👋 Kwei!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where Joe Biden calls Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of Gaza a “mistake,” historic floods force 100,000 to evacuate across Russia and Kazakhstan, and millions around the world start celebrating the end of Ramadan. Meanwhile, Majid Mohammadi in Persian-language media Kayhan-London tries to figure out how Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a veteran official of the Tehran regime suspected of involvement with terrorist activities, is still teaching at Princeton University.
[*Atikamekw, Quebec, Canada]
💡 SPOTLIGHT
Putin is gearing up for a major summer offensive — here's how Ukraine can defend itself
Russia is planning a large-scale offensive in Ukraine for the coming months. Putin wants to gain as much territory as possible, while Kyiv is waiting in vain for the West to provide more weapons. But the Ukrainian army is by no means as vulnerable as it seems, writes Alfred Hackensberger in German daily Die Welt.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently signed a decree to usher in a new wave of conscription this spring. From April 1, men between the ages of 18 and 30 have started to be called up for statutory military service. In July, the Duma, Russia’s lower house, had raised the upper age limit by three years — meaning that men up to the age of 30, and not 27, had to join. In total, 150,000 conscripts will spend a year serving in the army, according to the Kremlin’s website.
The recruits will not be sent to the “new Russian regions”; according to official statements, they will not be involved in the “special military operation”. But we can assume that the new soldiers will be stationed in Russia in order to free up other troops to go to Ukraine.
Yes, Moscow is launching a new wave of mobilization.
The British Ministry of Defense recently reported that Russia was recruiting about 30,000 new soldiers into the army every month, “allowing it to cover losses and continue the war against Ukraine”. The British figures are in line with information from the Ukrainian military intelligence services (HUR), which in January estimated there were 1,000 to 1,100 new Russian recruits a day, enticed by high salaries and attractive benefits.
Kyiv is concerned. They cannot rely on their enemy running out of manpower in the foreseeable future — although huge numbers of Russian soldiers are dying in battle. “More Russian soldiers have likely died to seize Avdiivka than died in the entire Soviet-Afghan war,” according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S. think tank. The decade-long war in Afghanistan claimed the lives of 25,000 Soviet soldiers. [...]
— Read the full article by Alfred Hackensberger for Die Welt, translated into English by Worldcrunch.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Zürich-based daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung dedicates its front page to the group of elderly Swiss women, known as the “Klimaseniorinnen,” who have won a landmark victory in the European Court of Human Rights. In its first such ruling on the responsibility of states in curbing global warming, the court ruled that Switzerland’s efforts to address climate change were insufficient and violated human rights. *For more, we offer this article from Ethic, translated from Spanish by Worldcrunch: Collapse And Us: On The Dangers Of Ecological Defeatism.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s approach on Gaza. In an interview on Tuesday, Biden said Israel should “just call for a ceasefire.” Despite the UN Security Council passing a resolution for a Ramadan ceasefire, talks of a truce are stalled. This comes as Palestine and other predominantly Islamic countries celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of the holy month.
• Paris is heightening security measures ahead of a soccer game over Islamic State threats. Police in the French capital have increased security ahead of the PSG-Barcelona Champions League quarter-final at the Parc des Princes today, amid new warnings that ISIS may be targeting European soccer events. Spain and the UK have also reinforced police presence around their respective soccer games this week. This comes at a critical time for the French capital, as it gets ready to host the Olympic Games in July.
• South Koreans vote today in parliamentary elections. President Yoon Suk-yeol will face a test on whether or not his People Power Party will continue to hold a majority, and therefore further his conservative agenda. Election analysts say parliamentary candidate races in 50 out of 55 local districts are closely tied, and the outcome will be determined by the country’s 44 million eligible voters.
• Historic floods in Russia and Kazakhstan force tens of thousands from their homes. Fast-melting snow and ice has caused rivers that cross the two countries' border regions to surge, leading to the evacuation of more than 100,000 people. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry declared an emergency in the Orenburg region along the border, but citizens are still desperate and “calling for Putin’s help,” local media outlets report.
• The European Parliament votes today on strict migration and asylum reforms. The proposed EU Asylum and Migration Pact aims to manage the impact of migration to the bloc and share the burden of asylum requests among member states. Migration from the Middle East and Africa has particularly affected southern EU member states, such as Greece, Cyprus and Italy, which have been overwhelmed by the number of sea arrivals. Follow Worldcrunch’s coverage of Migrants Lives around the world.
• The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld an 1864 near-total abortion ban. The law makes abortion punishable by up to five years in prison and could shut down all clinics in the U.S. state to offer the healthcare service. Tuesday’s decision reverses a 2022 law that legalized abortion until 15 weeks of pregnancy. Democratic Governor Katire Hobbs said the ruling marked “a dark day for Arizona.” Learn more about what's driving abortion rights around the world.
• A Munich art museum worker has been fired for displaying his own artwork in the gallery, the museum confirmed on Tuesday. The technician had access to the gallery space outside public hours, and has since been punished for hanging one of his own paintings at the Pinakothek der Moderne museum. German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the 51-year-old man most likely exhibited his work “in the hope of achieving his artistic breakthrough.”
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$6 million
A rare 1938 copy of Action Comics No. 1, featuring the debut of Superman, has set a new record as the most expensive comic ever sold at auction, fetching $6 million. The sale was made to an anonymous buyer by Heritage Auctions. With only about 100 surviving copies today out of the 200,000 originally printed, the comic is highly sought after.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
The Princeton professor suspected of quietly working for Iran's regime
U.S. Congressmen and Iranian opponents want to know why Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a veteran official of the Tehran regime is working at Princeton University, when he is suspected of involvement with terrorist activities, Majid Mohammadi writes in Persian-language media Kayhan-London.
🔍 Former Iranian diplomat Seyed Hossein Mousavian has been in the news recently, after a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives launched an investigation in November into his role at the university. In a letter to Princeton, 12 Republican lawmakers also questioned whether Mousavian had made any efforts to help free two of the school's graduate students who have been imprisoned by the Iranian regime.
🇮🇷 Mousavian has continued to serve the regime that had given him every opportunity. From his days as a governing board member of the conservative daily Resalat and as managing editor of the Tehran Times, to his time as Iran's Ambassador to Germany (1990-1997), and his move to the U.S. to lobby for a nuclear deal with Western powers, Mousavian has remained a faithful servant of the Islamic Republic. This did not end with the end of his formal services.
❌ Mousavian has also done a fine job of presenting himself as a regime critic or outsider. He claimed he was on the hit list of regime opponents in the 1990s, which is nonsense. There is no solid evidence that Iran's Ministry of Information had added him to its list of targets, and were planning to kill him in Germany in January 1996. His only proof is claims by the former intelligence agent and leftist politician Ali Rabii.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📣 VERBATIM
“I think what he's doing is a mistake.”
— U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of Gaza, calling it a "mistake" in an interview with the U.S. Spanish-language television network Univision. Biden urged for six to eight weeks of unhindered access for food and medicine into Gaza, while calling for a ceasefire, stressing the need for humanitarian aid. Despite U.S. pressure, talks for a truce have stalled. Is the Biden-Netanyahu clash over Gaza bound to escalate? asked France Inter’s Pierre Haski recently.
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
People in Gazipur climb on the roof of an overcrowded train as they head to their hometowns ahead of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. — Photo: Suvra Kanti Das/ZUMA
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• ISIS Resurgence? What The Moscow Attack Says About The Future Of Islamist Terrorism — KAYHAN-LONDON
• In Occupied Ukraine, Feminist Resistance Of An Underground Women's Brigade — VAZHNYYE ISTORII/IMPORTANT STORIES
• Future Of Food: Which Comes First, Artificial Eggs Or Cloned Chicken Meat? — ETHIC
✍️ Newsletter by Katrina Scalise and Cory Agathe
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