Nick is joined by Racing Post senior writer Lee Mottershead to discuss news and events from around the racing world today. They lead with a curious arsenic positive in horse trained by Richard Hannon, one which appears to have both trainer and investigators foxed, but whose central themes may lead to further debate when the case is concluded. Nick talks to trainer Conor O'Dwyer about his 300/1 winner at Punchestown yesterday, the joint longest in Irish racing history, while TRC No 1 jockey James McDonald drops in to talk about his Royal Ascot sprinting stars and another likely victory for Zaaki in this weekend's Doomben Cup. Nick and Lee talk two Stoute stars - Desert Crown and Bay Bridge - while consignor Timmy Hillman talks a rare store sale in Newmarket for Tattersalls, JA McGrath brings his update from Hong Kong and we meet MyRacehorse shareholder Nick Lowe, enjoying his first experience of racehorse ownership.

Ep 491 - Arsenic an Odd Case

Dreamscape

Dreamscape, Pt. 9

Stubble (Loop Diggers Sunday Roulette 90)

High Water by the Downpour

Drenched to the Skin

Soaked in the Rain

Magnificence of Rain

The president of the United States has once again committed the US military to direct hot war with China in the event of an attack on Taiwan, a commitment that was once again walked back by his White House handlers.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Biden Keeps Pledging Direct US War With China Over Taiwan

Nineteen members of the US House of Representatives have written a letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin cautioning that the partial cancellation of student debts can have the unintended consequence of reducing military recruitment in the United States.

Reading by Tim Foley.

US Lawmakers Say Student Loan Forgiveness Will Hurt Military Recruiting

Everyone who acts like it's a new and unprecedented horror whenever Putin reminds the west that Mutually Assured Destruction still stands is just admitting that they never understood what's at stake in this proxy war and always thought this was some kind of fucking game.

"Oh my God, he's saying he might use nukes!" Yeah that's what happens when you start a war with a fucking nuclear-armed nation, dipshit. That's why you're a fucking moron for yelling at those of us who've been calling for de-escalation and detente. Change how you are. Stop cheerleading this insane game of nuclear chicken and begin calling for de-escalation.

It's so crazy how people pretend the US wouldn't use nukes in response to the exact same type of attacks that Putin is warning against. Like we all know this isn't some weird new threat that Vladimir Putin invented, right? Do we understand that this is the very reason antiwar activists have spent years warning against this exact confrontation and calling for detente instead?

This shouldn't scan as something new for you. If Putin reiterating the longstanding principle of Mutually Assured Destruction makes you freak out like something new is being said, it's because you didn't pay attention in history class. If you were previously unaware that the threat of nuclear annihilation was baked into this proxy war from the very beginning, that just means it's time to reassess your support for this proxy war.

Yes this situation is insanely dangerous. No that's not because of anything Putin has been saying.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Idiots Are Just Discovering That This War Is Dangerous

A nuclear conflict could be sparked by either side making a calculated decision to use nuclear weapons (and you're fooling yourself if you believe the US is any less trigger happy in that regard than Russia), but it can also be sparked by either side due to a mistake resulting from a technological malfunction, miscommunication, misunderstanding or miscalculation, as nearly happened many times during the last cold war. The more things escalate, the more likely both such possibilities become.

And, clearly, things are escalating.

And that's just Russia; tensions are rapidly escalating between the US-centralized empire and China as well. In an article for Antiwar.com titled "There’s Little More Washington Can Do To Convince China To Invade Taiwan," Andrew Corbley describes the frighteningly extensive provocations the US has been pouring into another massive geopolitical powderkeg just in the past few weeks.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US Empire Is Accelerating Toward Global Conflict On Two Fronts

Back in 2013 The Atlantic published a solid article titled "The Real Cuban Missile Crisis," subtitled "Everything you think you know about those 13 days is wrong." Its author Benjamin Schwartz details how the crisis was peacefully resolved not because JFK was on the phone yelling "Try and die" at Nikita Khrushchev, but because he secretly cut a deal to remove the Jupiter missiles the US had stationed in Italy and Turkey which provoked the 1962 incident in the first place.

Moscow perceived that the only reason why that type of midrange weapon would be placed in such a way would be if the US was planning a nuclear first strike to disarm Russia, and Schwartz writes that that suspicion was entirely well-founded: the Kennedy administration had indeed strongly contemplated such a strike during the Berlin crisis of 1961. In response to this threat, as well as the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, Khrushchev moved ballistic missiles to Cuba, whose discovery led to the tense standoff which brought us far closer to nuclear annihilation than most of us care to contemplate. A secret deal was struck whose nature wouldn't become public knowledge until decades later, resulting in both sides removing their offending missile placements.

Reading by Tim Foley.

We Survived The Last Nuclear Standoff Through Compromise And De-Escalation

Readings of all Caitlin Johnstone's articles, usually by her co-writer Tim Foley.