Worldcrunch
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.
Poland, one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine since the beginning of the war, and a neighboring country to Ukraine, has accepted over one million refugees fleeing the Russian invasion. However, as time has gone on, Poles have grown to increasingly resent Ukrainians. But why? Olena Babakova, a Ukrainian journalist, explains for Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.
After walking the 50 kilometers that separate the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and the Russian border, Spanish reporter Unai Aranzadi arrives in the small village of Kozacha Lopan. Places like these are perhaps the ones where it will be most difficult to heal the wounds of all that has been suffered to date.
Vladimir Putin says he is “ready” to talk with Volodymyr Zelensky. But it’s a feigned openness to dupe Trump, since he continues to question the legitimacy of the Ukrainian president and does not alter one iota his demands for a kind of capitulation by Kyiv and a reversal of Baltic entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
Multilateral diplomacy may seem to be exhausted today as wars and violence proliferate unchecked, but nobody should think its time is past and expect to see peace in the world.
Russia is expanding its nuclear doctrine and intensifying strikes on Ukraine, including Thursday’s unprecedented launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. This is an apparent response to new U.S. authorization of use of its weapons in attacks on Russian territory. All can be traced to the radical White House transition underway.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has said he is not out to topple Iran’s revolutionary regime, but his administration may, at the very least, seek intolerable concessions to the West from Tehran, or sink it with sanctions if it refuses.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 1,000 days ago. Since then, many Western nations, scholars and politicians have suggested negotiating for peace with Russia, rather than letting the war go on. But negotiations will not stop Putin’s imperial ambitions.
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war “in a day” if reelected. Now that he has won, some Ukrainian commentators and politicians are hoping that they can use his unpredictability — and vanity — to their advantage.
Donald Trump’s victory comes in a world that is different from that of 2016. It is more fractured and dangerous. In this context, the European Union, divided and weakened, risks becoming Trump’s first casualty.
Tensions have suddenly escalated after North Korea accused South Korea of sending drones over its capital. Threats from Pyongyang are common, but amid an uncertain international context, experts are taking these latest ones more seriously.
The Wall Street Journal puts the number of Russian and Ukrainian dead and wounded at one million after two-and-a-half years of war, with more than twice as many Russians dead as Ukrainians. Yet this tragic toll only reinforces both sides to continue to seek victory.
For the first time with a win in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) state of Thuringia, the far-right AFD party has come out on top in the regional elections. It will have long-lasting, and far-reaching, ramifications: Ukraine, Trump, French election aftermath.
In its final communiqué of the Washington summit, NATO severely criticized Chinese support for Russia in Ukraine, drawing a strong reaction from Beijing. China fears that the Transatlantic military alliance is now a tool for the U.S. in its global showdown with China.
June 17 – June 23, 2024
In an ominous speech in Paris, the French president warned that Europe is in mortal danger. Macron also suggested he may be just the man to save it.
Russia’s semantic war against Ukraine aims to create a discourse and future in which Ukraine never was and never will be. Ukraine — and its Western allies — must take this war as seriously as the military war.
Just because war appears more likely to spread to Europe or the Middle East than Asia, we should not forget China’s enormous weight. But does Beijing want to do with it?
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, NATO has drastically upgraded its focus on the Black Sea. A visit to the Romanian air base that NATO uses as a base to monitor its southeastern flank, and the open questions even among allies.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Marking one month of war in the Middle East, French political commentator Pierre Haski takes stock of three major geopolitical consequences.
The recent Polish parliamentary elections have ushered in a significant shift in the country’s political landscape, which includes promising outlook for its neighbor Ukraine that could be essential in shoring up support across Europe as the war with Russia heads into its third winter. But Kyiv shouldn’t take the amity of Donald Tusk and his centrist coalition for granted.
Europe’s foreign ministers traveled together to Kyiv yesterday to reaffirm their support for Ukraine. It is necessary after the first signs of “fatigue” in Western support, from a Polish about-face to the victory of a pro-Russian prime minister in Slovakia.
On paper, the scale of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine is unprecedented. But opinion on the impact of sanctions remains divided in the absence of a reliable scientific foundation. A new study by Bank of Canada offers a way out.
It’s back to school in the Russian region that has felt the war more than any other. Special measures are taking place, including sandbags and explosion-proof windows. But parents are more anxious than ever.
Now 96, Wanda Traczyk-Stawska survived the Warsaw Uprising 79 years ago and has continued to fight for Poland. This time, however, her battles are for her fellow women.
Yevgeny Prigozhin is gone, two months to the day of his aborted insurrection against the Russian military. The Wagner Group chief was likely killed in a plane crash on orders from the Kremlin. A piece written after Wagner’s coup offers a reminder that Russia is in the hands of a man obsessed with control, who wields his cowardice as a weapon.
An estimated 700 soldiers who defended Mariupol remain in Russian captivity. As prisoner exchanges prove challenging, relatives wait nervously for news.
The images of World War II have been used many times when describing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But memory can deceive — many Ukrainian victims were forgotten as the Soviet Union spun history for its own purposes.
Many Russians have tried to avoid being conscripted to join the war in Ukraine, but many others believed deeply in the constant campaign of state propaganda. Here are some of the stories of the lucky ones who made it back — and those who didn’t.
The last of the former convicts who served under the Wagner mercenary are heading home. According to private Telegram chats of the soldiers’ relatives, many are currently staying in resorts and hotels along the Black Sea awaiting pardons, and behaving badly. Some may end up staying on with Wagner in Belarus.
Ahead of the Vilnius NATO summit, Joe Biden said Ukraine joining NATO while the war is on is a non-starter. But it’s also a done deal once Kyiv has vanquished its Russia invaders.
Marder infantry fighting vehicles, Leopard 2 tanks, thousands and thousands of rounds of ammunition: the armament company Rheinmetall is running flat-out, around-the-clock to supply Ukrainian forces. For the first time, Die Welt was granted access to the production floor at the Rheinmetall factory, which is churning out arms as quickly as it did during the depths of the Cold War.
Countries around the world have imposed round after round of sanctions on Russia since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But are they enough?
There are many lessons to be taken from Yevgeny Prigozhin’s aborted uprising in the halls of power China. Going forward, Beijing will see Russia as a model on what to avoid in maintaining stability autocratic rule.
The aborted Wagner coup in Russia shows how a “war of all against all” might begin, and there are plenty of other militia factions opposed to the Kremlin, including separatist groups. Though it may appear to solve some big problems, including the war in Ukraine, history has shown that Russia exploding into civil war is unlikely to end well.