Odds and Ends — 18 August 2025
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
US Treasury weighs digital ID verification in DeFi to tackle illicit finance
Um, that sounds a lot like TradFi.
Billions in Ethereum Waiting to Be Unstaked Could Add Sell Pressure to ETH: Analyst
Coronavirus and Public Health:
Covid is rising. New vaccines may not be ready until mid-September.
Politics:
Trump’s Selective Stance on Justice
President Trump, himself a felon, has shown particular leniency to criminals he seems to identify with — people who are white or wealthy, or who rioted in his name on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Justice for those who support me, the law for those who don’t.” — Benito Mussolini
https://twitter.com/Suzierizzo1/status/1956820273514029523
———— The Epstein Coverup ————
https://x.com/Strandjunker/status/1957167359002640459
———— Gaza ————
Protesters Conduct Nationwide Strike in Israel
Protesters in Israel participated in a nationwide strike on Sunday to demand a deal that would result in a ceasefire with Hamas and the release of hostages who remain in Gaza.
The ‘day of stoppage,’ which blocked roads and closed businesses, marked an escalation in the population’s growing frustration after 22 months of war.
———— Autocracy R Us ————
To Beat a Strongman You Need to Show He’s Not One
Democrats may have blundered in 2024 by running against Donald Trump as an authoritarian threat to democracy.
It wasn’t that the warning was wrong — Trump does crave unchecked power. The problem is that the message only reinforced what many voters liked most about him.
———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
https://twitter.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1956555448502411398
Kremlin Leaks Video of Trump Fawning Over Putin
The state-run Russian international news network Russia Today has released behind-the-scenes video from Alaska that appears to show President Donald Trump fawning over Vladimir Putin.
https://twitter.com/TheMaineWonk/status/1956444695871238144
From no-deal to Putin's deal? A flummoxing summit, a Trump flip
https://twitter.com/TomJChicago/status/1956676368109810104
Government papers found in an Alaskan hotel reveal new details of Trump-Putin summit
https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1956782518763425905
https://twitter.com/svdate/status/1956732741178831324
https://twitter.com/JayinKyiv/status/1956640042153071015
No Ukraine Cease-Fire From Putin
President Trump tried to put the best spin he could Friday on his summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, and the mutual pleasantries were effusive. But the substantive news from the meeting seems to be that Mr. Putin refuses to end his war in Ukraine, and he won’t even agree to a temporary cease-fire…
Mr. Putin for his part gave nothing away on Ukraine. He offered his familiar line that the “root causes” of the war must be addressed before it can end. By this he means blaming Ukraine for wanting to determine its own future as part of the European Union with security help from NATO countries.
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1957146641439363457
It’s Clear That Putin Rolled Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin got everything he could have hoped for in Alaska. President Donald Trump got very little — judging by his own pre-summit metrics.
The question now is whether Trump secured any moderate gains or planted seeds for Ukraine’s future security if there’s an eventual peace deal with Russia that were not immediately obvious after Friday’s summit…
Despite Trump’s claim to have made ‘a lot of progress’ and that the summit was a ‘10 out of 10,’ all signs point to a huge win for the Russian autocrat.
Trump Bows to Putin’s Approach on Ukraine: No Cease-Fire, Deadlines or Sanctions
On the flight to Alaska, President Trump declared that if he did not secure a cease-fire in Ukraine during talks with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, ‘I’m not going to be happy,’ and there would be ‘severe consequences.’
Just hours later, he got back on Air Force One and departed Alaska without the cease-fire he deemed so critical. Yet he had imposed no consequences, and had pronounced himself so happy with how things went with Mr. Putin that he said ‘the meeting was a 10.’
Even in the annals of Mr. Trump’s erratic presidency, the Anchorage meeting with Mr. Putin now stands out as a reversal of historic proportions. Mr. Trump abandoned the main goal he brought to his subarctic summit and, as he revealed on Saturday, would no longer even pursue an immediate cease-fire. Instead, he bowed to Mr. Putin’s preferred approach of negotiating a broader peace agreement requiring Ukraine to give up territory.
https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1957170934306992238
https://twitter.com/thejackhopkins/status/1956742851720630729
European Leaders to Join Zelensky for White House Meeting
European leaders said Sunday that they will join President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Monday when he meets with President Trump at the White House, as they strive to present a united front against Russia and avoid being sidelined in talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, were among the leaders who announced that they will join Mr. Zelensky in Washington. Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, will also join, as will NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm.
https://twitter.com/ManiamAkash/status/1957057667551187095
https://twitter.com/YourAnonCentral/status/1957054514600788128
https://twitter.com/KatyaYushchenko/status/1957189533226635641
———— Mors Imperii ————
The Insidious Creep of Trump’s Speaking Style
https://twitter.com/herotimeszero/status/1957117898469572801
