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☆ Opinion | The Wagner Group Is Always Ready for a Coup
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Colin P. Clarke | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

But the nation’s successive elected governments were at least willing to cooperate with Washington, allowing the U.S. military to conduct regional counterterrorism activities. Washington has stopped short of calling the crisis a coup — a move that would require the United States to halt security and economic assistance. Wagner will be ready. Their operations have frequently resulted in the deaths of civilians, with credible accusations of sexual violence, torture and extrajudicial killings. Within days of Wagner’s aborted advance on Moscow, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that Wagner’s African footprint would remain.

Persons: Jama’at Nusrat al, Barkhane, jihadists, Wagner, —, Al Qaeda, Bazoum, Prigozhin’s, Wagner’s, Sergei Lavrov, Prigozhin, Putin Organizations: U.S, United, Nigerien, Islamic, West, Central African, Kremlin Locations: Sahel, Africa, Islamic State, Greater Sahara, Haram, Islam, Niger, Washington, United States, America, Mali, Libya, Central African Republic, Sudan, Moscow, St . Petersburg

☆ Opinion | A Conservative on How His Party Has Changed Since 2016
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Back then, the Republican Party was the party of foreign policy interventionism, free trade and cutting entitlements, and Trump was the insurgent outsider unafraid to buck the consensus. The primary, then, raises some important questions: How has Donald Trump changed the Republican Party over the past eight years? Is Trumpism an actual set of policy views or just a political aesthetic? And if Trump does become the nominee again, where does the party go from here? From these different perches, he has closely traced the various ways the Republican Party has and, crucially, has not changed over the past decade.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, “, Ezra Klein, Ben Domenech, George W, He’s Organizations: Republican, Republican Party, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google, Fox News, The Spectator

“They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom,” Mr. Trump told the crowd at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Tuesday. “They want to silence me because I will never let them silence you.”In two previous campaigns, 2016 and 2020, Mr. Trump presented himself to voters as an insurgent candidate who understood their grievances and promised to fight for them. Now, however, Mr. Trump has made his 2024 race principally about his own personal grievances — attempting to convince supporters to see themselves in him. He continues to argue, falsely, that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and to present it as a theft also against his voters. The legal jeopardy he now faces from multiple indictments, he tells followers, is the sort of persecution that they, too, could suffer.

Persons: Donald J, “ I’m, ”, Trump, “, Mr Organizations: Trump, Mr Locations: New Hampshire

☆ Colombia and Rebel Group Begin Cease-Fire After Decades of Combat
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Genevieve Glatsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A cease-fire between the Colombian government and the country’s largest remaining rebel group took effect on Thursday, the longest halt to hostilities the group has agreed to and a milestone in efforts to end the country’s 60-year internal conflict, which has killed roughly 450,000 people. While the cease-fire is supposed to last six-months, it could pave the way for a permanent truce with the leftist group, the National Liberation Army, a guerrilla organization known as the E.L.N. that operates in the countryside and has helped fuel the violence that plagues parts of rural Colombia. Mr. Petro, himself a former member of a rebel group, is the country’s first leftist president. The cease-fire applies to combat between the E.L.N.

Persons: Gustavo Petro, Petro Organizations: Colombian, National Liberation Army Locations: Colombia

☆ Islamic State confirms death of its leader, names replacement
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Islamic State on Thursday confirmed the death of its leader Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi and named Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Quraishi as his replacement, the group's spokesperson said in an undated recording published on its Telegram channel. Islamic State, a shadow of the organisation that once ruled a third of Iraq and Syria, gave no details about the new leader. Abu Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi took over in November 2022 after his predecessor was killed, also in Syria. Islamic State militants continue to wage insurgent attacks in both Syria and Iraq. The U.S.-led coalition alongside a Kurdish-led alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is still carrying out raids against Islamic State in Syria.

Persons: Abu Hussein al, Husseini, Abu Hafs, group's, Tayyip Erdogan, Abu Bakr al, Baghdadi, Quraishi, Jana Choukeir, Nayera Abdallah, Nadine Awadalla, Enas Alashray, Andrew Heavens Organizations: Islamic, Syrian Democratic Forces, Thomson Locations: DUBAI, Islamic State, Turkish, Syria, Iraq, U.S, Kurdish

☆ Russia's fighter jets have gone from harassing US aircraft to actually breaking them as Moscow flexes its muscles where it still can
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Russian fighter jets have harassed US military drones on numerous occasions throughout July. That incident is just one of several demonstrations of Russian aggression around US military drones this month. Russian military Su-34 and Su-35 aircraft employ flares in the flight path of a US MQ-9 aircraft on July 6, 2023 over Syria. A press officer who goes by callsign Damian looks at a destroyed Russian military vehicle in Novodarivka village, Zaporizhzhia Region, southeastern Ukraine. "These maneuvers, they are to some extent intended to demonstrate Russian military strength," which could appease the country's domestic audience.

Persons: Nicholas Lokker, Alexus Grynkewich, Sabrina Singh, Su, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin, Damian, Putin, Lokker, Assad, Äzzeddin Kasim, Paul Lushenko, Lushenko, Christopher Sommers, AFCENT Organizations: Kremlin, Service, Center, New, New American Security, Islamic, US Air Force, ISIS, US Air Forces Central Command, Pentagon, Donetsk Regions, US, Anadolu Agency, Getty, US Army, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Quds Force, 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, U.S . Central Command Locations: Wall, Silicon, Syria, Russia, Russian, Ukraine, New American, Moscow, Syria . Washington, Islamic State, Washington, CNAS, Belarus, Novodarivka, Zaporizhzhia Region, Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian, Iran, Idlib, United States, Western

On the day his presidential campaign said it had laid off more than a third of its staff to address worries about unsustainable spending, Gov. The choice was a routine one — Mr. DeSantis and his wife, Casey, haven’t regularly flown commercial for years — but also symbolic to close observers of his struggling presidential campaign. As Mr. DeSantis promises a reset, setting out on Thursday on a bus tour in Iowa to show off a leaner, hungrier operation, several donors and allies remained skeptical about whether the governor could right the ship. Their bleak outlook reflects a deep mistrust plaguing the highest levels of the DeSantis campaign, as well as its supporters and the well-funded super PAC, Never Back Down, bolstering his presidential ambitions. Publicly, the parties are projecting a stoic sunniness about Mr. DeSantis, even as he has sunk dangerously close to third place in some recent polls.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Casey, haven’t Organizations: Gov, Publicly Locations: Florida, Chattanooga, Tenn, Iowa

☆ A Brexit Champion’s Feud With His Elite Bank Brings a C.E.O. Down
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Mark Landler | More About Mark Landler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Nigel Farage campaigned for a fellow populist, Donald J. Trump, in Arizona in 2020, he seemed like a faded star seeking the spotlight abroad after it had swung past him at home. Having helped mobilize the pro-Brexit vote in 2016, Mr. Farage was marginalized in Britain, then consumed by the pandemic. No longer: For three weeks, Mr. Farage, has been back on the front pages of British papers, with an attention-grabbing claim that his exclusive private bank, Coutts, dropped him as a customer because of his polarizing politics. Early on Wednesday, after Mr. Farage’s allegations were largely vindicated, the chief executive of his bank’s parent, NatWest Group, resigned after she admitted improperly discussing his bank account with a BBC journalist. It was a striking turn of events for a political insurgent who became, for many, a reviled symbol of Brexit, and later, a culture warrior on right-wing television.

Persons: Nigel Farage, Donald J, Trump, Farage, Coutts, Alison Rose Organizations: NatWest Group, BBC Locations: Arizona, Britain

His travel extended well outside of traditional hot spots for a primary campaign, including events in Wisconsin and Oklahoma. Now, DeSantis’ political operation says it is embracing his position as an underdog. But that leaves questions about one of the largest expenses on DeSantis’ first quarter fundraising reports: private travel. DeSantis’ campaign has paid nearly half a million dollars in travel expenses to a company that didn’t exist until two days before he launched his White House bid. In guidance to some donors and supporters, the campaign foreshadowed that they expect these interactions to show DeSantis’ “fiery” side.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Donald Trump, ’, Generra Peck, pollster Ryan Tyson, Sam Cooper, Ethan Eilon, Nick Iarossi, ”, ” Iarossi, Peck, “, Adam Putnam, Trump, it’s, ” Iarossi siad, Elon, N2024D, Scott Wagner, Andrew Romeo, Bud Light, Dylan Mulvaney, Fox, Laura Ingraham, Don’t, ” Ingraham, Bud, “ They’re Organizations: CNN, Florida Gov, White, Trump, ”, N2024D, Tesla, New York Times, Republican, Fox, Disney, State Board of Education Locations: Florida, Utah, Park City, Tallahassee, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Georgia, jetset, Miami, South Carolina

☆ How Trump maneuvered his GOP rivals into a tortured position on his legal battles
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

But so far there’s no sign that two and possibly more trials looming over Trump will convince most GOP primary voters he’s too much of a risk to nominate. In his first hours in the White House, Trump accused the media of falsely underestimating the size of his inaugural crowd. Some polls, for example, show substantial numbers of GOP voters who liked his presidency are open to supporting someone else. But DeSantis also assures Trump voters he’s not piling on the ex-president. But he added: “Let me be very clear: President Trump was wrong on that day.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Jack Smith, DeSantis, ’, Hillary Clinton, ” Trump, –, Christopher Wray, Smith, Robert Mueller, James Comey, Wray, Arizona Sen, Jeff Flake, Liz Cheney, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Pelosi, McCarthy, “ Donald Trump, he’s, ”, “ I’m, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, he’d, Jake Tapper, Russell Brand, ” Haley, ” Pence, rebutting Trump’s, Pence Organizations: Washington CNN, Republican White House, Republican, Trump, GOP, Florida Gov, South Carolina Gov, Democrats, Republican Party, House, CNN, Democratic, Washington, Justice Department, FBI, Pro, Trump House Republicans, Marxist Communists, and Freedom Coalition, New, New Jersey Gov, Arkansas Gov, Pence, Republicans Locations: Iowa, Washington, Russia, Florida, Arizona, Wyoming, “ State, New Jersey, United States, State

Ron DeSantis of Florida and his advisers waved off his sagging poll numbers with the simple fact that he wasn’t yet an actual candidate for president. Allies are complaining about a lack of a coherent message about why Republican voters should choose Mr. DeSantis over former President Donald J. Trump. His Tallahassee-based campaign has begun shedding some of the more than 90 workers it had hired — roughly double the Trump campaign payroll — to cut swelling costs that have included $279,000 at the Four Seasons in Miami. people and showed Mr. DeSantis with lasers coming out of his eyes. The video drew a range of denunciations, with some calling it homophobic and others homoerotic before it was deleted.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Donald J, Trump, — Organizations: Republican, Trump, Republicans, Twitter, Mr Locations: Florida, Tallahassee, Miami

☆ Spain’s far-right Vox party is targeting women’s rights. It may end up kingmaker in Sunday’s election
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Teaming up with Vox, which is projected to receive 36 seats, would give a right-wing coalition a slim working majority. Meanwhile, more than 1,200 Spanish women have been killed by current or former partners since 2003, according to data from the equality ministry. “As progress has been faster, the opposition to gender equality policies has also been more intense and animated,” she said. If the party were to come into government it could severely impact the lives of Spanish women, said Nuño. In local administrations where it has gained influence, Vox has been able to end equality initiatives and censure cultural events, she said.

Persons: CNN —, Spain’s, Pedro Sanchez, Paul Hanna, Vox, Francisco Franco, Paloma Román Marugan, Xuan Cueto, Santiago Abascal, ”, “, ” Vox, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Oscar del Pozo, Laura Nuño Gómez, King, King Juan Carlos, Franco, “ Vox, Jon Nazca, Clara Campoamor Organizations: CNN, Vox, Reuters, Popular Party, Spanish, Bloomberg, Getty, Socialist, PSOE, PP, Deputies, Complutense University of Madrid, Europa Press, Guardia Civil, King Juan, King Juan Carlos University, European Economic, European Union Locations: Europe, Spain, Madrid, Catalonia, Gijon, AFP, Ronda

☆ What reset? DeSantis defiant while campaign braces for reality of his struggles
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Steve Contorno | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

DeSantis’ remarks Monday in Tega Cay, South Carolina, were a near carbon copy of the speech he has delivered at campaign stops for weeks. Over the weekend, a spokesperson for DeSantis’ campaign confirmed to CNN it let go of some staffers, after Politico reported that “fewer than 10 staffers” in event planning were cut on Thursday. Over six weeks, DeSantis had spent $686,000 on travel including expenses for private jets, according to campaign finance records, and his payroll topped $1 million. “In the second quarter, we were a candidate for about five and a half weeks, our campaign raised $20.1 million dollars. Lu Aiken, a member of Republican Women Rising in South Carolina, said she was undecided but DeSantis was at the top of her list.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Joe Biden, ” DeSantis, ’, CNN’s Jake Tapper, –, Donald Trump’s, DeSantis, Trump, we’ll, I’ll, Tapper, “, ”, Kim Reynolds, “ We’re, Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch’s, Lu Aiken, we’ve, Ron, ” Jonathan Sievers Organizations: CNN, Florida Gov, Politico, GOP, Trump, Iowa Republican Gov, Republican, Fox News, Disney, ” Republican, Republican Women Rising Locations: South Carolina, Delaware, Tega Cay, kickstart, Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Utah, Park City , Utah, “, United States, DeSantis, Trump, Weddington , South Carolina

☆ Prigozhin resurfaces in Belarus, tells Wagner fighters they have the 'biggest job in the world coming up'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin shared a video Wednesday that appears to show him in Belarus. In recent weeks, however, the Wagner boss had himself been spotted inside Russia. In recent years, Wagner mercenaries have deployed to Libya, Mali, and the Central African Republic, where they have been accused of terrorizing local populations as they combat insurgent groups. Prigozhin, in the video posted Wednesday, suggested Wagner's mission is far from over. "The biggest job in the world [is] coming up very soon," he continued, adding: "We'll definitely be traveling all over the world."

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, It's, it's, Alexandr Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, Putin Organizations: Service, Kremlin, Central African, Wagner Locations: Belarus, Wall, Silicon, Ukraine, Russia, Belarusian, Africa, Libya, Mali, Central African Republic

☆ Polish PM urges Ukraine to allow exhumation of all victims of WW2 massacres
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Poland says over 100,000 Poles were killed in the massacres by Ukrainian nationalists. In 2013, the Polish parliament recognised the massacre by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during World War Two as "ethnic cleansing bearing the hallmarks of genocide". Ukraine has not accepted that assertion and often refers to the Volhynia events as part of a conflict between Poland and Ukraine that affected both nations. In 2017, Ukraine banned Polish authorities from searching for victims on its territory. Tuesday's commemorations in Warsaw were attended by Ukraine's parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, who moved to defuse tensions in May when he told the Polish parliament that Kyiv understood Poland's pain.

Persons: Ukraine's, Mateusz Morawiecki, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Andrzej Duda, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Anna Wlodarczak, Alan Charlish, Nick Macfie Organizations: WARSAW, Ukrainian Insurgent Army, UPA, Kyiv, Thomson Locations: Poland, Ukraine, Volhynia, Russia, Warsaw, Soviet Union, Ukrainian, Lutsk

The PGA Tour sought the ouster of Greg Norman, the two-time British Open champion who became the commissioner of the insurgent LIV Golf league, as a condition of its alliance with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, according to records that a Senate subcommittee released on Tuesday. The tour and the wealth fund did not ultimately agree to the proposal — crafted as a so-called side letter to a larger framework agreement — and, for now, Norman remains atop LIV. But the deliberations reflect an enmity forged over decades of hostilities between the tour and Norman, one of the most talented players in professional golf history who often chafed at the sport’s economic structure. And they underscore the tensions that could linger if the deal closes. The glimpse into the negotiations between the tour and the wealth fund came as the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations began its first hearing into the arrangement, which calls for the business ventures of the tour, the wealth fund and the DP World Tour to be brought into a new, for-profit company.

Persons: Greg Norman, LIV, Norman Organizations: LIV Golf, LIV, Investigations Locations: Saudi

☆ Taliban leader endorses Elon Musk's Twitter, accuses Mark Zuckerberg's Threads of having an 'intolerant' policy on free speech
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Charles R. Davis | Haley Tenore | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Anas Haqqani, a Taliban official, said Twitter is more committed to "free speech" than its rivals. Haqqani's father founded the Haqqani Network, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization. The Taliban was designated a terrorist group more than a decade earlier, following the Sept. 11 terror attacks. "The Taliban wanted to counter their propaganda and that's why we too focused ourselves on Twitter," the Taliban member said. "Social media is a powerful tool to change public perception."

Persons: Anas Haqqani, Haqqani's, Haqqani, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, El Pais, Critics, Musk, Jalaluddin Haqqani, Hedayatullah Hedayat, Abdul Haq Hammad Organizations: Taliban, Twitter, Haqqani Network, Service, El, Haqqani, Radio Free, Radio Liberty, National Counterterrorism Center, Meta, Facebook, BBC Locations: Wall, Silicon, Turkey, India, Radio Free Europe, Afghanistan, WhatsApp

☆ Zelenskiy and Poland's Duda pay tribute to victims of WW2 massacre
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Together we pay tribute to all the innocent victims of Volhynia! Memory unites us!," Duda's office and Zelenskiy both wrote on Twitter. The Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram that Ukraine and Poland were "united against a common enemy who dreamed of dividing us". "We agreed to work together to get the best possible result for Ukraine," Zelenskiy wrote. However, Ukraine's parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk moved to defuse tensions in May when he told the Polish parliament that Kyiv understood Poland's pain.

Persons: Kyiv's staunchest, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Andrzej Duda, Zelenskiy, Stanislaw Gadecki, Andriy Yermak, Duda, Pawel Szrot, Stepan Bandera, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Max Hunder, Alan Charlish, William Maclean, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Twitter, Polish Bishop's Conference, NATO, Polsat, Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Kyiv, Thomson Locations: Ukrainian, Warsaw, Russia, Volhynia, Lutsk, Ukraine, Poland, Vilnius, Kyiv

☆ Zelenskyy honors victims of World War II massacres of tens of thousands of Poles carried out by Ukrainian nationalists
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

They honored the Polish victims of World War II massacres carried out by Ukrainian nationalists. Images shared by Zelenskyy's Twitter account showed him and Polish President Andrzej Duda in a church in Lutsk, a city in western Ukraine. Polish civilian victims of March 26, 1943 massacre committed by Ukrainian Insurgent Army assisted by ordinary Ukrainian peasantry. Wikimedia CommonsEstimates for the death toll during the World War II ant-Polish massacres range from 20,000 to 100,000, The New York Times previously reported. Even as Vladimir Putin uses "denazification" to justify the ongoing conflict, the Ukrainian president is confronting Ukraine's dark history during World War II.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's, Andrzej Duda, Zelenskyy, Poland —, Ukraine's staunchest, Mateusz Morawiecki, Vladimir Putin, Morawiecki Organizations: Sunday, Russia, Service, Twitter, Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Hitler's, New York Times, Polish, Associated Press, Poland Locations: Poland, Wall, Silicon, Lutsk, Ukraine, Volyn, Volhynia —, Ukraine's Volyn Oblast, Polish, Poland's, Russia, Ukrainian

☆ US central command says it killed ISIS leader in Eastern Syria
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CAIRO/AMMAN, July 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Central Command said on Sunday it conducted a drone strike on July 7 that killed an ISIS leader in Eastern Syria. "U.S. Central Command conducted a strike in Syria that resulted in the death of Usamah al-Muhajir, an ISIS leader in eastern Syria," it said without giving any more details on al-Muhajir. U.S. military commanders say ISIS remains a significant threat within the region, however, though its capabilities have been degraded and its ability to re-establish its network weakened. Islamic State controlled one-third of Iraq and Syria at its peak in 2014. Reporting by Adam Makary and Omar Abdel Razek and Suleiman al Khalidi; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Usamah, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, Adam Makary, Omar Abdel Razek, Suleiman al Khalidi, Elaine Hardcastle, Hugh Lawson Organizations: U.S . Central Command, ISIS, Thomson Locations: CAIRO, AMMAN, Eastern Syria, Russian, U.S, Syria, . Washington, Turkey, Iraq

☆ How the 'masculine' talks that averted a siege on Moscow went down, according to Putin's negotiator
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Sam Fellman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Thousands of Wagner fighters led by Prigozhin threatened to advance on Moscow Saturday. That's when Russian leader Vladimir Putin purportedly came calling. The number of swear words was ten times higher than that of normal words. Certainly, he said he was sorry for using swear words." Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin in Moscow on September 9, 2021.

Persons: Lukashenko, Wagner, Prigozhin, —, Alexander Lukashenko, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin's, Putin, wasn't, Vladimir Putin, Sergei Shoigu, Valery Gerasimov, SHAMIL ZHUMATOV, Prigozhin's Organizations: Moscow, Service, Privacy, Wagner Group, Belarusian, Kremlin, Getty, Lukashenko's Locations: Belarus, Moscow, Independence, Minsk, Russia, Belarusian, Ukraine, Russian, Rostov

☆ A High-Profile Primary Tests Black Buffalo’s Political Power Structure
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Jesse Mckinley | Dan Higgins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BUFFALO — They are two of the most prominent Black women in Buffalo politics: India Walton, a celebrated progressive insurgent, jarred by a painful election loss; and Zeneta Everhart, a rising newcomer, galvanized by a singular terrifying event. They are both Democrats in a deep-blue city, each with fervent supporters in the tight-knit Black community that makes up Buffalo’s East Side. Ms. Walton and Ms. Everhart are competing in Tuesday’s Democratic primary to represent the Masten district on the city’s Common Council — a battle between two candidates who have earned national attention under very different circumstances. A stronghold of Black political power, the Masten Park neighborhood was also the site of one of the city’s most traumatic events: the racist massacre last May of 10 people, all of whom were Black, by a white gunman at a Tops supermarket. The tragedy suddenly thrust Ms. Everhart into the headlines.

Persons: India Walton, Zeneta Everhart, Walton, Everhart Organizations: BUFFALO, Democratic Locations: Buffalo, India

☆ Russian jets said to step up strikes on Syrian rebel enclave
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

White Helmets/Handout via REUTERSAMMAN, June 25 (Reuters) - Russian jets bombed villages and towns near the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Sunday, killing at least nine civilians and wounding dozens in a major flare-up of violence in the country's last opposition stronghold, witnesses and rescuers said. No immediate comment was available from Russia or its allies in the Syrian army, whose artillery pounded rebel areas in the countryside west of Aleppo. During past outbreaks of fighting, Damascus and Russia have said they only target insurgent groups and deny indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Damascus has in recent rounds of Russian-brokered talks with Ankara demanded that Turkey withdraw a formidable military presence in the last foothold of the Syrian rebellion. Turkish troops based in the region have held back Russia and Damascus from a final assault to wrest back control of the enclave.

Persons: Sham, jihadists, Suleiman Al, Khalidi, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, Russian Sukhoi, Ankara, Thomson Locations: Russian, Jisr, Shughour, Syria, REUTERS AMMAN, Syrian, Idlib, Jabal al, Russia, Turkey, Aleppo, Damascus, Turkish, Hayat, Qardaha, Latakia, Moscow

☆ It’s a War-Themed Restaurant, but There Is No Need to Pretend
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Patricia Cohen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Sievda Kerimova had recently arrived in Lviv from Kyiv for a happier reason. She had come to meet her husband, a 26-year-old military officer who had 10 days off. Kryivka is one of several themed restaurants and gift shops operated by !FEST, a Ukrainian restaurant group. Upstairs is another one, The Most Expensive Galician Restaurant, decorated as a masonic clubhouse. Around the corner is the Lviv Coffee Mine, an enormous underground coffee house and shop where patrons can wear a miner’s helmet and dig for coffee beans and sip lattes.

Persons: Sievda Kerimova, Kerimova, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: ! FEST, Ukrainian Insurgent Army Locations: Lviv, Kyiv, Russia, Ukrainian, Kryivka, Ukraine

☆ Southern Baptists’ Fight Over Female Leaders Shows Power of Insurgent Right
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Elizabeth Dias | Ruth Graham | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two summers ago, an insurgent group of ultraconservative Southern Baptists branded themselves as pirates, vowing to “take the ship” of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and steer it farther to the right on issues like sexuality and race. They were determined to halt what they saw as rising liberalism and drift from biblical truth. Many were outraged that one of their most prominent churches had ordained three women. Now, the ultraconservatives are seizing power, and the ship is beginning to turn. But it also stems from growing anxieties many evangelicals have about what they see as swiftly changing norms around gender and sexuality in America.

Organizations: Southern Baptists Locations: New Orleans, America

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