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Staff Picks, Our 15 Best Stories Of 2019

Staff Picks, Our 15 Best Stories Of 2019

LES ECHOS

France's Yellow Vests And The Problem With Post-Truth Economics

Opinion shapers have a habit these days of disregarding facts, be they scientific or economic. Opinions matter, of course, but shouldn't supersede well-founded knowledge.


SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG

RoboJudge: When Laws Are Transformed Into Computer Code

Laws take time to catch up with reality. Could we program them into binary systems? It is tempting, but it is also dangerous.


DIE WELT

Lagos Postcard: When EU Pushes Migrants To Go Back Home

Nigerian painter Isaac sold everything and left Lagos, in the hope to make it to Germany. After barely surviving in Libya, he gave it all up and went back.


LE MONDE

J'Accuse, Me Too: France And The Polanski Morality Play

New sexual assault accusations surfaced in France before the release of Roman Polanski's new film (titled "J'Accuse" in French) about the Dreyfus affair of a false accusation against a French-Jewish army officer. Who is accusing who here?


RUE AMELOT

My 17th-Century Aunt And Killing The "Witch Hunt" Metaphor


DIE WELT

Short-Term Thinking, The Ruin Of Today's Politics

Democratic systems offer little incentive for long-term thinking. But unless we can implement true, forward-looking policies, problems like climate change will only multiply.


EL ESPECTADOR

In Colombia, When Your 7-Year-Old Is Transgender

In Bogotá, a transgender girl and her family are, with their openness, helping similar people take their rightful place in society.


LES ECHOS

Thou Shalt Never Be Polite To Robots

Google and Amazon are trying to force us to speak politely to their AI-driven personal assistants. But giving souls to our technology is a dangerous return to the past.


CLARIN

Christchurch To Sao Paulo: Our Age Of Nihilistic Terrorism

The white supremacist who killed 50 at New Zealand mosques is like other mass killers attached to myths of ideological identity that lack any real political horizon.


THE INITIUM

In A Beijing Park, The Cold Calculations Of Senior Dating

Loneliness, sex and economics rule among aging singles in the Chinese capital.


CUMHURIYET

Istanbul's Opposition Mayor And Hopes For Turkish Democracy


LIVY BEREG

Just The Two Of Us: Why Belarus' Lukashenko Is Betting On Putin


ONESHOT

Watch: Cinq — Lorenzo Tugnoli, Yemen Humanitarian Crisis


LE MONDE

End Times And Ecology: Finding Meaning With Our Planet In Peril

Can the possibility of the end of the world give meaning to life? A French philosopher (and mother of young children) fears the worst but tries to live the best she can.


RUE AMELOT

Racism And Soccer In The Time Of Salvini, A Napoli Homecoming

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

After Belgorod: Does The Russian Opposition Have A Path To Push Out Putin?

The month of May has seen a brazen drone attack on the Kremlin and a major incursion by Russian rebels across the border war into the Russian region of Belgorod. Could this lead to Russians pushing Vladimir Putin out of power? Or all-out civil war?

After Belgorod: Does The Russian Opposition Have A Path To Push Out Putin?

Ilya Ponomarev speaking at a Moscow opposition rally in 2013.

-Analysis-

We may soon mark May 22 as the day the Ukrainian war added a Russian front to the military battle maps. Two far-right Russian units fighting on the side of Ukraine entered the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, riding on tanks and quickly crossing the border to seize Russian military equipment and take over checkpoints.

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This was not the first raid, but it was by far the longest and most successful, before the units were eventually forced to pass back into Ukrainian territory. The Russian Defense Ministry’s delay in reacting and repelling the incursion demonstrated its inability to seal the border and protect its citizens.

The broader Russian opposition — both inside the country and in exile — are actively discussing the Belgorod events and trying to gauge how it will affect the situation in the country. Will such raids become a regular occurrence? Will they grow more ambitious, lasting longer and striking deeper inside Russian territory? Or are these the first flare-ups at the outset of a coming civil war? And, of course, what fate awaits Vladimir Putin?

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