Latest news with #Western-leaning
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'These businesses have appealed to generations'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Lora Kelley at The Atlantic Moments of "cultural change present openings for cons," as "early in the pandemic, the number of multi-level-marketing schemes (or MLMs) exploded," says Lora Kelley. MLMs "promised a kind of life that was too good to be true." The "low quality of many legitimate jobs has long provided cover for shadier schemes." Many of the "messages that MLMs adopt to reel in workers rely on a central contradiction, criticizing the corporate grind while extolling the free market." Read more Nicole Krauss at The Washington Post At the "crossroads where we now stand, among the many other things at stake, is the future of reading, writing and literature," says Nicole Krauss. We have "lost not just our ability to concentrate on deciphering long passages of written language." Writing and reading "are not effortless," but without that effort, we will slide deeper and deeper into inchoateness, darkness, violence, diminished freedom for all and a diminished state of human being." Read more Deborah N. Archer at Time Without "protections in place, a new wave of infrastructure will repeat old patterns of destruction," says Deborah N. Archer. For "too long, we have treated transportation as if it exists outside of politics and justice." Our "highways, roads, and transit routes are more than lines on a map — they are tools of opportunity and weapons of exclusion." They "reflect our values, and for decades, they've sent a painful message to Black communities: You are disposable." Read more Veronica Anghel at Foreign Affairs Romania has "narrowly avoided electing a president who openly opposes the country's democratic foundations," says Veronica Anghel. The "breadth of support for him also raises larger questions about whether institutional guardrails in Romania, and in Europe overall, can be effective in countering a far right that seeks to undermine those democratic institutions." Allegiances have "obscured widespread disaffection among ordinary Romanians with their own Western-leaning political class," and many "Romanians have been disillusioned by a political establishment that has resisted reform." Read more
Euronews
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Trump upends US policy on Ukraine and says he and Putin have agreed to begin talks on ending the war
US President Donald Trump upended three years of US policy toward Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a sudden prisoner swap. Trump said he spent more than an hour on the phone with Putin and 'I think we're on the way to getting peace." He noted that he later spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but he was noncommittal about whether Ukraine would be an equal participant in U.S. negotiations with Russia. 'I think President Putin wants peace and President Zelenskyy wants peace and I want peace," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'I just want to see people stop being killed.' Of his conversation with Putin, Trump said, 'People didn't really know what President Putin's thoughts were. But I think I can say with great confidence, he wants to see it ended also, so that's good — and we're going to work toward getting it ended and as fast as possible.' Trump noted that he would 'probably' meet in person with Putin in the near term, suggesting that could happen in Saudi Arabia. Trump speaking to Putin sent a potentially dramatic signal that Washington and Moscow could work to hammer out a deal to end fighting in Ukraine by going around that country's government. Doing so would break with the Biden administration, which steadfastly insisted Kyiv would be a full participant in any decisions made. Asked specifically about Ukraine being an equal member in the peace process, Trump responded, 'Interesting question. I think they have to make peace." In another blow to Ukraine's Western-leaning aspirations, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said at NATO headquarters in Brussels that NATO membership was unrealistic for Ukraine. 'I don't think it's practical to have it, personally," Trump said later about NATO membership for Ukraine. He added that Hegseth had said 'it's unlikely or impractical. I think probably that's true.' After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration joined other NATO members in vowing that membership in the Western military alliance was 'inevitable.' Trump said Wednesday of Russia: 'I think long before President Putin, they said there's no way they'd allow that.' 'They've been saying that for a long time that Ukraine cannot go into NATO," Trump said. "And I'm OK with that.' Despite all that, Zelenskyy sought to put a brave face on what many in Ukraine will see as a major disappointment. In a social media post, he said he had 'a meaningful conversation" with Trump that included discussion of 'opportunities to achieve peace' and Kyiv's 'readiness to work together at the team level.' 'I am grateful to President Trump,' he said.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine country profile
Europe's second largest country, Ukraine is a land of wide, fertile agricultural plains, with large pockets of heavy industry in the east. While Ukraine and Russia share common historical origins, the west of the country has closer ties with its European neighbours, particularly Poland, and nationalist sentiment has been strongest there. Ukraine gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and then veered between seeking closer integration with Western Europe and being drawn into the orbit of Russia, which sees its interests as threatened by a Western-leaning Ukraine. An uprising against pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 ushered in a series of Western-leaning governments. That same year, Russia seized the Crimean peninsula and armed insurgent groups to occupy parts of the east. The Russian army eventually launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. Some estimates suggest that up to a million Russian and Ukrainians have been killed or injured in the first two and half years of fighting. Read more country profiles - Profiles by BBC Monitoring Capital: Kyiv Area: 603,550 sq km Population: 33.4 million Language: Ukrainian Life expectancy: 68 years (men) 77 years (women) President: Volodymyr Zelensky Mr Zelensky's initial claim to fame was playing a fictional president in a television comedy programme, and his victorious election campaign echoed his character's anti-establishment stance. His Servant of the People party went on to win early parliamentary elections in July 2019, giving him control of both the executive and the legislature. President Zelensky went on to rally Ukraine's resistance to the Russian invasion in 2022. He declared martial law and a general mobilisation of the armed forces. His leadership during the war has won him widespread international praise, and he has been widely seen as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. National media have adopted a united patriotic agenda following the Russian annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict in the east. Ukraine has banned relays of leading Russian TVs; in turn, areas under Russian or separatist control have seen pro-Kyiv outlets silenced. The authorities also block access to some popular Russian websites and social networks. Ukrainians have changed their media consumption since the start of the full-scale war, with social media replacing TV as a top news source for Ukrainians, new TV channels continuing to launch despite the conflict, and the complete loss of popularity of Russian outlets. Read full media profile Some key dates in Ukraine's history: 1918 - Ukraine declares independence after Russian Revolution. 1921 - Soviet rule established as Russian Red Army conquers two-thirds of Ukraine. 1932 - At least seven million peasants perish in man-made famine during Stalin's collectivisation campaign. 1941-44 - Ukraine suffers terrible wartime devastation during Nazis occupation. 1945 - Allied victory in Second World War leads to conclusive Soviet annexation of west Ukrainian lands. 1986 - A reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station explodes, sending a radioactive plume across Europe. 1991 - As the Soviet Union heads towards dissolution, Ukraine declares independence. 2004 - Orange Revolution mass protests force pro-European change of government. 2014 - Maidan Revolution ousts pro-Kremlin government over stalled European Union association deal. Russia then seizes Crimean peninsula and launches insurgency to occupy parts of eastern Ukraine. 2022 - Russia launches a full-scale invasion in February, initially taking large areas of the eastern but fails in a bid to take Kyiv. Ukraine counter attacks, recapturing Kherson in November and pushing Russian forces back across the Dnipro river. 2023 - Fighting largely reaches a stalemate. The Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine is destroyed, leading to widespread flooding and disruption. The dam was under Russian control at the time. 2024 - Fighting in much of eastern Ukraine becomes a war of attrition. Ukraine launches a counter-offensive into Russia's Kursk region. North Korean troops are sent to fight on Russia's side.
