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920 lines
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>28 February, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Putin Launches His Invasion of Ukraine</strong> - Biden imposes sanctions in response to what the U.S. calls the “greatest threat to Europe” since the Second World War. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/putin-launches-his-invasion-of-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Sleepless Night of Russian Air Strikes in Ukraine</strong> - The attacks confirmed that a real war is coming, one that will result in a horrific and bloody toll. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/a-sleepless-night-of-russian-air-strikes-in-ukraine">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Inside the American Medical Association’s Fight Over Single-Payer Health Care</strong> - A long-standing battle highlights a profession’s political transformation. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/the-fight-within-the-american-medical-association">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>David Plunkert’s “Putin’s Tracks”</strong> - The artist discusses creating arresting images from the news and his influences. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/david-plunkerts-putins-tracks">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Camille Bordas Reads “One Sun Only”</strong> - The author reads her story from the March 7, 2022, issue of the magazine. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-writers-voice/camille-bordas-reads-one-sun-only">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>The case for a Black History Year</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/IpyfYv8FKpWn7D_OaIAEqkeLA4k=/108x0:5473x4024/1310x983/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70559328/GettyImages_1299786156.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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A case displaying books for Black History Month at the Elmont Memorial Library in Elmont, New York, on January 29, 2021. | Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The backlash against critical race theory has now become a crusade to delete Blackness from the national story. Young people deserve to know the complete American history — this month and the 11 others.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4I36ES">
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Of the nearly 240 students who currently attend Sprunica Elementary School, in Indiana’s rural Brown County, <a href="https://inview.doe.in.gov/schools/1006700585/population">97 percent are white</a>. Recently, school counselor Benjamin White sent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/17/sprunica-elementary-school-black-history-month-opt-out/">a letter</a> to the parents of those students.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LVtQ6H">
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“February is a time for caring and growing for our students,” White’s letter begins. “In honor of Black History Month and Valentine’s Day, I will be coming around and teaching lessons related to equity, caring, and understanding differences.” White didn’t make clear precisely what those lessons would be, but assured parents that having “a greater understanding of diversity” would benefit both the students and the school as a whole. White then gave them the choice of opting their kids out of it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nOkSrf">
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That created a big headache for the Brown County school superintendent, Emily Tracy, who later apologized for White’s “unauthorized” letter and wrote in a statement that “our District <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2022/02/17/sprunica-elementary-school-black-history-month-brown-
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county-schools/6834262001/">does not permit students to opt out of history lessons</a> — including ones based on historical injustices.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ssfjtN">
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None of us should be able to select, a la carte, which parts of history students learn so as to guard our political or cultural sensibilities. However, the Sprunica Elementary story comes amid an ongoing public and political crusade by conservative politicians, voters, and media figures against the teaching of Black history, during this month and the 11 others.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YyPr3r">
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The battle over what conservatives mislabel as “critical race theory” has been raging across the country since the summer of 2020, coming in the wake of the global uprising following George Floyd’s murder. The politically conservative rebuke to an all-too-brief uptick in interest about Black lives and antiracism has been a campaign aimed at deleting Blackness from the national story.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mTc54D">
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This imagined peril has a purpose. Rather than using the power of their offices to actually govern and fight systemic racism, Republicans have been trying to gaslight people into believing these problems don’t exist. The result has been a clumsy, though dangerous, attempt to absolve America of its history of racism and discrimination by preventing people from actually learning about them. This has had significant consequences, including the reported intimidation of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/critical-race-theory-student-protests-
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rcna8926">students</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-education-threats/">educators, and elected officials</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtVkJa">
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The misguided crusade has only proved how much America needs the very thing that Black History Month founder <a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-
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leaders/carter-g-woodson">Carter G. Woodson</a> wanted: to fully integrate, year-round, the teaching of Black history into the curriculums of our schools.
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</p>
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<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="M3QDrn"/>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZTPHpI">
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Critical race theory is not the scourge of public education or threat to the self-esteem of white schoolchildren that Republicans and their media appendages depict. It is <a href="https://www.vox.com/22443822/critical-
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race-theory-controversy">a scholarly framework</a> for understanding the systematic nature of American racism, and few students outside of graduate school engage with it. Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic, in the seminal 2001 volume <em>Critical Race Theory: An Introduction</em>, define it as “a collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oKk2ul">
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Bowing to the demands of Republicans hunting critical race theory and those parents frightened by anything that doesn’t promote race-blindness and <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/2021/08/13/critical-race-theory-debate-tennesseans-must-use-
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knowledge-not-fear/5563691001/">American exceptionalism</a>, school districts and libraries are removing texts like the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/the-1619-project-curriculum-challenges-teachers-to-reframe-u-s-
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history/2019/08">1619 Project</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/dribram/status/1451267477753810950">Ibram X. Kendi</a>’s <em>How to Be an Antiracist</em> — as well as several others simply <a href="https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/calls-to-ban-books-by-black-authors-are-increasing-amid-critical-race-
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theory-debates/2021/09">written by Black authors</a>. Entire topics are disappearing from our economy of ideas. Efforts are underway to make Black history, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/book-bans-dont-say-gay-bill-lgbtq-
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kids-feel-erased-classroom-rcna15819">LGBTQ+ life</a>, and <a href="https://www.kveller.com/a-tennessee-school-boards-
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ban-of-maus-speaks-to-a-much-larger-problem/">the Holocaust</a> off-limits subjects. Some states are trying, and succeeding, in their quest to make such nonsense the law of the land.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZO5zJp">
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Florida Republicans have <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/595732-florida-house-passes-stop-woke-act-to-
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limit">passed Senate Bill 148</a>, otherwise known as the “Stop WOKE Act” (the acronym is short for “wrongs to our kids and employees,” though the “our” is not made specific). It would mandate a certain unconsciousness in the state’s public schools were it to become law, banning the teaching of critical race theory and lessons about gender identity.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="keB6KV">
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Florida is hardly alone: <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/map-where-critical-race-theory-is-
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under-attack/2021/06">Education Week reported this month</a> that, to date, 41 of 50 states have taken steps, including introducing legislation, to restrict public schools from teaching critical race theory. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/22525983/map-critical-race-theory-legislation-teaching-racism">Chalkbeat reports</a> efforts are underway in 17 of 50 states to “expand education on racism, bias, the contributions of specific racial or ethnic groups to U.S. history, or related topics.” Still, exploiting white fear in this way has been <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-anti-critical-race-theory-movement-will-profoundly-affect-public-
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education/">so effective</a> that Democrats, who regularly count education as a political strength, are on the defensive against the literal promotion of ignorance. What else should we call it when people are trying to keep others from learning things?
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</p>
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<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="3d4OGX"/>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YFVK8G">
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As the fight to criminalize the sharing of knowledge continues, it’s worth remembering that Black History Month was explicitly about two things from the very beginning: education about Black history, and honoring two key figures in that history.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hW4QQ6">
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Frederick Douglass didn’t know precisely on which day in 1818 he was born, but he believed it to be in February. Eventually, he celebrated his birthday on February 14, coincidentally, two days after Abraham Lincoln’s. Combining <a href="https://asalh.org/about-us/origins-of-black-history-month/">existing Black celebrations</a> of the two men’s birthdays, the late scholar and historian Carter G. Woodson originated Negro History Week in February 1926. It only became Black History Month in 1970, 20 years after his death.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dqAsQ3">
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For this reason and others, historians and other scholars have referred to Woodson as the “father of Black history.” It is an odd title, perhaps, but consider the climate in which he founded Negro History Week. When recalling the America of 1926, it’s evident that Woodson was pivotal in rescuing that history from the pyre of America’s racist revisionism.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="832EDX">
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The Great Migration was well underway, in part because racist massacres in places like <a href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/09/12/elaine-massacre-arkansas">Elaine, Arkansas</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/22456481/tulsa-race-massacre">Tulsa, Oklahoma</a>, were still fresh in Black people’s minds. They knew America had become all too used to the spectacle of their deaths; postcards and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/08/1078977454/race-racism-lynching-postcards-ahmaud-arbery-george-floyd">other horrifying souvenirs</a> from the lynchings of African Americans had become commonplace. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/12/us/politics/domestic-terror-white-supremacists.html">Much like today</a>, the country’s greatest terroristic menace came from within, perpetrated by white people with extremist beliefs.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cnKyoD">
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However, Jim Crow was not merely a systematic method of segregation, legalized discrimination, and violent terrorism. Its principal business, using both murder and monuments, was <a href="https://scholarship.rollins.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1130&context=honors">erasure</a>. Its proponents achieved this by killing Black people, yes, but also by lauding the supposed heroism of Confederates who enslaved their ancestors. By 1926, construction of statues and monuments promoting the “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy had become epidemic.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/N2LbzuMyCmzNTn9Gu1SvMFoLi1g=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23271743/GettyImages_515509038__1_.jpg"/> <cite>Bettmann Archive/Getty Images</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Carter G. Woodson is considered the “father of Black history,” but, in truth, he was likely one of its saviors.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wf3pXg">
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Woodson — the second Black Harvard PhD ever and the only child of formerly enslaved Americans to earn one — noted that campaign of erasure upon Negro History Week’s inception, and expressed the hope that the observance would give rise to the further inclusion of Black people within the nation’s narrative:
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9tsqOZ">
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If a race has no history, it has no worth-while tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated… In such a millennium the achievements of the Negro properly set forth will crown him as a factor in early human progress and a maker of civilization…
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4KyKBs">
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Must we let this generation continue ignorant of these eloquent facts?
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</p></blockquote></li>
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</ul>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="S8ApHZ">
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Over the generations since, however, that is precisely what has happened. Public and private education about Black history and achievements has been insufficient, at best, even before the manufactured panic Republicans are stoking. Woodson’s observance, explicitly intended to integrate the teaching of Black history inside school classrooms, has become more of a marketing ploy for consumer brands and a virtue-signaling opportunity for political leaders.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nhslEE">
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Black History Month was not meant simply to make us feel less racist or more culturally aware; it was designed to show us what America really is and always has been, so that we might make it better. To a power structure that reinforces and metastasizes racial inequity, one Black History Month is not a threat.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fqelcu">
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How about 12, though? That is what Woodson sought, after all.
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</p>
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<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="7vlnuB"/>
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<p class="p--has-dropcap" data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Iz8wzi">
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The idea of a “Negro History Year” sounds so much like what Republicans seem to be anxious about that I’m a bit surprised they haven’t used it in a fear-mongering speech or advertisement.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ag31Sn">
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Yet Woodson spoke <a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-
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rights-leaders/carter-g-woodson">consistently</a> of his hope for exactly that. He imagined a day in which “the Negro is studied so thoroughly that special exercises are no longer exceptional,” he said in 1940. “There is a growing demand for workbooks and syllabi with which to facilitate the study of the Negro and thus make Negro History Week [into] Negro History Year.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kG3iAQ">
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He also wrote, in a separate article, that his Negro History Week was not merely about increasing instruction, but fostering ambition. “[It] should be a demonstration of what has been done in the study of the Negro during the year and at the same time as a demonstration of greater things to be accomplished,” adding that “a subject which receives attention one week out of the thirty-six will not mean much to anyone.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="A6nodt">
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Many, including activist and columnist <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Black-History-Is-U-S-History-
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It-s-time-to-put-2947865.php">Earl Ofari Hutchinson</a>, have seconded Woodson in the following years. Amid this crusade to erase and erode Black history, ambition, and accomplishments, let me echo them once more.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Bvl9GC">
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Twenty-eight days of concentrated learning, even if done properly and not merely through Instagram memes, would hardly be commensurate with the manifold Black contributions to the American project. Nothing less than a full integration of those lessons into school curricula was ever going to be sufficient.
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</p>
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<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="z3d0XA"/>
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I recall, as one of very few Black students at a private school, being handed a thick, black textbook in seventh-grade history class. It had a bald eagle on the cover, and about one page detailing the entirety of the civil rights movement. I recall Martin Luther King Jr. getting one of the few, if only, mentions. You’d have thought he was the only civil rights leader who existed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pYdhJ7">
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|
Black History Year isn’t such a radical idea when you consider that neither I nor my parents were offered the opportunity for me to opt out of learning the history of white people in America. It is still palpable, that perception of my difference or uniqueness I felt during my earliest days at school. I had to learn early, sometimes consciously and sometimes not, how to move through the world as a Black boy in a white world. Those skills have served me well later in life, admittedly. But they were lessons I had to learn.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CkFV0m">
|
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|
|
That fact of life isn’t changing anytime soon. Black folks will need to stay fluent in whiteness, so to speak. Mostly in order to survive, at the very least. But why are white people exempt from returning the favor? How is our nation’s survival not dependent upon them becoming fluent in the experiences of Black people, as well as Indigenous populations, Asian Americans, the disabled and chronically ill, and other marginalized communities?
|
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|
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</p>
|
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|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k7yJku">
|
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|
|
One could argue that white people haven’t had to consider their whiteness unless there is a perceived hazard to the inherent, unearned societal advantages that they too often enjoy. The increased conspicuousness of their racial category in a slowly diversifying America may be a cause for the conservative panic.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="c3nZ3W">
|
|||
|
|
As some further <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/critical-race-theory-thrust-spotlight-
|
|||
|
|
misinformation/story?id=82443791">their campaign of disinformation</a>, there is a clear motivation to solidify a younger voting base before they mature, calcifying their ignorance about racial matters so that they do not think critically about the America that is evolving around them. If there is an ongoing identity crisis with white Americans, which seems to be the case, it’s arguable that a more inclusive education about race and inequity would give them the vocabulary to have conversations rather than avoiding them.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M9zUS8">
|
|||
|
|
How do we best combat the current efforts to prohibit and mischaracterize the teaching of true American history? A good place to start is Woodson’s own vision: integrated curriculums concerning race, racism, and this nation’s history.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pDhQDK">
|
|||
|
|
Would implementing and expanding Woodson’s vision even work? The very least we can do is find out. The development of empathy through knowledge, curiosity, and scholarship is an underused weapon against prejudice and discrimination. Woodson not only understood this, he taught us as much. I had to read about him in books that my teachers failed to assign me. I discovered Woodson in libraries, and through texts gifted or handed down to me from relatives. And yes, every February, I got reminders of Woodson’s contributions.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dsheVI">
|
|||
|
|
It isn’t terribly radical to consider that all American schoolchildren should learn the very history Woodson sought to save. And not just in February.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Putin’s baffling war strategy</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Smoke rises from a destroyed Russian tank on the side of a road in the Luhansk region of
|
|||
|
|
Ukraine on February 26, 2022." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/onOwZEL9_jFp9h8WAuohDjzWS5E=/0x0:3192x2394/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70557710/1238779987.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Smoke rises from a destroyed Russian tank on the side of a road in the Luhansk region of Ukraine on February 26, 2022. | Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t going as he planned. Here’s why.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Uc0ZyD">
|
|||
|
|
After <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/23/22948534/russia-ukraine-war-putin-explosions-invasion-
|
|||
|
|
explained">four days of fighting in Ukraine</a>, it’s not going especially well for Russian forces. <a href="https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1497895706568237056?s=20&t=-g90TWcaz5E_sviNsf9qzA">According to Ukraine’s defense ministry</a>, Russia has lost about 4,300 troops and nearly 150 tanks, and both Kyiv, the capital, and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, are still under Ukrainian control.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NI2ujE">
|
|||
|
|
Casualty numbers are unverified and should be treated with some caution, but they’re still a sharp contrast to initial Russian expectations, which assumed the Russian armed forces’ greater numbers and access to<strong> </strong>more advanced weapons systems would result in a swift, relatively painless invasion. Ukrainian forces, however, have mounted a strikingly successful resistance.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="peI58m">
|
|||
|
|
In recent years, much has been made of Russia’s developing hybrid warfare, fusing conventional tactics like ground troops and air campaigns alongside information manipulation and electronic warfare like signal jamming. Nonetheless, on the information front, <a href="https://time.com/6151578/russia-disinformation-ukraine-
|
|||
|
|
social-media/">Russia seems to be losing the war</a>; the sheer volume of video and information coming from Ukraine in real time, plus a young, social media-savvy president and broad, transparent intelligence sharing, have proved to be a powerful antidote to the Kremlin’s disinformation spin.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SSVZ1r">
|
|||
|
|
“It’s been interesting to watch in the last 48 hours, and good to see in many ways, that the Kremlin has lost control of the narrative, internationally, around this war,” Mason Clark, the lead Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, a nonpartisan DC-based think tank, told Vox.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="FrbCh8">
|
|||
|
|
The conflict is also markedly different than other recent conflicts, such as those in Syria or Afghanistan. Despite the disparities between Russian and Ukrainian forces, it’s still a war between two formal militaries, as opposed to a decentralized insurgency.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TBByDP">
|
|||
|
|
Ukraine’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/26/22952073/ukraine-civilian-volunteers-kyiv-war-effort">country-wide mobilization</a> adds an additional element, with many civilians picking up weapons, learning to make Molotov cocktails, or simply <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/videos-ukraine-heroism-russia-invasion-
|
|||
|
|
tanks?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharetwitter">confronting tanks in the road</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="faWf8n">
|
|||
|
|
Clark spoke with Vox on February 26 about his observations of the conflict so far, how it compares with other recent conflicts, and the resources Russia is still holding in reserve.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H2aS2k">
|
|||
|
|
The conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="XP4nhL"/>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="LcXf2D">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zXr1oK">
|
|||
|
|
Can you walk me through some of the changes and upgrades that the Russian armed forces have been working on in the past decade or two?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="1dfMu4">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dUJPbw">
|
|||
|
|
So, the short answer is that actually a lot of their equipment has not changed. A lot of the Russian and Ukrainian forces are still fighting with roughly on-par equipment with each other. There’s some Russian units that have better equipment, newer tanks, that sort of thing. But on the whole, much of it due to just the sheer cost of replacing Russia’s old inventory of equipment and weaponry and munitions, even, means that they’re not that much different materially than they would have been in the beginning of the war in 2014.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dTnBA4">
|
|||
|
|
The main thing that the Russian military has emphasized as really improving is, strangely enough, capabilities that we haven’t really seen them use in the war so far. One, electronic warfare, which we have not seen employed at scale. And two, a lot of various forms of new weapons, either cruise missiles or new fighters, and strategic bombers that Russian doctrine — what they say they would do in this sort of war — we haven’t actually seen.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YgLrFo">
|
|||
|
|
And I can delve a little bit [into] why we think that is. It appears Putin has wildly miscalculated and had a, frankly, bad plan going into this of how quickly the Ukrainian military would collapse, and is still trying to avoid using these very damaging weapons of concentrated missiles and airstrikes to destroy Ukrainian defensive positions, to preserve his narrative of this not being a real war and not requiring that sort of use of firepower.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="n6PWB5">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pyT3pG">
|
|||
|
|
Right, sort of a diminishing expectation of the enemy that they’re up against.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="TILhTL">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3GPfWu">
|
|||
|
|
Exactly. And, of course, as we’ve now seen in the last 72 hours … to be clear, it’s not just that the Russians are doing badly, it’s also that the Ukrainian military is doing very well, putting up a very, very stiff defense in several areas. But likely what we’re worried about here at ISW and watching on the team over the next 48 hours is when, and if, the Russians will recalibrate their approach and shift back into deploying additional forces forward, and using these much more damaging approaches as they start fighting through Kyiv or Kharkiv, or as they start to push forward into Zaporizhzhya<strong> </strong>[a city in southeastern Ukraine]<strong> </strong>— they’re approaching the outskirts [on Saturday]. As damaging as the strikes on Kyiv and other cities have been so far, we haven’t really seen the full capabilities that the Russian military has and can bring to bear, the way it has, for example, in Syria, or in fighting in Chechnya in the early 2000s.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="EI3uTG">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RlCH9P">
|
|||
|
|
Right, so speaking of earlier conflicts, there are a couple of similarities, or possible similarities — such as, what we’ve heard of the bombing of hospitals, and I feel like I have reason to believe that’s true — but will those tactics like we saw in Syria be possible in such a magnified, and very scrutinized, landscape as we’re working with now?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="XmnWi0">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TRvRQs">
|
|||
|
|
They’re possible, and unfortunately I don’t think we can rule out that Russian forces will begin to carry out those strikes on a more overt scale, even though, [in the] last 24 hours the Ukrainian military has been reporting that Russian forces have been striking residential areas, just strictly to cause intimidation and terror and, probably, to force a collapse of the Ukrainian military — that hasn’t occurred at all.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="67v9kr">
|
|||
|
|
But as you raised, even with all of the gaps, the fog of war, and that reporting on exact control of terrain and things like that, there is so much video emerging from the fighting on the ground and documentation of Russian actions, and particular violations against civilians and <a href="https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1497921707901956103?s=20&t=QSgURMiT0F7THWacLhrmHA">strikes on civilian targets</a>, that in many ways, it’s been interesting to watch in the last 48 hours, and good to see, in many ways, that the Kremlin has lost control of the narrative internationally around this war.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="nt2ZbD">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4LPoUu">
|
|||
|
|
So, I think another point to that, in terms of the information and what we’re able to see and document, a part of Russia’s hybrid warfare that I feel like everyone and their mom has been talking about for several years, doesn’t seem to be working here.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="cgiBx4">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WsxfmQ">
|
|||
|
|
No, and I would agree, and that’s been an interesting aspect of this. They have lost control of the narrative completely, even into Russian domestic audiences. I think Putin is facing more pushback than he anticipated. One of my colleagues, Katya, <a href="https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-update-9">we ran an update on this last night</a>. It’s interesting, Russian media is simply not portraying the war.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zgQe2g">
|
|||
|
|
To date, they’re claiming that the only fighting that’s happening is around the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, the proxies that Russia recognized, and they’re not showing fighting across the country, they’re not showing any Russian casualties, and rather than showing Russian footage, they’re trying to take Ukrainian footage out of context and use that to portray the war. And even then, they’re facing large backlash from the population, and the early stirrings of what may cohere into a true anti-war movement, which would be quite the feat considering how built-up the Russian repressive apparatus has been the last few years.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QlEznt">
|
|||
|
|
On those wider hybrid methods, it seems that this has been, I would say, not necessarily a break from them, because we assess that this was not Putin’s first choice. This seems to be something he has been forced into after a long period of a buildup and trying to coerce demands out of both Ukraine and NATO, and in particular, I think US intelligence did a very good job, as well as with European allies, of exposing so many of what were more of those hybrid methods that the Kremlin was using throughout December to February.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ONYp77">
|
|||
|
|
For example, thinking of the multiple reports of Russian plans for a coup in Kyiv, and the fact that they even picked out the people that they wanted to take over the government, or US intelligence exposing in late January that the Russian military had filmed a fake video of civilians being killed by Ukrainian forces, that sort of thing. I think that there’s a very high likelihood that that’s how the Kremlin wanted this war to begin, with some sort of muddled thing that they were able to doctor and spin in the information space. But because so many of those were exposed, they’ve had to do this very overt, direct invasion of Ukraine.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="k7VVIC">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qLDVtn">
|
|||
|
|
Right, it seemed as though there were many attempts at narrative-spinning, from “Oh, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/1/30/22908600/ukraine-
|
|||
|
|
crisis-putin-russia-one-people-myth-nato-europe">Ukraine has always been a part of Russia, we’re the same people</a>,” and then, abruptly, “Ukraine is committing genocide against Russian people,” which you can’t do if you’re the same people — you know, these sort of mixed messages.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="SHbbHU">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m4iRyS">
|
|||
|
|
A nuance on that, that’s actually important to capture on how Putin is spinning this war at home is, the Kremlin and the Kremlin-run media is trying to draw a very sharp distinction between the Ukrainian population, which they seem to expect will greet Russia as liberators and Russia has no quarrel with them, and the regime in Kyiv, which they portray as being neo-Nazis and drug users. I do not know where that one came from. And it’s this interesting balance where I think it’s a mix of them trying to pitch to the Russian people that this is not a war against Ukraine, it’s a very targeted intervention to get rid of the regime.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XtHQJF">
|
|||
|
|
But at the same time, we’re having this growing view that we, frankly, were wrong about how rational the Kremlin was, to be honest, and it seems very much that they seem to have drunk their own Kool-Aid, so to speak. They may have actually believed that all they needed to do was take out the government in Kyiv that they do see as this foreign-imposed fascist government, and the Ukrainian population would be completely okay with that, which is just, quite simply, as everyone is seeing, not the case.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="MSnJlt">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZqRlzp">
|
|||
|
|
Is that an indication that Putin is, maybe, cut off from reality a bit, if indeed that is the belief? Because I’m not sure, if we’re operating under the idea that he does believe that Ukrainians will welcome Russians with open arms, I don’t see that as the same sentiment or motivating idea as Chechnya or Georgia, where it was like, we have to bring these back into the fold, we have to conquer these areas. Can you draw that parallel at all?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="azI8xv">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gWFn9p">
|
|||
|
|
It’s a tricky one, because Chechnya was framed as more of a domestic terrorism issue, and Georgia — there are certainly some parallels in some of the broad strokes of defending a separatist enclave in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, of course, and comparing that to the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, but the framing is very much different. Even the 2008 war with Georgia was framed as a purely defensive measure to protect these enclaves. There was no framing at all of it being a war of reconquest or to bring Georgia back into the fold or anything like that, where this Ukraine conflict very much has been.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GbEKAu">
|
|||
|
|
On your first point, I want to hesitate, because I don’t want to fall into the trap of armchair psychology, of ascribing a reason to it, but in short, yes, it does seem that something has shifted in Putin’s approach. It could be his way of thinking — the popular theory going around is that all of his isolation the last two years during Covid has really gotten to him; he seems to be listening to different people in his government than he used to, and there’s been a number of leaks — that haven’t been fully confirmed — that he’s not listening to proper military advice, and that Russian military officers are also unhappy with this plan and the war as a whole. I don’t think I can assess why, but I would agree, at minimum, that this is not the same Putin that we were watching two years ago.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GTEbjt">
|
|||
|
|
<strong>Ellen Ioanes</strong>
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v3bXeQ">
|
|||
|
|
Along with the mobilization of Ukrainian volunteers and civil society, there is a strong desire to fight and to work together in solidarity that you see in Ukraine, and people have been <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/26/22952073/ukraine-civilian-volunteers-kyiv-war-effort">training for this for eight years</a>. Of course, Russia has a much larger military, but I don’t know what their training looks like. Can you say how well-trained these troops are?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="BHrGtE">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1lNzgK">
|
|||
|
|
That’s actually a very, very interesting question, and one of the strangest quirks of watching this offensive in motion, from a Russian doctrinal aspect, which is what I’ve spent the last few years studying — essentially their training and lessons learned from Syria and other conflicts. The short answer is this doesn’t make sense, this doesn’t follow Russian doctrine and everything that they should be doing, according to their own procedures.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fMUWSr">
|
|||
|
|
At the lower end of the spectrum, [Russia is]<strong> </strong>still predominantly a conscript-based military. It has issues, and we’re seeing that now on the front line, with a lot of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-
|
|||
|
|
news-02-27-22/h_b78f64afe6aabdcea47f11a27f22906e">units surrendering</a>. There’s been several reports of Russian troops being taken prisoner and basically telling Ukrainians, “We found out about this invasion three hours before you did. We thought we were actually on exercises, and then suddenly we were told to cross the border.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4vyUpM">
|
|||
|
|
There are good elements of the Russian military — particularly the First Guards Tank Army that’s based around Moscow, and we’ve seen some elements of them around eastern Ukraine, but much more importantly, we’re seeing a wide disparity between the units in the south moving north from Crimea, [which] are just functioning much, much better than those coming from the northeastern Ukrainian border and from Belarus.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9lt2Y8">
|
|||
|
|
And we think the reason behind that — and this is something we observed in the months leading up to this, and frankly thought that Putin was not going to launch this offensive — is that only the troops facing Donbas and Crimea, in the southern military district, were ready and actually exercising at a large scale — entire divisions and regiments were carrying out these exercises. All of the troops that were on the northeastern Ukrainian border and in Belarus were pulled from all across Russia. We’re seeing units that were based on the Pacific coast that have been pulled all the way into Belarus and are now being thrown into northern Ukraine, and they didn’t seem to have time to organize together, and form these cohesive command structures.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4CxjU6">
|
|||
|
|
So now we’re seeing them run into problems with logistics, running out of fuel, bad maps, all sorts of other things. And that’s having costs for the Russian military. The frankly strange thing about this is that, to be glib about it, they should be smarter than this. Again, we assessed until about five days before this began, that there would be no way they would be launching an offensive from the northeast because they just weren’t postured to do it — but they seem to have gone ahead with those forces anyway, which definitely lends credence to the arguments that this very much has been a Putin decision, he’s not listening to good military advice.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="EVX9p3">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JW2Ary">
|
|||
|
|
That has occurred to me as well, in terms of the lack of use of their sea power. We have the story from Snake Island, and Russia has a much more powerful navy, so it’s very strange that that has not been exploited — or it’s strange to me, as an outsider.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="VGrk92">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TG1WWj">
|
|||
|
|
I would agree completely. And we haven’t necessarily seen Russian strikes to take out the Ukrainian Navy — there’s been some very minor skirmishing from patrol boats, really, but there hasn’t been much in terms of actual attacks. Now, the Russian Navy and particularly the Black Sea fleet and some of their vessels pulled in from the Mediterranean and even as far away as the Baltic, are certainly carrying out a blockade of Ukrainian ports and preventing Ukrainian ships from breaking out, but we haven’t seen them used, I think, for two reasons: One, the same point in general [why] the Russians have not used as much air power and airstrikes is, quite simply, trying to downplay this and not get to that level.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ELCMHy">
|
|||
|
|
The second is, they may not have drawn up the plans and been prepared to. We also have not seen any use of Russian naval infantry, which is their equivalent of Marines, being deployed, which was a big thing that a lot of folks forecasted prior to the offensive. There’s very much been this concentration of this ground breakout from Crimea, over everything else. A middling hypothesis is we think they may just be trying to secure ports with these ground forces before being able to land and move vessels in to provide further fire support, because they don’t want to risk the cost of having a naval landing go wrong.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bH9RLr">
|
|||
|
|
Amphibious landings are quite difficult in even the best of circumstances, and they probably would take heavy casualties if they tried to do any of the direct landings against Mariupol or Odesa or any of those other major coastal cities. But it has indeed been an interesting gap in the capabilities that they’ve used so far.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="nISQ0v">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WcnjVi">
|
|||
|
|
That also leaves room for escalation, then, too.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="PKeVJt">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ttS9Ou">
|
|||
|
|
Exactly, and I hate to have to end it on this point, but it’s been interesting watching the reporting of how well the Ukrainian military has been doing the last few days — and they have been doing very well, there have been a lot of Russian errors — but I wish I could say, “Therefore I think the Ukrainian military’s going to hold out.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tlDRmD">
|
|||
|
|
Sheer weight of numbers, and if the Russians do start using the resources that they have, are going to overwhelm the Ukrainian military at some point, almost no matter how badly [Russia runs] this campaign plan.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hVxjY9">
|
|||
|
|
And there are so many assets that have not been put into play yet, that what we’re really going to be watching in the next 48 to 72 hours is if the Russians decide to change tack and start using those. Particularly as Russian forces move into Kyiv proper, because we haven’t seen the Russians use armor and heavy artillery against an urban target yet, and they absolutely have the capability to do so, if they decide to abandon the approach they seem to be taking: of not taking the hit in the information space, of destroying large swaths of Ukraine and killing civilians.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="Bypw5C">
|
|||
|
|
Ellen Ioanes
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UHFbPp">
|
|||
|
|
This seems like a war from a time forgotten, a little bit. It seems like a battle from World War II, in a way. It does seem like a very ordinary urban warfare, conventional military campaign.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h4 id="3OYkSt">
|
|||
|
|
Mason Clark
|
|||
|
|
</h4>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mY9noH">
|
|||
|
|
Sure, and there’s definitely aspects of that. I do think we’ve seen a number of key differences in, certainly, the pace of some of the fighting and the use of what we have seen in terms of artillery and air support, and some of the key differences of how covered this has been on social media, and the importance of these narratives.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vEXkmV">
|
|||
|
|
But I do agree, it has been very interesting observing it as, other than [Operation Desert Storm in] 1991 and [the invasion of Iraq in] 2003, this large-scale, conventional warfare and sweeping armored offense — or not so sweeping, because the Russians haven’t been doing well — [we haven’t seen that] for decades and decades.
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, explained</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/4XzdU0c_lRrcDaXSwG8aqSD99Fg=/556x0:5000x3333/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70543719/AP22055420277144.16.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Police officers inspect an area after an apparent Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, February 24. Overnight, Russia began a large-scale attack on Ukraine. | Emilio Morenatti/AP
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Putin declared a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Now, Europe is witnessing its first major war in decades.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rVWMoc">
|
|||
|
|
As Ukraine continues to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-assault-on-ukraine-presses-forward-as-street-battles-rage-in-
|
|||
|
|
kyiv-11645864200">fend off Russia’s advance</a> into some of its largest cities, Ukrainian officials said on February 27 they had agreed to talks with Russia <a href="https://twitter.com/alexbward/status/1497929838065238023?s=20&t=TD-5MLi1LzbSjCKha4WMUQ">without preconditions</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1rpCzA">
|
|||
|
|
The talks are set to take place along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, and follow a call between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Belarus’s Russia-backed leader Aleksandr Lukashenko.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AdCPNK">
|
|||
|
|
“We are going there to listen,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/27/russia-ukraine-war-
|
|||
|
|
kyiv-news/#link-ITSR63443VGP3GPKV3RUAXXL64">Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said</a>, though no date has been set for the meeting. “And we are going there to say what we think of this war and Russia’s actions.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Amr4qA">
|
|||
|
|
Ahead of the talks, <a href="https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1497921990455353350?s=20&t=bZ_36fgaUZKqHKZqF8jcKA">Russia ordered its nuclear deterrent forces on alert</a> and attacked escalating Western sanctions as “illegitimate.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k9C6oZ">
|
|||
|
|
Those moves come after four days of fighting, during which experts say Russian forces have not made the progress they likely thought they would. Ukrainian officials <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/27/russia-ukraine-war-kyiv-news/">said</a> they still controlled the capital, Kyiv, while the battle for Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, in the east, continues, after hours of intense <a href="https://twitter.com/Jake_Hanrahan/status/1497903085859098626?s=20&t=TD-5MLi1LzbSjCKha4WMUQ">firefights and rocket blasts</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="k44KmT">
|
|||
|
|
“This night was hard,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video update on February 27. “What do they do? This is revenge. The people rose to defend their state and they showed their faces.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Mqn5T5">
|
|||
|
|
“This is an evil that has come to our land and must be destroyed,” Zelensky added. He accused Russia of targeting civilian infrastructure — power plants, schools, and hospitals — saying Russia should face an international tribunal for its crimes.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A map of Ukraine and
|
|||
|
|
surrounding countries, including areas already annexed by Russia." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/Qf_cFpIgn8D4vvgM4HtjLIUnVyk=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268561/russia_map_feb24.jpg"/> <cite>Christina Animashaun/Vox</cite></figure></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="f7I8sa">
|
|||
|
|
Putin’s attempt to redraw the map of Europe risks becoming the most devastating conflict on the continent since World War II. It is threatening to cost thousands of civilian lives and send hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the violence in Ukraine.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="igDeGv">
|
|||
|
|
The battle for Ukraine began in the early morning hours local time on February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a “special military operation” into the country of about 40 million, with attacks coming from multiple fronts (from the north, east, and south), and targeted toward multiple cities. Russian troops have since seized territory and have been pushing to take major cities, like the capital, Kyiv.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mCsfzG">
|
|||
|
|
Ukraine’s resistance has complicated Russia’s efforts to seize the country. But the more protracted this war becomes, the more catastrophic it will be. Russia’s move into cities has opened up a deadlier chapter, as the urban warfare threatens civilians, and experts said that Ukraine’s resistance may only push Russia to intensify its assault.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image- grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/7GSPd_HZ8uECn0do4rY5AeTj6b8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268404/AP22055415418705.jpg"/> <cite>Emilio Morenatti/AP</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A woman sits in the middle of a crowd as she waits for a train to leave Kyiv on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/DEeZs6ROJukBnLWuKWymzmEb2Xs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268419/AP22055567815036.jpg"/> <cite>Emilio Morenatti/AP</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A woman holds her baby inside a bus as they leave Kyiv on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/jJpifC9wV4jowY7KtifQxXmYHII=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268424/AP22055296438061.jpg"/> <cite>Emilio Morenatti/AP</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
People rush through a subway to get a train to leave Kyiv on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/1lp6vc9DNNBFE99etqpVMmjRpLo=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268426/AP22055579406038.jpg"/> <cite>Emilio Morenatti/AP</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A crowd of people struggles to get on a bus as they try to leave Kyiv on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U9XqZG">
|
|||
|
|
The United States and its allies in Europe and the United Kingdom <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/24/22949324/russia-ukraine-war-sanctions-sberbank-oligarchs">imposed the toughest financial sanctions ever on Russia</a> after the first incursion, and have only built on these penalties since. On February 26, the United States and European countries <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/26/1083270999/ukraine-russia-
|
|||
|
|
swift-sanctions">agreed to block some Russian banks</a> from SWIFT, a global messaging system, which will essentially prevent those institutions from doing any global transactions, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22916773/russia-ukraine-
|
|||
|
|
sanctions-putin">a punishment that allies had previously hesitated to pursue</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nccA4o">
|
|||
|
|
This sustained international pressure, and Ukraine’s resistance, may still not be enough to force Russia to end its military campaign, however, which leaves Ukraine — and the world — in a perilous and unpredictable moment.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="xF3Y8g">
|
|||
|
|
Ukraine is under siege
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ELuw1Q">
|
|||
|
|
After months of Putin building up tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border and a series of failed diplomatic talks, Russia is now waging a full-out war on Ukraine.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6LkRzm">
|
|||
|
|
Tensions escalated quickly when, on February 21, Putin delivered an hour-long combative speech <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/2/23/22945781/russia-ukraine-putin-speech-transcript-
|
|||
|
|
february-22">that essentially denied Ukrainian statehood</a>. He recognized the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine where Moscow has backed a separatist rebellion since 2014 and sent so-called peacekeeping forces into the region. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/22/22945610/russia-sanctions-ukraine-nord-stream">As experts said</a>, that was likely just the beginning, setting the stage for a much larger conflict.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kWpY68">
|
|||
|
|
Days later, that larger conflict materialized. On February 24, Putin announced he was launching an assault “to defend people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime,” a reference to a false claim about the government in Ukraine. Putin claimed that the Russian military seeks “demilitarization and denazification” but not occupation. He demanded Ukraine lay down its weapons or be “<a href="https://twitter.com/maxseddon/status/1496686129667612676?s=20&t=VH3UuivelfhLdzUOBZf8zQ">responsible for bloodshed</a>.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7tKSrb">
|
|||
|
|
Soon after Putin’s speech,<strong> </strong>reports emerged of explosions around cities, <a href="https://twitter.com/NeilPHauer/status/1496684179962187777?s=20&t=Zi61WAOJAXE4Wfg-13DmyA">including Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and the capital Kyiv</a>. The Ukrainian foreign minister <a href="https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba/status/1496695889401896964">called it</a> “a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div id="fCl1qk">
|
|||
|
|
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
|||
|
|
Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">— Dmytro Kuleba (<span class="citation" data-cites="DmytroKuleba">@DmytroKuleba</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba/status/1496695889401896964?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2022</a></p>
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</blockquote>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bdB9Ef">
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|
By the afternoon in Ukraine, Russian troops and tanks had entered the country on <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/07bbc5c7-e620-4734-83b5-7bb261363c35">three fronts</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/DanLamothe/status/1497599707258011658?s=20&t=F_5y7tvxILchgpZsUoYDsA">According to the Pentagon</a>, Russia launched more than 250 missiles into Ukraine on February 26, up from 200 on February 25. A senior US defense official <a href="https://twitter.com/DanLamothe/status/1497600140575744007?s=20&t=Mmjp6BTFtMBxxTkYWorm0Q">said</a>, “There’s no doubt in our mind that civilian infrastructure and civilian areas are being hit as a result of these barrages.”
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</p>
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|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PvOesu">
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|||
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|
Russians have targeted critical infrastructure, like airports, with airstrikes, and have launched ground operations from different directions, including from Belarus in the north, from the east of Ukraine, and from the south. On February 24, Russia <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-chernobyl-russia-
|
|||
|
|
invasion-6f4b2da3c9623b7f1bf8f250a73a1bb5">seized</a> the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant 80 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said it is <a href="https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/pressreleases/iaea-director-general-statement-on-the-situation-in-
|
|||
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|
ukraine">monitoring</a> developments there “with grave concern.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gWjsc7">
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|
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and Kyiv, the capital, are among the main battlefronts right now. “They had maximal war aims,” Michael Kofman, research director in the Russia studies program at CNA, <a href="https://twitter.com/WCWohlforth/status/1497307133653700616?s=20&t=_LcdFTNeTwaNGmvlD_lK5A">said in an interview posted on Twitter</a> on February 25. “They had a military operation that’s now in progress, first to try to achieve regime change, encircle the capital, and try to overthrow the Ukrainian government, and then a much larger set of pincer movements to encircle and envelope Ukrainian forces. Try to do this quickly and force surrender of isolated pockets.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tKWYKY">
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|
The Russian army, however, has not been able to completely roll over Ukrainian forces, and some analysts have suggested Moscow may have been surprised at the resistance. “It’s not apparent to us that Russians have been able to execute their plans as they deemed that they would,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on February 25 during a briefing. “But it’s a dynamic, fluid situation.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iY3biC">
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Margarita Konaev, associate director of analysis and research fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said she agreed with the assessment that Russia has been surprised by the early successes of the Ukrainian forces, but added that nobody chooses to start a war thinking they’ll face overwhelming resistance.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="rVxdu4">
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Putin himself has called on the Ukrainian army to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-ukraine-zelensky-army-russia-
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|||
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speech-b2023350.html">“take power into their own hands and overthrow”</a> Zelensky, a sign that Putin remains focused on regime change. “According to the available intelligence, the enemy marked me as a target No. 1 and my family as the target No. 2,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/24/world/russia-attacks-ukraine/zelensky-says-russian-
|
|||
|
|
saboteurs-are-in-kyiv-and-he-is-moscows-prime-target">said</a> Zelensky, speaking on the night of February 24.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fKeLXN">
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Russia has gone back and forth as to whether they are willing to negotiate, but Zelensky, on February 27, said that a <a href="https://twitter.com/alexbward/status/1497929838065238023?s=20&t=TD-5MLi1LzbSjCKha4WMUQ">Russian delegation had agreed to meet</a>, without preconditions, at the Ukraine-Belarus border. But, across conflicts, there is usually a severe escalation in fighting before ceasefires, as everyone attempts to maximize their leverage. “I think that they want to inflict maximum damage to pressure the Ukrainian government to seek some sort of ceasefire that is effectively a surrender,” Konaev said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gHuuJC">
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At least <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/26/russia-ukraine-war-news-
|
|||
|
|
updates/#link-H74TCGYBMVB5VOW6QA6CUU3WXA">198 Ukrainians have been killed</a> so far, Ukraine’s health minister said on February 26, and more than 1,100, including children, have been wounded. According to Ukraine’s defense ministry, nearly 150 tanks have been destroyed, and some <a href="https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1497895706568237056?s=20&t=MPdITi51vAsTywkigmzLmw">4,300 Russian troops</a> have been killed in the fighting as of February 27. That would be an unprecedented number, though experts said all these statistics should be treated with extreme caution because of the fog of war and the incentives both Russia and Ukraine have to push a particular narrative.
|
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</p>
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<aside id="dntNWJ">
|
|||
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<div>
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</div>
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|||
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</aside>
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<div class="c-wide- block">
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<figure class="e-image">
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|||
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<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/TCFuYqOosccBRCdNsNx6ULPRsV4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
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|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268456/GettyImages_1238719428.jpg"/> <cite>Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
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|
<figcaption>
|
|||
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|
Black smoke rises from a military airport in Chuguyev near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on February 24.
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|||
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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|||
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="any4tP">
|
|||
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|
Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of war crimes after reports of a <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/world/russia-war-crimes-ukraine-invasion-kindergarten-orphange-
|
|||
|
|
shelled-1484074">shelling of an orphanage and kindergarten outside of Kyiv</a>. Across Ukraine, thousands of civilians of all ages are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1083130131/thousands-rush-to-enlist-in-ukraines-army-to-fight-
|
|||
|
|
the-russian-invasion">enlisting to fight</a>. Ukrainian officials called on residents to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/kyiv-residents-clear-away-rubble-await-russian-assault-2022-02-25/">“make Molotov cocktails”</a> to defend against the invasion. About 18,000 weapons have been distributed in the Kyiv region, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/25/ukraine-civilians-weapons-molotov/">according to Ukrainian officials</a>. Meanwhile, about 368,000 Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries like Poland since the conflict began, <a href="https://twitter.com/FilippoGrandi/status/1497912426876092420?s=20&t=MPdITi51vAsTywkigmzLmw">according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees</a>. Huge crowds have rushed to board <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/guards-fire-shots-ukrainians-try-cram-onto-evacuation-
|
|||
|
|
trains-2022-02-25/">trains from Kyiv</a> to cities in the west, such as Lviv, while some of those staying put have sought shelter in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/25/ukraine-russia-video-photos-shelter-subway-
|
|||
|
|
stations/">subway stations</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="Z9JMCR">
|
|||
|
|
The roots of the current crisis grew from the breakup of the Soviet Union
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vZchCq">
|
|||
|
|
Russia’s invasion contravenes security agreements the Soviet Union made upon its breakup in the early ’90s. At the time, Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, had the third-largest atomic arsenal in the world. The US and Russia worked with Ukraine to denuclearize the country, and in a <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Ukraine-Nuclear-Weapons">series of diplomatic agreements</a>, Kyiv gave its hundreds of nuclear warheads back to Russia in exchange for security assurances that protected it from a potential Russian attack.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zkYquN">
|
|||
|
|
But the very premise of a post-Soviet Europe is also helping to fuel today’s conflict. Putin has been fixated on reclaiming some semblance of empire, lost with the fall of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is central to this vision. Putin has said Ukrainians and Russians “<a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">were one people — a single whole</a>,” or at least would be if not for the meddling from outside forces (as in, the West) that has created a “wall” between the two.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="NOhQYw">
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TBTdQn">
|
|||
|
|
Last year, Russia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/17/russia-issues-list-demands-tensions-europe-ukraine-nato">presented the US with a list of demands</a>, some of which were nonstarters for the United States and its allies in the <a href="https://www.vox.com/22900113/nato-ukraine-russia-crisis-clinton-expansion">North Atlantic Treaty Organization</a> (NATO). Putin demanded that NATO stop its eastward expansion and deny membership to Ukraine, and also made other demands for “security guarantees” around NATO.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PsCv24">
|
|||
|
|
The prospect of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO has antagonized Putin at least since President George W. Bush expressed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/01/nato.georgia">support</a> for the idea in 2008. “That was a real mistake,” Steven Pifer, who from 1998 to 2000 was ambassador to Ukraine under President Bill Clinton, told Vox in January. “It drove the Russians nuts. It created expectations in Ukraine and Georgia, which then were never met. And so that just made that whole issue of enlargement a complicated one.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="p-fullbleed-block">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tCH3qBpnF0DI05ogozfsm7QA_pM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268491/AP22055348925814.jpg"/> <cite>Sergei Grits/AP</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Damaged radar and a destroyed vehicle are seen at a Ukrainian military facility outside Mariupol, in southeastern Ukraine, on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/clr8nyomXyOwl_LxZcI7iqrjZl0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268495/GettyImages_1238719532.jpg"/> <cite>Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Ukrainian firefighters arrive to rescue civilians after an airstrike hit an apartment complex in Chuhuiv, Ukraine, on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W38GNd">
|
|||
|
|
Ukraine is the fourth-largest recipient of military funding from the US, and the <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/as-the-russian-threat-grew-us-intelligence-ties-to-ukraine-
|
|||
|
|
deepened-225919359.html">intelligence cooperation</a> between the two countries has deepened in response to threats from Russia. But Ukraine isn’t joining NATO in the near future, and President Joe Biden has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/biden-says-it-remains-be-seen-if-ukraine-will-be-n1270807">said</a> as much. Still, Moscow’s demand was largely seen as a nonstarter by the West, as NATO’s open-door policy says sovereign countries can choose their own security alliances.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NFAIWe">
|
|||
|
|
Though Putin has continued to tout the threat of NATO, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/2/23/22945781/russia-ukraine-putin-speech-transcript-
|
|||
|
|
february-22">his speech on February 21</a> showed that his obsession with Ukraine goes far beyond that. He does not see the government in Ukraine as legitimate.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LpXh6Z">
|
|||
|
|
“Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space,” he said, per <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/67828#sel=8:9:vX6,8:24:UFE;19:1:b6m,19:26:Xov;34:1:H38,35:35:2rw;52:72:Wl6,53:55:l2j;60:20:Xr6,60:56:Xry;68:19:WNj,68:80:22Z;69:57:Lj2,70:24:ksw">the Kremlin’s official translation</a>. “Since time immemorial, the people living in the south-west of what has historically been Russian land have called themselves Russians.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w5l7rB">
|
|||
|
|
The two countries do have historical and cultural ties, but as Vox’s Zack Beauchamp <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-
|
|||
|
|
politics/2022/2/23/22945781/russia-ukraine-putin-speech-transcript-february-22">explained</a>, Putin’s “basic claim — that there is no historical Ukrainian nation worthy of present-day sovereignty — is <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/22/putin-speech-ukraine-war-history-russia/">demonstrably false</a>.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p2YuKU">
|
|||
|
|
As experts noted, it is difficult to square Putin’s speech — plus a <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181">2021 essay</a> he penned and <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/22931#sel=9:10:3VX,9:43:3Ux">other statements</a> he’s made — with any sort of realistic diplomatic outcome to avert conflict. It was, essentially, a confession that this wasn’t really about NATO, said Dan Baer, the acting director of the Europe program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “It was about that he doesn’t think Ukraine has a right to exist as a free country,” he said before Putin’s escalation on the night of February 23.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/tkHS16T8H1ZfTP_oUnMbUHjxw3Q=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268555/AP22055583580010.jpg"/> <cite>Evgeniy Maloletka/AP</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A woman looks at her damaged house in the aftermath of Russian shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="o7BmE5">
|
|||
|
|
This is the culmination of eight years of tensions
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kXF58y">
|
|||
|
|
This isn’t the first time Russia has attacked Ukraine. In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, invaded eastern Ukraine, and backed Russian separatists in the eastern Donbas region. <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/content/conflict-ukraines-donbas-visual-explainer">That<strong> </strong>conflict has killed more than 14,000 people to date</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N9fAg6">
|
|||
|
|
Russia’s assault grew out of mass protests in Ukraine that toppled the country’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, which began over his abandonment of a trade agreement with the European Union. US diplomats visited the demonstrations, in symbolic gestures that further agitated Putin.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zPa4Qs">
|
|||
|
|
President Barack Obama, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/7/22916942/biden-lessons-
|
|||
|
|
russia-2014-invasion-ukraine-crimea">hesitant</a> to escalate tensions with Russia any further, was slow to mobilize a diplomatic response in Europe and did not immediately provide Ukrainians with offensive weapons.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1LOhJz">
|
|||
|
|
“A lot of us were really appalled that not more was done for the violation of that [post-Soviet] agreement,” said Ian Kelly, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Georgia from 2015 to 2018. “It just basically showed that if you have nuclear weapons” — as Russia does — “you’re inoculated against strong measures by the international community.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N6t7Hx">
|
|||
|
|
Since then, corruption has persisted in the Ukrainian government, and the country ranks in the bottom third of the watchdog group <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/ukraine">Transparency International</a>’s index.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JYgyX0">
|
|||
|
|
Ukraine’s <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/neo-nazis-far-right-
|
|||
|
|
ukraine/">far-right presence</a> has grown and become somewhat normalized, and there are <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3ab7dw/azov-battalion-ukraine-far-right">government-aligned fascist militias</a> in the country. But Moscow has drawn out those issues to advance false claims about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/feb/17/russia-ukraine-news-troops-border-latest-live-putin-biden-kyiv-
|
|||
|
|
russian-invasion-threat?page=with:block-620e7dc98f0866a40a9d7c6c#block-620e7dc98f0866a40a9d7c6c">genocide and other attacks on civilians</a> as a way to legitimize the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine and to create a pretext for invasion. In his prerecorded speech shared on the eve of the bombardment of Ukraine, Putin said he sought the “<a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-attacking-ukraine-putin-calls-for-denazification-of-country-with-jewish-
|
|||
|
|
leader/">denazification</a>” of Ukraine.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QstGNh">
|
|||
|
|
To be clear: <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/country/ukraine/nations-transit/2021">The Ukrainian government is not a Nazi regime</a> and has not been co-opted by the far right. Zelensky is Jewish; he speaks proudly of how his <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/in-israel-zelensky-tells-own-familys-holocaust-
|
|||
|
|
story.html?__cf_chl_tk=v1_GQLtGWLJw39Rnr3rH2370ApoeIIvoiDxF7QBbf_4-1645712713-0-gaNycGzNCL0">Jewish grandfather fought against Hitler’s army</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7idi13vH90l_cb9cCTuPyQzRUC0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
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|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268571/GettyImages_1238724008.jpg"/> <cite>Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Ukrainian servicemembers get ready to repel an attack in Ukraine’s Luhansk region on February 24.
|
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|
|
</figcaption>
|
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</figure>
|
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|
</div>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JqZIhK">
|
|||
|
|
Yet, days earlier, Putin used these sorts of claims as part of his explanation for recognizing as independent the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic, the two territories in eastern Ukraine where he has backed separatists since 2014. “Announcing the decisions taken today, I am confident in the support of the citizens of Russia. Of all the patriotic forces of the country,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/extracts-putins-speech-ukraine-2022-02-21/">Putin said</a> before moving troops into the regions for “peacekeeping” purposes.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pL641h">
|
|||
|
|
At the time, most experts Vox spoke to said that looked like the beginning, not the end, of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eTBOV4">
|
|||
|
|
“In Russia, [it] provides the political-legal basis for the formal introduction of Russian forces, which they’ve already decided to do,” Kofman, of CNA, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/21/22944995/russia-vladimir-putin-orders-troops-ukraine-east-
|
|||
|
|
donbas">told Vox on February 21</a>. “Secondarily, it provides the legal local basis for Russian use of force in defense of these independent republics’ Russian citizens there. It’s basically political theater.”
|
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|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7CPdLq">
|
|||
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|
It set “the stage for the next steps,” he added. Those next steps are now clear.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="zrupD6">
|
|||
|
|
How the rest of the world is responding
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GIFqV3">
|
|||
|
|
The United States and its allies around the world <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/leaders-of-us-uk-eu-and-canada-condemn-russian-invasion-on-ukraine.html">have condemned</a> Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and have since announced increasingly tough sanctions, intended to completely isolate Russia from the international community and inflict real economic costs.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide- block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zYQuk82McyCddW-
|
|||
|
|
RgQaLeb4YLyg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268596/GettyImages_1238729314.jpg"/> <cite>Michal Cizek/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Demonstrators rally in support of Ukraine at Venceslas Square in Prague, Czech Republic, on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NegcFX">
|
|||
|
|
Biden announced on the afternoon of February 24 that the United States would impose sanctions on Russian financial institutions, <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USTREAS/bulletins/30c2a69?reqfrom=share">including cutting off Russia’s largest banks</a> from the US financial system, and on Russian elites in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. America will also implement <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/24/world/russia-attacks-
|
|||
|
|
ukraine">export controls on certain technologies</a>. The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/west-will-slap-
|
|||
|
|
unprecedented-sanctions-russia-britain-says-2022-02-24/">United Kingdom</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-24/eu-sanctions-plan-to-limit-russia-s-access-to-financial-
|
|||
|
|
markets">Europe</a> added their own sanctions, imposing the “<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/russia/593975-blinken-warns-russian-official-of-resolute-massive-
|
|||
|
|
response-if-it">massive</a>” penalties the West had been warning Putin about.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LvlwF5">
|
|||
|
|
The US and its allies have only amped up the pressure since then. On February 25, the EU and US imposed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/25/us-to-impose-sanctions-on-vladimir-putin-and-top-aide-white-house-
|
|||
|
|
says.html">sanctions on Putin himself</a>. On February 26, the US and European countries announced an agreement to cut some (but not all) Russian banks off from SWIFT, the global messaging system that enables most international transactions, which will make it very, very difficult for Russia to make transactions beyond its borders. (Japan also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/japan-joins-us-others-excluding-russia-swift-system-2022-02-27/">signed on to SWIFT actions</a> on February 27.) The US and its allies have said they will <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-europe-european-union-704b3b6678c5d23bd05482c89a0384d2">target Russia’s central bank</a>, specifically its foreign reserves that Moscow needs to help support its currency.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J0BjTx">
|
|||
|
|
The United States has said it will not involve troops in any Ukrainian conflict, though more US military aid to Ukraine is on its way and the US has shored up its presence on NATO’s eastern flank. On February 24, the Pentagon said it would send <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/24/russian-invasion-decapitating-ukraine-
|
|||
|
|
government-00011404">7,000 additional troops to Germany</a>, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://www.state.gov/additional-military-assistance-for-ukraine/">said on February 26</a> that he was authorizing “up to $350 million” in additional military aid to Ukraine, including “further lethal defensive assistance to help Ukraine address the armored, airborne, and other threats it is now facing.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qr6bO9">
|
|||
|
|
Such aid, <a href="https://twitter.com/StateDeptSpox/status/1497566559358885889?s=20&t=M1bT6-ddB_zQPzWauoCxyA">according to a February 26 tweet</a> by State Department spokesperson Ned Price, will be provided “immediately” and include “anti-tank and air defense capabilities.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="WBJgal">
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
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|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a2Cilz">
|
|||
|
|
Russia knows that the US and its partners do not want to commit themselves militarily, and, as Putin launched his invasion, he offered an ominous warning <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/24/world/russia-attacks-ukraine#putin-nuclear-war-ukraine">as he touted Russia’s nuclear arsenal</a>: “There should be no doubt that any potential aggressor will face defeat and ominous consequences should it directly attack our country.” On February 27, Putin escalated that threat by putting the country’s <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-russia-invasion-war-putin-nuclear-forces-high-alert/">nuclear deterrent on high alert</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CA6KE0ofkX-Ql-loBBc7Jf213Tw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23268623/GettyImages_1238730794.jpg"/> <cite>Maciej Luczniewski/NurPhoto via Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
American soldiers at the Polish-Ukrainian border near Arlamow, Poland, on February 24.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UxG53w">
|
|||
|
|
NATO <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_192338.htm">has vowed</a> to protect its members from any Russian aggression. On February 25, NATO announced that it was activating part of its <a href="https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49755.htm">NATO Response Force</a> — a 40,000-troop unit modernized after the 2014 Crimea invasion — to protect allies on NATO’s eastern flank. “We are now deploying the NATO Response Force for the first time in a collective defense context. We speak about thousands of troops. We speak about air and maritime capabilities,” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-joe-biden-bulgaria-black-
|
|||
|
|
sea-c72038503cc6eba5a5d5d22b6cdc9e0b">NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2a4N7r">
|
|||
|
|
Yet these are largely defensive measures, which means most of the punishment against Russia will come in the form of economic sanctions. Still, the West is starting to shift from an original hesitancy to impose the most severe costs on Russia over fears of what it might mean for Europe, the US, and the rest of the global economy — and what Russia might do to retaliate.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uHKb5I">
|
|||
|
|
They’re not all the way there, however. For example, even the SWIFT action is expected to leave some carve-outs <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/02/26/swift-russia-sanctions-explained/">so Russia can still export gas to Europe</a>. The tougher the sanctions on Russia, the harder it will hit the US and especially European economies, so leaders are still trying to soften the impact.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<aside id="yF5UAV">
|
|||
|
|
<div>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
</aside>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YG9IoK">
|
|||
|
|
Whether all this international pressure will force Russia to rethink its course is unclear. The penalties the US and its allies have imposed could throttle the Russian economy, but that also comes with real impact on the Russian people, who had no say in the attack and <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/25/how-is-russias-state-tv-depicting-the-war-in-ukraine-a76588">may not fully understand the scale of the war in Ukraine</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Qg2GEf">
|
|||
|
|
A way out of this war is difficult to contemplate as bombs are falling on Ukraine, but the US and its allies are going to have to do careful diplomacy to isolate and put pressure on Russia in the long term. The US and its allies are also likely going to have to decide how much they want, or can, support Ukraine as it battles Russia.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WT5Q1O">
|
|||
|
|
“The real question, I think, is going to come down to what extent the West can and will try to support and supply a long-term insurgency against Russia,” said Paul D’Anieri, an expert on Eastern European and post-Soviet politics at the University of California Riverside. “And what level of success does Russia have in fighting back against? Unfortunately, it seems like the best strategy for peace right now is when enough Russians die, that the Russians decide it’s not worth it anymore.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ICC plans to streamline men's women's calendar to avoid clashes</strong> - The women’s World Cup, which begins in New Zealand on March 4, clashes with three major men's series – Pakistan v Australia, India v Sri Lanka and England v West Indies</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Verreynne century puts South Africa on top in 2nd Test</strong> - New Zealand were 94-4 at stumps, leaving it still 332 runs behind and with only six wickets to survive the final day</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mayank Agarwal named captain of Punjab Kings</strong> - He was one of the two players retained by Punjab Kings ahead of the mega auction earlier this month</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>West Indies spin legend Sonny Ramadhin dead</strong> - Having had made his Test debut against England at Old Trafford in 1950, Ramadhin ended up playing 43 Tests and taking 158 wickets at an average of 28.98</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship | Aditya Thakur has the last laugh</strong> - Clinches maiden overall crown</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Governor extends Maha Sivarathri greetings</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Governor condoles Yadlapati’s death</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How a WhatsApp message opened up the life of a hidden revolutionary in Kerala</strong> - The identity of Allungal Sreedharan, a Naxalite activist, was revealed after 40 years, at the time of his funeral</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Centre claims to be taking steps to repatriate those stranded in Ukraine</strong> - Petition in HC seeking proactive intervention by Indian Embassy</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Dalit, his son allege assault over juice shop in Hassan district</strong> - They have submitted a complaint to Konanur police who are yet to register it formally</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine conflict: Half a million flee as fighting rages</strong> - Hundreds of casualties are reported as major cities remain under attack from Russian forces.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine invasion: Would Putin press the nuclear button?</strong> - “Would never do” isn’t a phrase that applies to Vladimir Putin, the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg believes.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukrainian sailor in Majorca tried to sink yacht of Russian boss</strong> - The man told a judge in Majorca that he had wanted to retaliate for the invasion of Ukraine.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine conflict: Russia doubles interest rate after rouble slumps</strong> - The Russian currency plummets to a record low against the US dollar after Western countries imposed new sanctions.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine conflict: Putin’s war prompts dramatic German U-turn</strong> - Germany’s new chancellor announces a massive increase in military spending as anti-war crowds gather.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Volkswagen has given the 2022 Golf R an extreme personality change</strong> - A new torque-vectoring rear differential adds a drift mode, among other things. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1836104">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lenovo announces the first Arm-based ThinkPad</strong> - With a Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, it’s the first Windows-on-Arm ThinkPad. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1836621">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Lenovo brings 16:10 trend to the small screen</strong> - Lenovo announces its first portable monitor with the taller aspect ratio. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1836771">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Australia’s standoff against Google and Facebook worked—sort of</strong> - Australia forced tech giants to pay for content; other countries now expect the same. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1836640">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The weekend’s best deals: Bose QuietComfort 45, Xbox storage cards, and more</strong> - Dealmaster also has LG OLED TVs, the Nintendo Switch, Lenovo laptops, and SSDs. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1836877">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>A lawyer gets pulled over</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
A lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a policeman. Cop says, “License and registration, please.” Lawyer says, “What for?” Cop says, “You didn’t come to a complete stop at the stop sign.” Lawyer says, “I slowed down, and no one was coming.” Cop says, “You still didn’t come to a complete stop. License and registration, please.” Lawyer says, “What’s the difference?” Cop says, “The difference is, you have to come to a complete stop. License and registration, PLEASE!” Lawyer says, “If you can show me the difference between slow down and stop, I’ll give you my license and registration.” Cop says, “Exit your vehicle, sir.” At this point, the cop takes out his nightstick and starts beating the ever-loving shite out of the lawyer and says: “DO YOU WANT ME TO STOP OR JUST SLOW DOWN?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON
|
|||
|
|
-->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Mylifesucks22"> /u/Mylifesucks22 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t33hl4/a_lawyer_gets_pulled_over/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t33hl4/a_lawyer_gets_pulled_over/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Two countries go to war…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Ones president is a comedian, and the other is a joke.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/laveshnk"> /u/laveshnk </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t3bu68/two_countries_go_to_war/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t3bu68/two_countries_go_to_war/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>A Higgs boson walks into a church, goes into the confessional and tells the priest that he’s thinking of leaving the church</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
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The priest says, “my son, you can’t leave the church!”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The Higgs boson replies “but I must, I am having a real crisis of faith!”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The priest says, “you don’t understand, if you leave then we can’t have mass!”
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</p>
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</div>
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<!-- SC_ON -->
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Ludwig__Wittgenstein"> /u/Ludwig__Wittgenstein </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t34y3x/a_higgs_boson_walks_into_a_church_goes_into_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t34y3x/a_higgs_boson_walks_into_a_church_goes_into_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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|
<li><strong>What does 50 Cent call himself in Russia?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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<div class="md">
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 rubles
|
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</p>
|
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</div>
|
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|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Aerialise"> /u/Aerialise </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t318ih/what_does_50_cent_call_himself_in_russia/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t318ih/what_does_50_cent_call_himself_in_russia/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
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|
|
<li><strong>Chuck Norris, Zelensky, and God all walk into a bar.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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|
<div class="md">
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
The Bartender looks up, “Were were just about to start a new drinking game I’ve been working on. I call out a bragging point, and each one willing to meet it, chugs their drink. The last man standing due to matching every post and surviving every drink, gets the pot. Everyone else has to split the twice the cost of the drinks. Half covers the drinks, the other half is given that money again to the winner. Each person chooses their drinks ahead of time.”
|
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|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
They all agree this.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
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|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
|
Chuck Norris looks at the bartender, “I’ll have a 2 oz. mix of spirits, hot sauce, and grenadine.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
|
God looks at the bartender and says, “I’ll have a tall glass of your finest wine.”
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Zelensky looks the bartender and says, “I’ll have a gallon of Vodka.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The bartender passes around their drinks (having to raid his cabinets for Zelensky), and then calls out the first brag, “Who’s the toughest guy here?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
All three chug their drinks, and slam double the money on the counter. All three look fine. Zelensky is even smirking after the whole gallon of Vodka. They all put their money on the counter.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The bartender calls out, “Who is the manliest guy here?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
All three chug their drinks, and slam double the money on the counter.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The bartender calls out, “Who can stare death straight in the eye and laugh?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
All three chug their drinks, and slam double the money on the counter. At this point, God is looking a little woozy.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The bartender calls out, “Who can stand next to those they care about, no matter what happens?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Chuck Norris helps God back up after he slumped back down, blacking out, and after putting his own on the counter, shakes some of God’s collection plate money out of his pockets and puts it on the table for him.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The bartender calls out, “Every man, woman, and child would enjoy being able to simply bask in their presence.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Chuck Norris puts down some cash, feeling both kinds of his burn at his drink, and looks over at Zelensky who looks completely unfazed, and his money in front of him.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The bartender calls out, “Who can actually back it up and it’s not just bravado?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Chuck Norris chuckles, “Sorry, bravado’s my whole schtick, I’m out.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Zelensky frowns, “I really thought you two would stick out longer than that. I was hoping to make bank.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Chuck Norris shrugs, “Sorry, I’m just an actor. What are you going to do with the money? Buy a cool ride?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Zelensky looks at Chuck, “I don’t need a ride, I need more ammo.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The bartender looks at Zelensky, still in awe of the guy, “So… how can you drink six gallons of Vodka and not be fazed?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Zelensky smiles, “Oh, I have an unexpected resistance to anything Russian.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/starfyredragon"> /u/starfyredragon </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t2sof4/chuck_norris_zelensky_and_god_all_walk_into_a_bar/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/t2sof4/chuck_norris_zelensky_and_god_all_walk_into_a_bar/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
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