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Geopolitics

Boston Bombing Anniversary, Snowden On Pulitzer, Blood Moon

Whistleblower Edward Snowden comments on Pulitzer Prize
Whistleblower Edward Snowden comments on Pulitzer Prize
Worldcrunch

UKRAINE LAUNCHES MILITARY OPERATION
Acting Ukraine President Olexandr Turchynov announced the launch of a military “anti-terrorist” operation in the northern region of Donetsk, The Kyiv Post reports. Speaking to the country’s parliament, Turchynov said that the operation “will be conducted step by step, responsibly, deliberately. The goal of these actions, I want to underline, is to defend the citizens of Ukraine.”

  • This comes after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised Ukrainian PM Arseny Yatsenyuk’s attempt to communicate with southeastern regions as “ a step in the right direction , albeit a very belated one.”

  • In a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin , U.S. President Barack Obama urged his counterpart to use his influence to convince pro-Russian protesters in eastern Ukraine cities to “to depart the buildings they have seized.” Obama also warned Putin of further sanctions and costs if Moscow doesn’t change course of action, Reuters reports.

  • According to RT , members of the ultranationalist group Right Sector stormed the headquarters of Ukraine’s Communist Party in the northeast city of Sumy and in Rovno, in the west, while the standoff outside government buildings in Gorlovka continues. In Kiev, pro-Russian presidential candidate Oleh Tsarev was beaten up by a angry mob as he was preparing to attend a debate on television.

AFGHAN DEPUTY MINISTER ABDUCTED
Afghanistan’s deputy minister of public works was abducted by a group of gunmen in the capital of Kabul as he was driving to work this morning, AP quotes officials as saying. It is unclear who is behind the kidnapping, and a ministry spokesman said there had been no ransom demand yet. Meanwhile in Libya, the Jordanian ambassador to Tripoli was also abducted in a similar operation, just two days after the Libyan Prime Minister resigned after he and his family were attacked. Read more from AFP .

BOSTON COMMEMORATES BOMBING ANNIVERSARY
Today the city of Boston is commemorating the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, in which three people were killed and more than 200 injured. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to attend a tribute with local leaders and families of the victims. “Boston has learned much about itself,” The Boston Globe writes in an editorial today. “Like an individual confronting the death of a loved one or some other calamity, the city was set forth on an uncharted landscape of grief and renewal.”

BLOOD MOON

The moon turned coppery red during a total eclipse Tuesday . According to NASA, the so-called “blood moon” is one of four total lunar eclipses to be seen over North America during the next 18 months.

WRITER GARCIA MARQUEZ IN “VERY FRAGILE” CONDITION
Colombian writer and Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel García Marquez is in “very fr agi le” condition, accordin g to a statement from his family published by Spanish-language news agency EFE .

BERLUSCONI SENTENCED TO COMMUNITY SERVICE
Silvio Berlusconi must perform one year of community service following his conviction for tax fraud, a Milan court ruled this morning, ANSA reports. “There have been reports that he could be asked to work one half day a week at a facility for the elderly or the disabled,” the news agency reports. The 77-year-old will also have to respect a curfew and will be limited in his movements.

MY GRAND-PÈRE’S WORLD

WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
As Le Monde ’s Pierre Barthélémy reports, the Norwegian child prodigy Magnus Carlsen is all grown up now, and became the world chess champion last year after defeating an Indian player old enough to be his father. “ At only 23, Magnus Carlsen is already a dread-inspiring legend,” the journalist writes. “So much so that American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura nicknamed him Sauron, the evil character in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of the Rings , represented in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation by a great lidless eye in the sky that sees everything.”
Read the full article:
Magnus Carlsen, A Chess Child Prodigy Grows Up .

HEARTBLEED FIX TO DISRUPT INTERNET
Users should expect major disruptions to the Internet over the next few weeks as companies affected by the Heartbleed bug will attempt to fix their encryption systems, The Washington Post warns.

VERBATIM
“Today’s decision is a vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in government,” former NSA employee Edward Snowden said after The Guardian and The Washington Post were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their reporting on NSA surveillance. “We owe it to the efforts of the brave reporters and their colleagues who kept working in the face of extraordinary intimidation.”

12.2 BILLION
SEITA, the country’s largest tobacco company in France , announced Monday that it was closing its Carquefou cigarette factory in western France to move production to Poland. The factory, France’s biggest, employs 327 people and produced 12.2 billion cigarettes last year — including Gauloises and Gitanes for the whole of Europe.

AUSTRALIAN ROBBHAIRY
Burglars raided an Australian museum, stealing priceless artifacts that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, including a lock of his hair, ABC reports. The robbers’ method for gaining entry to the museum is yet another blow to the French Emperor’s legacy: They entered through a window in the (water)loo.

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Why The U.S. Lost Its Leverage In The Middle East — And May Never Get It Back

In the Israel-Hamas war, Qatar now plays the key role in negotiations, while the United States appears increasingly disengaged. Shifts in the region and beyond require that Washington move quickly or risk ceding influence to China and others for the long term.

November 30, 2023, Tel Aviv, Israel: U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Chuck Kennedy/U.S State/ ZUMA
Sébastien Boussois

-Analysis-

PARIS — Upon assuming office in 2008, then-President Barack Obama declared that United States would gradually begin withdrawing from various conflict zones across the globe, initiating a complex process that has had a major impact on the international landscape ever since.

This started with the American departure from Iraq in 2010, and was followed by Donald Trump's presidency , during which the "Make America Great Again" policy redirected attention to America's domestic interests.

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The withdrawal trend resumed under Joe Biden , who ordered the exit of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in 2021. To maintain a foothold in all intricate regions to the east, America requires secure and stable partnerships. The recent struggle in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict demonstrates that Washington increasingly relies on the allied Gulf states for any enduring influence.

Since the collapse of the Camp David Accords in 1999 during Bill Clinton's tenure, Washington has consistently supported Israel without pursuing renewed peace talks that could have led to the establishment of a Palestinian state .

While President Joe Biden's recent challenges in pushing for a Gaza ceasefire met with resistance from an unyielding Benjamin Netanyahu, they also stem from the United States' overall disengagement from the issue over the past two decades. Biden now is seeking to re-engage in the Israel-Palestine matter, yet it is Qatar that is the primary broker for significant negotiations such as the release of hostages in exchange for a ceasefire —a situation the United States lacks the leverage to enforce.

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