helped by researchers at the American Enterprise Institute, Marc pulled together an exhaustive analysis of which congressional districts benefit the most from Ukraine aid — and where their representatives in the House stand on supporting that aid.
Check it out, and see how, he argues, so many members of Congress are pushing policy that would block jobs and investment in their very own districts. And stay tuned for a coming essay from Marc pressuring those members to get it together.
From Karen Tumulty’s column on the Kennedy clan’s attempt to prevent RFK Jr. from extinguishing their torch.
Already, the family’s glow has dimmed considerably, Karen writes, “with fewer and fewer Americans having any memory of the Camelot years.” She recalls the magical moment when the “star power” of the family endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008.
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“What struck me most then,” she writes, “was the sight of the preternaturally composed Obama, moments before the event, choking back his tears.”
Now, the conspiracy-mongering RFK Jr.’s candidacy — which could spoil the election for either major-party contender — brings “a new and dark coda to the family,” Karen says.
Can the Kennedys do enough with their remaining magic to write a different ending?
Chaser: What else is the family at work on? Last year, Tatiana Schlossberg, a granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, proposed a path to eliminating plastic pollution for good.
Less politics
Taylor Swift, welcome to the Norton Anthology.
With the early-morning release today of her latest album (albums?), the wildly popular singer officially becomes a Tortured Poet. So Edith Pritchett saw fit to cartoon for Tay that thing by which all of history’s tortured poets have been commemorated: their own trading cards!
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Click through to collect them all — Swift, Lord Byron and Emily Dickinson. And, hey, I’ll trade you my Elizabeth Barrett Browning for Byron.
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Smartest, fastest
- George Will previews the case coming before the Supreme Court regarding homeless people’s right to camp on public property. Don’t expect it to stand, he warns.
- Kathleen Parker recounts watching a horrific video of an adolescent wolf tortured in Wyoming. It’s just part of the darkness brought on by the state’s wolf-elimination program.
- Daniel Pink will be online Thursday at noon EDT to live-chat through his imaginative “Why Not?” series with readers — and to listen to your ideas on how to reinvigorate the country.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
Whoa, rare rhythmic scheme!
Dactylic hexameter?!
Sick Homer card, bro
Plus! A Friday bye-ku (Fri-ku!) from reader Pat C.:
He’s gaunt and glaring —
Hard to tell through closed eyelids
The Lyin’ King falls
***
Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. Have a great weekend!
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You’re reading the Today’s Opinions newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox.
In today’s edition:
Up and down the front of its war with Russia, Ukraine’s military is digging in, not least because there’s nothing else it can do.
During journalist Anna Husarska’s time just north of Kharkiv, part of a larger trip reporting on Ukrainian frustration along the conflict’s battle lines, she witnessed a unit using a machine donated by a Polish volunteer group to excavate trenches. “They were grateful to get it,” Husarska writes of the excavator. But they would have preferred arms.
This is the story everywhere on this side of the conflict. The Ukrainians can surveil the Russians, have the perfect attack position, even — but then must make the difficult decision whether to use their dwindling munitions on a hit that might take out only a dozen Russians, rather than a more justifiable “40 or 50,” one commander told Husarska.
If Ukraine were to get all the foreign aid and munitions it dreams of, would it prevail over the invading Russia?
“The answer is a solid maybe,” Brookings Institution defense analyst Michael O’Hanlon writes.
His op-ed explains the uphill battle a second counteroffensive would be, but he lays out how a more concentrated effort than last year’s push could succeed. You can practically see him pushing little pawns across the battle map.
Such an effort would require a boost in Ukraine’s troop recruiting — it simply needs more men — as well as the long-awaited deliverance of fuller U.S. support. Even then, O’Hanlon writes, “the odds are tough.”
The folks who would absolutely, unquestionably benefit from increased aid to Ukraine are … right here in the United States, Marc Thiessen writes. He observes that most of the military assistance Congress approves for the country gets spent domestically, boosting American manufacturing defense production.
Helped by researchers at the American Enterprise Institute, Marc pulled together an exhaustive analysis of which congressional districts benefit the most from Ukraine aid — and where their representatives in the House stand on supporting that aid.
Check it out, and see how, he argues, so many members of Congress are pushing policy that would block jobs and investment in their very own districts. And stay tuned for a coming essay from Marc pressuring those members to get it together.
From Karen Tumulty’s column on the Kennedy clan’s attempt to prevent RFK Jr. from extinguishing their torch.
Already, the family’s glow has dimmed considerably, Karen writes, “with fewer and fewer Americans having any memory of the Camelot years.” She recalls the magical moment when the “star power” of the family endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008.
“What struck me most then,” she writes, “was the sight of the preternaturally composed Obama, moments before the event, choking back his tears.”
Now, the conspiracy-mongering RFK Jr.’s candidacy — which could spoil the election for either major-party contender — brings “a new and dark coda to the family,” Karen says.
Can the Kennedys do enough with their remaining magic to write a different ending?
Chaser: What else is the family at work on? Last year, Tatiana Schlossberg, a granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, proposed a path to eliminating plastic pollution for good.
Taylor Swift, welcome to the Norton Anthology.
With the early-morning release today of her latest album (albums?), the wildly popular singer officially becomes a Tortured Poet. So Edith Pritchett saw fit to cartoon for Tay that thing by which all of history’s tortured poets have been commemorated: their own trading cards!
Click through to collect them all — Swift, Lord Byron and Emily Dickinson. And, hey, I’ll trade you my Elizabeth Barrett Browning for Byron.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
Whoa, rare rhythmic scheme!
Dactylic hexameter?!
Sick Homer card, bro
Plus! A Friday bye-ku (Fri-ku!) from reader Pat C.:
He’s gaunt and glaring —
Hard to tell through closed eyelids
The Lyin’ King falls
***
Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. Have a great weekend!
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