“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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JRL NEWSWATCH: “More countries join talks on Ukraine leader’s peace formula. But Russia is absent and war grinds on” – AP

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

“Leaders of talks on … Zelenskyy’s peace formula … said a growing number of countries are working to help set the groundwork for Russia to join one day, a[] … distant goal as the nearly two-year war grinds on [with] neither side willing to cede ground. The fourth such meeting of national security advisers takes place in … Davos, where […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Military Aid to Ukraine Was Poorly Tracked, Pentagon Report Says” – New York Times

Pentagon Aerial View adapted from defense.gov image, with photo credit: DoD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. John Wright

“The report found that American officials and diplomats had failed to quickly or fully account for all of the nearly 40,000 weapons sent to the front.” “More than $1 billion worth of shoulder-fired missiles, kamikaze drones and night-vision goggles … sent [by the United States] to Ukraine have not been properly tracked by American officials, a new [DOD Inspector General] […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s Medvedev warns of nuclear response if Ukraine hits missile launch sites” – Reuters

Dmitri Medvedev file photo

“[Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council] warned … Thursday that … Ukrainian attacks on missile launch sites inside Russia with arms supplied by the United States and its allies would risk a nuclear response from Moscow … [also saying] that some Ukrainian military commanders were considering hitting missile launch sites inside Russia with Western-supplied long-range missiles. … Putin […]

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Population Numbers Allow Ukrainian Military to Call Up 500,000, But Can It Afford to Keep Them?

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – Simon Saradzhyan – Jan. 11, 2024) Since December, my colleagues at Russia Matters and I have been monitoring1 how Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and its commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi have sparred over who should assume prime responsibility for the plan to conscript up to 500,000 Ukrainians. As we watched the two employ what Sun Tzu would […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s War Effort Is Stuck. This Heroic Battlefield Failure Shows Why.” – WSJ

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

“Rout of elite Ukraine forces in counteroffensive is a lesson in why the war effort is stalled” “… Because the West had dithered for months over the provision of tanks and other armored vehicles, the Russians were ready. They had dug in on the flat [southeastern] farmland … laying hundreds of thousands of mines and setting up firing positions for […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Set to Push Zelenskiy at Davos for Clearer War Plan” – Bloomberg

Volodymyr Zelensky file photo, adapted from dhs.gov image

“Sullivan likely to raise strategy issue with Ukraine leader Tensions seen as war heads into third year with aid stalled” “The U.S. wants Ukraine to sharpen its plan for fighting Russia’s invasion as the war heads into its third year and is expected to raise the issue with … in Davos … and continue to push the point in the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Can Ukrainian drone attacks hurt Russia? The country is stepping up its strikes on enemy bases, and on Crimea” – The Economist

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

“… Ukraine has mastered the production of short-range drones, which both sides have used extensively throughout the war. Now Ukraine is stepping up the development of drones that can strike more distant targets in Russia, Crimea and the Black Sea. These attacks typically involve around a dozen drones, often accompanying cruise missiles. Since December Ukraine has carried out some attacks […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Can the spread of war be stopped?” – Washington Post

Russian Tactical Missile on Mobile Launcher, adapted from image featured by army.mil and defense.gov

“… Israelis and Palestinians have been battling for more than 50 years without gaining lasting security. Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine began as a fever dream of … Putin. He failed to conquer Kyiv … but the bloody war of attrition has cost Russia an … 320,000 casualties and Ukraine … 170,000 to 190,000. The biggest national security question for […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Pentagon’s Ukraine Coffers Run Dry, Threatening Kyiv’s Grip on Its Territory” – WSJ

U.S. Capitol in Bright Sunlight

“Funding for more weapons and ammunition is held up in fight over border policy; ‘We’re out of money’” “The Washington stalemate over U.S. [border] policy … is … reverberat[ing] on the Ukraine battlefield, where Kyiv’s troops are running out of ammunition and the Pentagon says it can’t provide more without emptying its own arsenal. … [T]he Pentagon has run out […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Nord Stream Probe Hampered by Resistance From Poland” – WSJ

Gas Flame file photo

“Investigators hope Warsaw’s new government will shed light on gas-pipeline attack after previous administration’s reluctance to disclose potentially crucial evidence.” “Polish officials have resisted cooperating with an international probe into the sabotage of the Nord Stream natural-gas pipelines and failed to disclose potentially crucial evidence, according to European investigators …. [They reportedly] have been slow to provide information and withheld […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Exhausted, on the Defensive and at ‘Hell’s Gate’ in Ukraine” – New York Times

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

“The country’s forces along a broad stretch of the front say that, with Russia pushing forward, the war has never been so dangerous.” “… Ukrainian troops along most of the 600-mile front … are officially in defensive mode. Only in the southern region of Kherson are they still on the offensive … across the Dnipro River. … [F]ighting has not […]

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Russia in Review, Dec. 21, 2023-Jan. 5, 2024

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and its commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi have continued their indirect struggle over which of them should assume prime responsibility for the unpopular decision1 to conscript up to 500,000 Ukrainians. The tussle began on Dec. 19 when Zelensky claimed that the Ukrainian army chiefs had requested the conscription of up to 500,000 men, according […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “War in Ukraine: How Russia adapted its winter strategy” – Le Monde

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

“Moscow’s forces have adapted their tactics since last winter, preceding their missiles with waves of drones, whose mission is to saturate Kyiv’s air defense capabilities and deplete their ammunition reserves.” “… [T]his new campaign of Russian strikes could … be more difficult to counter than last year’s …. The Russian military, aware of Ukraine’s ground-to-air defense capabilities, has adapted its […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “A Trophy in Ruins: Evidence Grows That Russia Controls Marinka” – New York Times

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

“Ukraine said it was defending territory behind the eastern frontline town. Its capture would be Russia’s most significant territorial advance in Ukraine in more than six months.” “… The battle for Marinka illustrated defining features of Russia’s invasion that analysts say have given Moscow’s forces a major advantage: bombing a place to ruins and then sending in wave after wave […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine May Have to Accept a Cease-Fire” – WSJ

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

“The good news is it would open the door to eventual EU and NATO membership.” “According to a recent report …. [Ukrainian] troops on the front line are running out of ammunition. Artillery shells are being rationed, forcing the Ukrainians to cancel planned assaults and making it hard to hold defensive positions against Russian attacks. … As Ukraine struggles, its […]

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Russia Analytical Report, Dec. 18, 2023-Jan. 2, 2024

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) The U.S. and its European allies “are quietly shifting their focus from supporting Ukraine’s goal of total victory over Russia to improving its position in an eventual negotiation to end the war,” according to a Biden administration official and a European diplomat interviewed by Politico. “Such a negotiation would likely mean giving up parts of Ukraine […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Does Biden Want Ukraine to Win?” – Wall Street Journal

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

“By not arming Kyiv for a long-range campaign against Russia, the U.S. seems to be forcing a deal.” “… [W]hile Russia can strike anywhere in Ukraine, the U.S. has denied the Ukrainians the weapons they need to hit Russian targets, even in the parts of Ukraine that Russia occupies. This raises the question: Does [] Biden want Ukraine to win? […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Seizing Russian reserves is the right thing to do” – Financial Times

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

“Blatant violations of international laws require a response and reparations would be in line with historical precedent.” “… [One] geopolitical flashpoint[] … may be … pressure to seize Russia’s reserves in foreign central banks to fund Ukraine. Western nations … reported[ly] … have been actively exploring the move …. rais[ing] worries about … consequences for the financial system, … that […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “As 2023 draws to a close, Putin wants the world to think he is winning” – CNN

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

“… [I]f Putin is running as a wartime president, he has to massage the facts. Russia does not fully control the Ukrainian regions it claimed in September 2022; the war on the ground has been extremely costly in terms of Russian lives and equipment; and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has taken a serious beating. … [T]he war has … come […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia’s deadly salvo against Ukraine calls for Congress to fire back” – Washington Post

S-300 Missile File Photo adapted from army.mil image

“The Soviet Union designed the S-300 …  mobile, surface-to-air defense … system[] during the Cold War …. Russia unleashed 14 … offensively at cities in Ukraine …. part of a wave of missiles and drones … [in] the largest one-day aerial attack on Ukraine …. ripp[ing] into 45 multistory buildings, including schools, churches, hospitals, maternity wards, shopping centers and warehouses, […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine warns of pension and salary delays without western aid” – Financial Times

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

“Shortfall in external aid would push a recovering economy back into survival mode, says deputy prime minister.” “Ukraine may have to postpone pay for public servants and pension payments to millions of its citizens if the EU and U.S. fail to deliver promised financial aid early next year … warn[s] [Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister] Yulia Svyrydenko …. [T]he […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Peering Into the Crystal Ball: 10 National Security Predictions for 2024 [Excerpt re: Ukraine]” – Foreign Policy

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

“… 5. A stalemate in Ukraine. Thanks in part to sluggish support and political impasse from the United States and … Western allies, Ukraine didn’t have enough guns, equipment, or ammo to punch a hole in Russia’s well-fortified defensive lines in eastern Ukraine …. [N]either do Russian forces have the capability, morale, training, or effective fighting prowess to make significant […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “With hopes of victory fading, Ukraine’s war against Russia could get even harder in 2024” – CNBC

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“At the start of 2023, hopes were high that a much-vaunted Ukrainian counteroffensive would change the dial in the war …. It didn’t … 2024 could be even harder. Ukraine’s alliances with the U.S. and Europe could be destabilized further in 2024, putting the future of military aid packages in doubt. The amount of support and military hardware Ukraine receives […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Reasons for hope in Ukraine” – The Hill/ Alexander J. Motyl

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

“… Ukraine, … expected to fold in a few weeks [after the wholesale invasion], is not only alive … [I]t’s also managed to push Russia from half the territory … seized [early on]. While these gains may fall short of our hopes and expectations, they are not sufficient to produce the palpable despondence spreading throughout the West. … [T]he Ukrainians’ […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “What a Russian Victory Would Mean for Ukraine: Ukrainians would face terror on a scale not seen in Europe since the 20th-century era of totalitarian rule.” – Foreign Policy

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“… To understand Ukraine’s likely fate if Russia turns the tide, the best place to start is what the Russians actually say. … [Russian] regime propagandists assert that the Ukrainian state is a disease that must be treated and Ukrainians a society that must be ‘de-wormed.’ … Russia’s highly censored state television has … consistently promoted the rape of Ukrainians, […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Christmas Moves to Dec. 25 in Ukraine, Another Rebuff of Russia” – New York Time

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

“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church formally changed the main date for the festivities, departing from the Russian tradition of celebrating on Jan. 7, according to the Julian calendar.” “… After centuries of marking [Christmas] on Jan. 7 under the Julian church calendar, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church this year formally switched to celebrating on Dec. 25 with most of the rest of […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Real Russian Nuclear Threat: The West Is Worried About the Wrong Escalation Risks” – Foreign Affairs/ Peter Schroeder

Russian Tactical Missile on Mobile Launcher, adapted from image featured by army.mil and defense.gov

“… The advent of the war triggered fears of outright nuclear conflict between the West and Russia. That period of somewhat frenzied speculation has passed. The war has since settled into a grinding—but conventional—stalemate. To be sure, U.S. officials are still concerned that Russia may use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield. … The unfortunate truth is that Washington cannot […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia and U.S. Heading for Major Escalation” – Newsweek/ Isabel van Brugen

Stylized Russian and U.S. Flags, 200, 1807-2007

“Russia and the U.S. could be headed for a major escalation, according to [Sergei Ryabkov, Russian deputy foreign minister responsible for ties with the U.S., arms control and non-proliferation.] … [Ryakkov] said … confiscation of frozen Russian assets could lead to diplomatic relations … being severed. … [R]eports emerged that the Biden administration could be close to seizing more than […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine Has a Civil Rights Problem; Wartime unity hasn’t healed the wounds of the country’s past.” – Foreign Policy/ Nicolai N. Petro

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

“… [W]hile outright criticism of Kyiv’s military strategy remains taboo, we are beginning to see frank debate on Ukrainian social media about the country’s postwar future and who will be left to build it. … The debate over Ukraine’s freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and minority rights … reveals that even if Ukraine manages to win the war, […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Peril of Abandoning Ukraine; If Congress forces Kyiv to accept a Russian victory, the result won’t be peace but a new war. – WSJ

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

“… If [U.S.] aid is cut off and Ukraine is forced to accept a Russian victory, the result won’t be peace but Russian preparation for a new war. The war in Ukraine activated the Soviet totalitarian psychological inheritance in Russia … [that] never disappeared. … Russia is more dangerous than … since the height of the Cold War [with] [m]ilitarization […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Bureaucracy as the Pillar of Stability: Are There Any Real Institutions Inside the Russian Political Regime?” – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Tower and Building Inside Kremlin

“Russia’s ruling mechanism — bureaucratic institutions — may outlast the current personalism. This vast network of civil servants, technocrats, and administrators forms a modestly resilient framework that endures beyond individual political decisions, providing continuity and ensuring the steady day-to-day functioning of the government.” “A persistent question … has been whether Russia has transitioned from … authoritarian … to … totalitarian […]

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