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☆ Trump removes video referencing ‘unified Reich,’ but his Nazi allusions are long-standing
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Donald Trump dabbles in Nazi allusions too often for it to be a coincidence. But the term “Reich,” which means a kind of empire, is also synonymous with the later Third Reich of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Some of Trump’s rhetoric suggests an ignorance of history and his own self-obsession. Some of Trump’s rhetoric seems designed to get a rise from his opponents and the media. And as extreme as a second Trump term might be, the Nazi Germany comparison feels extreme.

Persons: Donald Trump dabbles, Reich, Adolf Hitler’s, Trump, Joe Biden, Hitler, Mein, hasn’t, Donald Trump’s, Donald J, Trump Trump, John Kelly, CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Powers, ” Kelly, “, ’, ” Sciutto, Kelly, Steven Cheung, John Bolton, He’s, Biden, ”, Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin’s Organizations: CNN, GOP, Trump, Truth, White House, Nazi, Baby Boomers Locations: Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Gestapo, United States, Charlottesville , Virginia, Boston, Nazi Germany, Hungarian, Russian, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Eastern Europe, Nazi, Normandy

☆ Bob Menendez: Trump circus overshadows senator’s corruption trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Gregory Krieg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

So it goes for Menendez, who is likely pleased to have his legal drama playing out in relative obscurity. More recently, Fetterman mocked the senator’s defense, which relies in part on pointing the finger of blame on Nadine Menendez, his wife. Republicans in Washington, as they’ve done during these first two weeks of the Menendez trial in New York, have been consistently deferential to the New Jersey Democrat. Rep. Andy Kim, a popular Democrat from South Jersey, is expected to win the nomination to succeed Menendez. Andrew Giuliani, pressed for a thought on the senator’s trial or the allegations against him, shrugged.

Persons: New York CNN — Andrew Giuliani, Donald, ”, Rudy Giuliani squinted, “, ” He’s, Sen, Bob Menendez’s, –, Michael Cohen, Daniels, Menendez, Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Ronny Jackson, Bob Costello, Pam Bondi, Missouri Sen, Eric Schmitt, Matt Whitaker, Sebastian Gorka, Gov, Dan Patrick, Jackson, María Elvira Salazar, Troy Nehls, Dale Strong, Daniel Webster of, Vladimir Putin’s, Cory Booker, Chuck Schumer, John Fetterman, George Santos, Fetterman, Nadine Menendez, ” Fetterman, Jake Tapper, Mitch McConnell, ” North Dakota Sen, Kevin Cramer, he’s, Andy Kim, Andrew Giuliani, haven’t, ” CNN’s Sabrina Souza Organizations: New, New York CNN, New York, Manhattan Criminal, Court, Republican, Democrat, The New, The New Jersey Democrat, Foreign Relations, Trump, Democratic, Manhattan, Attorney, Texas, Dale Strong of, Pennsylvania Democrat, New York Rep, “, Union, ”, Republicans, New Jersey Democrat, Democrats, GOP, ” North, Politico Locations: New York, Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, The, The New Jersey, Menendez’s, Florida, Sebastian Gorka , Texas, María Elvira Salazar of Florida, Texas, Dale Strong of Alabama, Daniel Webster of Florida, North Korea, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, Egypt, ”, “ State, Israel, ” North Dakota, South Jersey, New York City

☆ Opinion: Hardened like diamonds, these Gen Z protesters fight for a European future
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Opinion Will Cathcart | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

They snatch protesters from the crowd and drag them back into a mass of black uniforms. Will Cathcart Will CathcartHundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Georgia in recent weeks to protest the government’s adoption of a Kremlin-inspired “foreign agents” bill. As with the foreign agents law, the bill’s authors claim it promotes transparency, an absurd notion. The foreign agents bill is a symptom of a deeper issue – money. The pressures of authoritarian intimidation and systematic violence have hardened Georgia’s young protestors like diamonds.

Persons: Will Cathcart, Mikheil Saakashvili, Cathcart Will Cathcart, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Hans Gutbrod, ”, Salome Zourabichvili, aren’t, Gen Z, Europe –, Giorgi Arjevanidze, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Party ” –, Mamuka Mdinaradze, Shalva Papuashvili, – “, “, James O’Brien’s, Ivanishvili, Zviad Organizations: CNN, Tbilisi CNN — Riot, Georgian, Ilia State University, European Union, Getty, Global, Party, Georgian Orthodox Church, US, State, Eurasian Affairs, Fletcher School of Law, NATO, Special Forces Exchange Locations: American, Tbilisi, Georgia, Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Europe, AFP, Georgian, Soviet, Russian, United States, Brussels, Washington, Moscow, EU

☆ Opinion: Credibility is the key at Trump trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +21 min

The idea that Cohen talked to Trump about Daniels on that call “was a lie,” Blanche alleged. Moreover, my experience has been that juries don’t decide based upon one moment — they base their judgment on an overall view.”There were allegedly three parties aware of the scheme to conceal the real reason Trump paid Cohen more than $400,000 in supposed legal fees: Trump, Cohen and Allen Weisselberg, then-chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. “Weisselberg could be the linchpin to validate Cohen’s claims about Trump agreeing to reimburse him through Trump Organization, as a business expense,” wrote attorney Stacy Schneider. Trump seems to be tempted to go mano a mano and show that he is better fit to be commander-in-chief. The new requirement for GOP politicians wanting to demonstrate their loyalty to Trump seems to be visiting the Manhattan courthouse where he’s on trial.

Persons: CNN —, ” Mark Twain, “, Twain, ” Michael Cohen, Donald Trump, —, Trump, Stormy Daniels, Todd Blanche, Cohen, Norm Eisen, Blanche, ”, pummeled Cohen, Robert Mueller, Nick Anderson, Agency Cohen, Keith Schiller, Daniels, ” Blanche, ” Eisen, don’t, Allen Weisselberg, Stacy Schneider, Weisselberg, David Zurawik, “ I’ve, Sen, Robert Menendez, He’s, George Santos ., CNN “ It’s, he’s, ‘, Henry Cuellar, ” Cupp, Drew Sheneman, Georgia —, Vladimir Putin’s, Frida Ghitis, ” Ghitis, Joe Biden’s, ” Dana Summers, “ Biden, ” Julian Zelizer, mano, Biden, ” Bill Bramhall, Stephanie Griffith, Howard Tucker, Gayle Fleming, Michael Ventura Gayle Fleming, Biden —, ” Tom Brady’s, Kara Alaimo, Tom Brady “, Kevin Hart, Gisele Bündchen, Brady, Benjamin, Vivian, ’ Brady, ’, Alaimo, Brady didn’t, Nafees Syed, Kamel El Hilali, Andrew Borene, freakout Scott Stantis, Jeff Yang, … ” Brown, Keith Magee, Brown, backpedaling, Forget, Doug Burgum, Scott Jennings, Burgum’s, Bill Bramhall, Content Agency Clarence Thomas Washington, Clarence Thomas ’, Dean Obeidallah, Thomas, Harlan Crow, ” Clay Jones, John Oliver’s, Steve Vladeck, “ Thomas, ” Don’t, Clayton Swope, Dan Perry, Netanyahu, Jill Filipovic, Miss Teen USA Mary Ziegler, Bob Kolasky, Megan L, Ranney, Karen Tang, Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, Jonathan Yeo, King Charles III, Aaron Chown, Holly Thomas, King Organizations: CNN, Trump, Tribune, Agency, Trump Organization, Twitter, Facebook, DC, Robert Menendez of New, GOP, ” Texas, White, Europe, Russia, Kyiv, Biden, ABC, Democratic Party, Netflix, Garden State, Content Agency, Capitol, Consumer Financial, Board, Fifth Circuit, ICC, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Buckingham Palace, Royal Locations: New York, Robert Menendez of, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Russian, Ukraine, Slovakia, Georgia, Soviet Republic, United States, Cleveland, “, Manhattan, North, . North Dakota, ” That’s, Louisiana , Mississippi, Texas, Florida’s, Buckingham

CNN —Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wants to work with countries like China with “influence on Russia” as his country faces a renewed Moscow offensive, urging Beijing to attend peace talks next month. Ahead of expected peace talks in Switzerland next month, Xi has called for negotiations that take both sides’ positions into account. Engaging global players like China is crucial because “they have influence on Russia, and the more such countries we have on our side… the more Russia will have to move and [more countries] to reckon with,” Zelensky said. Zelensky said he would like to see China at the international talks in Switzerland next month, aimed at paving the way for a peace process in Ukraine. Russia has not been represented at any of the four rounds of closed-door international peace talks that have taken place so far, and will not be at this one.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia ”, Zelensky, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin’s, Russia’s, Xi, ” Zelensky, Viola Amherd, Vladimir Putin, Sergei Bobylov, Switzerland Wang Shihting, Emmanuel Macron, Emmanuel Organizations: CNN, Beijing, AFP, Reuters, of, Getty, French Locations: China, Russia, Moscow, Beijing, Switzerland, Zelensky, Ukraine, Tiananmen, Saudi Arabia, Europe, Paris

☆ In Beijing, Xi and Putin left no question of their close alignment in a divided world
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Putin’s two-day state visit comes as Western leaders have leant on Xi to ensure that soaring exports from his country aren’t propping up the Russian war effort – a claim Beijing denies. Putin also traveled to Beijing with top security officials who the Russian president said Thursday would join informal talks on Ukraine. Beijing, which says it is neutral on the war, has repeatedly defended its trade with Russia as part of normal bilateral relations. Xi, analysts say, is seeking to keep Putin as a close partner, while not stepping over Western red lines. For that reason, she added, “he’s okay with on-going dependency between Russia and China – and with inequality in this relationship.”

Persons: Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin’s, Xi, Putin, Putin’s, Andrey Belousov, Sergey Shoigu, “ Putin, he’s, Kurt Volker, “, ”, Alexandra Prokopenko Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, United, –, Israel, Hamas, Russian, Russian Security, Chinese Communist Party, Chinese Foreign Ministry, Observers, CNN, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center Locations: Hong Kong, Beijing, United States, Taiwan, Gaza, Russian, China, ”, Russia, North Korea, Ukraine, China’s Harbin, Siberia, Europe

For the Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk, they’re getting worse. Locals in the town lived through occupation and liberation for seven grueling months in 2022. The Russian military claims the action has left close to a dozen villages under its control. Maria, 85, evacuates the Ukrainian town of Vovchansk. The Russians held our boys there.” There has been widespread reporting of mistreatment of Ukrainian civilians under Russian occupation, allegations the Kremlin has typically dismissed as fake.

Persons: they’re, Vladimir Putin’s, Mykola, –, “, ”, Maksim, Maria, haltingly, Inna, they’ve, Vovchansk Organizations: Ukraine CNN —, Locals, CNN, Russian Locations: Vovchansk, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Moscow, Kyiv, Russia, Kharkiv

☆ Opinion | It’s Not Just Putin. Russia Needs China, Too.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Alexander Gabuev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vladimir Putin’s trip to Beijing this week, where he will meet with Xi Jinping and top Chinese officials, is another clear demonstration of the current closeness between Russia and China. Yet many in the West still want to believe that their alliance is an aberration, driven by Mr. Putin’s emotional anti-Americanism and his toxic fixation on Ukraine. Never since the fall of the Soviet Union has Russia been so distant from Europe, and never in its entire history has it been so entwined with China. The truth is that after two years of war in Ukraine and painful Western sanctions, it’s not just Mr. Putin who needs China — Russia does, too. China has emerged as Russia’s single most important partner, providing a lifeline not only for Mr. Putin’s war machine but also for the entire embattled economy.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Xi Jinping, Putin, —, it’s Organizations: Soviet Locations: Beijing, Russia, China, Ukraine, Moscow, Europe, Soviet Union

This week, Xi is welcoming him to China for a two-day state visit — their fourth in-person meeting since Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine began. China has repeatedly defended its trade with Russia as part of normal bilateral relations. Russia has also become China’s main oil supplier, overtaking Saudi Arabia, according to official Chinese trade data. Governments warn against support for Russia’s war effortThe wartime surge in trade, and growing purchases of oil, have sparked criticism in the West that China was helping to fund Russia’s war. It mirrors Xi’s state visit to Russia in March 2023, which was the Chinese leader’s first overseas trip after starting a norm-shattering third term as president.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Xi, Putin, Antony Blinken, Emmanuel Macron, Ursula von der Leyen, Von der, ’, Volodymyr Zelensky, Joe Biden, Biden Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, United, European Union, International Monetary Fund, —, EU, White, European Commission Locations: China, Hong Kong, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, United States, Saudi Arabia, India, West, Beijing, France, Chinese

☆ US intelligence sees Russia step up disinformation campaign against Ukraine’s Zelensky
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Alex Marquardt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Russia has stepped up its disinformation efforts to discredit Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and raise questions about his legitimacy in recent months, US intelligence agencies have observed. Russia has spread disinformation about Zelensky since before the war started but recent intelligence shows “it’s definitely increasing,” the official said. The administration has also imposed sanctions against individuals and entities connected with Russian disinformation. Both Ukraine and Russia have been involved in disinformation efforts against each other for years. “Not only have we seen these disinformation efforts increasing but we also expect them to continue to increase.”

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, “ it’s, “, ”, Zelensky, ’, Vladimir Putin’s, ’ ”, Gavin Wilde, ” Wilde, isn’t Organizations: CNN, Biden, ’ ” Biden, National Security Council, Carnegie Endowment, International Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Avdiivka, Ukrainian, Ukraine’s, Russian, Zelensky

Tbilisi, Georgia CNN —Georgia’s parliament has passed a controversial “foreign agents” bill despite widespread domestic opposition and warnings from the European Union that its enactment would imperil the country’s chances of joining the bloc. Many Georgians fear their foreign agents bill will be used the same way in their country. Georgia’s parliament now has 10 days to send the bill to President Salome Zourabichvili, who has already vowed to veto it. However, EU leaders have made it clear that the foreign agents bill’s passage would jeopardize Georgia’s chances of accession. Georgian law enforcement officers detain a demonstrator near the parliament in Tbilisi on May 14.

Persons: Georgia CNN —, Salome Zourabichvili, Zourabichvili, Giorgi Arjevanidze, Bidzina Ivanishvili, they’ve, Putin, ” Zourabichvili, Shakh, Levan Khabeishvili, “, ” Khabeishvili, ” Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s, Irakli, CNN’s Christian Edwards, Anna Chernova, Vasco Cotovio Organizations: Georgia CNN, European Union, EU, United, Getty, Soviet Union, Georgian, CNN, European Locations: Tbilisi, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Soviet, United States, Caucasus, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, AFP, Russian, Moscow

☆ Andrey Belousov: Shifting his fishing buddy sideways, Putin chooses an economy expert for the war in Ukraine. Here’s why
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Nathan Hodge | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Alexandra Prokopenko, a former adviser at Russia’s Central Bank, put the shakeup down to the growing interrelationship between the war and Russia’s economy. “Putin’s priority is war; war of attrition is won by economics,” Prokopenko wrote in a thread on X. Russia's President Vladimir Putin, center-right, with Sergei Shoigu, at Red Square for the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2024. Putin has shifted Shoigu sideways to a post as the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, meaning that Shoigu is not completely out of the picture. Discussing Shoigu’s new appointment, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the former defense minister would remain immersed in matters of military production.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, shakeup, Andrey Belousov, Sergei Shoigu, Alexandra Prokopenko, ” Prokopenko, Belousov, Vladimir Putin, Natalia Kolesnikova, Prokopenko, Pyotr Stolypin, Putin, Shoigu’s, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, ” Peskov, General Valery Gerasimov, Nikolai Patrushev, Patrushev, Mikhail Mishustin, Dmitry Patrushev, “, ”, Tatiana Stanovaya Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Russian Ministry of Defense, Russia’s Central Bank, Russia's, Victory Day, Getty, NATO, Putin, US Congress, Ministry of Defense, Security, Russia’s General Staff, subjugating, Security Council, Federal Security Service Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, AFP, Europe, Kyiv, Shoigu, Russian, Japan, Soviet Union, subjugating Ukraine, Patrushev

☆ 50,000 protest Georgia’s foreign agent bill as US sounds alarm over ‘Kremlin-style’ law
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —About 50,000 opponents of a “foreign agents” bill marched peacefully in heavy rain through the Georgian capital on Saturday, after the United States said the country had to choose between the “Kremlin-style” law and the people’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations. “Georgian parliamentarians face a critical choice – whether to support the Georgian people’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations or pass a Kremlin-style foreign agents’ law that runs counter to democratic values,” he said. Demonstrators protest against the foreign agents bill in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 11, 2024. Georgian Dream says the bill will promote transparency and Georgian national sovereignty. Demonstrators protest against the foreign agents bill in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 11, 2024.

Persons: “, ”, Jake Sullivan, Irakli Gedenidze, Nino, Vladimir Putin’s, Reuters Bidzina, Sullivan Organizations: CNN, House, Georgian, European, Reuters, Union, Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, European Union, EU, NATO Locations: States, backsliding, Georgia, European Union, Tbilisi , Georgia, “, Russia, Europe, ”, Georgian, Tbilisi, United States

☆ Journalist sounds alarm on dangers of propaganda, calling it ‘one of the worst crises for American democracy this century’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“I think it is at the center of one of the worst crises for American democracy this century, certainly in recent decades,” Applebaum told me by phone Tuesday. “They don’t believe journalists. They don’t believe independent ombudsman. They don’t believe institutions or science. It is not possible to understand why Trump continues to hold a firm grip over the Republican Party without understanding the propaganda machine at his disposal.

Persons: CNN — Anne Applebaum, ”, Donald Trump, Applebaum, authoritarians —, ” Applebaum, Vladimir Putin’s, Vladimir Putin’s Russia “, Trump, Rupert Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Steve Bannon, “, it’s, Steve Bannon’s, that’s, David Muir, Lester Holt, Norah O’Donnell, Carlson, MAGA Organizations: CNN, Trump, Putin, Sputnik, MAGA Media, New York Times, Washington, Fox News, Republican Party Locations: U.S, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Ukraine

☆ The New York Times and The Washington Post Win 3 Pulitzers Each
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The New York Times and The Washington Post received three Pulitzer Prizes each on Monday for a wide array of journalism that spanned conflict and injustice around the globe, including the plight of child migrant workers in the American Midwest, the lethal consequences of war in the Middle East and the brutal repression of dissent in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The prize for public service, considered the most prestigious of the Pulitzers, went to ProPublica for exposing a web of questionable financial entanglements involving Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. The series, which revealed that Justice Thomas failed to disclose lavish gifts he had received from wealthy supporters, prompted the court to issue a new ethical code of conduct. The prize for investigations went to Hannah Dreier of The Times, for an exposé of migrant child labor in the modern United States, and the governmental blunders and disregard that have allowed the illegal practice to persist. This was the second Pulitzer awarded to Ms. Dreier, who won the 2019 feature writing prize for her coverage of the criminal gang MS-13 for ProPublica.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Clarence Thomas of, Thomas, Hannah Dreier, Dreier Organizations: New York Times, Washington Post, U.S, Supreme, The Times Locations: American Midwest, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, United States

☆ Pulitzer Prize 2024: Vladimir Kara-Murza wins for columns written from Russian prison cell
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Mariya Knight | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Atlanta CNN —Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent Russian human rights advocate and Kremlin critic, has won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary written from his prison cell. Kara-Murza is serving a 25-year jail term for publicly criticizing Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The sentence had been widely condemned by the international community as draconian and politically motivated. In his April 2022 interview with CNN, the political dissident condemned Putin’s regime for targeting critics. He was arrested shortly afterwards for “failing to obey the orders of law enforcement,” according to his wife.

Persons: Vladimir Kara, Murza, Monday’s Pulitzer, Kara, ”, Vladimir Putin’s, Evgenia Kara, Vladimir, ” Kara, Maxim Shemetov, Putin, Putin’s Organizations: Atlanta CNN, Kremlin, Washington, Washington Post, CNN Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Russia, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Moscow, Arizona

☆ Russia is making daily tactical gains in eastern Ukraine, as criticism grows of Ukrainian military reporting
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-28 | by ( Andrew Carey | Olga Voitovych | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Ukraine’s DeepState monitoring group, which updates daily changes in frontline positions, shows Russian forces pushing forward in eight different locations along 20-25 kms of frontline in one 24-hour period. Military bloggers on both sides broadly agree that Russian forces have crossed a water course and taken control of the settlements of Semenivka and Berdychi. Heavy fighting continues there, but the situation is under the control of the (Ukrainian) Armed Forces,” he said. Russian forces are also making headway west of Donetsk city, entering the industrial town of Krasnohorivka from the south and the east. “Without (its) manpower advantage, Russia’s artillery and airpower advantage would not be sufficient for Russia to make gains on the battlefield.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Myroshnykov, Stringer, ” DeepState, Muscovites, –, Nazar Voloshyn, ”, DeepState, “, Voloshyn, Narciso Contreras, Anatolii Stepanov, Rob Lee, ” Lee Organizations: CNN, Anadolu, Getty, ) Defense Forces, Armed Forces, –, Foreign Policy Research Institute Locations: Ukraine, Kharkiv, United States, Avdiivka, Ocheretyne, Donetsk, Semenivka, Soloviove, Keramik, Ukrainian, Karlivka, DeepState, Russian, Kyslivka, Krasnohorivka, ”, AFP, Moscow, – greenlit, “ Russian, Russia

☆ How a store manager from India ended up killed on the battlefields of Ukraine fighting for Russia
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Vedika Sud | Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“I saw holes on the back of his shoulder, his ribs right down till his lower back,” Imran told CNN. “He was going to work as a taxi driver or delivery boy in Russia – that process was on,” Imran said. Meanwhile, India, which has no law preventing its citizens from serving in a foreign state’s military, has acknowledged that a number of its nationals have been fighting for Russia in Ukraine. In early March, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it had busted major human trafficking networks that were duping men into Russian military jobs, with 35 such cases identified. Asfran Mohammed, right, and his brother Imran are pictured with Asran's children before Asfran left for Russia.

Persons: New Delhi CNN —, Asfan Mohammed, he’d, Imran Mohammad, Vladimir Putin’s, “, ” Imran, Imran, ”, Asfan, Putin, Allen, He’d, Asfran, Mohammed Imran, Inna Varenytsia, Bimala Rai Paudyal, I’d, who’d, Asfran Mohammed, Mohammed Imran “, I’ve Organizations: New, New Delhi CNN, CNN, Russian, ”, United Arab Emirates, Reuters Foreign, Kremlin, Indian Ministry, External Affairs, India’s, Bureau of Investigation, Indian Nationals, CBI, Asfan, Indian, Indian Embassy Locations: New Delhi, India, Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Hyderabad, “, Australia, Moscow, Ukrainian, Kreminna, South Asia, Nepal

☆ Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s memoir will be published in October
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Mariya Knight | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s memoir will be published posthumously this fall, his widow revealed Thursday. The book, titled “Patriot,” will be released on October 22 in multiple languages, including Russian, Yulia Navalnaya said in a post on social platform X. Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s spokesperson, described working on the book in a Telegram post on Thursday, writing that the Russian opposition leader had invited her to Germany, where he was undergoing medical treatment after the poisoning, to assist in the project. Navalny dictated parts of the book to Yarmysh at the time, but finished it while in prison after returning to Russia in 2021. He died on February 16 at age 47 in a Siberian prison north of the Arctic Circle, according to the Russian prison service.

Persons: Alexey Navalny’s, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalnaya, Kira Yarmysh, Navalny, ”, Alfred A Knopf, ” Navalny, Russia’s, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin Organizations: CNN, Penguin Random, Kremlin Locations: Russian, Soviet, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, United States

☆ Dan Coats: Why Aid for Ukraine’s Fight Against Russia Matters - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Dan Coats | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, a rare consensus has formed in Washington around this conviction: America must provide military support to Ukraine’s resistance. Three administrations and large majorities of both parties in Congress have consistently held that President Vladimir Putin’s aggression cannot be tolerated. The choices facing America are always based on the same foundation: what best serves our nation. Those interests are inextricably linked to the strength of our global alliances and the international system of law and cooperation in which American democracy survives and prospers. And the strength of those networks, in turn, depends on our role as a trusted ally and friend, on our credibility and — frankly — on our virtue.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s Locations: Ukraine, Washington, America

☆ Zelensky says he will listen to Trump’s ideas to end war ‘with pleasure’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Sophie Tanno | Lauren Said-Moorhouse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would listen to former US President Donald Trump’s ideas to end the war in Ukraine with “pleasure” but trod carefully around the issue during an interview at the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece. I haven’t heard that directly from Trump,” Zelensky told CNN’s Senior Correspondent Fred Pleitgen via video link from Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelensky is pictured speaking from Ukraine during an interview with CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, who is at the Delphi Economic Forum in Greece. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky inspects new fortifications for Ukrainian servicemen near the Russian border in the Kharkiv region on Tuesday. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout/Reuters“I’d like to underscore that no Western weapons were used to attack in such a way.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump’s, ” Zelensky, CNN’s, Fred Pleitgen, “, Zelensky, Trump, Ukraine “, ”, The Trump, “ There’s, he’s, CNN’s Fred Pleitgen, Pleitgen, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin’s, Reuters “, Oleksandr Prokudin, Ukrenergo Organizations: CNN, Delphi, Republican, German, Wednesday, Trump, Russia, West, Presidential Press Service, Reuters, Ukraine’s Defense Forces of Locations: Ukraine, Greece, Ukrainian, Russia, Trump, Delphi, Zelensky, “, Kharkiv, Western, Russian, Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv

☆ Trump is recreating his web of chaos at home and abroad in a preview of what a second term could look like
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

CNN —Some top Democrats worry that Americans have forgotten the chaos that raged every day Donald Trump was president, and that voters’ faded recall of the uproar will end up handing him a second term. Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is threatening to topple Johnson if he dares to pass it. — Nationwide chaos is, meanwhile, spreading in the wake of the Trump-built Supreme Court conservative majority overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. — Bipartisan efforts to solve a border crisis are in tatters after Trump’s House followers in February killed the most sweeping and conservative bill in years. Yet Trump has vowed to end the war in 24 hours if he wins a second term.

Persons: Donald Trump, ’, Trump, Mike Johnson, Ukraine –, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Johnson, Roe, Wade, Trump’s, Joe Biden, —, Johnson –, Lago Trump, bucked Johnson, Bill Barr, CNN’s Annie Grayer, ” Barr, ”, Barr, “ We’re, Greene, “, ” Greene, CNN’s Manu Raju, We’re, laud, Ronald Reagan’s, Vladimir Putin’s, Volodymyr Zelensky, don’t, CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen, Putin, Christopher Cavoli, ” Cavoli, Biden, majority’s handiwork, he’d, didn’t, –, he’s Organizations: CNN, GOP, Republican, Trump, Washington, Trump -, Mar, Foreign Intelligence, FBI, FISA, Kremlin, Ukraine, European Command, House Armed Services Committee, Arizona Locations: Ukraine, Arizona, tatters, America, Washington, Russia, Georgia, Florida, Russian, Mar, Alabama

☆ Opinion: Investing in oil and gas doesn’t make sense anymore
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Opinion Tom Steyer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Some might think that, questions of morality aside, fossil fuel investments are just too good to pass up. Even in the United States, where President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is making historic investments in clean energy, oil exports are at an all-time high. On closer examination, the simplest argument against funding new oil, gas and coal projects is not that they’re immoral. What should be even more concerning to investors is that fossil fuel companies’ challenges go beyond supply and demand. Finally, there is perhaps the greatest risk fossil fuel investors face: the industry’s massive profits are largely dependent on special treatment by governments.

Persons: Tom Steyer, Pimco, Vladimir Putin’s, Joe Biden’s, I’ve, —, there’s, Morgan Stanley, persuasively, Herbert Stein Organizations: Solutions, CNN, JPMorgan Chase, State Street, Global Energy Monitor, Farallon Capital, ” Locations: BlackRock, Ukraine, United States, Texas, Farallon

☆ NATO’s next challenge: How to reverse years of underfunding defense
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-03 | by ( Luke Mcgee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

For over a decade, allies have chronically underspent on defense while the West’s adversaries modernized and bolstered their own military capabilities. Defense spending stayed low across the West not just because of budget pressures, but also because everyone – including the US – was frightened to provoke Russia. However, the nature of NATO allies’ support for Ukraine – much of it direct military support – has exposed the vulnerability that years of underfunding has caused the alliance. Fabian Bimmer/Pool/ReutersThis means that the challenge in front of NATO allies now is not just how can they meet the demand for weapons coming from Ukraine, but how do they reverse years of underfunding their own defenses? Some allies don’t trust that others will be quite so generous with defense spending if the Russia-Ukraine war were to end.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Murat Kula, ”, ” John Herbst, Antony Blinken, Ulf Kristersson, Andrew Caballero, Reynolds, underfunding, It’s, Herbst, NATO’s, –, Jens Stoltenberg, Olaf Scholz, Fabian Bimmer, Stoltenberg, ” Stoltenberg, Peter Ricketts, Douglas Lute, “ Organizations: CNN, NATO, Turkish, Anadolu Agency, Pentagon, “, Swedish, US State Department, Getty, Ukraine, Rheinmetall, Trump Locations: Soviet, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, United States, British, Vilnius, Russia, Kyiv, Europe, Germany, AFP, North Korea, Iran, Washington, Unterluess, Baltic, Brussels, Finland, Sweden, NATO

☆ China, Russia and Trump
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

America’s biggest adversaries evidently want Donald Trump to win the 2024 presidential election. Some of the Chinese accounts impersonate fervent Trump fans, including one on X that purported to be “a father, husband and son” who was “MAGA all the way! !” The accounts mocked Mr. Biden’s age and shared fake images of him in a prison jumpsuit, or claimed that Mr. Biden was a Satanist pedophile while promoting Mr. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain what China and Russia hope to gain from a second Trump term. Trump has suggested that he will end this support.

Persons: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin’s, Trump, Tiffany Hsu, Steven Lee Myers, Donald J, Biden, Biden …, ”, “ MAGA, Mr, Trump’s, Putin Organizations: Trump Locations: Beijing, China, Russia, Ukraine

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