New orders

Recently: Why is Russia trying to manipulate elections in … Moldova?

Today: The U.S. Justice Department targets George Soros’s foundation on terrorism charges, so far without evidence. The American secretary of defense summons senior brass from around the world for an unexplained meeting. The White House prepares mass firings for a potential federal-government shutdown. Amazon pays $2.5 billion for tricking customers. Denmark fingers an unnamed foreign government for drone attacks on its airports. & Super Typhoon Ragasa brings havoc to Southeast Asia.

For members—from the latest cultural-intelligence briefing: What happens when environmental solutions create environmental problems? Thea Riofrancos’s new book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. + A Welsh-language music scene?

& New music from Jeff Tweedy ...

The Soros directive

The U.S. Justice Department has instructed multiple federal prosecutor offices to draft plans for investigating the billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations on potential charges ranging, believe it or not, from arson to material support for terrorism.

Aakash Singh, a lawyer in the office of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, sent the directive to U.S. attorney offices in California; New York; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Detroit; and Maryland—according to a copy The New York Times has gotten ahold of. Singh cited a report by the Capital Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, claiming Soros’s foundation “poured over $80 million into groups tied to terrorism or extremist violence.”

The directive comes days after President Donald Trump publicly argued that Soros “should be put in jail” following the assassination of the American political activist Charlie Kirk in Utah earlier this month—despite a complete lack of any evidence linking Soros, Open Society, or any political group whatsoever to the accused killer.

Trump has meanwhile repeatedly accused Soros of funding violent protests and civil unrest throughout his presidency. The timing of this new announcement coincides with Trump having fired a career prosecutor who declined to bring charges against the former director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey—the American president then installing as a replacement his former personal lawyer, who’s now preparing to indict Comey.

Capital Research Center, founded in 1984, describes itself as monitoring “liberal money in politics” and has previously received funding from Philip Morris and ExxonMobil while investigating groups critical of those industries. The Justice Department defended the move, saying it “will always prioritize public safety and investigate organizations that conspire to commit acts of violence.” Open Society Foundations called the accusations “politically motivated attacks on civil society” aimed at undermining First Amendment rights.

Meanwhile

• U.S. Secretary of Defense (or now, officially, War) Pete Hegseth has summoned scores of American generals and admirals from around the world to meet on short notice next week at a Marine Corps base in Virginia without disclosing the reason for the gathering: “The lack of details surrounding the gathering has some fearing a looming purge.”
• The White House budget office has instructed federal agencies to prepare mass-firing plans for a possible government shutdown, targeting employees in programs “not consistent” with President Trump’s priorities. “We remain hopeful that Democrats in Congress will not trigger a shutdown and the steps outlined above will not be necessary.”
• Amazon has agreed to pay a remarkable $2.5 billion to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it tricked millions of customers into Prime subscriptions and made cancellation deliberately difficult. The deal includes $1 billion in civil penalties and $1.5 billion in customer refunds, averaging $51 per affected subscriber.
• Denmark’s Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said a foreign government was behind “systematic” drone flights that forced the closure of Aalborg Airport’s airspace Wednesday evening: “There can be no doubt that everything points to this being the work of a professional actor.”
• Super Typhoon Ragasa, one of the strongest storms to hit Asia in years, battered Hong Kong and southern China on Wednesday, after killing 27 people in Taiwan and the Philippines earlier this week. More than 2 million were relocated across China’s Guangdong province as the storm made landfall Wednesday afternoon—with winds reaching 241 kilometers an hour. … See our latest weather report, from the Luzon Strait—and stay tuned for more in this week’s member’s despatch.

For members

The great convergence

What happens when environmental solutions create environmental problems? Thea Riofrancos, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism.

—Gustav Jönsson

The race is on to secure critical minerals, with China leading the pack. This summer, the foreign ministers of the United States, India, Japan, and Australia launched the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative—an “ambitious expansion of our partnership to strengthen economic security and collective resilience by collaborating to secure and diversify critical minerals supply chains.” 

They call these minerals “critical” because so many important technologies need them, not least the batteries powering the transition to sustainable energy, with the transportation sector being the second-largest source of carbon emissions globally. Electric vehicles need batteries; and batteries need lithium. Meanwhile, the energy sector needs lithium batteries, too, to store electricity—huge lithium batteries.

Without lithium, the transportation and energy sectors will remain reliant on fossil fuels.

Lithium, however, requires massive extractive mining.

So really, how green is the green transition here?

‘Taro #1 + #2’

Sîn gerddoriaeth Gymraeg?

Gruff Rhys, the longtime Super Furry Animals frontman has a new solo record out, which he sings all in Welsh. Strange? Not really. When Rhys and his bandmates put out Mwng in 2000, it was a bold move to release a pop album in Welsh; now it’s another welcome addition to the scene.

A Welsh-language music scene?

’Lou Reed Was My Babysitter’