‘ExxonMobil made the right call’

‘ExxonMobil is right on Russia — a return would be a disaster’

Edward Verona at The Hill

It “beggars belief that any major Western company would consider returning to Russia under the current circumstances,” says Edward Verona. ExxonMobil is “denying a potential return,” and has “earned its reputation for technological leadership and prowess in executing some of the most challenging energy projects around the globe.” To return to Russia, ExxonMobil “would have had to weigh the risk of violating sanctions still upheld by countries where the company has significant business interests.”

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‘Being single is hard. But people like me aren’t waiting for marriage to rescue us.’

Lisa Anderson at USA Today

Single adults are “plagued by stereotypes,” says Lisa Anderson. Contrary to “all-too-prevalent opinions, being single isn’t a steady diet of club hopping, international travel and spa treatments.” Which is “why it’s especially annoying when non-singles assume we singles are selfish.” A “healthy marriage is an amazing thing that benefits society on multiple levels. But the lie that single adults are lone wolves determined only to self-actualize, self-fulfill and self-exalt deserves to be debunked.”

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‘Europe’s necessary appeasement of Donald Trump’

Janan Ganesh at the Financial Times

That Europe “still depends on American protection 80 years after the Second World War is a disgraceful fact but it is, for now, a fact,” says Janan Ganesh. If the “price of that protection is being held over a barrel on the serious but ultimately not existential matter of trade, Europe must assume the position.” But Europe “must only appease Trump as a bridging tactic.” The “submission to Trump is only worthwhile if all this reform happens in parallel.”

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‘In the world of “South Park,” Mexicans are cool while ICE is the joke’

Gustavo Arellano at the Los Angeles Times

“South Park” has been “consistently arguing throughout its 27-year run that indiscriminately deporting Mexicans is not just morally and economically wrong but foolish,” says Gustavo Arellano. At a “time when Trump’s deportation Leviathan is doing everything possible to cast undocumented immigrants, many of them Mexicans, as the worst of the worst, ‘South Park’ is exposing their lies.” Show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have “upped their attacks on anti-Mexican hate by playing its trademark satire mostly straight.”

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