Worldcrunch
The European Commission is busy trying to get Europe to be completely independent from Russian natural gas by the end of the year. It won’t come without hardships, including for consumers and the climate. Die Welt has details on how it will happen, and what it will cost.
In the initial days of the war, the 18-kilometer convoy of Russian tanks became a symbol of Putin’s attempt at a blitzkrieg. But now, the Russians have been stopped, and the Ukrainian forces are digging trenches to strengthen their position. Scenes from the daily struggle.
One month into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden is in Brussels for an emergency meeting of NATO’s leaders. But for current and potential future members, the very purpose of the alliance is in doubt.
Putin may seem an irrational actor, but he is clearly staging a wider war against the West and the U.S. Even if Russia couldn’t survive an urban guerrilla battle in Ukraine, it has China’s silent support.
Germany is the only country that can provide the necessary army forces to secure NATO’s eastern flank against Russia. Its army urgently needs targeted investment in tanks and personnel, as well as a new doctrine that examines all options without taboo, including a draft.
From Kharkiv to Mariupol, the targets of some of the worst Russian attacks on civilians are largely Russian-speaking cities. It is the worst possible twist to Putin’s bogus claim that his war was to “de-nazify” and prevent “genocide” of Russian speakers.
While the strategic issues are still being debated, the Indian government has dismissed the moral issue by concluding a cheap oil agreement with Russia. But are Indian consumers prepared to accept the true cost of discount Russian oil?
The war continues to rage as negotiations sputter. However, the search for a compromise that’s honorable for both parties is the only way to avoid escalating violence. There is a way to build the proverbial “golden bridge” of retreat for all.
It went largely unnoticed, but Washington’s refusal to let MiG fighter jets destined for the Ukrainians take off from their base in Germany is a clear message, according to a retired French general: Even if a NATO country is attacked, the U.S. will never send their soldiers to fight on our soil.
Europe’s addiction to Russian energy paid for the assault against Ukraine. And in spite of crippling sanctions, it is inadvertently continuing to fund the war by not cutting two major Russian banks from SWIFT.
The Kremlin is increasingly focused on the destruction of infrastructure in Ukraine. The government in Kyiv will be entitled to reparations. Russia should know now: the more it destroys in Ukraine, the less it will get back from its foreign billions.
Ukrainian President Zelensky’s belief that Russia’s invasion has nullified both European and global security should not be taken lightly. Everything must be rebuilt — and must happen much faster than Western leaders seem prepared to do. A view from Kyiv-based news media Livy Bereg.
When Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova interrupted Monday’s nightly news with an anti-war protest, most figured her stunning act of political courage would be brutally punished. But she’s received just a small fine and continues to move and speak freely in Moscow. Paradoxically, it may actually be the final tack in Vladimir Putin’s brutal, unpredictable propaganda machine.
Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, like many others, is rightly outraged at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yet her emotional attachment to Ukraine, where she has family roots, risk undermining what should be her priority: the interests of Canada.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seems ready to accept death on the battlefield — but he would be doing his people an even greater service if he fled Ukraine to establish a government-in-exile.
Estimates are that more than 200,000 people have already crossed Russian borders since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine. It looks to be the start of a mass exodus of well-to-do and middle class Russians that could further decimate the economy.
China is already profiting from the West’s economic divorce from Russia. But its biggest interest may be to learn from Russia’s experience of invading a land it claims for itself.
It is not heroism that is creating the long lines to enlist in the country’s fight against Russia, nor is it the opposite that explains the refugees trying to get out alive. There is a single objective for both.
No one should be under any illusions that Ukraine is about to join the EU or NATO. If this war is to end in a lasting peace, Ukrainians will have to accept a new position on the world stage and a new approach. The famously “neutral” and multilingual Switzerland could be a model.
An exclusive visit inside Moldova’s breakaway pro-Russian republic of Transnistria, which many fear may be the gateway to the next war after Ukraine in the strategically important target.
China did not expect a protracted and bloody war in Ukraine, which is causing global upheaval and thus major problems for Beijing’s interests. There are growing signs that the Chinese government’s policy of “strategic neutrality” is reaching its limit.
First, the COVID-19 crisis, and now the need to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are forcing countries to confront the risks of global interdependence. In its place comes a rush to establish national autonomy for crucial resources, from masks to oil and gas. But at what price?
From Tolstoy and the Bolshoi Ballet to Russia Today, the West is banishing Russian composers, artists and media. But is banishment of culture the right move in times of war?
Putin says he wants to “denazify” Ukraine, but his true goal is bringing the country back into Russia’s sphere of influence as part of an all-Russian nation. To achieve that, he will try to turn it into a second Belarus, with a puppet ruler who has a familiar face.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rekindled the Nordic debate over the possibility of joining NATO, prompting Russian threats. It’s a microcosm for the conflict itself.
Ukranian literary translator Juri Durkot shares his notes about new everyday tasks as the country is at war.
The EU is planning to ban state broadcaster Russia Today and news agency Sputnik. But how is the network reporting on the war in Ukraine? And will banning them potentially affect Russians more than Europeans?
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has instantly become an international icon of courage in the fight for freedom. This sudden fame is as much a proof of how much is at stake in Ukraine as any one man’s power — and Zelensky is the first to know his limits.
While cheering the Russian attack on Ukraine, Iranian state media have also drawn the “lesson” from this war that a state can only be strong if it has a nuclear arsenal.
By deciding to invade Ukraine, the President of Russia did so believing that money would protect his country. By trying to prove him wrong, the West is facing its own potential crash.
A top analyst at one of Moscow’s most prestigious research institutes comes down clear and strong: Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine will leave the country isolated on the world stage, with grave consequences for the country’s future.
Erdogan has long sought to mould young Turks into a so-called ‘pious generation’ for his brand of Islamic political rule. Now it seems he has failed, as the younger generation longs for what that the president refuses to grant them. In next year’s elections, their votes may prove decisive.
Less than a week after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a new cleavage in international affairs, U.S. President Joe Biden outlined a vision for confronting Moscow as necessary for the pursuit of America’s ambitions at home and abroad.
For decades, burdened by its history, Germany refused to face the harsh realities of foreign policy. Now, suddenly spurred by the Ukraine crisis, the German government is ready to once again show strength — long-awaited good news, for all.
Iranians only have online speculation to guess how much the country’s clerical regime has conceded to China as part of the New Silk Road initiative. There are now reports of 5,000 Chinese security agents being deployed in Iran to “protect” Chinese personnel working in the oil sector.
The Russian leader’s invasion is a both a pursuit of his Hitlerian obsession to rectify his nation’s humiliation, and a bet that the West’s decline is permanent.
War is upon us. But many in the West have sleepwalked through two decades of rising tensions with Russia. The situation in Ukraine can only be understood in the context of Vladimir Putin’s view on Boris Yeltsin, NATO’s eastward expansion, wars in the Balkans and Iraq, and beyond.