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Irene Caselli

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Photo of the Chechen Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion in Ukraine
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

What's Driving Chechen Fighters To The Frontlines Of Ukraine

Thousands of foreign soldiers are fighting alongside Ukraine. German daily Die Welt met a Chechen battalion to find out why they are fighting.

KRAMATORSK — The house is full of soldiers. On the floor, there are wooden boxes filled with mountains of cartridges and ammunition belts for heavy machine guns. Dozens of hand grenades are lying around. Hanging on the wall are two anti-tank weapons.

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"These are from Spain," says the commanding officer, introducing himself as Maga. "Short for Make America Great Again," he adds with a laugh.

Only 29 years old, Maga is in charge of the Dudayev Chechen battalion, which has taken up quarters somewhere on the outskirts of the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

The commander appears calm and confident in the midst of the hustle and bustle of final preparations for the new mission in Bakhmut, only about 30 kilometers away. The Ukrainian army command has ordered the Chechen special forces unit to reinforce the town in the Donbas, which has been embattled for months.

Bakhmut, which used to have 70,000 inhabitants, is to be kept at all costs. It is already surrounded on three sides by Russian troops and can only be reached via a paved road and several tracks through the terrain. Day after day, artillery shells rain down on Ukrainian positions and the Russian infantry keeps launching new attacks.

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Image of a soldier from the 56th Mariupol Motorized Brigade looking straight into  his DJI Matrice 300 RTK quad copter.
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Drones, Tablets, Cigarettes: How Ukraine's Reconnaissance Warriors Pinpoint The Enemy

Near the embattled city of Vuhledar, Ukrainian artillery reconnaissance units detect enemy positions. They work with drones, tablets and satellite internet — and they are often the last line of defense from a Russian onslaught.

VUHLEDAR — It's early in the morning, just before dawn. The artillery reconnaissance units are in Kurakhove, a city in Donetsk oblast, to pick up the equipment supplies that have just arrived from Kyiv: drones, tablets, portable solar power generators and Internet hardware for connection to the Starlink satellite system.

Because of the tremendous strain on the equipment, it needs to be constantly replaced. Everything is loaded into all-terrain vehicles, then they head toward the fiercely contested city of Vuhledar, in southeastern Ukraine, 60 kilometers from Donetsk.

"The task of artillery reconnaissance is to locate and fix enemy targets and to conduct artillery observation," explains commander Zeus, who only gives his combat name, in line with the policy of the Ukrainian army.

Artillery fire is mainly indirect. The target is not visible from the gun, which is usually located four to ten kilometers from the front line.

On the car radio, the music ends, the presenter announces in a solemn voice that Ukrainian troops are retreating in panic from Vuhledar. The men are unimpressed; they know that only Russian stations work in the frontline area.

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Photo of a man looking back while walking away
Dottoré!

Don't Look Back In Depression

"I did it all because basically, I’m an idiot."

Dottoré, when I look back at my life, I see only mistakes.

My job, my marriage, the children — even getting a dog ... I did it all because basically, I’m an idiot.

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Photo of a man sitting donw with his luggage at Athens' airport
Society

Why Every New Parent Should Travel Alone — Without Their Children

Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra travels to Italy alone to do some paperwork as his family stays behind. While he walks alone around Rome, he experiences mixed feelings: freedom, homesickness and nostalgia, and wonders what leads people to desire larger families.

I realize it in the morning before leaving: I feel a certain level of excitement about traveling. It feels like enthusiasm, although it is confusing. I will go from Athens to Naples to see if I can finish the process for my Italian citizenship, which I started five years ago.

I started the process shortly after we left Buenos Aires, when my partner Irene and I had been married for two years and the idea of having children was on the vague but near horizon.

Now there are four of us and we have been living in Greece for more than two years. We arrived here in the middle of the pandemic, which left a mark on our lives, as in the lives of most of the people I know.

But now it is Sunday morning. I tell Lorenzo, my four-year-old son, that I am leaving for a few days: “No, no, Dad. You can’t go. Otherwise I’ll throw you into the sea.”

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Photo of Military drills in Taiwan amid rising China-U.S. Tensions
Geopolitics

China's Military Intentions Are Clear — And Arming Taiwan Is The Only Deterrence

China is spending more money on weapons and defense than ever. The reason is evident: Xi Jinping wants to take Taiwan. Europe should follow the U.S. and support Taipei militarily as the only way to deter Beijing from war.

-OpEd-

BERLIN — Fear is never the best advisor.

It is, however, an understandable emotion when China announces the biggest increase in its defense budget in memory. And when Beijing does so after siding with Russia in the Ukraine war with its supposed "peace plan" and justifying the increase with an alleged "escalating oppression" of China in the world.

The budget plan unveiled by outgoing Premier Li Keqiang calls for a 7.2% increase in defense spending. That's more than in previous years — and just the official figure.

Experts estimate the true spending is much higher, as Beijing finances its military through numerous shadow budgets.

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Photo of Italian influencer ​Chiara Ferragni wearing her viral Dior dress at the Sanremo Music Festival
Dottoré!

A Woman’s Work Is Never Done

... unless she's a famous influencer?

“In the morning I get up at 5:30 a.m. I clean the house, then I wake up the children at 7. I get them ready, make them breakfast, then at 7:30, we leave for school. At 8:30, I start work. I clean two offices, then at 11, I go to a lady's house to clean until 3.30 p.m.

At 4 p.m. I pick up the children. I take them home and help them with their homework. Three days a week, I take my youngest to a physiotherapist at 5.30 p.m. The other days, there’s my daughter's catechism classes and my other daughter’s gym lessons. By 7:30 p.m. it's dinner time, because at 8 p.m. I have to go clean offices when they close. Then by 10 p.m. I come back and put them to bed.

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Photo of an anti-government protest last month in Chisinau led by the pro-Russian Sor party
Geopolitics

Putin's Covert Move On Moldova Has Begun — A Replay Of Eastern Ukraine In 2014

Recent protests in Moldova confirm that the ex-Soviet country is in the Kremlin's sights. If Putin manages to politically destabilize the ex-Soviet country, he could win an important ally in the war against Ukraine. The tactics are strikingly familiar to what the Kremlin pulled off in Donbas nine years ago.

-Analysis-

"Down with dictatorship!" protesters roared, "Down with Maia Sandu!"

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Thousands of people were gathered earlier this week in the streets of Chisinau, the capital of Moldova to demand the overthrow of the country's democratically elected president. It was not a spontaneous demonstration: they had been carted to the central location in tour buses.

The "dictatorship" they were railing against was Sandu, its pro-European president, who is orienting the country toward the West. To Russia's displeasure.

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Photo of a boy wearing blue and a girl wearing pink running toward a body of water
Society

Toy Guns And Dolls, And My Pink-Loving Son

The father of a four-year-old boy thought the idea of colors and toys for boys and girls was a thing of the past. Turns out he was wrong.

“Papá, is pink for girls?” asked Lorenzo, my four-year-old son.

Lorenzo usually listens attentively to the stories we read at home. Sometimes, I think it seems like a paradox, because the rest of the time he can't sit still (literally, I'm not exaggerating). I wonder if it's that, as he listens to the stories, his body is relaxed but his head is doing somersaults.

He often interrupts his night-time stories — I suspect in the hopes of stretching the ritual out as long as possible so as not to fall asleep. “I don't want to sleep anymore, I just want to play,” he told me last Sunday, as we were walking home at night after having spent the whole day playing with his friends.

But back to pink. This time, his interruption of the reading had an edge of concern — his frown and serious tone showing a mix of sadness and distress.

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The Geopolitical Relevance Of Misheard Sting Lyrics
Dottoré!

The Geopolitical Relevance Of Misheard Sting Lyrics

"There is no Napoli on common sense?”

As a child, I learned English by listening to Sting’s songs and translating them. I remember being mesmerized by his voice and I also loved how clearly he would pronounce the words, which made it easy for me to understand.

That’s why I was amazed, to say the least, when Stefano told me:

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Photo of a Chinese ship in Namibia
Economy

First Signs The China-Africa Love Affair Is Growing Cold

China has invested billions in multiple African countries in order to expand its influence. But both sides have been quietly scaling back the relationship, as Africans resent one-sided deals and China fears defaults on debt.

-Analysis-

JOHANNESBURG — In December, Kenya's new president, William Ruto, broke a taboo that pertains to pretty much every Chinese loan agreement with African governments: the secrecy clause.

Ruto's predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta had refused to publish contracts for billion-dollar projects, citing clauses to that effect. But that caused so much public anger that Ruto made disclosure a campaign promise.

The ominous details relate to the construction of an entirely overpriced rail line from Nairobi to the coastal city of Mombasa worth $3.6 billion. The case explains why Beijing is so keen to keep such contracts confidential.

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Photo of a hand holding a fork with a portion of lasagna
Dottoré!

The Way To A Doctor’s Heart

Our Neapolitan psychiatrist ponders the meaning of professional recognition, and lasagna.

Money, awards, recognition, promotions — those don’t mean a thing to me.

The real reward for me comes when patients cook.

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Photo of Ukrainian troops wraping Pion artillery shells.
Geopolitics

Elon Musk, Here's What Unplugging Starlink Means For Ukrainians On The Front Line

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has long been considered one of Ukraine's key supporters, but he has just announced restrictions on the Ukrainian military's use of his Starlink satellites. Die Welt spoke to soldiers on the front lines in Bakhmut who are already feeling the effects.

BAKHMUT — Amid ruins in the eastern Ukrainian frontline town of Chasiv Yar, in front of the shattered window of a high-rise building, Ukrainian soldiers search for Russians on a Monday afternoon.

Bogdan Borodai, 25, part of the 24th Battalion "Aidar", operates a gamepad with buttons and stares at a screen. On it, he sees what their small drone is currently filming from the air.

"That right there," Borodai says, tapping the screen, "is a tank. Every few hours, we spot a bunch of Russian soldiers here."

He says their drone, which costs thousands of euros and is made by the Chinese manufacturer DJI, flies up to 15 kilometers, time and again including into the currently fiercely contested town of Bakhmut. Borodai and his team transmit what they film in real time to their higher-level command center, where they make decisions about firing.

In their drone reconnaissance, Borodai and his team rely on the support of a white portable device they have placed near them. It is a Starlink terminal from the U.S. company SpaceX, founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

The Starlink terminals ensure Ukrainian soldiers a stable and fast internet connection everywhere, even in places like Chasiv Yar, where large parts of the infrastructure have been bombed by Russian troops.

"Starlink is one of the most important tools we have in this war," Borodai says. "If that stops now, it would a serious problem."

The soldier has real reasons for concern. In early February, SpaceX announced it would restrict the Ukrainian military's use of Starlink, limiting their possibility to control drones.

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