JRL NEWSWATCH: “Does the West’s Ukraine policy need a reality check?” – Brookings

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… [T]he outlook appears bleak: both sides have sustained horrific losses, millions of Ukrainians remain displaced or in exile, and there is no plausible sign of an end to the violence. Western capitals are struggling to supply funds and ammunition to Kyiv … [T]he Kremlin seemingly draws on limitless supplies and political support from authoritarian allies and continues to pound […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s Military Spy Chief Says Russia Will Struggle to Keep Up the Fight” – WSJ

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov says Russians ’don’t have the strength’ to achieve goal of seizing two eastern regions this year” “… Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military-intelligence chief, acknowledged the tough situation for Ukraine’s outnumbered and outgunned forces. But Russia also has problems, he said. Russia’s professional army was largely destroyed in the first year of the invasion, he said, […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Despair in Russia as Putin Spirals Out of Control” – Daily Beast

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“Just this [past] week the Kremlin claimed it was at war with the United States and Putin’s No.1 enemy was found dead in prison. Russians are terrified about what’s next.” “…. Putin’s spokesman informed Russians this [past] week that … [Russia’s] ‘special military operation’ … was set to go on much longer because it is now ‘a war against the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Avdiivka, Longtime Stronghold for Ukraine, Falls to Russians” – New York Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“With Ukraine’s forces at risk of encirclement, the top military commander ordered a retreat. In startlingly candid accounts, soldiers described disarray and despair.” “Ukraine ordered the complete withdrawal from … decimated … Avdiivka before dawn … Saturday, surrendering a position that had been a military stronghold for the better part of a decade, in the face of withering Russian assault. […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Vladimir the Poisoner of Underpants; What Navalny’s death means for Russia, Putin and the world” – The Economist

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“Fear and greed drive Russia’s regime. The opposition leader struck at both.” “… Navalny’s death was blamed by Russian prison authorities on a blood clot … [H]is doctor said he suffered from no condition which made that likely. Whatever ends up on his death certificate, he was killed by … Putin. Russia’s president locked him up; in his name [] […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “With Navalny’s death, Russia’s opposition loses its last leader” – Christian Science Monitor

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Marching on Street with Others in Background; adapted from image at commons.wikimedia.org with credit to Evgeny Feldman, subject to Creative Commons license; original image at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FEV_1795_(cropped1).jpg, with license information at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en and creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode

“Many in the West saw Alexei Navalny as the Russian opposition’s most promising challenger to Vladimir Putin. His death in prison on Friday brings a tragic end to a struggle the Kremlin had already largely contained.” “Alexei Navalny, Russia’s best-known and most indefatigable Kremlin opposition figure[,] … died in an Arctic penal colony Friday under as yet unknown circumstances …. […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin Says He Prefers Biden Over Trump. Commentators Are Skeptical.” – New York Times

File Photo of Joe Biden at Podium in Front of U.S. and State Department Flags, adapted from image at usembassy.gov

“The Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, called President Biden experienced and predictable. But Moscow watchers said the comments most likely had an ulterior motive.” “… Putin said … Wednesday … it was in Russia’s interest for … Biden to win a second term … dismissing concerns about [] Biden’s age. It was the first time that [] Putin … directly […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Battle for Avdiivka tests Ukraine’s new commander” – Financial Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Oleksandr Syrsky aims to shore up eastern town, with troops fearing heavy losses as western supplies run short” “… Avdiivka [is] an early test for Ukraine’s new [commander-in-chief General Oleksandr Syrsky] and [a Ukrainian] army running short of ammunition and men as western military support falters. The battle for the industrial town 20km north of … Donetsk has been raging […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Why NATO Needs Ukraine: Kyiv’s Survival and Europe’s Security Depend on a More Unified Front” – Foreign Affairs: Alina Polyakova, James Goldgeier

NATO Meeting File Photo

“… The July 2023 NATO summit … settl[ed] on an ambiguously worded communiqué declaring … NATO could invite Ukraine to join ‘when Allies agree and conditions are met.’ … The absence of a clear plan … has given Putin more confidence that he can wait out the West … in a war of attrition. … [T]he lack of resolve … […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “How Putin’s Obsession With History Led Him to Start a War” – WSJ

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Long-winded, often factually erroneous arguments back his conviction that Russia has a historic right to Ukraine” “[In his] two-hour interview with Tucker Carlson … Putin recounted events of centuries past and trotted out 17th-century documents … expounding on deeply held views about the past, many widely disputed by historians, that have driven him to launch the continent’s bloodiest conflict since […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin Seeks Revenge on a World Order He Once Wanted to Join” – Bloomberg

Vladimir Putin file photo, adapted from screenshot of video at shareamerica.gov

“The KGB agent turned warlord president has shaped Russia with resentment and force. As Donald Trump threatens to abandon NATO allies if he returns to the White House, Putin’s poised to take advantage.” “… Putin is attempting to strike his own decisive blow against the U.S. and Europe to reshape [the] global order to Russia’s advantage … backed by military […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “IMF warns that any action on Russian assets needs ‘sufficient legal support'” – Reuters

International Monetary Fund Logo Over Ukraine Flag

“… IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath … said decisions about what to do with [Russian] assets rested solely with countries holding them. She declined to offer an opinion on how they should be used. Gopinath said the IMF would evaluate the impact of any decisions … but the IMF would not be involved in the decisions. … [S]he […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Rejects Putin’s Latest Call for Ukraine Negotiations” – New York Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Skepticism remains high about the Russian leader’s intentions after he told Tucker Carlson that the war in Ukraine could be settled with a peace deal.” “The Biden administration dismissed on Friday a call by … Putin … for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, showing no sign that flagging political support for American military aid to Kyiv had made […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Germany’s Days as an Industrial Superpower Are Coming to an End” – Bloomberg

Map of Germany adapted from cia.gov image

“As political paralysis grips Berlin, the energy crisis was the final blow for a growing number of manufacturers” “… Manufacturing output in Europe’s biggest economy has been trending downward since 2017 … accelerating as competitiveness erodes. … The U.S. is drifting away from Europe and is seeking to compete … for climate investment. China is becoming a bigger rival and […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Two Hours of Unchallenged Propaganda From Putin” – New York Times

Vladimir Putin file photo, adapted from screenshot of video at shareamerica.gov

“… [V]acillating among pedantic, sarcastic and aggrieved, Putin spent the first uninterrupted half-hour on his tired claims that Ukrainians are not a nation, that they’re neo-Nazis, persecute Russians, and are tools of the West. He then turned to … all the ways in which the United States has humiliated, betrayed and insulted Russia, and how Ukraine and … [the]  C.I.A. […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine sacks its top soldier” – The Economist

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“The dismissal of Valery Zaluzhny is a crucial new phase in the war. Unfortunately, President Zelensky risks getting it wrong.” “The most important question is whether [] Zelensky can … refocus his vision for the war. … [H]e is still publicly clinging to his promise that Ukraine will take back every inch of soil occupied by Russian forces …. [U]nless […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “National Security Expert Fiona Hill Says Russia ‘Will Always Matter’ at HKS Event” – The Harvard Crimson

Redacted File Photo of Fiona Hill, adapted form image at seanmaloney.house.gov

“…Hosted by Russia Matters — a project at the HKS Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs that publishes analysis on U.S.-Russia relations — [an] event [featuring Fiona Hill ] was moderated by former HKS Dean Graham T. Allison ’62 and former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula J. Dobriansky. Hill, the former senior director on Russia and […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin, in rambling interview, barely lets Tucker Carlson get a word in” – Washington Post

Vladimir Putin file photo, adapted from screenshot of video at shareamerica.gov

“… Putin spent the first 30 minutes of his two-hour interview with … Tucker Carlson giving a revisionist historical tirade on the founding myths of Russia and Ukraine, the breakup of the Soviet Union and NATO expansionism. From there, admonishing Carlson when he interrupted, Putin pontificated on everything from the war in Ukraine and relations with the United States, the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Peace in Ukraine; What a Ukraine peace deal might look like.” – New York Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… If Ukraine can’t get what it needs to beat Russia, what kind of deal could it make? … Putin may accept a peace deal that gives him the territory he occupies now and that forces Ukraine to stay neutral, halting its integration with Europe. Ukrainians call this bargain a capitulation. But without additional American aid, they may be forced […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Tucker Carlson Has Interviewed Putin in Moscow, Kremlin Says” – Bloomberg

File Image of Laptop Computer, Tables and Mobile Device, adapted from image at energy.gov

“Online commentator TuckAdd New Poster Carlson interviewed … Putin as part of a trip to Moscow, the Kremlin confirmed … Wednesday. … [O]n Tuesday, Carlson said he wanted to focus on the war in Ukraine. He is also seeking to interview … Zelenskiy. … There’s no airdate for the [Putin] interview … but Carlson said it would be free to […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s Zelensky, Facing Rising Challenges, Touts Leadership Overhaul” – WSJ

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“President says country’s leadership needs a ‘reset’ as he faces battlefield pressures and flagging Western support” “… Zelensky’s deliberations over Zaluzhniy and other officials [have] add[ed] domestic political drama to other pressures, including Russian military offensives that are inching forward and political deadlock in the U.S. over a proposed new aid package. … The raft of challenges … test the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Asia’s commercial heft helps keep Russia’s war economy going; That holds future lessons for America” – The Economist

File Photo of Beijing Temple, adapted from image at lbl.gov

“… [M]ore than three dozen countries … slapped economic sanctions on Russia … unprecedented in … scope for a target of its size, covering energy and other commodities, finance, technology, travel, shipping and more … to raise the cost … of continuing the war [in Ukraine]. … China … has done the most to undermine the West’s sanctions. Trade between […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Germany Braces for Decades of Confrontation With Russia” – New York Times

Brandeburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, file photo adapted from image at state.gov

“Leaders are sounding alarms about growing threats, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz is wary of pushing the Kremlin, and his own ambivalent public, too far.” “Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has begun warning Germans that they should prepare for decades of confrontation with Russia … that they must speedily rebuild the country’s military in case … Putin does not plan to stop […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Is Valery Zaluzhny about to be fired?” – The Economist

File Photo of General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine / Source: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, via Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, adapted from image at army.mil posting.

“… [I]nside [Ukraine] … polls show [Zaluzhny ] is even more popular — and more symbolic of Ukraine’s resistance — than [Zelensky]. …  As risky as the move is for domestic stability, it does still seem likely [] Zaluzhny will be switched out …. In some respects, the pressures of war are being felt symmetrically in both Ukraine and Russia. […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia Tomorrow: Five scenarios for Russia’s future” – Atlantic Council: Casey Michel

Kremlin and River

“Briefly, the five scenarios … include: Putin’s continued rule Putin’s ouster, followed by the installation of a far-right, nationalistic figure or cadre Putin’s ouster, followed by a technocratic, if still largely antidemocratic, regime Putin’s ouster, followed by the rise of a liberal, thoroughly pro-Western government Russian Federation state fracture” * * * “… Scenario #1 Putin’s Russia survives Scenario #2 […]

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VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “What Washington Must Do for Kyiv Between Now and November” – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… [A]fter weeks of negotiation, the EU approved a 50 billion euro funding package for Ukraine … a much needed economic boost[] while the U.S. bill remains held up in Congress. On a recent episode of Carnegie Connects, host Aaron David Miller discussed … Russia’s war against Ukraine with Carnegie senior fellows Dara Massicot and Eric Ciaramella. … * * […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s army chief: The design of war has changed” – CNN

File Photo of General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine / Source: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, via Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, adapted from image at army.mil posting.

“[Editor’s Note: Valerii Zaluzhnyi has been Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2021. This article was written before an expected announcement of his dismissal. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read a detailed CNN analysis of this article here, and the full essay here.] “… It is well known by now that a central driver […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “EU Leaders Agree to $54 Billion Ukraine Aid Package as Hungary’s Orban Backs Down” – WSJ

EU Map adapted from cia.gov image

“Ukraine aid decision comes against the backdrop of growing fears about Russia’s threat to Europe’s security” “[EU] leaders agreed to a $54 billion budget aid package for Ukraine … Thursday, locking in financing … for the next four years … [a mix of long-term loans and grants,] a major boost for Ukraine, which could have started to run short of […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “How Russia Stopped Ukraine’s Momentum; A Deep Defense Is Hard to Beat” – Foreign Affairs: Stephen Biddle

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… By late spring, the Russians had adopted the kind of deep, prepared defenses that have been very difficult for attackers to break through for more than the last century …. Breakthrough … has long required permissive conditions … now absent in Ukraine: a defender … whose dispositions are shallow, forward, ill prepared, or logistically unsupported or whose troops are […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s birthrates are plummeting. The next generation needs a plan.” – The Times (UK)

Crowd in Ukraine with Little Girl Raised Up Waving Small Ukrainian Flag, adapted from state.gov image of USAF Photo by Senior Airman Madeline Herzog

“Babies are an increasingly rare sight in a society that prizes family above all but now has the world’s lowest birthrate, throwing the country’s very survival into question.” “Ukraine [reportedly] now has the lowest total fertility rate in the world … an average of 0.7 children per woman of child-bearing age …. This lack of children, compounded by mass violent […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Spycraft and Statecraft: Transforming the CIA for an Age of Competition” – Foreign Affairs: William J. Burns

William Burns file photo, adapted from image at cia.gov

“… In a world in which the United States’ principal rivals — China and Russia — are led by personalistic autocrats operating within small and insular circles of advisers, gaining insight into leaders’ intentions is both more important and more difficult than ever. Just as 9/11 ushered in a new era for the CIA, so did Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. […]

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“Full-scale Invasion”

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

Subject: “Full-scale Invasion” Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2024 From: John Evans <evansinamerica@aol.com> [John Evans is an American former diplomat who served as United States ambassador to Armenia.] David, like you, I have been struck by the near-universal adoption of this phrase. I believe its original intent may have been to distinguish the February 2022 events from the earlier 2014 take-over […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine says it uncovers mass fraud in weapons procurement” – Reuters

File Image of Ukrainian Currency, adapted from file at usaid.gov

“Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Saturday it had uncovered a corruption scheme in the purchase of arms … totalling the equivalent of about $40 million. … The fight to root out endemic corruption remains a major issue as Ukraine presses its bid to secure [EU] membership …. The SBU said an investigation … ‘exposed officials of the Ministry of […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Volodymyr Zelensky comes up empty-handed in Davos as he faces financial war hell” – New York Post

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Wall Street has shown a keen interest in investing in Ukraine. The banker class … admires the country’s resiliency … [and] appreciates the geopolitical urgency in preventing … Putin from re-establishing the old Soviet Union …. … [T]hey liked Zelensky’s pitch in Davos: … [I]nflation … below 6% [down] from as high as 30%; the economy is growing. He plans […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Real Reason Thousands Are Fleeing Conscription in Ukraine” – The Daily Beast

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Men who are hiding from the war tell The Daily Beast they do not trust the military system and fear they’ll be sent to the frontline without proper training.” “… Zelensky says … military commanders seek an additional 450,000 to 500,000 men to compensate for casualties and expand the army in 2024. Finding men to replace the fallen is becoming […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “UK must train citizens for war with Russia, says army chief” – The Times (UK)

File Photo of British Parliament Building, Big Ben, Thames, adapted from image at loc.gov

“General Sir Patrick Sanders says volunteers must be prepared for conflict, in speech No 10 didn’t want made public” “Civilians must be trained and equipped to form a ‘citizen army’ of tens of thousands in case Britain is dragged into war with a country such as Russia …. General Sir Patrick Sanders, chief of the general staff [said], also … […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s War Fuels a Wage Spiral That Threatens Army Recruitment” – Bloomberg

File photo of Russian paper currency, adapted from image at csce.house.gov

“Civilian wages outpace military pay for fighting in Ukraine Kremlin has avoided another call-up ahead of March elections” “Russia’s war in Ukraine is intensifying an acute deficit of workers … igniting a race to increase salaries that threatens the Kremlin’s ability to replenish the armed forces. The competition for employees has pushed wages up at a double-digit pace and made […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s $30 Billion Problem: How to Keep Fighting Without Foreign Aid” – WSJ

File Image of Ukrainian Currency, adapted from file at usaid.gov

“Kyiv could delay salaries, return to printing money if funding from U.S. and EU falls through” “Ukraine [reportedly] will run out of money within months and be forced to take painful economic measures to keep the government running if aid from the U.S. or Europe doesn’t come through …. The U.S. and [EU] … have promised Kyiv billions of dollars […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “A century after Lenin’s death, the USSR’s founder seems to be an afterthought in modern Russia” – AP

File Photo of Vladimir Lenin at Desk adapted from nps.gov image

“Take a look at Vladimir Lenin’s legacy, 100 years after the first Soviet Union leader’s death shocked Russia.” “… A century later, the once-omnipresent image of Vladimir Lenin is largely an afterthought in modern Russia …. The Red Square mausoleum where his embalmed corpse lies in an open sarcophagus is no longer a near-mandatory pilgrimage but a site of macabre […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine Is Losing the Drone War; How Kyiv Can Close the Innovation Gap With Russia” – Foreign Affairs: Eric Schmidt

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… Russia’s resilient war economy, expanded materiel production, and population edge, combined with uncertainty about the West’s continued support of Ukraine … give Putin reason to double down. … [A]s … frontlines stabilize, the sky above will fill with ever-greater numbers of drones. Ukraine aims to acquire more than two million drones in 2024 — half of which it plans […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The U.S. plan to break Russia’s grip on nuclear fuel” – Financial Times

“Demand for atomic energy is surging but Moscow dominates the world’s supplies of enriched uranium.” “… Utilities companies have spent two years stockpiling nuclear fuel in case Russian supplies are disrupted. … Washington is undertaking a multibillion-dollar push to rebuild its nuclear supply chain …. More than a fifth of the fuel used by the 93 nuclear reactors in the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘Active defence’: how Ukraine plans to survive 2024” – Financial Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“After its summer counteroffensive ended in failure, Kyiv is shifting to a new strategy as it prepares itself for a third year of war.” “… Ukraine’s military prospects appear to be dimming … [as it] abandon[s] hopes of a swift victory and … gird[s] itself for a drawn-out war. One western official … [sees] ‘little prospect of an operational breakthrough […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Protests in Russia Put Spotlight on Wartime Ethnic Grievances” – New York Times

Russia Regions Map

“The trial and conviction of an activist in the Ural Mountains region sparked one of the biggest outbreaks of social unrest since the start of the war.” “The trial of a minority rights activist in Russia … sparked one of [Russia’s]  biggest outbreaks of social unrest … since the start of the [Russo-Ukrainian] war … highlighting the strain … on […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Grabbing $300 billion of Russian assets is no panacea, West cautions in Davos” – Reuters

File Photo of Assorted U.S. Cash, adapted from image at tsa.gov

“Western officials looking at confiscating Russian assets No decisions yet made – U.S. special representative Belgium: we need to work out a mechanism” “Western officials said in Davos … they were open to … confiscating $300 billion of Russian assets to help Ukraine, but cautioned … the devil was in the legal detail and that, even if it could be […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia Rules Out Nuclear Arms Talks With US Over Ukraine Support” – Bloomberg

Russian Mobile ICBM Parade File Photo

“No grounds for arms-control talks with U.S., Lavrov says Russia accuses U.S. of escalating confrontation over Ukraine” “Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lashed the U.S. over … Ukraine and warned on the risks of confrontation between nuclear powers … [while] rul[ing] out … discussions on strategic security …. He accused the U.S. and … European allies of escalating … confrontation […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine foreign minister muses about ‘punching’ Russia’s Lavrov” – Reuters

File Photo of Antony J. Blinken and Dmytro Kuleba Standing and Speaking Before U.S. and Ukrainian Flags, adapted from state.gov image

“… When asked, [in] rapid-fire questions, about his most difficult … negotiations, [Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro] Kuleba said: ‘The most difficult talks are those in which you feel simply that you want to go and punch your opposite number in the nose, but you really can’t do that. … [T]his occurred two or three times. One occasion was with Lavrov […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The War in Ukraine Has Become a Peripheral Concern for the West” – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“What seemed at first to be the start of a Third World War has turned out to be more akin to a Second Yugoslav War: a local conflict on the edge of Europe triggered by a slow-motion imperial collapse.” “Throughout 2022, Europe was in shock. … Russia, owner of the continent’s most powerful armed forces, really was capable of sending […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin’s Domestic Woes Continue as Russian Military Struggles in Ukraine” – Newsweek

Vladimir Putin file photo, adapted from screenshot of video at shareamerica.gov

“… Putin … fac[es] a deluge of domestic difficulties as Moscow’s military struggles nearly two years after invading Ukraine. Putin … has been the focus of … increasing … criticism … over issues that include inflation, winter blackouts and the treatment of soldiers in Ukraine. Despite … recent … relentless Russian air and ground attacks against Ukraine, Moscow has seen […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The U.S. Can Make Ukraine Play Defense, on One Condition” – Bloomberg

File Photo of Jake Sullivan Gesturing While Speaking Next to U.S. Flag, with White House Logo in Background

“If the White House demands that Kyiv hold Russia at bay rather than reconquer its own lands, it must also provide the armor and ammo.” “Speaking to … Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will deliver a message from … Joe Biden. The White House wants Ukraine to change […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Can Europe arm Ukraine — or even itself?” – The Economist

EU Map adapted from cia.gov image

“Wars of attrition, … what large-scale conflicts between militarily sophisticated adversaries such as Russia and Ukraine tend to become, are usually decided by … the better arms industry. Russia’s economy is nearly 14 times the size of Ukraine’s, but the combined resources of Ukraine’s allies are so much greater that it should be able to win. … Both America and […]

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