Secret Documents Show Hamas Tried to Persuade Iran to Join Its Oct. 7 Attack

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

For more than two years, Yahya Sinwar huddled with his top Hamas commanders and plotted what they hoped would be the most devastating and destabilizing attack on Israel in the militant group’s four-decade history.

Minutes of Hamas’s secret meetings, seized by the Israeli military and obtained by The New York Times, provide a detailed record of the planning for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, as well as Mr. Sinwar’s determination to persuade Hamas’s allies, Iran and Hezbollah, to join the assault or at least commit to a broader fight with Israel if Hamas staged a surprise cross-border raid.

The documents, which represent a breakthrough in understanding Hamas, also show extensive efforts to deceive Israel about its intentions as the group laid the groundwork for a bold assault and a regional conflagration that Mr. Sinwar hoped would cause Israel to “collapse.”

The documents consist of minutes from 10 secret planning meetings of a small group of Hamas political and military leaders in the run-up to the attack, on Oct. 7, 2023. The minutes include 30 pages of previously undisclosed details about the way Hamas’s leadership works and the preparations that went into its attack.

The documents, which were verified by The Times, lay out the main strategies and assessments of the leadership group:

Hamas initially planned to carry out the attack, which it code-named “the big project,” in the fall of 2022. But the group delayed executing the plan as it tried to persuade Iran and Hezbollah to participate.
As they prepared arguments aimed at Hezbollah, the Hamas leaders said that Israel’s “internal situation” — an apparent reference to turmoil over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious plans to overhaul the judiciary — was among the reasons they were “compelled to move toward a strategic battle.”
In July 2023, Hamas dispatched a top official to Lebanon, where he met with a senior Iranian commander and requested help with striking sensitive sites at the start of the assault.
The senior Iranian commander told Hamas that Iran and Hezbollah were supportive in principle, but needed more time to prepare; the minutes do not say how detailed a plan was presented by Hamas to its allies.
The documents also say that Hamas planned to discuss the attack in more detail at a subsequent meeting with Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader at the time, but do not clarify whether the discussion happened.
Hamas felt assured of its allies’ general support, but concluded it might need to go ahead without their full involvement — in part to stop Israel from deploying an advanced new air-defense system before the assault took place.
The decision to attack was also influenced by Hamas’s desire to disrupt efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the entrenchment of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Israeli efforts to exert greater control over the Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, sacred in both Islam and Judaism and known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Hamas deliberately avoided major confrontations with Israel for two years from 2021, in order to maximize the surprise of the Oct. 7 attack. As the leaders saw it, they “must keep the enemy convinced that Hamas in Gaza wants calm.”
Hamas leaders in Gaza said they briefed Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s Qatar-based political leader, on “the big project.” It was not previously known whether Mr. Haniyeh, who was assassinated by Israel in July, had been briefed on the attack before it happened.

Prelude to War

The documents provide greater context to one of the most pivotal moments in modern Middle Eastern history, showing it was both the culmination of a yearslong plan, as well as a move partly shaped by specific events after Mr. Netanyahu returned to power in Israel in late 2022.

Yahya Sinwar in April 2023 in Gaza City. Documents show that he and other Hamas leaders wanted time to lull Israeli leaders into a false sense of security before attacking Israel. Credit…Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

A Conversation With JD Vance

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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From the moment JD Vance came onto the national stage, he was inextricably linked to Donald Trump. As the author of the best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance was initially the Trump whisperer, explaining the Trump phenomenon and 2016 win to shocked liberals. Back then, Vance didn’t like Trump. He called him an “idiot,” condemned what he saw as Trump’s dangerous rhetoric and wondered in a private message whether Trump could become “America’s Hitler.”

Then Vance went through a political conversion, transforming from skeptical Trump explainer to full-throated Trump supporter. In 2021, he began his campaign for Senate in Ohio. He courted, and received, Trump’s endorsement and won that race. Two years later, here we are: Vance is not only Trump’s vice-presidential running mate but also considered by many to be the heir apparent to MAGA because of his deft defense of Trumpism.

Listen to the Conversation With JD Vance

The Republican vice-presidential candidate rejects the idea that he’s changed, defends his rhetoric and still won’t say if Trump lost in 2020.

Vance has always been comfortable in the public eye, starting with his job dealing with the media as a public-affairs officer in the Marines. As an author, commentator and candidate, he has left a long record — in blog posts, opinion columns and podcast appearances — of his evolving views, not just on Trump but also on issues like immigration and his vision for the country. In a 2021 podcast, for example, he said that Trump, if elected again, should “seize the institutions of the left,” “fire every single midlevel bureaucrat” in the U.S. government, “replace them with our people” and defy the Supreme Court if it tried to stop him.

That is what Vance sounds like when he’s talking to his base. But a very different Vance appeared recently on the debate stage, where, when speaking to a national audience, he was much less divisive and much more willing to engage in a civil discussion with a political opponent — in this case, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, the Democratic nominee for vice president.

With the election a few weeks away, and the race so tight, Vance may very well be the next vice president of the United States, and the second in command to someone who could be the oldest-ever commander in chief. So, which Vance can Americans expect if he’s elected? I asked him.

Seven Ways to Love Better

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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Two decades ago, on Oct. 31, 2004, a short note appeared on the front page of this newspaper along with stories about Yasir Arafat’s health and the looming election between George W. Bush and John Kerry. It read: “Modern Love: Introducing a new weekly column about love and relationships. Today, Steve Friedman says he is just fine after getting dumped. Just fine. Really.”

So began my long, strange trip editing Modern Love, talking to strangers every week about the most intimate details of their romantic, familial and platonic entanglements — and then publishing their stories for hundreds of thousands or even millions of readers.

I never dreamed I would still be doing this job 20 years and some 200,000 submissions later, but it has been a wonderful run. Over time, with the help of my colleague, Miya Lee, Modern Love has grown to include a podcast, books, live performances, another weekly column of 100-word Tiny Love Stories, and television shows in the United States, India, Japan and the Netherlands.

Modern Love began the same year as Facebook, three years before iPhones, eight years before Tinder, and 11 years before same-sex marriage became legal nationwide. The world has changed a lot in two decades, and my life changed, too. When this column started, I was 41, married for 12 years, with two children in grade school. Now I am 61, separated for three years, my two children having long left home for jobs and lives of their own.

I published hundreds of stories about separation, divorce, online dating and blended families without ever thinking they might one day apply to me.

I read tens of thousands of essays about the death of a loved one without having experienced that myself — until earlier this year when my father died.

‘Who Is That? What’s Happening?’: Decoding the Art World at Frieze

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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Every October, one of the world’s major art fairs takes place in a huge tent on the edge of Regent’s Park. For five days, the park’s year-round population — joggers, parents pushing buggies, teenagers playing soccer — is augmented by thousands of people at Frieze London seeking an encounter with contemporary art — or at least an encounter with the contemporary art world, which is just as much of a spectacle, in its way.

Some of these people wear all black, some dress like the rich villains in “The Hunger Games” and some carry battered LL Bean tote bags that say “GAGOSIAN.” Striding into the tent on the preview day this Wednesday, they were talking with varying degrees of enthusiasm about what and who they were going to see. I overheard two women use the words “fresh hell,” and saw a young man so excited he was practically in tears.

Even for veterans of the art fair circuit, there is a frightening amount to see at Frieze London: over 160 booths this year from 43 countries in the main tent and a sister event, Frieze Masters, devoted to pre-21st century artworks, across the park. For an outsider, the challenge is compounded. In addition to looking at as much as art as possible and attempting to form a handful of defensible opinions, there is the difficulty of decoding the system itself, its rules and what makes it tick.

Visitors near George Condo’s “Rainbow Portrait,” (2015) on the Sprüth Mager booth.Credit…Sam Bush for The New York Times

An hour after the fair had opened on Wednesday morning to a restricted audience of high-paying collectors, curators, reporters and art-world cognoscenti, a lesson about how hype develops was playing out in the Focus section, which highlights young galleries and emerging artists.

A small group of people had begun to gather near the booth for Brunette Coleman, a London gallery showing at the fair for the first time, with works by Nat Faulkner, a young English artist who makes experimental photographs. Faulkner had just been announced as the winner of a prize: the Camden Art Center Emerging Artist Award, which offers an artist from the Focus section the opportunity to realize a solo show at the London art space, supported by its curatorial team. As more people drifted over without quite seeming to know why, Martin Clark, the center’s director, began to give a presumably heartfelt, but almost inaudible, speech (sound travels strangely in a tent) about the need to give young artists space for risk and experimentation.

6 Takeaways From the Christopher Reeve Documentary ‘Super/Man’

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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The documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” traces the life of the Juilliard-trained actor who found megastardom in the 1970s and ’80s playing Superman, and in 1995 as a different kind of hero, after an accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. It features never-before-seen footage of Reeve, who died in 2004 at 52, chronicling his early days; his pivotal friendship with his Juilliard roommate, Robin Williams; and his transformation, in a wheelchair and on a ventilator, into a leading disability and research advocate. Friends like Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg and John Kerry offer their observations; disability rights activists do, too. It’s a thought-provoking tear-jerker.

It also doubles as a family movie, showing Reeve in his role as a father to his three children — Matthew Reeve and Alexandra Reeve Givens from an early relationship that he fled at the height of his fame, and Will Reeve, his son with his wife, Dana Reeve. With unwavering support, she largely gave up her career as a singer and actress to care for her husband. She died of cancer in 2006, just 18 months after him, leaving behind their son, then 13.

The compounded tragedy is leavened by the hope that Reeve embodied, especially with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, which has invested $140 million in the search for a cure for spinal cord paralysis. The film — which arrived in theaters 20 years after Christopher Reeve’s death, almost to the day — chronicles their determination, and doesn’t flinch from the darkest moments, including money worries and the relentlessness of day-to-day caregiving.

The unvarnished approach — and the timing, with Reeve’s children having reached solid footing as adults — led the siblings to agree to the project after years of turning down other offers, said Will Reeve, 32, a correspondent for ABC News and a look-alike to his father. They hoped their home movies and archival material “would provide a deeper meaning and greater texture to his story,” he said, “and remind folks of the fullness of life that one can have, despite whatever catastrophic injury they may suffer, whatever disability they may have.”

In a video interview from London, where they’re based, the filmmakers Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui discussed their rationale for not putting Reeve “on a pedestal,” as Ettedgui described it. “It was really important to show how someone who you might think of as being somehow perfect — the ideal hero — how they experience the same insecurities, the same family issues that the rest of us might,” he said.

Here are some takeaways from the film.

Reeve found megastardom playing Superman.Credit…Alamy, via Warner Bros.

Green groups wary as EU bets on future carbon capture to meet climate targets

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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As EU officials gatherED in Pau, France on Thursday (10 October) to discuss the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS), environmental groups have pointed to a huge drain on public money and a track record of project failure, while the European Commission is in talks with governments who have missed a legal deadline related to a CO2 storage target.

“Relying on CCS as a climate solution will force European governments to introduce eye-wateringly high subsidies to prop up a technology that has a history of failure,” said Andrew Reid, an energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a sustainable energy think tank.

Reid is the author of a report released today that examines almost 200 projects on the drawing board across Europe today. He found CCS costs to be prohibitively high and concluded that upcoming projects currently on the drawing board in Europe could cost as much as €520 billion and require €140 billion of government support.

The report notes that the EU plans to ramp up the annual CO2 storage capacity to 50 million tonnes by 2030, 280MT a decade later, and 450MT by mid-century.

“As the small number of operational projects show, CCS is not likely to work as hoped and will take longer to implement than expected,” Reid said.

His report came just two days after the campaign group Oil Change International put out its own briefing which identified €3.3bn in subsidies already sunk into CCS projects in the EU, with up to €16bn more made available since 2020 as carbon capture has climbed back up the EU policy agenda.

“Despite 50 years of failure and over €3bn in subsidies from EU taxpayers, the fossil fuel industry still pushes carbon capture to boost its corporate profits, delay climate action, and distract from real solutions that would end the fossil fuel era,” said Myriam Douo, a campaigner with the US-based non-profit.

‘No alternative’

But EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson, opening the European Commission’s fourth Industrial Carbon Management Forum in Pau, southwest France, made it clear the EU executive now sees CCS as an integral part of its plan to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions goal, and the interim target it is set to propose early next year.

“Storage will play a major role in our journey to [net-zero by] 2050,” the EU’s top energy official said. “The 2040 climate target plan underlines that industrial carbon management is not just an alternative – it is a vital complement to renewable energy and energy efficiency.”

Related

Carbon capture key to reaching net-zero, but climate chief urges caution

Citing the newly operational Northern Lights undersea storage project in Norway, and Denmark’s awarding in June of Europe’s first licences to explore onshore sites for potential CO2 storage, Simson spoke of “tangible on the ground progress” but warned that high capital costs remained a barrier to deployment.

“We must implement targeted derisking measures and provide the necessary financial support,” Simson said. “This will help reach final investment decisions on these projects.”

CCS Europe, a trade association lobbying in Brussels on behalf of pipeline and technology providers and carbon intensive sectors like cement and incineration plants, has previously rejected criticism from both the IEEFA and Oil Change International, with director Chris Davies accusing them of a “lack of objectivity and perspective”.

“It claims that carbon capture projects consistently fail, but in Europe, Norway’s Sleipner and Snohvit projects continue to capture and store some 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 annually after nearly 30 years in use,” he said of projects where carbon dioxide removed during natural gas extraction is pumped back underground.

Davies told Euronews he hoped to see swift action from the next Commission such as the proposaL, within 100 days of taking office, of a requirement for governments to submit “national industrial carbon management strategies with timescales for delivery and details of financial support mechanisms that will be introduced”.

Missed deadline

In a bid to overcome the thorny question of who should pay to get the scale-up rolling, the EU recently adopted legislation that forces oil and gas companies – among the most enthusiastic cheerleaders for CCS over the years – to put in place at their own expense storage facilities capable of locking away 50 million tonnes of CO2 a year from 2030.

Related

Net Zero Industry Act sign-off heralds carbon capture deployment

For comparison, the Northern Lights project, in development since at least 2017 and opened with great fanfare last month, is expected to support injection of just 1.5MT a year – and backers Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies only made a final investment decision after the Norwegian state put up the bulk of the cost.

Chairing a debate at the Pau conference, Davies voiced his frustration at the slow pace of development, and had representatives from Germany, Greece and Romania – all of whom are banking on CCS to help meet emissions reduction targets – admit that no final investment decisions had been taken so far in their countries.

Under the Net Zero Industry Act signed into law in May, petroleum firms will have to deploy permanent CO2 storage capacity in proportion to their share of EU oil and gas production between 2020 and 2022. Governments were required to provide the Commission with the relavent data by 30 September.

But only 18 member states have so far provided any data to the Commission, which is now focused on persuading the remaining nine governments – including the Netherlands – to comply with the law before it can divide the 50MT target among petroleum majors like ENI, Shell and TotalEnergies who are active in Europe.

Travel is both joyful and stressful. Here’s how I overcome anxiety on the road

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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As a long-time sufferer of mild depression and anxiety, I find travel bittersweet. Lost luggage, delayed transport, navigating an unfamiliar environment… the risks and hurdles can be especially triggering for those, like me, who are less resilient.

From crippling homesickness in Sarajevo to angst in Azerbaijan, I’ve had some very low moments across almost three decades of globetrotting.

Yet despite these pitfalls, travel has also been a vast source of joy. Spanning a rite-of-passage summer in Salamanca (in which my Spanish and self-confidence soared) to an eye-opening festival in India (involving coconuts and a group of holy nude men), my trips in over 55 countries have truly enriched my life. Refreshing and resetting, thrilling and wondrous, they’ve often conversely been a saving grace.

So, in light of the UK’s upcoming Mental Health Awareness Week (13-19 May), I’m sharing a few tips I’ve discovered on managing mental health when travelling.

Medication mistakes can ruin a trip – I’ve learned the hard way

Ten years ago, my parents invited me to join them on an amazing trip to New Zealand. Unsurprisingly I jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately, though, I made a blunder; just before this journey-of-a-lifetime, I came off the antidepressants I’d been taking since my teens. My mild anxiety and depression seemed to be better, my dosage was low anyway and I’d weaned myself off gradually as per the doctor’s advice. Surely I’d be ok? Wrong.

No sooner had we got to Singapore (our outward stopover) than I was having panic attacks, worsened by the time difference and new surroundings. I muddled through the holiday with erratic mood swings and a persistent sense of dread. It was a massive shame: not least for my parents, who’d kindly invited me along.

The lesson: try to avoid major medication changes just before going away, no matter how confident you feel. Other tips include checking how to access medical facilities in your destination and being aware of any relevant rules; for example, certain countries require a doctor’s letter for prescription drugs.

Always disclose any health conditions on your travel insurance (although several insurers allow you to choose not to be covered for these if you feel it’s not necessary).

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How I lessen anxiety while travelling

Get anxious easily? Develop contingency plans to lessen the risk of stressful situations. I no longer book an airport connection of less than 90 minutes, in case of a delay with the preceding flight, and download plenty of escapist entertainment beforehand to make waits more bearable.

Group tours are another consideration if you’re solo and worry about logistics, though ensure the format’s right for you. I’ve found a happy medium in options like Intrepid’s ‘Original’ and G Adventures’ ‘Classic’ trips, which attract a wide range of like-minded travellers via comfortable lodgings and a mix of cultural inclusions and downtime.

Groups are typically capped at 16 people, and my companions have spanned twenty-something Europeans to middle-aged Aussies and a lively Canadian couple in their seventies. I also pay for a single supplement, as I find my own space invaluable.

One last pointer if you suffer from post-trip blues – plan a treat for after you return, maybe a day trip or meal out. If you have the luxury, book one or two days off work too, to help you ease back into daily life.

How to make travel more meaningful

Bungee jumping over a Nepalese ravine, spending time with Chinese yak herders, meandering around Europe’s fairy-tale cities… I’ve had countless enriching travel adventures. Some have even helped me make sense of my own life at home.

That said, travel can also feel draining and disappointing. In an age when so much is already known, and there’s endless content telling us what to see and do, it’s easy to lose curiosity and purpose – which in turn can affect wellbeing.

I enjoyed reading Stephen W Brock’s ‘Hidden Travel’ for handy hints on making trips more rewarding, from connecting with locals to stepping outside your comfort zone. One of my favourite suggestions? Having a goal, whether that’s seeking out Riga’s Art Nouveau treasures or brushing up on your Spanish in Mexico.

As well as boosting mental health generally, things like talking to a friend, journaling or a few minutes of meditation can help you find greater meaning in your experiences as well. A ‘digital detox’ could also be beneficial, if you dare.

Related

Solo travel doesn’t have to be lonely: Here’s how I make friends on the road

How I manage my expectations when travelling

I love author Alain de Botton’s dry observation in his book ‘The Art of Travel’: that when we travel, we bring ourselves with us. Your partner’s untidy habits will no doubt still annoy you, and that unresolved work issue will still niggle.

Add to this all the boring (and sometimes stressful) minutiae involved in travel, from the long wait at the baggage carousel to the mundane outskirts of that picture-postcard town, and it’s clear those curated Instagram feeds and colourful travelogues don’t tell the full story.

As I’ve found myself, travel can be escapist and often triggers moments of huge joy and wonder. But, as with life in general, there’s a lot of humdrum among the highlights. So try and be positive but pragmatic; manage your expectations accordingly, avoid comparisons with impossible ideals and anticipate things won’t always go to plan.

Remember to look after your physical health too

Robust mindsets and a sense of meaning are all very well, but they’re hard to maintain if you don’t feel good physically. Once, failing to drink much in hot weather, I became quite dehydrated – something that took several litres of water, rehydration salts and a long rest to rectify. Needless to say, until my headache and fatigue shifted, my mood was pretty poor.

From activities and time zones to cuisine and climate, going away can mean many variations on your usual environment. Most of us know to wise up on specific advice for where we’re going, whether that means getting certain vaccines or swerving the tap water, but might forget that the usual health advice applies too.

Fresh air, exercise, healthy eating and drinking, a regular sleep pattern – they all still boost physical and mental wellbeing, wherever you are in the world.

Charli XCX’s ‘Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat’ – Euronews Culture’s verdict

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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Brat summer is over, but the hedonistic lime green pleasures behind Charli XCX’s culture-shifting album persist…

Today is the release of ‘Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat’, a remix double album that sees the British pop star revisit her 2024 release with a panoply of A-listers like Billie Eilish, Bon Iver, Lorde, Troye Sivan, Robyn, and many more.

Much in the same way I rolled my eyes when a deluxe edition previously dropped, titled ‘Brat And It’s The Same But There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not’, the idea of a third iteration made me cringe so hard I momentarily had abs.

There’s already been a re-release, which plays into one of the things I hate the most about zeitgeist-capturing LPs: it sees greedy record labels jump the shark and pummel fans with more editions to get consumers parting with more of their hard-earned cash because they really want those three extra songs that should’ve made the initial cut of the album in the sodding first place.

As much as I loved the club vibe of ‘Brat 1.0’ (as I’ve now had to rechristen it considering the growing amount of versions released) and was impressed at how it suddenly became a cultural cornerstone which managed to encompass a collective vibe shift, I couldn’t help but get judgy for this new and excessive marketing nonsense. It feels insincere and shamelessly tactical.

Plus, I’ve always been wary of remix albums. Not that I necessarily adhere to the strict yet romantic rule that the original mix is the best one. See: Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ ‘Heads Will Roll (A-Trak Remix)’ for proof that an original cut can be surpassed. However, for me, full remix LPs feel like commercial opportunistism rather than artistic endeavours, a profit-oriented calculation that retools great songs into pale imitations which alter the emotional impact of the music.

Granted, there are exceptions to every rule, anomalies which actually have artistic merit and make it fun to hear a new take on the album. I can count them on the fingers of one hand.

Massive Attack vs Mad Professor’s ‘No Protection’; The B-52’s ‘Party Mix!’; Philip Glass’ ‘Rework’; Aphex Twin’s cheekily titled and point-proving ‘26 Mixes for Cash’; and Björk’s ‘Telegram’ (to a point)… All these bucked the trend. And before anyone starts having a go, Madlib’s ‘Shades of Blue’, Danger Mouse’s ‘The Grey Album’ and Jay-Z/Linkin Park’s ‘Collison Course’ don’t count. The first two saw one artist remix another’s work, while the third was a collaborative EP that absolutely slaps.

These examples aside, I’m happy to lump all the other remix albums in the hastily cobbled together / capitalistic gimmick category.

This brings us back to Charli XCX. I assure you that I’m keeping an open mind. I already really enjoy the new ‘Guess’ featuring Billie Eilish. Perhaps I’ll have to start using both hands to count the remix albums that are worthy additions to artists’ discographies, and this will be the victory lap Charli deserves following her commercial and cultural juggernaut?

I hope that’s the case and not the cynical cash grab I’m fearing. I’m off to listen to it now. I leave you in the safe hands of my colleague Jonny, who’s been giving ‘Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat’ a few spins and shares his take.

Grumpy David, out.

And Jonny in!

When I wrote the review for Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ way back in June, there was a moment – felt by many music journalists – that I felt certain about the album’s imminent cultural influence. It was the perfect combination of the zeitgeist with genuinely engaging party anthems. ‘Brat’ was always going to be the album of the summer. It’s been the album of my summer for sure. My lungs can attest to that. At Manchester Pride this year, a friend and I kept a tally on who got played more, XCX or Chappell Roan, the other artist du jour.

Interestingly though, in all the many clubs I’ve heard ‘Brat’ songs played in, they are rarely altered. DJs wholesale recognised the immediacy of tracks like ‘365’ and ‘Von Dutch’ for their dance floor capability. They didn’t need minimal house remixes, they were ready made for pleasure.

By that logic, a remix album by Charli XCX herself doesn’t seem all that necessary. When album of the year lists come around, I know already I’ll be making my case for ‘Brat’ at the top spot. This leaves one question. Does ‘Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat’ represent a genuine evolution and growth on the original, or is it a cynical cash grab?

In many ways, it’s neither.

Rarely have the beats been changed to make them more propulsive. XCX leans more on just adding reverb to wash out the tracks than combining them with the techno beats the rave-inspired album brilliantly utilised. ‘Von Dutch’, the album’s most aggressive single is remixed by long-time production collaborator A.G. Cook with additional vocals by saccharine TikTok popstar Addisone Rae. The effect neutralised any of the venom from the original.

That’s not what XCX is going for though. This isn’t a remix album in the traditional sense. It’s an opportunity to collaborate with artists to create a new spin on these songs. Myriad artists feature here, from obvious choices like Lorde and Troye Sivan, to huge pop names like Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish, to the genuinely surprising such as Julian Cassablancas and Robyn.

The songs fall into one of three categories: club-focused remixes, alternative versions brandishing the feature, and stripped back retoolings.

On ‘Club Classics’, she interpolates the original version of ‘365’, an ironic shoutout to her own credentials while simultaneously removing the song’s verve for an overbearing beat. It’s the closest to a traditional remix, which is refreshing, but simply doesn’t make for anything massively notable.

A better example of the remix style is ‘Talk Talk’. Troye Sivan, who XCX is currently touring on shared bills with, features. Sivan’s queer pop perfectly fuses with XCX’s ‘Brat’ aesthetic and this song feels like a genuine duet between their two styles to make one of the original album’s weaker tracks a strength.

‘Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat’ borders on dull when on tracks that serve only to show off the status of who XCX can get in the studio. Ariana Grande adds nothing to ‘Sympathy Is A Knife’, as her verse discusses punishment through the limited lens of vanity while the track’s new higher energy detracts from its once truly biting lyrics.

On the other hand, tracks like ‘Everything Is Romantic’ doesn’t necessarily need Caroline Polachek’s inclusion, but her addition with cheeky lines like “Free bleeding in the autumn rain” winking at the original and Polachek’s iconic warble manage to elevate it to a new height.

As a fan of the quieter tracks on ‘Brat’ some of the most refreshing moments are when XCX doubles down on shying away from traditional remixes. ‘I Might Say Something’ was always a reflective slow burn, but that’s been taken to the max with Jon Hopkins’s neo-classical minimalist approach. The 1975’s Matty Healy bringing a verse that has his trademark toilet humour / earnestness fits into the dayglo hangover feeling as the pair ponder their anxieties. If nothing else, XCX has achieved the impossible and made Healy not insufferable.

It’s only at the end of the album that we get the sort of EDM inflections that a traditional remix album desires. The Shygirl inclusion doesn’t actually improve ‘365’ and leaves the o
riginal’s closer a little less bold despite its deeper bass. It’s not the finale anymore though. Now it’s bonus track ‘Guess’ with Billie Eilish in tow. Eilish adds a salubrious tone to the track that benefits the deep throb of the new bassline to end the album with a sense of gravitas. As Eilish seductively responds to XCX’s vocals, you’re brought into a world of glorious sapphic decadence.

If only the whole album were this good.

‘Brat And It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat’ is out now.

Irish politicians deny Kremlin ties after ‘Cobalt’ espionage claims

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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Members of the Irish parliament are denying having any connections with the Kremlin after reports of a Russian asset among politicians in Dublin.

The story began with an report in the UK’s Sunday Times that detailed a Russian influence operation had captured an unnamed “agent of influence inside the Irish political establishment”, whom the paper nicknamed “Cobalt” and identified as male.

The story has left members of the Irish parliament, or Oireachtas, to deny that they are the alleged asset, whom the Sunday Times claimed may have been pressured via the gathering of compromising personal information, or “kompromat”, or via a honeypot operation.

The paper reported that Cobalt has been extensively investigated by Irish security services.

However, addressing the lower house on Thursday, Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister Micheál Martin denied having been alerted to any active Russian espionage operation in Irish politics during his time as Taoiseach between June 2020 and December 2022.

“I received security briefings, but I was never told, and never briefed, that there was a spy in the Oireachtas,” he said.

“There’s a more fundamental question to be asked which I’m going to ask as minister of defence, because as minister of defence, I’ve never received a security briefing saying there’s a spy in the Oireachtas. There may be, there may not be, but I’ve never been briefed.”

Several parliamentarians have taken the unusual step of ruling themselves out as the real Cobalt. One senator from Martin’s party, Timmy Dooley, told his colleagues in the chamber this week that they needed to do so for the sake of parliament’s reputation.

“I think its important in order to avoid any potential stain on this house, that members would voluntarily make a statement that they are not the subject of any investigation or that they have never been in the clutches of Russia. And before I sit down, I can declare that I am not such person.”

Neutral, but vulnerable

Aside from Cobalt’s identity, the question raised by the original report is why Russia would be targeting Ireland with espionage in the first place.

The two countries have long had less than cordial relations, and there is a history of Russian spies using Ireland as a base for operating within the EU. Plans to expand the Russian embassy in Dublin in 2018 were thrown out by the Irish government when it emerged they contained suspicious elements that could have housed spying facilities.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ireland has accepted tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees. The Irish government has strongly supported the Ukrainian war effort, and it has sent nearly €400 million in humanitarian aid in the last two-and-a-half years.

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Ireland’s government rules out dropping neutrality policy amid claims it’s ‘playing with fire’

However, Ireland is not a part of NATO and has long maintained a policy of military neutrality, maintaining only a relatively small army whose principal role is to participate in multilateral peacekeeping missions.

Under domestic law, for the army to deploy more than 12 soldiers to a combat zone, it must seek a mandatory resolution from the United Nations Security Council, a formal decision from the Irish government, and the approval of the lower house of parliament.

Polling shows that the neutrality policy remains popular among the Irish electorate. However, domestic critics of the so-called “triple lock” argue that it essentially gives adversaries on the UN Security Council a veto over Irish military action — and that Ireland is essentially working on the assumption that its Western allies would come to its defence if necessary.

Brussels urges Turkey to ‘thoroughly’ probe alleged abuse in EU-funded migration centres

Yayın tarihi Ekim 12, 2024 Prizmabet

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The European Commission urged Turkey on Friday to “thoroughly investigate allegations of wrongdoing” inside the migration centres that the country operates to deport Syrian and Afghan refugees with the bloc’s financial help.

The plea comes after an explosive investigation led by Lighthouse Reports found systematic mistreatment across the removal centres managed by the Turkish government and backed by €213 million in EU funds, marking a new controversial chapter in the EU-Turkey agreement signed in 2016 at the peak of the migration crisis.

The media consortium details unsanitary and overcrowded conditions in the facilities, instances of abuse and torture against migrants, and a pattern of coercion to force detainees to sign documents of “voluntary” returns to their war-torn nations.

In one case, the journalists write, a man who had fled Afghanistan after the 2023 Taliban takeover was arrested in Turkey and eventually returned to his home country, where he was “shot dead, with gunshot wounds to the neck and head.”

“We found that the EU is aware that it is funding this abusive system, with its own staff raising alarm about it internally – yet senior officials choose to turn a blind eye,” Lighthouse Reports says in its investigation, which was supported by other European outlets, including Le Monde, El Pais and Der Spiegel.

The research covered 100 sources, including testimonies from 37 people who had been detained in 22 different EU-funded facilities.

In reaction, the Commission said all EU money provided for managing removal centres and voluntary returns in Turkey was “in full respect of EU and international standards.”

The EU executive, however, insisted the ultimate responsibility to probe and crack down on violations of fundamental rights was up to the Turkish authorities, effectively putting the ball in Ankara’s court.

“Türkiye has its own set of legislation when it comes to recognition of refugees and migration management. In this context, the enforcement and protection of these formal rights remain the responsibility of Türkiye,” a Commission spokesperson said on Friday.

“The fundamental rights of individuals and the principle of non-refoulement must always be respected when enforcing any return decisions,” the spokesperson added, referring to the international principle that forbids deporting migrants to nations where they would face persecution, torture or any other form of ill-treatment.

“It is the responsibility of the Turkish authorities to thoroughly investigate allegations of wrongdoing and we urge them to do so.”

The spokesperson did not confirm if the Commission had been made aware of the abusive conditions inside the removal centres and noted EU officials based in Turkey “regularly” conduct monitoring missions to the sites.

According to UN figures, Turkey is one of the largest refugee-hosting countries worldwide, with around 3.2 million Syrian refugees alongside other nationalities.

Since 2011, the EU has provided Turkey with almost €10 billion to support the management of asylum seekers.

While Brussels and member states argue the financing and the 2016 deal have helped curb flows of irregular migration, critics counter the scheme has empowered President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to threaten the bloc and extract concessions.