Daily-Dose

Contents

• From New Yorker
• From Vox
• From The Hindu: Sports
• From The Hindu: National News
• From BBC: Europe
• From Ars Technica
• From Jokes Subreddit

From New Yorker

• Putin Launches His Invasion of Ukraine - Biden imposes sanctions in response to what the U.S. calls the “greatest threat to Europe” since the Second World War. - link

• A Sleepless Night of Russian Air Strikes in Ukraine - The attacks confirmed that a real war is coming, one that will result in a horrific and bloody toll. - link

• Inside the American Medical Association’s Fight Over Single-Payer Health Care - A long-standing battle highlights a profession’s political transformation. - link

• How Should President Biden Respond to Putin’s War? - The invasion of Ukraine has begun. President Biden and Europe now face the biggest foreign-policy crisis since the Cold War. - link

• Cate Le Bon’s Strange Journey Home - How a Welsh artist making sharp, mysterious songs found herself in the desert. - link

From Vox

• The Ukrainian refugee crisis has already begun -

  

  The time for the US and its European allies to act is now.

  The United Nations has estimated that about 100,000 Ukrainians have already been displaced as a result of the Russian invasion, and that number could ultimately grow to 1 to 5 million. The international community is making preparations to meet their humanitarian needs — though perhaps not quickly enough.

  Just hours after Russia’s assault began on Thursday morning, there were massive traffic jams, sold-out train tickets, and long lines at ATMs in Kyiv as people tried to flee with little clue as to how long they might be gone or if they’ll ever return.

  “There is a significant movement of the population, but it is also hard to say whether people are moving permanently or for the short-term,” said Irina Saghoyan, the eastern Europe director for Save the Children, which has been on the ground in Ukraine since 2014.

  For now, central Europe is welcoming Ukrainians with open arms. Receiving countries include Poland, which is planning to accommodate up to 1 million Ukrainians, as well as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Moldova, where 4,000 Ukrainians arrived on Thursday. But those countries aren’t currently equipped to handle the volume of refugees that are likely to arrive on their borders in the coming weeks, and European and US leadership need to scramble to help build up that capacity.

  The primary receiving countries in central Europe simply don’t have the capacity to meet those needs on a large scale and on a prolonged basis. Poland, for example, only accepted about 5,200 refugees in the first nine months of 2021. A million is a big step up.

  “The amount of resources being dedicated to this may not be sufficient to the full scope and scale of the crisis,” said Daniel Balson, the advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia for Amnesty International.

  Ukrainians’ needs go beyond temporary provisions of food, clothing, and shelter that can sustain them through the cold weather. They are facing the prospect of long-term displacement, and that means they need formal pathways to legal status, access to resettlement services, permanent housing, education, and healthcare. They also need vaccination for Covid-19, which has ravaged Ukraine in recent months; only about 36 percent of Ukrainians are vaccinated.

  European Union states will likely bear the brunt of any potential influx of Ukrainian refugees. That will require a lot of money and infrastructure that aid organizations can’t provide in full.

  But there’s a role for the US, too. It can provide even more financial support and humanitarian aid than it already has. And while it has been helping to ensure that Ukrainians have a place to go, it also can help coordinate resettlement so no one country has to bear the entire burden, while also making it easier for Ukrainians to come to the US.

  The time to act is now. The number of Ukrainians in need of humanitarian aid could balloon quickly, particularly given Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it clear in previous conflicts that he has no qualms about targeting civilians, like when he ordered airstrikes on Syrian civilian infrastructure in 2019. Indeed, he has already started bombing Ukrainian hospitals in violation of international humanitarian law.

  Europe is welcoming refugees, unlike in past crises

  Europe is facing down what could be its biggest refugee crisis since 2015, when more than a million migrants and refugees arrived on the continent. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday that the EU has been preparing to “welcome and host” potential Ukrainian refugees for weeks in coordination with front-line member states.

  Von der Leyen said European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, the EU’s humanitarian arm, is ready to provide for the basic and immediate needs of internally displaced Ukrainians. And the EU will increase its financial assistance for refugees beyond the $1.2 billion in aid that is already available, though has yet to commit to an exact amount.

  So far, Ukraine’s western neighbors have pledged to take in refugees fleeing Russia’s attack. On Thursday, Ukrainians began showing up on their borders by the thousands and there appear to be many more on the way given the crowded roadways.

  Poland, the largest country on Ukraine’s western flank, is expected to be the primary destination for refugees. There are currently eight reception points along every border crossing where they can get food, medical assistance, and information. And there’s transport available to move them from those sites to other regions of the country if need be.

  “We have a calling to ensure our national security, but also ensure the best conditions for Ukrainian citizens who will be seeking shelter in Poland from war,” the Polish deputy minister of internal affairs and administration Błażej Poboży told the media outlet Radio ZET in Polish on Thursday.

  But even countries that don’t directly border Ukraine have offered up support: Czech Republic, for instance, has offered to deploy its police force to Slovakia’s eastern border to help manage the influx of refugees.

  This kind of mobilization across Europe to come to Ukrainians’ aid stands in contrast to past responses to migrant crises. Just months ago, Poland decided to utilize troops and construct a $400 million wall to repel predominantly Muslim asylum seekers at its border with Belarus. Over the past few years, Hungary has passed laws criminalizing support for asylum seekers and limiting the right to asylum and has allowed police to automatically expel any unauthorized migrants. And in 2015, the influx of Syrians fueled the rise of populist, anti-immigration, eurosceptic, and far-right parties across Europe.

  Why is this time any different? EU countries might be more open to absorbing Ukrainians fleeing the wrath of their adversary. But there might also be more willingness to accept Ukrainians because they are white, European, and majority Christian, revealing the “troubling rise of nationalist movements rooted in fear of the other,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

  There’s still a lot European countries need to work out, including finding more permanent accommodations for Ukrainians. That will involve developing a regional resettlement scheme and ensuring that the kind of overcrowding that occurred in Greece and Italy in 2015 doesn’t happen again. Ukrainians can stay in the EU without a visa for up to 90 days, but it’s an open question what kind of legal status they might get thereafter. That will need to be cleared up as well.

  The US can support the humanitarian response in Europe

  Geography dictates that central Europe will likely be the epicenter of the Ukrainian refugee crisis. But the US still has a role to play.

  “The responsibility to support refugees and asylum seekers in Europe cannot fall squarely or exclusively on Europeans,” Balson said. “The US constantly talks about the need to show solidarity in various spheres; there’s a need for solidarity in support for asylum seekers.”

  Many of the 5,500 US troops deployed to Poland have already been helping set up processing centers. But some migration experts in Poland have raised concerns that Poland has nowhere near the capacity to absorb 1 million refugees as it has promised. As of earlier this month, there were only 2,000 spots for refugees across all the centers operated by the government’s Office of Foreigners. The Polish border guard had room for only 800 people (its facilities can hold a total of 2,300), though authorities said they would be able to make additional spots available. It will need to do so, and quickly, and is likely to rely on international funds and personnel to make those expansions happen.

  A State Department spokesperson told Vox on Wednesday that the US has been coordinating with the government of Ukraine, European allies, international organizations, and NGOs on contingency planning and preparedness efforts. It was engaging diplomatically to ensure neighboring countries keep their borders open to those seeking international protection. And it was “actively planning to augment ongoing US humanitarian support in Ukraine” in response to Russian aggression, they said. It’s not yet clear, however, what form that support will take.

  The UN Refugee Agency, which has a longtime presence in Ukraine, has been asking the international community for $190 million in humanitarian assistance, a request that hadn’t yet been answered as of Wednesday. That would help fund the agency’s 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine and meet the needs of an estimated 1.8 million people, nearly half of which are children or elderly, said Shabia Mantoo, a spokesperson for the agency.

  Congress could also work to pass an emergency supplemental bill that would provide further resources for US embassies in affected countries. That would increase the effectiveness of relocation pipelines and provide further support to Ukrainians and other impacted individuals in the region, O’Mara Vignarajah said.

  And though the US government has said that Putin has closed the door to diplomacy, Saghoyan said there is an urgent need to negotiate for a humanitarian corridor that would allow people who want to leave the country to do so safely and for humanitarian groups to continue to operate in Ukraine without fear of reprisal or harm after military activity subsides. On Thursday, safety concerns forced Save the Children to close its offices in Ukraine, which according to Saghoyan have served more than 350,000 children since 2014, though it is still partnering with civil society groups on the ground to assist displaced people.

  How the US could welcome Ukrainians

  There are policies that the US can pursue stateside that would help some Ukrainians resettle in the US.

  Biden could immediately and unilaterally increase the number of spots allocated to Europeans under the US refugee admissions program. That number is capped at 10,000 for the current fiscal year, and as of January 31, 335 of those slots had already been filled, mostly by Ukrainians. But it can take months or even years to come to the US as a refugee, which might be too long for Ukrainians in crisis. And the capacity of the US refugee program abroad continues to be limited due to pandemic-era shutdowns and Trump administration cutbacks.

  “The Biden administration should aggressively focus on rebuilding the processing efficiency and capacity of the refugee program abroad, which has continued to lag throughout its first year in office,” O’Mara Vignarajah said.

  Biden could also provide temporary protected status to Ukrainians who have already arrived in the US, which would temporarily shield them from deportation and allow them to work legally. That kind of status is typically offered to citizens of countries suffering from armed conflicts like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to the Migration Policy Institute, there are an estimated 30,000 Ukrainians already living in the US who do not have American citizenship or other kinds of permanent status.

  Biden can also allow Ukrainians to come to the US on humanitarian parole, which allows people facing urgent humanitarian need to enter and stay in the US without a visa. The benefit of parole is that it can be approved within a matter of days or hours, as opposed to the many months or years it typically takes to process a visa. It’s the same mechanism that allowed tens of thousands of Afghans to come to the US following the American withdrawal last year.

  But given that the airports in Ukraine are now closed or destroyed by Russia and Biden has said that his administration will not carry out an evacuation, it’s not clear if any significant number of Ukrainians would be able to reach the US even if any of those immigration pathways were available. That makes the US’s imperative to support the humanitarian response in receiving nations in Europe even stronger.

• US sanctions will squeeze Russia — but they’re unlikely to stop the war in Ukraine -

  

  The harshest penalties ever imposed on Russia will still have their limitations.

  The United States and its allies have begun imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia for its invasion into Ukraine. They are the toughest economic penalties ever introduced on a country of Russia’s size. But Russia’s ruthless attack continues.

  President Joe Biden said the United States will impose sanctions on Russian financial institutions, including cutting off Russia’s largest banks from the US financial system, and on Russian elites in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. America will also implement export controls on certain technologies.

  “Putin is the aggressor,” Biden said Thursday. “Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences.”

  These are the “massive” penalties the West had been warning Putin would happen if Russia invaded — and the main tool of punishment available once the United States and its allies ruled out direct military intervention with another nuclear power. These sanctions, joined with penalties from the United Kingdom and Europe, are intended to impose extreme economic costs on Russia and its people. The ramifications of such moves will amount to economic warfare that will play out over many months, if not years, even as a hot war plays out in Ukraine.

  “The Biden administration is bringing down the hammer on Russia’s financial sector. It’s also imposing an array of penalties on state-owned enterprises across the Russian economy,” said Eddie Fishman, a sanctions expert at Columbia University and former top sanctions official in the Obama administration.

  “No sanctions can be proportional to Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” he added. “But these sanctions will make the costs palpable.”

  This sanctions package stops short of adding some other dramatic options, including some that Ukraine and others had been pushing for. That includes things like sanctioning Vladimir Putin himself; cutting Russia off from SWIFT, the electronic messaging service that allows entities to communicate about global financial transactions; and targeting Russia’s energy sector.

  Penalties on oil and gas, for example, would impose severe costs for Russia. But the harder it hurts Russia, the harder it hurts the West — particularly European allies, who are more reliant on Russian natural gas. But this affects the US, too. Inflation and fears of even greater global energy price spikes — already happening in the wake of Russia’s assault — and the possible domestic fallout are all intertwined with one of the most consequential foreign policy decisions in decades.

  “This is going to impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time,” Biden said. “We have purposefully designed these sanctions to maximize a long-term impact on Russia and to minimize the impact on the United States and our allies.”

  Biden also said the US is working with NATO allies to shore up its defenses, and the Pentagon announced a plan to send 7,000 more troops to Europe. Though the US was staying out of Ukraine, it “will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power,” Biden said.

  At the same time, he reiterated that while the US provided millions in defense assistance to Ukraine this year, US forces would not engage directly with the conflict in Ukraine. The consequences that the US and its allies chose are targeted to hurt Russia — but avoid the kind of military entanglement with profound and unpredictable global fallout.

  The US and its allies impose long-term pain on Russia during an immediate crisis

  Biden said Thursday that the US and its allies are “in full and total agreement” in its response to Russia. In addition to the US actions, the United Kingdom has imposed its toughest sanctions ever on Russia, which include asset freezes on some of Russia’s largest banks and target more than 100 individuals. Canada targeted more than 60 individuals, and has canceled export permits. The European Union’s foreign policy chief said the bloc would impose “the harshest package of sanctions we have ever implemented,” including freezing assets, targeting certain sectors, and imposing export controls.

  “We will limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen, to be part of the global economy,” Biden said. “We’ll limit their ability to do that. We’re going to stop the ability to finance and grow the Russian military. We’re going to … impair their ability to compete in a high-tech 21st-century economy.”

  These sanctions build on others introduced earlier in the week, which included financial sanctions, asset freezes and travel bans for oligarchs, and the end to the certification (and the US’s sanctioning) of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

  As tough as this sanctions package is, it reflects a circumspection that many experts and observers predicted ahead of Russia’s invasion. It does not include some of the most intense options, like an energy blockade or cutting Russia off from SWIFT. Ukraine and some European countries have pushed hard for that step in the wake of Russia’s invasion, though reportedly Germany, Italy, and some other EU countries are blocking it.

  Still, experts said that the US’s decision to cut off Russia’s major financial institutions — including Sberbank and VTB — makes the need for removing Russia from SWIFT less urgent. “If you include the major banks, that means those banks cannot do business with the major financial institutions in the West,” said Jeffrey Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “It doesn’t really matter whether they have access to SWIFT or not, because the major damage is done.” However, some have noted the carve outs for energy and commodity transactions in these financial sanctions which blunt some of the sting for Russia, but also for Europe.

  Overall, these penalties do not rise to the level that was imposed on Iran during then-President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign, they are extraordinary considering Russia’s much larger role in the global economy. Penalties on Russia’s largest banks will slam the economy. “This is going to mean higher interest rates and less access to capital throughout Russia. It is going to depress economic activity in Russia,” said Schott said. In other words, this will trickle down and mean real pain for ordinary Russians, who had no say at all in Putin’s decisions.

  The list of oligarchs and elites being targeted is quite long, though Putin will probably try to take care of oligarchs targeted by Western sanctions. Biden’s announcement of export controls will deny Russia access to critical technologies, especially in sectors like defense. Partners in Asia had also indicated earlier this week that they will participate in export controls on technologies like semiconductors, which will squeeze Russia.

  It’s unclear how this strategy will play out in the coming weeks, especially if the Ukraine conflict becomes as bloody and chaotic as some fear. Russia may well attempt to retaliate against the West for these sanctions, which could lead to economic countermeasures or hybrid warfare tactics like cyberattacks or disinformation campaigns, potentially opening up another front in this conflict.

  This sanctions package goes far, but there are still questions about how tough they will be in practice. Ukraine has already demanded more pressure, including cutting off Russia’s oil and gas, and its full removal from SWIFT. And even if these penalties are damaging to Russia, they are unlikely to be enough to stop Putin from carrying out this single- minded campaign against Ukraine right now.

• Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, explained -

  

  Putin declared a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Now, Europe is witnessing its first major war in decades.

  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has begun.

  Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday morning local time that he was launching a “special military operation” in Ukraine, a move that was followed up by reports of explosions around cities, including Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and the capital Kyiv.

  The Ukrainian foreign minister confirmed soon after that “Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strike.” By the afternoon in Ukraine, Russian troops and tanks had entered the country on three fronts. According to the Pentagon, Russia launched more than 100 missiles into Ukraine, an opening salvo that defense officials said may be leading up to full-on effort to take the capital of Kyiv. At least 137 Ukrainians have been killed so far, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

  Putin’s attempt to redraw the map of Europe could lead to the most devastating conflict on the continent since World War II. It could cost thousands of civilian lives and create hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the violence in Ukraine.

  Christina Animashaun/Vox

Putin’s announcement came while the United Nations Security Council held a special session in New York on the Ukraine crisis, and bombing began shortly thereafter, according to news reports. In his address, Putin claimed “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 “responsible for bloodshed.”

Exactly what’s happening on the ground in Ukraine is hard to know. Russia has already used misinformation tactics and may jam up local communications. But it’s hard to interpret what Putin said as anything other than a full declaration of war.

The tension over Ukraine has been building for months but escalated quickly this week when, on Monday, Putin delivered an hour-long combative speech that essentially denied Ukrainian statehood. 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. As experts said, that was likely just the beginning, setting the stage for a much larger conflict.

Putin’s escalation comes after the United States warned, again and again, that a larger invasion by Putin was imminent, and after the US and its European allies imposed significant — but far from all-encompassing — sanctions on Moscow. On Thursday, the US imposed the harshest penalties yet on Russia, including on the country’s largest banks.

“President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Wednesday, soon after Russia began its strike. “Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News that he’s “convinced” Putin is attempting to overthrow the Ukrainian government.

But Ukraine — and the world — is in a perilous and unpredictable moment. Hours before Putin’s announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered an impassioned speech against war, one directed to a Russian audience, as a final plea: “War takes away guarantees for everyone,” he said. “No one will have any kind of guarantees of security. And who will suffer from that the most? People.”

Political assassinations appear to be a real possibility. “According to the available intelligence, the enemy marked me as a target No. 1 and my family as the target No. 2,” said Zelensky, speaking in a T-shirt on Thursday night.

Ukraine is under siege

We are still learning the extent of Putin’s bombardment as his war unfolds. Amid hours of bombing, Russians have entered Ukraine from the north, south, and east, “assaulting by land, sea and air,” according to Reuters. Now Ukrainians are fleeing major cities, and lines are growing at the country’s border with Poland, as reports of civilian deaths are just becoming clear.

Russia seized the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear plant 80 miles north of the Ukrainian capital, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. The International Atomic Energy Agency is monitoring developments there “with grave concern.”

At Antonov International Airport, a global cargo hub located about 16 miles outside of Kyiv, Russian paratroops and Ukrainian forces engaged in a three-hour firefight. The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs says the military has regained control. The Pentagon estimates that Russia has fired more than 160 ballistic missiles into Ukraine.

The capital of Kyiv appears to be Russian troops’ next target.

“This is a deliberate, cold-blooded, and long-planned invasion. Russia is using force to try to rewrite history,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. The alliance met today to plan for ways to strengthen the defense of neighboring NATO countries Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland.

Zelensky convened a Ukraine security council meeting in the early hours of Thursday and imposed martial law, according to news reports. In a video, Zelensky urged Ukrainians not to panic. “We are ready for everything. We will defeat everyone. Because we are Ukraine.”

Russia has remained defiant and insists that is not actually launching a full-scale war.

Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images

The roots of the current crisis grew from the breakup of the Soviet Union

Over the last few months, Putin had amassed close to 190,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, a force that military analysts said was clearly prepared and ready to launch an invasion.

Such an invasion would — and does — contravene 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 series of diplomatic agreements, Kyiv gave its hundreds of nuclear warheads back to Russia in exchange for security assurances that protected it from a potential Russian attack.

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 “were one people — a single whole,” 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.

Last year, Russia presented the US with a list of demands, some of which were nonstarters for the United States and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Putin demanded that NATO stop its eastward expansion and deny membership to Ukraine, and also made other demands for “security guarantees” around NATO.

The prospect of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO has antagonized Putin at least since President George W. Bush expressed support 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.”

Sergei Grits/AP

Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Ukraine is the fourth-largest recipient of military funding from the US, and the intelligence cooperation between the two countries has deepened in response to threats from Russia. But Ukraine isn’t joining NATO in the near future, and Biden has said as much. Still, Moscow’s demand was largely seen as a non-starter by the West, as NATO’s open-door policy says sovereign countries can choose their own security alliances.

Though Putin has continued to tout the threat of NATO, his speech on Monday showed that his obsession with Ukraine goes far beyond that. He does not see the government in Ukraine as legitimate.

“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 the Kremlin’s official translation. “Since time immemorial, the people living in the south-west of what has historically been Russian land have called themselves Russians.”

The two countries do have historical and cultural ties, but as Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explained, Putin’s “basic claim — that there is no historical Ukrainian nation worthy of present-day sovereignty — is demonstrably false.”

As experts noted, it is difficult to square Putin’s speech — plus a 2021 essay he penned, and other statements 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 Wednesday night.

This is the culmination of eight years of tensions

This isn’t the first time Russia has attacked Ukraine. In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and invaded eastern Ukraine and backed Russia separatists in the eastern Donbas region. That conflict has killed more than 14,000 people to date.

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.

President Barack Obama, hesitant 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.

“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.”

Since then, corruption has persisted in the Ukrainian government, and the country ranks in the bottom third of the watchdog group Transparency International’s index.

Ukraine’s far-right presence has grown and become somewhat normalized, and there are government-aligned fascist militias in the country. But Moscow has drawn out those issues to advance false claims about genocide and other attacks on civilians 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 “de-nazifacation” of Ukraine.

To be clear: The Ukrainian government is not a Nazi regime and has not been co-opted by the far right. Zelensky is Jewish; he speaks proudly of how his Jewish grandfather fought against Hitler’s army.

Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images

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,” Putin said before moving troops into the regions for “peacekeeping” purposes.

At the time, most experts Vox spoke to said that looked like the beginning, not the end, of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

“In Russia, [it] provides the political-legal basis for the formal introduction of Russian forces, which they’ve already decided to do,” Michael Kofman, research director in the Russia studies program at CNA, a research organization in Arlington, Virginia, said at the time. “Secondarily, it provides the legal local basis for Russian use force in defense of these independent Republic’s Russians citizens there. It’s basically political theater.”

It set “the stage for the next steps,” he added. Wednesday, those next steps became clear.

How the rest of the world is responding

The United States and its allies around the world have condemned Russia’s invasion on Ukraine. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it a “dark day for Europe.”

Michal Cizek/AFP via Getty Images

“The events of last night mark a turning point in the history of Europe,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.

All leaders have vowed consequences for Russia. As President Biden said: “The world will hold Russia accountable.”

Biden announced Thursday afternoon that the United States will impose sanctions on Russian financial institutions, including cutting off Russia’s largest banks from the US financial system, and on Russian elites in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. America will also implement export controls on certain technologies. Along with penalties from the United Kingdom and Europe, these are the “massive” penalties the West had been warning Putin about.

The United States has said it will not involve troops in any Ukrainian conflict, though the US has shored up its presence on NATO’s eastern flank. On Thursday, the Pentagon said it would send 7,000 additional troops to Germany. Biden had previously said that the US will continue to provide defensive support for Ukraine, and some are calling for the US and its partners to provide more lethal aid to the largely outmatched Ukrainian army.

Russia largely knows that the US and its partners to not want to commit themselves military, and, early Thursday as he launched his invasion, he offered an ominous warning as he touted Russia’s nuclear arsenal: “There should be no doubt that any potential aggressor will face defeat and ominous consequences should it directly attack our country.”

Maciej Luczniewski/NurPhoto via Getty Images

NATO has vowed to protect its members from any Russian aggression. Experts said NATO also had other options, including activating the NATO Response Force, a 50,000 troop unit modernized after the 2014 Crimea invasion.

Yet these are largely defensive measures — which means most of the punishment against Russia will come in the form of sanctions. Thursday’s announced sanctions didn’t include some of the most dramatic options, like cutting Russia off from Swift, the electronic messaging service that allows entities to communicate about global financial transactions, and targeting Russia’s energy sector. But the penalties are still some of the harshest sanctions ever directed at Russia or a major power like it. That will come with potential costs to the global economy, and especially to Europe and the United States. The price of oil spiked to more than $100 per barrel on Thursday before coming back down.

“This is going to impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time,” Biden said while announcing the sanctions. “We have purposefully designed these sanctions to maximize a long-term impact on Russia and to minimize the impact on the United States and our allies.”

The prospects of a settlement with Russia are impossible 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 tries to battle Russia.

“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.”

From The Hindu: Sports

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• Ishan Kishan credits Rohit for his batting turnaround - The left-hander finally lived up to his ₹15.25 crore IPL tag with a whirlwind 56-ball 89 in India's 62-run win over Sri Lanka

• Chanu wins gold in Singapore, qualifies for CWG in new 55kg weight division - The 27-year-old has also qualified for the CWG in the 49kg weight category on the basis of her Commonwealth rankings.

• Djokovic to be replaced at No. 1 by Medvedev after Dubai loss - Medvedev is the first man other than Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray to be No. 1 since February

From The Hindu: National News

• Russia-Ukraine crisis | Air India planning to operate two flights to Bucharest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine - The two Air India flights will depart from Bucharest on Saturday, the officials said

• KMML, KSRTC join hands to set a model - First PSU in State to tie up with KSRTC to operate staff buses

• Quaint still, getting sought-after - The islet of Sambranikodi is fast emerging as a top tourist spot

• Medicos in Ukraine waiting for evacuation - Embassy preparing list of people to be evacuated in the first phase

• Remain strong, safe and alert: Indian embassy in Ukraine to stranded Indians - In an advisory, the embassy said Indian teams are being deputed at the Chop-Zahony border point as well as at Porubne- Stret on Romanian border

From BBC: Europe

• Ukraine conflict: Kyiv braces for Russian assault - The Ministry of Defence made the call as Russian forces reached the northern outskirts of Kyiv.

• Ukraine crisis: ‘Wiper’ discovered in latest cyber-attacks - Many government and company websites go down in the largest cyber-attack since the crisis began.

• Ukraine conflict: Shock and support on the streets of Moscow - The BBC talks to Russians in Moscow and Rostov to find out what they think of the assault on Ukraine.

• Oil hits seven-year high but shares rebound on Russian war - Petrol hits another record as crude prices reach their highest level for more than seven years.

• Russia attack on Ukraine catastrophe for Europe, say Boris Johnson - Boris Johnson will give a televised statement later before revealing new sanctions against Russia to MPs.

From Ars Technica

• Rocket Report: SLS rocket almost ready to roll, ULA workers prepared to strike - “We’ve agreed to a $20 per hour pay cut in the last contract to stay competitive with SpaceX.” - link

• This 5,300-year-old skull shows evidence of the earliest known ear surgery - Archaeologists also found a flint blade that may have been used as a cauterizing tool. - link

• New fast radio burst found in area that shouldn’t have any sources - Source narrowed down to a cluster where the stars are too old for bursts. - link

• New Roccat mouse lets you program up to 29 different inputs - Plus RGB for days. - link

• All-new touch-friendly taskbar comes to latest Windows 11 preview - Windows 11’s next big update will bring multiple touchscreen enhancements. - link

From Jokes Subreddit

• Every morning, the CEO of a major bank in Manhattan went to the corner where a shoeshine man was always there. -

  He used to sit on the chair, read the Wall Street Journal, and the shoeshine man gave his shoes a shiny, great look.

  One morning, the shoeshine man asks the CEO:
  “What do you think of the stock market situation?”

  The CEO arrogantly asks him:
  “Why are you so interested in this subject?”

  The shoeshine man replies:
  “I have 20 million dollars deposited in your bank and I am thinking about investing part of the money in the stock market.”

  The CEO of the bank asks:
  “What is your name?”

  He replies:
  “John Smith H.”

  The CEO arrives at the bank and asks the Manager of the Major Accounts Department:
  “Do we have a customer named John Smith H.?”

  He replies:
  “We certainly do, sir! He is an extremely esteemed customer! He has 20 million dollars in his account.”

  The CEO leaves the bank, approaches the shoeshine boy, and says:
  “Mr. Smith, I would like to invite you to be our guest of honor at our board meeting next Monday and tell us your life story. I’m sure we will have a lot to learn from you.”

  At the board meeting, the CEO introduces him to the board members:
  "We all know Mr. Smith, who makes our shoes shine like no one else. But Mr. Smith is also our valued customer, with twenty million dollars in his account.

  I invited him to tell us the story of his life. I’m sure we can learn a lot from him. Please, Mr. Smith, tell us your life story."

  Then, Mr. Smith began to narrate his story:
  "I came to this country thirty years ago as a young immigrant from Eastern Europe and with an unpronounceable name. I left the ship penniless in my pocket.

  The first thing I did was to change my name to Smith.

  I was hungry and exhausted. I started to wander in search for a job, but without success.

  Suddenly, I found a coin on the sidewalk. I bought some apples.

  I had two options: eat the apples and quench my hunger or start a business. I sold the apples for 50 cents and bought more apples with the money.

  When I started accumulating dollars, I managed to buy a set of used brushes and shoe polishes and started cleaning shoes.

  I didn’t spend a dime on fun or clothes. I only bought bread and cheese to survive.

  I saved penny by penny and after a while I bought a new set of brushes and shoe polishes in different shades and colors and increased my clientele.

  I lived like a monk and saved every penny. I managed to buy a chair so that my customers could sit comfortably while I cleaned their shoes, which brought me more customers.

  I didn’t spend a dime on the pleasures of life. I kept saving every penny.

  A few years ago, when the corner shoeshine colleague decided to retire, I had already saved enough money to buy his point, which was a better place than mine.

  Finally, 3 months ago, my drug dealer brother passed away and left me 20 million dollars.

  submitted by /u/freshlyironedirony
  [link] [comments]

• There are some Russian soldiers marching -

  They hear a voice shout from over a hill,

  “I bet one Ukrainian can beat ten Russians!”

  The Russian sergeant, thinking that it would be easy, sent ten men over the hill to fight. They heard a fighting and noise. No Russian soldiers came back. After a minute they heard the voice again,

  “I bet 1 Ukrainian can beat 100 Russians!”

  The sergeant, getting more annoyed now, decided to send some of his men over, to finish this Ukrainian off.

  After a while of noise and bangs, no Russian soldiers came back, and the voice shouted again,

  “I bet 1 Ukrainian can beat 1000 Russians!”

  The sergeant, thinking that 1 soldier could not possibly beat 1000, sent his troops over.

  Again, there was lots of noise, but then, silence.

  1 Russian soldier returned this time, bloody and bruised, barely walking. The soldier said:

  “Don’t send any more men over; there’s actually 2 Ukrainians.”

  submitted by /u/lelcg
  [link] [comments]

• In 2017, Trump went to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow… -

  … They had dinner at the Kremlin and sat down afterwards alone for drinks and cigars and to discuss business.

  After a little bit Putin asks Trump “hey, you wanna see something?” and he rings a little bell that’s sitting on the coffee table.

  A beautiful blond walks in to the room, kneels in front of Putin, and without a word starts giving him a blowjob right there in front of Trump.

  A few minutes go by and Putin smacks the blond once on the back of the head, she gets up, and without a word leaves the room.

  Putin smiles at Trump. “You wanna try too?” He asks.

  “Yes” says Trump enthusiastically “but please don’t smack my head when you’re done”.

  submitted by /u/Aba_Tarnegol
  [link] [comments]

• A Black Man, a Mexican, and a White Man Got Lost Canoeing. -

  They reached an island ruled by terrorists. The terrorists wanted to kill the entire crew. However, after seeing the white man, the terrorists had a proposal. If the combined length of the mens’ penises measured 1 foot, then the men would be set free. The Black man’s dick measured 6 inches. The White man’s dick measured 5 inches. The Mexican’s dick measured 1 inch. The men were set free. While trying to navigate their way home, the black man said, “You guys are lucky I had 6 inches.” The white man said, “You guys are lucky I’m white and they gave us a chance to survive.” The Mexican man smiles and says, “You guys are lucky I had a boner.”

  submitted by /u/EthanPaz26
  [link] [comments]

• A woman walks into an accountant’s office and tells him that she needs to file her taxes. -

  The accountant says, “Before we begin, I’ll need to ask you a few questions.”

  He gets her name, address etc. And then asks, “What’s your occupation?”

  “I’m a prostitute,” she says.

  The accountant is somewhat taken aback and says, “Let’s try to re-phrase that.”

  The woman says, “OK, I’m a high-end call girl”.

  “No, that still won’t work. Try again.”

  They both think for a minute; then the woman says, “I’m an elite poultry farmer.”

  The accountant asks, “What does poultry farming have to do with being a prostitute?”

  “Well, I raised a thousand cocks last year.”

  “Poultry Farmer it is.”

  submitted by /u/nikan69
  [link] [comments]