Worldcrunch
Ukraine’s tragic geography has long made it the target of imperial ambitions, epitomized by the prize of Crimea. As the war drags on, the battle for Ukrainian sovereignty exposes not just Russia’s hunger for power — but also the West’s uneasy past and present complicity.
Faced with the threat of global economic chaos brought on by Trump’s tariffs, and accelerated by the war in Ukraine, the Russian economy should be in shambles. However, as noted by Russian economist Władysław Inoziemcew, the situation is far more complicated than it may seem.
Ceasefire talks are going nowhere, but they expose that the U.S. has different viewpoints coexisting in the White House on how to resolve the war.
Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, viewed the confession of a detained militant as a “proof” that Ukraine was involved in the deadly attack. They employed it to facilitate comprehensive military mobilization ahead of a looming fresh large offensive on Ukraine.
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.”
Private video cameras in the Perm region will now have to be connected to a unified regional video surveillance system. The requirement is set to be copied in regions across the country as Russia seeks to expand its monitoring of citizens.
Latin America’s socialist regimes are following the “Putin model” of policing the population, inspired by Soviet practices, but in the case of oil-rich Venezuela, fortunately, the communist science of repression is not yet watertight.
What does Russia’s ruling class really think of Putin? A leaked audio recording of Russian producer Iosif Prigozhin and Russian billionaire ex-senator Farhad Akhmedov criticizing Putin has been verified by Russian intel service FSB, offering a peak into the anger toward the Kremlin’s war.
Returning from this weekend’s Munich Security Conference, French President told France Inter public radio: “I do not think that Russia should be defeated completely, or attacked on its soil. These observers want above all to crush Russia. This has never been the position of France and it never will be.”