Worldcrunch
As the war in Ukraine enters its third year, results of a survey suggest that only one European out of ten thinks that Ukraine will come out of this war with a victory. While their support has not shifted towards Russia, the poll results give an insight into how fatigue is playing in citizens’ minds — and what European governments have to put up with if they want to continue supporting an expensive war.
In not condemning Russia and openly siding with Israel, India’s foreign policy establishment is merely jettisoning the thin layer of politically-expedient, feel-good idealistic post-colonialism that veils an iron-fisted pragmatism.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began in Gaza, Israel has imposed severe restrictions and economic sanctions on the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, further exacerbating the already dire living conditions of Palestinians there.
Rafah has become the new focus of Israel’s war. It is pressing to invade the city on the border with Egypt, where 1.4 million people — more than half of Gaza’s population — are now sheltering.
Russian authorities have said they will need two weeks before releasing the body of Putin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in prison on Friday. His widow says this is enough time for traces of lethal nerve agents to dissipate. In an interview with Agenstvo, one of the Soviet creators of the Novichok poison weighs in.
There are many analogies between 1916 and 2024, two years into World War I and the War in Ukraine respectively. It offers a clear way to try to understand what may happen next in Ukraine — and the world.
As the war in Gaza hits a critical juncture, the approaching Ramadan deadline adds urgency to international efforts, with Israel’s threat of an offensive on Rafah escalating tensions and raising the stakes for peace negotiations.
“If heroes were to ask themselves each time about the risks they face, then they would never accomplish their feats…”
Space may be the true battleground of the future, which explains Washington’s growing concerns over Russia’s alleged plans for deploying anti-satellite weapons. Yet what if not even this can push Trump and his Republican allies to support Kyiv?
It’s what we call lighting a counter-fire. At a time when U.S. support for Ukraine is under threat, Europe is coming together. But can it fill the void that may be left by Washington?
Longtime Putin critic Alexei Navalny has died in prison at the age of 47, sparking outrage inside and outside of Russia. While widely esteemed for his courage challenging the Kremlin, the Russian politician’s views on Ukraine were more ambiguous. Here’s a commentary by a Ukrainian writer after a documentary last year about his struggle won an Academy Award.
With Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas suddenly appearing on Moscow’s wanted list, both the past and present offer plenty of evidence that the small Baltic nation — with 40% Russian speakers — could be the next neighbor after Ukraine in the Kremlin’s crosshairs.
When Arab countries started normalizing relations with Israel, they did so disregarding the fate of Palestinians. It was a terrible error of judgment, and worse. Yet while the Palestinian cause remains a cornerstone of political legitimacy in the Arab world, few reasonable solutions are being brought forward, and radicalization continues to gain ground among the masses.
While Ukrainians may be hoping for Russia to disintegrate, history shows otherwise. Only when Putin’s authoritarian regime will come down, will it be possible for Chechens, Dagestanis, Buryats, Yakuts, or Bashkortostans to gain any kind of autonomy or democracy vis a vis Moscow.
Rafah has become, by far, the largest concentration of displaced people in Gaza. Now Israel is threatening to invade the city, sending waves of desperation among 1.4 million people there. It’s simple: There’s nowhere else to go.
With Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas put on Russia’s Most Wanted list, Tallinn is drawing up clear plans on how it intends to secure its border with Russia — an idea it shares with Latvia and Lithuania. But the three small countries don’t have the territorial or strategic depth to absorb an attack the way Ukraine did, which is why they ultimately rely on NATO.
Andrei Akimov runs state-controlled Gazprombank and is part of the Russian leader’s inner circle, aligned with the condemnation of the “collective West” conflict. He also oversees a web of luxury holdings across the same West, thanks to schemes to hide behind the names of relatives.
The West’s passive response to Israel’s actions in Gaza is increasingly difficult to maintain in front of the looming humanitarian crisis in Rafah. The lip service of “deep concern” doesn’t bother Netanyahu at all.
Israel’s invasion of Rafah has brought the war on Gaza to its most delicate point. And Netanyahu’s right-wing government may fulfill the wish of former center-left Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin “to find that Gaza has sunk into the sea”.
A video is fueling speculation about Ukrainian military activities in Africa that appears to show the capture of Wagner mercenaries in Sudan. Kyiv is cooperating with the army in the African nation in the fight against the RSF militia supported by Wagner — in a sort of proxy war far from home.
Desperate Gaza residents now wait for a word on the success of ceasefire deal, which could allow them to return home. Even if They don’t know what will come next. But they definitely want an end to the war, and so their significant suffering. They want to return to their homes, even if they are demolished.
The targeting of oil industry sites in occupied or border regions has now been replaced by a series of drone strikes of energy-producing structures deep inside Russian territory. These attacks aim to cripple Russia’s economy, which could turn the tide on the war.
Egyptian football legend Mohamed Salah’s careful positioning on the Israeli war in Gaza sparked discussions from fans and non-fans alike. Is it about ideology or sponsorships? And should any of it matter when his job is to score goals not play politics?
Look back over the past two decades, and you’ll see Vladimir Putin has always been the man revealed by the Ukraine invasion, an evil and sinister dictator. The Russian leader just manages to mask it well.
Vibrations originating at one point on the globe rapidly extend to its farthest corners due to the effects of globalization and information connectivity. Having repelled Moscow’s war, Ukraine symbolizes the significant shifts in the global balance of power and influence.
With the rejection of the aid plan for Ukraine, Eastern Europe fears that Trump’s isolationist policy will mark the end of U.S. protection from the Putin regime. News from Ukraine of President Volodymyr Zelensky replacing his head of armed forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, together with the difficult situation on the battlefield, are generating a lot of tension in Ukraine — and in the wider Europe.
Benjamin Netanyahu has firmly rejected Hamas’ latest counter-proposal to Israel’s offer for a ceasefire. Still, a new round of negotiations has begun in Cairo — and it’s ever more clear that the first question that must be resolved is the if, how, when and who of the 140 Israeli hostages will be released. Hamas knows they are its best bargaining chip.
The gap between the positions of the two parties revealed itself to be too wide Wednesday, though talks are continuing in Cairo. When will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu no longer be able to justify leaving the hostages in Gaza, and the damage of Israel losing its own allies?
Supplies have already been scarce in war-wrecked Gaza. But now officials say widespread famine is “inevitable” and “imminent,” following the decision of the U.S. and other European countries to stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. A report from the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
As Moscow launches the heaviest bombardment of Ukraine in months, evidence suggests that it’s now regularly deploying Grom hybrid missile that can evade some high-tech Western air defense systems.
With U.S. elections slated for November, support to Ukraine is becoming a divisive electoral issue. Wednesday’s vote in the U.S. Senate over Ukraine aid will be telling, but it won’t end there.
Despite a growing population and recent policies, “new residents” and their Taiwan-born children are not yet fully integrated into the country’s politics and society. Following the general election in early January, the Singapore-based Initium Media talks with young “new second generation” Taiwanese about their personal and political experiences.
Wikipedia remains one of the few independent platforms accessible in Russia, but since the war in Ukraine started, the online encyclopedia has come under increasing pressure. Stanislav Kozlovsky, the director of Wikimedia.ru, the nonprofit organization supporting the Russian segment of Wikipedia, explains how he manages (barely) to keep the Kremlin censors at bay.
Even as questions swirl about whether Zelensky will replace Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, the bigger question is Ukraine’s strategy. Rather than liberating occupied territories, Ukrainian forces should be focused on destroying the Russian army. Or put another way: “It is not the big that eat the small, but the fast that eat the slow.”
There have been increasing incidents at the regional level that indicate the Kremlin is developing a system, with elements from Chinese and Iranian censorship, to restrict internet access to build a new higher level of control over information.
An Israeli soldier took an infant girl from Gaza after her family was killed during bombings, and brought her to an undisclosed location in Israel. When the news emerged, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, based in the West Bank city of Ramallah, called it a “heinous crime” and demanded the return of the child to Palestine.
Going to the bathroom, one of the most basic human needs, has become extremely difficult to address in Gaza, as hundreds of thousands of people are left without the proper infrastructure, and streets are sometimes flooded with wastewater.
Vladimir Putin is not campaigning for the March 17 presidential election, but his message is on display at the vast “Rossia” exhibition in Moscow, which aims “to show Russians their modern Russia, a country they can be proud of.”
Iran’s allies are attacking the West across the region. The Hamas massacre, attacks on U.S. troops and the Houthi targeting of ships are possibly just the beginning. The fact that the Middle East is so unstable today is due to a decision first made by the U.S. a generation ago.
An interview with Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone, whose movie Me Captain is nominated for an Oscar, after he won the Silver Lion for directing at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. The tale centers around the life-and-death quest of migration, a topic that remains at the center of debate in Italy — and beyond.