TWTW: The World This Week / Episode #69

Ukraine / Russia: spirals of repression….Israel, forget outside pressure?....a climate pact of sorts.…elections round the corner….and Singapore cartoonist Heng has Zelensky begging for coins.

This weekly feature for Andelman Unleashed, continues on its mission to explore how the media of other nations are reporting and commenting on the United States, and how they are viewing the rest of the world.

How others see the World

Just what might be in store for Ukraine thanks to the double failure of Congress and the European Union to provide the resources so desperately urged by President Volodymyr Zelensky was represented on the front page of the Paris daily Le Monde. "Russians facing a spiral of repression," read the headline over a dramatic story from Isabelle Mandraud: "Hundreds of simple citizens are condemned to heavy punishments for having expressed their opposition to the war, becoming political prisoners….in Russia, the repressive machine is accelerating."

In this case, it's the 33-year-old Russian artist Alexandra Skochilenko, appearing before a Saint Petersburg court, sentenced to seven years in a penal colony, for having pasted small messages against the war over advertising for a local supermarket.

Clearly, images like this were hardly top of mind when Congress chose to pull the rug out from under Ukraine and offer Vladimir Putin an early Christmas present by failing to pass a Biden-sponsored measure that would have extended another $60 billion in aid. Not the only refusal. The European Union, too, was unable reach unanimity on a €50 billion package for Kyiv. What was accomplished came through by virtue of a bit of bureaucratic legerdemain that Munich daily Süddeutsche Zeitung laid at the feet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz:

A diplomatic debacle was only narrowly avoided at the EU summit thanks to the initiative of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). He has now defended the procedural trick that made the decision to start EU accession negotiations with Ukraine possible. The Chancellor said after the summit that he would not call it a trick. "It is a decision that we made mutually according to our rules." But the Chancellor added: "This isn't something you should do every time."

The dispute over starting EU accession negotiations with Ukraine was considered deadlocked, because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was against such a step. As a solution, Scholz suggested Orbán leave the meeting for the decision to allow the other leaders to reach the necessary consensus….

However, Orbán prevented an agreement on further billions in aid for Ukraine at the summit. Scholz still saw a “very strong signal of unity from the European Union.” [Still] as to Vladimir Putin, the Chancellor concluded, "I am sure that no one in the Kremlin has any illusions." There will be a resolution that will provide the necessary financial resources for Ukraine, emphasized Scholz.

The Dutch cartoonist Tjeerd Royaards portrayed representatives of the United States and the European Union around a conference table, the levers of release for a host of desperately needed weapons at hand, while deep in a hole a bearded Zelensky figure, hands up in surrender stands in front of a handful of soldiers being consumed by a rabid Russian bear.

"Is Ukraine soon Europe's own war?" asked Jenny Nordberg in Sweden's leading daily Svenska Dagbladet. "Negotiations on EU membership are a small consolation prize in Kyiv."

If we really want to know what Putin believes is in store if he does have his way, his goals in Ukraine appear to remain little changed, and there will be no peace until they're achieved.

As the Russian state news agency Tass reported after his marathon four-hour press conference and call-in show:

The issue of denazification of Ukraine remains relevant….Russian President Vladimir Putin stated directly at a press conference.

'When the head of today’s Kyiv administration, in front of the whole world, gives a standing ovation to a former SS soldier who directly participated in the Holocaust, the extermination of one and a half million Jews in Ukraine, Russians and Poles, is this not a manifestation of Nazism, or what?' Putin said. Therefore, the issue of denazification is relevant…

Speaking about the task of demilitarizing Ukraine…'there are other possibilities—either to reach an agreement or to resolve it by force. This is what we will strive for,' Putin said.

And it would seem for the moment, Putin is doing very nicely simply playing a waiting game.

Not that Putin's wartime Russia isn't poised on the brink of an economic ledge. As The Economist of London pointed out, graphically, inflation which has been substantially checked in Europe and America, is hurtling upwards in Russia at nearly triple the rate in the West.

Of course, only oligarchs could ever really afford the Ritz or the Carlton, even with a ruble whose value itself is cratering.

In Estonia, Russia on their mind

Some of Russia's immediate neighbors, however, are getting no end of nervous. Laura Kayali of Politico Europe traveled to a remote Estonian island within hailing distance of Russia:

SAAREMAA, Estonia — On the Baltic Sea island of Saaremaa, a strategic territory invaded over the past century by both Germans and Soviets, it's the first time a French military unit has been deployed from France to take part in the Estonian Defense League’s (EDL) yearly military exercises….

Their goal: to be ready in case Russian President Vladimir Putin expands his military ambitions from Ukraine to the Baltic countries.

'Russia wants to increase its power. In my opinion, there will be a next invasion. In our community, we don’t ask what if, we ask when,' said Lieutenant Kristjan Kaup, the EDL's local chief of staff.

Russia's EU neighbors are absorbing what's happening in Ukraine and preparing for the worst….Now, NATO allies are listening and strengthening the military alliance's eastern flank.

Israel: Forget international pressure

Israel is another nation that won't give in—certainly not to any outside pressure nor just about anything else—as The Times of Israel reported:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen both vowed that the military offensive against the Hamas terror group will continue 'until the end,' indicating Israel would not buckle to mounting international pressure for a ceasefire….He told Israeli  Defense Force soldiers that 'we are continuing until the end, until victory, until the elimination of Hamas' — even in the face of international pressure. 'Nothing will stop us,' he said. 'Let there be no doubt on this matter,' he added.

Echoing the prime minister’s sentiments, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also said the war against Hamas will continue 'with or without international support.'

Harvard on our minds

Harvard's governing body, the Harvard Corporation, may have thought it had laid to rest the travails of the university's embattled president, Claudine Gay after her utterly embarrassing tussle at a Congressional hearing. Guess again. Le Monde graced its front page this weekend with the headline:

United States: The heartbreaks of Harvard

· The war in the Middle East reveals profound fractures at the heart of the prestigious American university

· Its president, a figure of progressive circles, is weakened

Ironically, the banner across the top reads:

European [parliament elections] 2024: the RN [Marine Le Pen's far-right party) still gaining ground

All of pages 2 and 3 of the paper is devoted to Harvard's "shredding" as the headline here observes "How the war in Gaza is tearing Harvard apart"

Meanwhile, we were a small group invited to a screening in New York by the Israeli Defense Forces of its 47-minute collection of horrors perpetrated by Hamas terrorists during their October 7 attack on Israel.

Afterwards, I asked a senior Israeli diplomat where it else it had been shown in the United States (beyond Congress where it was first screened). He said a few university campuses. Harvard? I asked. Yes, he said. But he added, they'd invited Claudine Gay, Harvard's embattled president, struggling with the waves of anti-Semitism engulfing her campus. She declined. Sent a factotum. The Israeli shrugged resignedly, as though he'd clearly expected little else.

Not exactly. As it turns out, the screening was scheduled on the evening before President Gay was scheduled to make her catastrophic appearance before a Congressional committee. She was in Washington, steeling herself.  A fact that could hardly have escaped Israeli officials. Its UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan presided over the screening at Harvard Chabad.  In this affair, across the oceans, few have been covered in glory.

What more can happen?

Quite a lot, apparently. The Israeli daily Haaretz headlined Saturday, "If settler violence wasn't enough, Israel is now depriving Jordan Valley Palestinians of  water." As Gideon Levy and Alex Levac reported:

Since the start of the war, some 20 Palestinian families have been forced out of their homes in the Jordan Valley by heightened settler violence. Meanwhile, the army denies the shepherd communities access to water. Israeli volunteers are trying to protect them day and night.

This is the time of the yellow wind, the time of the water carriers in the northern Jordan Valley, who are compelled to wait for hours upon hours until the army force that holds the key arrives and opens the gate for those hauling the water to enter. In this parched region, Israel doesn't allow the Palestinian residents to hook up to any water supply network: They and their sheep must depend on the expensive water that's transported in the tanks, and the drivers of the trucks and the tractors are totally dependent on a soldier with a key.  The soldier with the key was supposed to be here in the morning. Drivers have been waiting here since 8 A.M., in a few minutes it will be 1 P.M. 

Elections: Serbia and Congo

We shall be chronicling this week the two national elections among 46 around the world that we have chronicled this year.

On Sunday, Serbia will be going to the polls where incumbent president Aleksandar Vučić, a founding member of the ruling SPP, are seeking a renewal of their mandate despite their "close link to criminal gangs," as The New York Times, in an investigation, revealed.

On Wednesday, Africa's largest nation—larger than the entire continent of Western Europe—Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be conducting its own election, with incumbent President Félix Tshisekedi seeking a second, and final, five-year term. But as the BBC's Ousmane Badiane reported, the stakes are as enormous as its population—at least 100 million people:

It holds 70% of the world's reserves of coltan, a highly prized mineral used to make mobile phones, plus 30% of the world's diamonds and large quantities of cobalt, copper and bauxite.

Although its vast mineral wealth and huge population represent huge economic assets, life in DR Congo is not improving for most people for a number of reasons, such as conflict, corruption and many decades of poor governance dating back to the colonial era….Eastern DR Congo, where most of the mineral wealth lies, has been ravaged by conflict for three decades. A 2008 study by the International Rescue Committee estimated that about 5.4 million people may have died…making it the deadliest [conflict] since World War Two.

For the results of both contests and their implications, stay tuned right here.

Oh, and don’t forget COP-28

As the German news agency Deutsche Welle [ DW ] reported, "Representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels….The decision, agreed by almost 200 countries, has been hailed as marking the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. However, the agreed text did not call for an outright phasing out of oil, gas and coal. As a result, it leaves 'a lot of room for interpretation,' according to UN climate chief Simon Stiell, who warned that 'loopholes leave us vulnerable to fossil fuel vested interests, which could crash our ability to protect people everywhere against rising climate impacts.'"

Moreover, like the landmark COP-21 in Paris eight years ago, this too is non-binding. For more, much more in depth, do have a look at our SubStack brethren site, Callaway Climate Insights.

p.s. Depardieu

The giant of French cinema has taken another spin down the rabbit hole that Unleashed reported last week.

As the daily Le Parisien reported on Saturday, Gerard Depardieu, "has placed his Légion d'Honneur 'at the disposal' of the Ministry of Culture after the announcement pm Friday of a 'disciplinary procedure' soon to be initiated concerning the distinction awarded to the actor, indicted for rape."

Each Légion d'Honneur is awarded through a ministry of the French government which sponsors the respective legionnaire. Mine was awarded through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Depardieu's medal was awarded in 1996 by the Minister of Culture under President Jacques Chirac. The current minister, Rima Abdul Malik, observed "a Légion d'Honneur distinguishes a man, an artist, an attitude, values." Depardieu, through his lawyer, responded that the Malik was "actively in the manhunt and media lynching" of the actor.

Finally, there’s Heng….

The Singapore-based cartoonist Heng imagines a penniless Volodymyr Zelensky as a street-corner Santa with an empty pot begging for coins as the world shuns his appeals. Clearly, Ukraine's desperate appeal has become a global issue, democracy hanging in the balance.

Heng Kim Song has drawn under the name Heng for Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore's largest daily newspaper, since 1984.  He won the first prize organized by the United Nations under ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) and the “Grafica Internazionale Award” at the international festival of political satire in Italy. He is a member of the global, Paris-based collective Cartooning for Peace. 

Here’s how Heng imagines himself: