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Ukraine-Russia war: The first four months in numbers

Ukraine-Russia war: The first four months in numbers

Army Technology reports: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February this year has resulted in a reaffirmation among NATO members about the need for the Alliance and the role it plays in European security. However, as the war drags on, the scale of the challenge is becoming ever clearer. Earlier this week, NATO announced that it would increase the number of forces held as rapid readiness to more than 300,000, up from around 40,000 at present, mainly based on the Alliance’s…

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In Russia’s biggest cities, Ukraine war fades to background noise

In Russia’s biggest cities, Ukraine war fades to background noise

The Wall Street Journal reports: Dima Karmanovsky had just finished his second DJ set of the night on a recent weekend, and was catching his breath before dashing off to another club for his next job. “I haven’t had this much work since before the pandemic,” the 35-year-old disc jockey said at Blanc, a popular bar in Russia’s capital. As the invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth month, there are relatively few outward signs in Moscow and St. Petersburg of…

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Taliban splits begin to emerge over religion, power and girls’ schools

Taliban splits begin to emerge over religion, power and girls’ schools

The Wall Street Journal reports: Taliban government ministers thought the matter of girls’ education was settled. Schools for girls over sixth grade were set to reopen this past March, after months. Then the Taliban’s religious council, dominated by ultraconservative clerics, scuttled the plan. Hours before school gates were supposed to reopen, it was announced that they would remain closed. Teenage girls who showed up to school in their uniforms were turned away. The reversal drew widespread condemnation in Afghanistan—including from…

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Earliest Pacific seafarers were matrilocal society, study suggests

Earliest Pacific seafarers were matrilocal society, study suggests

The Guardian reports: The world’s earliest seafarers who set out to colonise remote Pacific islands nearly 3,000 years ago were a matrilocal society with communities organised around the female lineage, analysis of ancient DNA suggests. The research, based on genetic sequencing of 164 ancient individuals from 2,800 to 300 years ago, suggested that some of the earliest inhabitants of islands in Oceania had population structures in which women almost always remained in their communities after marriage, while men left their…

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How the Supreme Court ruling will gut the EPA’s ability to fight the climate crisis

How the Supreme Court ruling will gut the EPA’s ability to fight the climate crisis

CNN reports: The Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a major blow to climate action by handcuffing the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate planet-warming emissions from the country’s power plants, just as scientists warn the world is running out of time to get the climate crisis under control. It is a major loss for not only the Biden administration’s climate goals, but it also calls into question the future of federal-level climate action and puts even more pressure on Congress…

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A new Supreme Court case is the biggest threat to U.S. democracy since January 6

A new Supreme Court case is the biggest threat to U.S. democracy since January 6

Ian Millhiser writes: The Supreme Court’s announcement on Thursday that it will hear Moore v. Harper, a case that could concentrate an unprecedented amount of power in gerrymandered state legislatures, should alarm anyone who cares about democracy. The case is perhaps the gravest threat to American democracy since the January 6 attack. It seeks to reinstate gerrymandered congressional maps that were struck down by North Carolina’s highest court because they “subordinated traditional neutral redistricting criteria in favor of extreme partisan…

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Hutchinson’s testimony shatters any Trump defense of no criminal intent

Hutchinson’s testimony shatters any Trump defense of no criminal intent

George T. Conway III and Randall D. Eliason write: Some argue that prosecutors could face difficulty proving criminal intent if it appears that Trump sincerely believed he had won the election. But that argument is misguided. Even if Trump believed, however implausibly, that there really had been massive voter fraud, that would establish only his motive for acting, not his intent. But a righteous motive is not a defense. Put simply, criminal acts motivated by an honest belief in the…

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The American war on women

The American war on women

Ola Salem writes: “Karen” entered the American lexicon during the age of social media to refer to white women who behave in a way that seems entitled, creating a high-drama, public scene as they demand their (perceived) right or privilege over another person. Pop culture and media outlets now refer to 2020 as “the year of Karens.” But this girl-name-turned-synonym-for-obnoxiousness reveals more about our culture than meets the eye. It is not just about the calling out of racist, classist…

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Russia abandons Snake Island in ‘big victory’ for Ukraine

Russia abandons Snake Island in ‘big victory’ for Ukraine

Reuters reports: Russian forces abandoned the strategic Black Sea outpost of Snake Island on Thursday, in a major victory for Ukraine that could loosen the grip of Russia’s blockade on Ukrainian ports. Russia’s defence ministry said it had decided to withdraw from the outcrop as a “gesture of goodwill” to show Moscow was not obstructing U.N. efforts to open a humanitarian corridor allowing grains to be shipped from Ukraine. Ukraine said it had driven the Russian forces out after a…

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Why does China own so much of Ukraine?

Why does China own so much of Ukraine?

Elisabeth Braw writes: Over the past few years, Chinese buyers have bought farmland in countries ranging from the U.S. and France to Vietnam. In 2013 Hong Kong-based food giant WH Group bought Smithfield, America’s largest pork producer, and more than 146,000 acres of Missouri farmland. In the same year, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps bought 9% of Ukraine’s famously fertile farmland, equal to 5% of the country’s total territory, with a 50-year lease. (In 2020, the U.S. imposed sanctions on…

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We are creatures of tropical jungles as much as the savannah

We are creatures of tropical jungles as much as the savannah

Patrick Roberts writes: In a sweltering tropical rainforest on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, I started to appreciate why archaeologists and anthropologists had long ignored ‘jungles’ in their search for humanity’s origins. The mosquitoes, leeches, harsh terrain and difficult footing were bad enough, but now a summer monsoon downpour was rapidly approaching. As we slogged on under a canopy of green, the forest grew quiet. The usual chattering life had been smart enough to seek shelter,…

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In new poll, 89% of Ukrainians reject ceding land to reach peace with Russia

In new poll, 89% of Ukrainians reject ceding land to reach peace with Russia

The Wall Street Journal reports: An overwhelming share of Ukrainians—some 89%—say it would be unacceptable to reach a peace deal with Moscow by ceding Ukrainian territory that Russian forces have seized in their invasion this year, a new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds. The survey, conducted in conjunction with a Ukrainian polling firm, also finds that 78% of Ukrainians approve of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s response to the Russian invasion, with only 7% saying he has handled the war poorly. With…

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Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony highlights legal risks for Trump

Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony highlights legal risks for Trump

The New York Times reports: It was one of the most dramatic moments in a presentation filled with them: Just before President Donald J. Trump went onstage near the White House last year and urged his supporters to “fight like hell” and march on the Capitol, an aide testified on Tuesday, he was told that some of them were armed. It was also a potentially consequential moment for any prosecution of Mr. Trump, legal experts said. Knowing that his crowd…

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The reason Liz Cheney is narrating the January 6 story

The reason Liz Cheney is narrating the January 6 story

Anne Applebaum writes: Cheney might not be popular in her own party, but nobody can deny that she is a Republican, from a famous Republican family, whose interests cannot be described by anyone as purely partisan. The most important witnesses are Republicans close to Trump. The testimony of Trump’s children, Trump’s lawyers, and Trump’s Cabinet cannot be wished away as something from a left-wing fever dream. Trump’s lawyers are effective because they are Trump’s lawyers. Cassidy Hutchinson, despite her youth…

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