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Category: War

Janet Yellen’s global campaign to defund Russia’s war machine

Janet Yellen’s global campaign to defund Russia’s war machine

The Washington Post reports: Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen was feted by Japan’s leaders after arriving here on Sunday, lunching with the country’s top economists, meeting with senior executives from Sony and Panasonic and lighting incense at the wake of former prime minister Shinzo Abe. But beneath the public bonhomie, Yellen’s hosts quietly expressed concerns about potential fallout from her push to create a new global price cap on Russian oil. Japanese officials have communicated that they are worried that…

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U.S. calls for end of forced deportations of Ukrainians being sent to Russian concentration camps

U.S. calls for end of forced deportations of Ukrainians being sent to Russian concentration camps

Politico reports: The United States has called on Russia to immediately stop its systematic “filtration” and forced deportation of millions of Ukrainians in territories under Moscow’s control and to allow outside observers access to camps through which they pass. “The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Wednesday. Blinken said Russian authorities have “ interrogated, detained, and forcibly…

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Russia’s war against Ukraine has turned into terrorism

Russia’s war against Ukraine has turned into terrorism

Anne Applebaum writes: Red Cross packages are lined up along the sidewalk in Serhiivka, a small town in the southwestern corner of Ukraine. A man is unloading plastic bags stamped WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN from a truck whose front windshield has been completely shattered. On the other side of the plaza, people are sifting through used clothes provided by a Ukrainian charity. Someone points out a mother standing beside two young boys who, miraculously, were not at home the night that…

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Putin set to visit Iran next week

Putin set to visit Iran next week

The Associated Press reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said Tuesday, a day after the U.S. warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine. During a trip to Tehran next Tuesday, Putin will attend a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Iran and Turkey, the so-called Astana format of meetings for Syria-related talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Putin’s visit to Iran will follow U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip…

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How Russia is profiting from climate change

How Russia is profiting from climate change

Courtney Dobson writes: On Feb. 24, the Yakov Gakkel, a 3-year-old, ice-class tanker, departed from Montoir Port, France, for Sabetta Port within the Arctic Circle in Russia. For as long as the war in Ukraine has raged on, the Yakov Gakkel has made four return trips to Montoir Port and has since moved on to ports in Spain and Belgium, delivering one of Russia’s principal revenue generators: liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former chief economic adviser,…

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Germany braces for ‘nightmare’ of Russia turning off natural gas for good

Germany braces for ‘nightmare’ of Russia turning off natural gas for good

The Guardian reports: Germany is bracing itself for a potentially permanent halt to the flow of Russian gas from Monday when maintenance work begins on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that brings the fuel to Europe’s largest economy via the Baltic Sea. The work on the 759-mile (1,220km) pipeline is an annual event and requires the gas taps to be closed for 10 to 14 days. But never before in the pipeline’s decade-long history has Germany seriously been asking whether…

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Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina: ‘We have a new Hitler in Russia’

Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina: ‘We have a new Hitler in Russia’

The Guardian reports: When Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina left Russia in April this year, she went to Iceland, essentially a political refugee. She had been repeatedly arrested since early 2021, on specious charges – “violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules”, social media activity, attending a demonstration in support of the imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny. She is no longer in Iceland, and speaks to me, as her fellow Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova did earlier this year, from an unnamed…

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Wars are won by people willing to fight for comrade and cause

Wars are won by people willing to fight for comrade and cause

Scott Atran writes: Even when defeated and annihilated, the heroism and martyrdom of those with the will to fight often become the stuff of legend. Consider the Judeans under Eleazar at Masada, the Alamo defenders under Travis, Bowie and Crockett (note: that these men supported slavery or other unacceptable positions is irrelevant to the point here), or the Group of Personal Friends who fought to the end, defending the Chilean president Salvador Allende against Pinochet’s putschists. Or take the last…

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As it runs short of soldiers, Russia launches a ‘stealth mobilization’

As it runs short of soldiers, Russia launches a ‘stealth mobilization’

The New York Times reports: Four Russian veterans of the war in Ukraine recently published short videos online to complain about what they called their shabby treatment after returning to the Russian region of Chechnya, after six weeks on the battlefield. One claimed to have been denied a promised payment of nearly $2,000. Another grumbled that a local hospital declined to remove shrapnel lodged in his body. Their public pleas for help got results, but not the kind they were…

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Washington’s Quincy Institute accused of taking a ‘morally bankrupt position on Ukraine’

Washington’s Quincy Institute accused of taking a ‘morally bankrupt position on Ukraine’

Mother Jones reports: Two prominent figures have resigned in protest from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft—the only major think tank to promote a skeptical view of US power and military interventionism. In announcing their departures, Joe Cirincione and Paul Eaton criticized the organization’s dovish response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “They take this indefensible, morally bankrupt position on Ukraine,” Cirincione said in an interview Thursday with Mother Jones. “This is clearly an unprovoked invasion, and somehow Quincy keeps…

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Inside the Ukrainian resistance

Inside the Ukrainian resistance

David Patrikarakos writes: “The situation in the city is very, very bad. The Russian occupiers are increasing their presence all the time. They ride around the city with impunity and break down the doors of houses and apartments. Soldiers usually come at around midnight and start searching for evidence of partisan activity. Often, they just take people away. Now they’ve turned their attention to officials. A few days ago, they arrested the mayor and some members of the city council….

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UN warns of ‘looming hunger catastrophe’ due to Russian blockade

UN warns of ‘looming hunger catastrophe’ due to Russian blockade

The Guardian reports: A looming hunger catastrophe is set to explode over the next two years, creating the risk of unprecedented global political pressure, the executive director of the UN World Food Programme has warned. Calling for short- and long-term reforms – including an urgent lifting of the blockade on 25m tonnes of Ukrainian grain trapped by a Russian blockade – David Beasley said the current food affordability crisis is likely to turn into an even more dangerous food availability…

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Ukraine forces finally seeing impact of arms from West, says Zelenskiy

Ukraine forces finally seeing impact of arms from West, says Zelenskiy

The Guardian reports: Ukrainian forces are finally seeing the impact of western weapons on the frontlines of the war with Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. Experts say while western equipment has been crucial for pushing back Russian forces, the west will need to scale up its supplies, and even mobilise its own defence industries, if it wants to avoid a war of attrition that Ukraine could lose. During his nightly TV address, Zelenskiy said that thanks to western supplies, Ukrainian…

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How Russia’s war is putting green tech progress in jeopardy

How Russia’s war is putting green tech progress in jeopardy

Paul Hockenos writes: Volkswagen might as well hang a “sold out” sign on the doors of its European and U.S. factories. The world’s second-largest manufacturer of electric automobiles announced last month that any plug-in ordered after May won’t find its way to customers’ garages before 2023. The German carmaker’s sales of nearly 100,000 battery electric models in the first quarter landed it behind only Tesla, but far from the pace needed for the 700,000 it planned to roll off its…

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Putin’s war of choice was never about NATO

Putin’s war of choice was never about NATO

Natalia Antonova writes: As NATO met in Madrid last week, conspiracy theories about its role in Ukraine spread fast in Russian media. More respected theorists such as John Mearsheimer, meanwhile, still reiterate their claim that in making war, Russia was merely reacting to the West. Similar arguments have been put forth by other prominent thinkers, including Noam Chomsky. There’s just one problem with this theory. At an event in June, leaning back casually in his chair, Russian President Vladimir Putin…

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Russia orders Jewish Agency to stop all operations in country

Russia orders Jewish Agency to stop all operations in country

The Jerusalem Post reports: The order comes amid growing tension between Israel and Russia over Jerusalem’s stance on the war in Ukraine and its policy of standing with Kyiv and its embattled leader, Volodymyr Zelensky. On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry called strikes on Syria that have been blamed on Israel unacceptable, and it demanded an unconditional cessation of the attacks. An order forcing the Jewish Agency to stop its work in Russia is dramatic and could directly undermine the ability…

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