TWTW: The World This Week / Episode #28
The Anniversary … and what worries the world … Nigerians vote … champion hackers … and then there's 'crossage.' Finally, Ukrainian cartoonist Kazanevsky on Putin as terrorist.
This weekly feature for Andelman Unleashed, explores how the media of other nations are reporting and commenting on the United States, and how they are viewing the rest of the world. Of course, we continue our coverage of every national election: Saturday voters went to the polls in Nigeria, a final outcome days, perhaps weeks, in the future. But we begin, where else? In Ukraine.
In Berlin Friday night demonstrators brandish the European and Ukrainian flags
Ukraine: A Year and a Day
France's leading daily Le Monde in a frontpage editorial "The Price of Freedom" observed: "The failure of the master of the Kremlin is necessary for the stability of nations. This penalty of his attempt to subjugate a free people would indeed play a deterrent role against any form of military adventurism. Everything must be done to ensure his defeat."
It was a refrain echoed broadly on every continent. In Berlin, 50,000 gathered at the Brandenburg gate, banners pleading "for peace" in the photo in the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Federico Rampino, columnist for Italy's Corriere della Sera asked, "What would have happened if Putin hadn't invaded Ukraine?" And Rampino answered: "A different role for Russia in the world, a friendlier and even more compliant West towards him. Final detail, the Tsar has shattered the myth of himself as a great strategist."
In Tokyo, with perhaps a lookback at its own history, The Japan Times is already looking to the aftermath of the war in Ukraine with the headline, "Japan urged to lead Ukraine's reconstruction."
In Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post looks at the issue from a financial point of view, reminding readers, "The impact on Russia from its aggression in Ukraine serves as a reminder that Beijing must prepare for the worst as it manages its bilateral ties."
Not surprisingly, the mainland Chinese media are looking at the issue from a somewhat different perspective. Global Times, the English-language edition of the communist party People's Daily, warns that the "US doesn't care even if every Ukrainian dies. Short term greed in the US is going to destroy everything it can in order to maintain its economic hegemony."
As for Russia, Pravda, or "truth" in Russian carried an interesting timeline of some of its recent stories:
16:55 Bill Clinton tried to bribe Boris Yeltsin for NATO to expand eastwards
14:15 General Romanenko: Russia to throw about 200,000 troops into the special operation zone.
13:28 Wang Yi alludes to new agreements between Russia and China
13:16 Russian forces strike Ukrainian military plant near Sumy
12:59 Kremlin refuses to answers questions about Samat ICBM test launch
12:44 Russia will use nuclear weapons for its defence – Medvedev
12:31 Russian nuclear test site ready for testing
18:31 Wagner fighters destroyed about 110,000 Ukrainian soldiers
15:39 Putin blames NATO for attacks on Russian air bases
Voices from Ukraine
On Wednesday, the Overseas Press Club of America presented a unique, live zoom event—"In the Thick of It: Ukraine," featuring three journalists working in different parts of Ukraine who described how they continue to work and survive under increasingly dire conditions, moderated by David A. Andelman.
For a recap, go to the Overseas Press Club of America YouTube site.
For contributions to the OPC's Ukraine Project to help Ukrainian journalists impacted by the war, click here. We have helped 18 so far with $2,000 grants. There are so many more in need, struggling to survive, while keeping their people free and informed. Do spread the word: #OPCUkraineAppeal.
How Others See America
So how's the U.S. handling the war?
The Times of London suggested America's not handling it too well at all. Reporter Michael Evans suggested the "US warns of delay in delivery of tanks to Ukraine. American help next year could be too late to make a difference. While Germany is pushing ahead with its delivery of 14 Leopard 2A6s, the dispatch of the 31 Abrams tanks that have been promised to Ukraine from the United States appears to be further down the line than was previously predicted. Military analysts have said that the Abrams tank, with its superior firepower, armour, and combat range, would have a strategic impact on the battlefield. The expected delay will be a blow to President Zelensky, who plans a counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces later this year."
"The challenge for the Pentagon," Evans continued, "is that it claims to have no available tanks from storage sites. The Abrams tanks in storage also tend to be refurbished older versions of the M1A1 model."
And then there's winter …..
"Heavy wind and snow bring blizzard conditions to Southern California," the Straits Times of Singapore reported.
"A powerful winter storm lashed through Southern California on Friday, blasting the mountains around Los Angeles with high winds and heavy snow, drenching the coasts with heavy rain, shutting down major highways and even dusting the Hollywood Hills for the first time in decades. In the higher elevations, forecasters said, the storm was a true blizzard, with warnings in place until late Saturday afternoon."
Elections 2023: Nigeria
It is by far the largest democratic election exercise in Africa. Nigeria's 87 million eligible voters went to the polls beginning Saturday, in some portions of this vast nation stretching into the early hours of Sunday. They are electing a new president and parliament in what, going in, was seen as the tightest and most profoundly contested vote since democracy was restored in 1999 after decades of military rule.
As the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo reported from the capital of Abuja, after "widespread delays and some attacks on polling stations on Saturday, voting has been postponed until Sunday in parts of the country. In other areas, voting continued through the night. Turnout appears to be high, especially among young people." Indeed, the vast youth vote could lead to a surprise in the end.
On the ballot are 18 candidates with three leaders and one potential spoiler. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress [APC] is backed by a big political machine and claims to have brought the outgoing president to power. A shrewd multimillionaire, he is the former governor of Lagos, where many expect the election to be won or lost. His slogan, Emi lo kan (It’s my turn) suggests his role as kingmaker but has turned off many youthful voters who may decide the election. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has fielded a former vice president, also a multimillionaire businessman, Atiku Abubakar, 76, who has run for president five times since 1993. The youth candidate is Peter Obi, 61, embraced by large swaths of Nigeria’s digitally savvy young people who have been hit severely by economic hardship, joblessness and insecurity. They call themselves "The Obidients." A fourth, potential spoiler, is Rabiu Kwankwaso, 66, who could split the vote in parts of Nigeria’s north, especially the state of Kano, where he has a huge base and where Boko Haram has been particularly active.
A winner requires to post more votes than any of his rivals plus 25% of the vote in two-thirds of the 36 states, which could lead to an ouright victory for one of the candidates, most likely Tinubu of the ruling APC. More than 12 million new voters have registered this time, making any accurate polling problematic.
At the same time, the most reliable national polling organization, Stears, suggests that the new president will be grappling with a large range of problems from Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom to conflict between herders and farmers, shortages of cash, fuel and power, as well as endemic corruption and poverty. But it is security that rises to the top.
Stand by at Andelman Unleashed for the final results and Nigeria's choice of its new leader, what it means for the nation, Africa more broadly, and the global powers that are deeply contesting the entire continent.
How Others See the World
Champion hackers
"North Korean hackers stole a record $1.7bn of crypto last year," The Economist of London reported. "Investigators are getting better at cracking the hackers. And it's using the haul to fund its nuclear and missile programs. Some of North Korea’s hacking thefts were eye-wateringly big. Last March it ripped off a cross-chain bridge, a method for moving cryptocurrency from one coin’s blockchain to another, associated with the game Axie Infinity. At the time it was discovered, the stolen currency was worth more than $600m, making it the second-biggest crypto-theft ever."
"But as with all heists, the robbery is just the first step," the magazine continued. "To launder their loot North Korean hackers employ all sorts of tricks, including splitting up the money, moving it between different crypto-wallets, converting it into different coins and putting it through mixers—large digital pools where crypto owners can deposit funds to obscure their origins."
And then there's crossage
The sport dates back to the Middle Ages…but leave it to the French always to find something about which they can ridicule Belgians. This time it's about crossage. "The principle is to hit a big wooden ball into a barrel," Paris-based France Inter observed, "and that requires a lot of technique."
"To succeed, it is above all a question of posture," the France Inter reporter continued, describing a game that appears to be a cross between golf, cricket, croquet and street stickball. "One team has three shots to reach the goal, the other prevents it by returning the ball. The task is not easy. Thus, once a year, Chièvres (in Belgium) is transformed between the crowded streets, the cries of alerts and the houses caulked to avoid potential projectiles. 'We know that it comes from afar and that everyone has always participated in it, so we continue. It's the joy of meeting again, of making a game that is a little weird, not too complicated.' explains Bob Coppieters, president of the Friends of Crossage. For Belgians, it is a treasure to be protected."
Finally, there’s …. Kazanevsky
This brilliant Ukrainian cartoonist, V. Kazanevsky, imagines Vladimir Putin as a terrorist, his explosive belt fitted with nuclear weapons balancing a world on his left hand, his right on a nuclear trigger and his eyes bulging with hate and fear.
Our cartoonist is again this week, appropriately on the weekend of Putin's invasion of Ukraine one year ago, 72-year-old Vladimir Kazanevsky. A graduate of Kharkov State University majoring in “cosmic radiophysics," he turned eventually to journalism. His cartoons have been published around the world, from Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun to Nebelspalter in Switzerland, Germany's Eulenspiegel, and France's Courrier international. He has won more than 500 prizes in 53 countries. When war broke in Ukraine, he was forced to flee his country. He is the sole Ukrainian artist featured by the extraordinary collective Cartooning for Peace.
Here's how Kazanevsky sees himself: