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American Prestige - Special - A Russia-Ukraine War Update w/ Mark Ames
I was wondering why there was no share button on this episode; it's members-only. :( But basically they describe how fucked the Ukrainians are because of how they have been driven to fight Russia and then left out to dry. It's an episode from the spring but even with more weapons as was voted recently it won't change the dynamic--Ukraine has a massive manpower shortage problem (see: Bakhmut), and Russia has re-established some of its weapons manufacturing capacity, beyond what Ukraine's allies are providing it. The one time in my life where I suddenly wish that Netanyahu and Erdogan had been successful (very early on they tried to negotiate a peace deal before the U.S. told Zelensky to ignore them).

The Dig - Thawra Ep. 16 – Siege of Beirut
The 1982 war marked the exit of the PLO from Lebanon, the last of the places where they had a solid armed militant presence. As Egypt and Jordan had made peace with Israel (and the U.S.), this was also the end of the era of Arab revolutions and resistance, and the beginning of Fatah's controversial engagement with accepting the 1973 borders, which would lead to Oslo. I found Rashid Khalidi's chapter (mentioned here Wednesday) more informative about the What but this podcast episode better about the Whys. (I'm really really glad I happened to read the chapter just before listening to the episode!) It's another two and a half hour corker. 🙃 (yeah I know, I used to attend multiple university lectures that long every week...)

The Secret Life of Canada - General Idea
I didn't know very much about this art group. This is a good introduction to them. Toronto should celebrate its better artists more. I had more to say when I listened to the episode but now it's all lost to time. :P

"The majority of the passports used crossing the border when I was there were Canadian, followed by Lebanese, Brazilian, American, and Australian in descending order. [...] According to a Syrian border official, almost 100,000 people have fled Lebanon." source

ETA: "The diplomatic process is not meant to shorten the window of time of the army's operation, but rather is meant to be an extension of it and to prevent a need for future military operations," [Israel's foreign minister] told reporters.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday that it's too early to send in such a force.[CBC.ca]

It's too early, because Israel hasn't achieved its objectives yet. Once it has done that, we'll support a stabilization force that will do Israel's work anyway.