The Weekly Lift - March 2, 2023

The Editor's Page

Dear Readers:

When will the war in Ukraine end? This past week marked the first anniversary of Russia's invasion and, for foreign policy and global affairs experts, a time to reflect on the conflict and peace solutions, but first, on the toll it has inflicted on both sides.

While the numbers vary from one source to the other, it is estimated that over 8,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed (certain sources put that number at 30,000), and over 100,000 military personnel have also been killed or injured.

Thirteen million Ukrainians have been displaced, including eight million living outside the country (including 1.5 million in Poland). The war has also destroyed infrastructure, cities, lives, and the social fabric of what was a vibrant country. The magnitude of the crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine is still unclear.

Perhaps less known is that the Russian Army has also suffered between 150,000 and 200,000 military casualties (including 40,000 to 60,000 deaths).

Peace efforts are ongoing. China has offered to mediate, and the United Nations General Assembly called for an immediate end of the war last week. ?Unfortunately, there is also the possibility that the conflict will continue.

The official rhetoric from both sides alludes that neither is ready to make any concession. For Russia and Putin, winning and annexing all or parts of Ukraine is an existential goal that would help preserve the legitimacy and survival of the Putin regime. It could also mean continued chaos in Eastern Europe.

For Ukraine and Western democracies, a win would first and foremost vindicate the resilience of the Ukrainian people but would also weaken Russia, possibly topple Putin, strengthen the NATO security framework across Europe, and establish a unified front against other emerging geopolitical risks.

Could Russia be playing the long game? Its economy has mostly rebounded, and many countries in the G20 and the developing world have not severed their economic and political ties with Putin's regime. Unity cracks have also appeared in the European Union's stance on Russian natural gas. In the United States, certain members of the Republican Party in Congress, are advocating reducing the level of financial and military support to Ukraine. All these developments could play into Russia's hands.

Military might and diplomatic channels seem to be the most obvious options for determining the outcome of the conflict. However, could the Russian people be the wild card? Since the conflict began, 500,000 to one million Russians have left the country, including men that refused to be conscripted and serve.

Those still living in the country are likely unaware of the toll inflicted on the Russian Army. Propaganda and a tight grip over the media and the war narrative have allowed Putin to shield his compatriots from the reality of the war.

The Weekly Lift?believes the Russian diaspora has reached a critical mass for mobilizing grassroots efforts to denounce the irresponsible nature of the Putin regime, help counter Russia's official propaganda that framed the invasion as justified aggression (see article below) and expose the tragic human cost on its citizens and soldiers.

Is comparing Ukraine's invasion to the Vietnam War relevant? After twenty years and concealed information from the public about the war, the United States conceded to the North Vietnamese Army in 1975 after 58,000 Americans, 2 million civilians, and about 200,000 Vietnamese soldiers died. Grassroots efforts and public opinion undeniably accelerated the end of that conflict.

Unlike the Vietnam War, this conflict will not last twenty years, and unlike the United States, Russia is not a democracy. Shifting public opinion enabled by information velocity and social media could, however, force Putin to fend off social uprising at home while sustaining military assault abroad.

Russia battling these two fronts could be Ukraine's own long game.

Curated Articles

This week's selection of curated headlines and articles*:

International Relations: Serbia, Kosovo Leaders Back EU Plan, Top Diplomat Says

The Washington Post (US) reports that "the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo have given tacit approval to a European Union-sponsored plan to end?months of political crises?and help improve their ties longer-term, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday after chairing talks between them.

Speaking alone at a news conference after a series of meetings in Brussels, Borrell told reporters that?Serbian President Aleksandar Vucicand Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti “have today agreed that no further discussions are needed for the European Union proposal.”

Both countries want to join the EU, which has told them that they first need to sort out their differences.

Borrell provided few details about the talks — and reporters were not permitted to ask questions — except to say that “more work is needed” and that the two leaders would meet again next month.

Vucic said separately that “I hoped we would be able to agree to some compromises, but Mr. Kurti was not ready for that.” Vucic added that there was no talk about how to put the EU plan into action. Kurti, for his part, said both leaders accepted the text but that the “Serb side was not ready to sign it.”

Tensions have simmered between Serbia and its former province since?Kosovo unilaterally broke away in 2008; a move recognized by many Western countries but opposed by Serbia, with the backing of Russia and China. EU-brokered talks between them have made little headway in recent years.

Recently, those tensions flared over seemingly trivial matters like vehicle license plate formats, or the arrest of an ethnic Serb police officer, triggering fresh concern among Western leaders that a new Balkan conflict might break out just as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its second year.

But Borrell expressed cautious optimism that the two sides can now move on from the “crisis management” of recent months. “I hope the agreement can also be the basis to build much needed trust and overcome the legacy of the past,” he said.

He said the blueprint means “that people can move freely between Serbia and Kosovo using their own passports — mutually recognized — IDs, and license plates. It entails that people can study and work without wondering whether their diplomas, and where they obtained them, may be an issue.”

Borrell said it offers new economic opportunities to both sides through increased financial assistance, business cooperation and the prospect of new investment. He said the plan would provide better jobs and improve trade by removing the need for import-export certificates.

Kurti urged all Kosovar people and experts to read the agreement, telling reporters that “we are on a good one-way path of normalizing ties between Kosovo and Serbia in a good European neighborhood.”

Borrell also welcomed a commitment from Vucic and Kurti to ensure that Serbia and Kosovo “refrain from any uncoordinated action that could lead to renewed tensions on the ground and derail these negotiations.” Previous talks between Vucic and Kurti have degenerated into arguments and mutual recrimination.

The EU has mediated negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo since 2011, but few of the 33 agreements that have been signed were put into action. The EU and the U.S. have pressed for faster progress since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

Earlier this month, hundreds of Serbian nationalists gathered in Belgrade to demand that Vucic reject the EU plan and pull out of the talks.

Shouting “Treason” and carrying banners reading “No surrender,” the right-wing protesters blocked traffic as they gathered near the Serbian presidency building. The protesters are also strongly pro-Russia, and one banner read: “Betrayal of Kosovo is betrayal of Russia!”

In recent months, U.S. and EU envoys have visited Pristina and Belgrade regularly to encourage them to accept the new proposals, and the two leaders met with senior EU representatives on the sidelines of a major security conference in the German city of Munich earlier this month."

Ukraine War: Across The Globe, The Russian Diaspora Finds Ways To Protest Putin’s War

The New York Times (US) reports that "Russians around the world took to the streets of more than 100 cities to voice their opposition to the grueling war initiated by the Kremlin against Ukraine a year ago, with rallies on Sunday culminating four days of protests.

The main point of the protests was twofold, participants said: to express solidarity with Ukraine for the widespread death and destruction and to underscore that not all Russians support President Vladimir V. Putin’s war.

“I think most Russians living abroad are against the war,” said Roman Shor, 34, a software engineer from the former Soviet republic of Moldova, who attended the protest in Santa Monica, Calif., with his wife amid scattered showers and unusually cold temperatures.

“It is good to be together somehow during this time, to see that there are lots of people who have the same ideology, who don’t support violence, who don’t support imperialism.”

The protests were not particularly large, with hundreds turning out in the main cities where Russian exiles have settled since the war began — Tbilisi, Georgia; Vilnius, Lithuania; Berlin; Barcelona; Paris; and London. Most others were more modest, provoking some grumbling among participants about apathy, especially since parallel rallies by Ukrainians were larger.

Other protests in Europe and North America called for a cease-fire and an end to supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Analysts and organizers of the Russian diaspora’s protests considered their global reach — in about 45 countries total and about 120 cities including Buenos Aires, Chicago, Melbourne and Milan — a sign that the notoriously fractious opposition was capable of working together.

“Any Russian protest is important,” said Abbas Gallyamov, a political analyst and former Kremlin speechwriter. “Putin is doing his best trying to convince Russians that they all support him, so any proof that it is not true will hamper his game.

“If protests are numerous enough, the undecideds in Russia — and they are the majority — will shift toward the opposition.”

Not everyone was that optimistic, especially about the ability of protests outside Russia to sway events inside the country. “These demonstrations cannot influence the situation in Russia right now, but it can influence the future of the country,” said Arkadiy E. Yankovskiy, 64, who was a member of the national Parliament, or Duma, from 1995 to 1999.

Mr. Yankovskiy, part of a group of former elected officials working to create a united opposition movement, spoke on the sidelines of a rally outside the United Nations’ headquarters in New York on Friday.

“These groups are starting to talk to each other because they sense the moment is coming closer when the power struggle will be real,” he said.

There were also protests in Russia, mostly by people laying flowers or stuffed animals at monuments dedicated to Ukrainian historical figures. Some expressed their thoughts with banners, and postings about them were?published?by the Russian news agency Meduza.

In the central city of Perm, Russia, someone hung a black-and-white banner that said, “Year of Disgraze,” using the letter Z, an official symbol for the war. Another banner hung in Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, read, “Enough of this ‘bloodshed for peace!’” mocking the Kremlin line.

Any expectations that demonstrations in Russia might resemble the global protests were quickly dashed earlier this month with the arrest of an activist, Maksim Lypkan, who had brazenly sought a permit for a public protest on Friday in Moscow’s Lubyanka Square, outside the main security police headquarters.

Mr. Lypkan, 18, was accused of discrediting the military and trying to organize an unauthorized rally, according to OVD-Info, a rights organization that tracks court cases. As of Saturday, at least 65 people had been detained across Russia for antiwar actions, the organization reported.

Outside Russia, at least one confrontation was reported: A man who emerged from the Russian Consulate in Rio de Janeiro and hit a demonstrator on Friday?was detained?by the police, the Globo television network reported.

The most common element marking the worldwide demonstrations was the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag, along with the banner of the Russian opposition, a light blue stripe on a white background.

“Victory for Ukraine! Freedom for Russia!” was a common chant in Russian and the local languages. Some posters displayed the names of destroyed Ukrainian cities.

Aleksei Bolshakov, 36, attended one protest in frigid weather in Chicago’s Daley Plaza. He arrived in the United States two weeks ago with his wife and two small children after a circuitous route through Kazakhstan, Turkey and Mexico.

He said it was only a matter of time before he would have been mobilized to fight in a war that was meant to keep Mr. Putin as Russia’s president. “The invasion was an excuse to increase his power,” he said.

Various demonstrations included effigies of Mr. Putin either behind bars or on the gallows. One, pulled along the main shopping street in Düsseldorf, Germany, depicted him as a six-armed demon accusing everyone of being Nazis — Ukrainians, Americans and Europeans included. A picture of Mr. Putin was burned in Yerevan, Armenia.

Among the prominent Russia figures addressing the rallies was Mikhail?Khodorkovsky, the formerly jailed oil tycoon turned dissident exile. He told the gathering outside the Russian Embassy in London: “We all are against Putin, against this aggressive war, and we understand very well that the end of this war will be the end of Putin’s regime. Russia will be free.”

The war was not the sole focus of the rallies. Members of Russia’s minority groups showed up with signs reading, “No to Russian Imperialism.” Alex Choybsonov, 40, who attended the protest in London, said it was important that minorities be heard about the future of Russia.

“We will have to take responsibility for all the invasions and acts of aggression, for the blind spots in our vision that allowed the imperial consciousness to strengthen and for violence to spill out of our state,” Inna Berezkina, of the Moscow School for Civic Education, and one of the coordinators of the protests, told the gathering in Vilnius.

Some Russians who attended protests said they were trying to assuage both their sense of shame and their personal loss, as their lives have been upended.

“I am still in shock; it seems that I am in a dream, as though the whole world appeared to be different from the way I knew it,” said Aleksandra Khadzhieva, who had traveled from St. Petersburg to Tbilisi.

In countries that have remained neutral, like Brazil, protesters said it was important to remind the local residents of the conflict.

“Most of them don’t seem to know what is happening,” said Anna Smirnova Henriques, an organizer of the rally outside the Russian Consulate in S?o Paulo, while a loudspeaker blared air-raid sirens.

Dmitri Valuev, an organizer of the rally outside the Russian Embassy in Washington on Friday, wrote on social media afterward that he hoped there would be no such events marking the war’s second anniversary.

“We need to become stronger as a community of Russians for democracy, freedom and against war, and to do more together,” he said."

International Relations: Israel, Palestinian Authority Pledge To Reduce West Bank Violence

The Wall Street Journal (US) reports that "Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged Sunday to reduce the escalating violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem, but the fatal shooting of two Israeli settlers and subsequent riots in Palestinian villages underscored how tensions are spiraling.

Israelis and Palestinians issued a joint statement after a rare meeting with U.S., Jordanian and Egyptian officials hosted in Jordan’s southern coastal city of Aqaba. The summit brought high-level diplomacy to efforts to stem spiraling tensions between Israelis and Palestinians ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in late March. Regional officials have warned that Ramadan could be a flashpoint for new violence, as it has been in the past.

But Sunday marked another violent day in the West Bank. In the afternoon, the two Israelis were shot to death by a Palestinian gunman. Groups of Israeli settlers later rioted in the area, and one Palestinian man was fatally shot in the abdomen, Palestinian health officials said.

The past year has already been?one of the deadliest periods of violence?in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades. Security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority?has frayed as the Israeli military conducts?deadly raids deep in Palestinian-administered territory, in what Israeli officials say is a response to Palestinian terrorist attacks.

By late Sunday evening, Israeli and Palestinian officials released a joint statement stressing “the importance of de-escalation on the ground and preventing further violence.”

Israel declared it wouldn’t approve new housing units in West Bank settlements for the next four months, after approving the legalization of nine settlement outposts and advancing 9,500 housing units in West Bank settlements earlier this month.

In a joint statement approved by the U.S., Israel, Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Egypt, the group called the understandings reached Sunday “major progress towards re-establishing and deepening relations between the two sides.” The five parties agreed to hold a follow-up conference in March in Egypt before the advent of Ramadan.

A senior Israeli official said the parties also agreed to examine the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian security coordination and the ability of the Palestinians to fight terrorism in areas under their control. The official said the parties also agreed to establish a joint civil committee to examine what economic measures the Israeli government can take with the Palestinians.

The agreements were immediately rejected by powerful Israeli government officials, including Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The two form the nationalist flank of what political analysts call Israel’s most right-wing government ever.

“Whatever was in Jordan (if something happened), will stay in Jordan,” Mr. Ben-Gvir tweeted.

Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, said in a follow-up statement that Israel hadn’t agreed to any settlement freeze or limitations on Israel’s military.

The Israeli delegation at the summit included Mr. Hanegbi, as well as the chief of Israel’s domestic security service and the Israeli military’s liaison to the Palestinians, Israeli officials said. Four close advisers to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also attended, a Palestinian official said.

Even as security officials met in Aqaba to contain the violence, the two Israelis died in the shooting attack in the Palestinian town of Huwara in the northern West Bank, Israeli authorities said. No militant group immediately took responsibility.

Later on Sunday night, the Israeli military said groups of settlers rioted through Huwara and other nearby villages, prompting the deployment of soldiers and fire and rescue services. The military shared images of Israeli soldiers helping Palestinians flee burning homes.

Though Huwara is a Palestinian town, it is mostly under Israeli security control.

Israeli settlers set cars and buildings ablaze through a number of Palestinian towns, said Ghassan Daglas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settler violence. Mr. Daglas called Sunday night’s violence the most intense between settlers and Palestinians in years.

In the Palestinian village of Zaatara, 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash was shot dead during the riots, Palestinian health officials said. An Israeli military official said he had no information that suggested troops had shot Mr. Aqtash.

“Whether the army or the settlers shot him, it’s the same. The army has given them free rein to terrorize Palestinians,” said Munir Qadous, a fieldworker for the Israeli human-rights organization Yesh Din. Mr. Qadous said settlers had burned down his brother’s sheep pens as Israeli soldiers stood nearby.

“Don’t take the law into your own hands,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis in a statement Sunday night that began with condolences to the families of the Israelis killed in Huwara.

Hamas, the U.S.-designated terrorist group that rules Gaza, quickly praised the attack. “The resistance in the West Bank will remain and grow. No plan or summit can stop it,” a Hamas spokesman said.

The meeting comes after the Israeli military?conducted a rare daytime operation?in the West Bank city of Nablus last week. Eleven Palestinians were killed in the deadly firefight. Israeli officials said eight of those were militants.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Saturday and “encouraged the de-escalation of tensions in the West Bank,” according to a Pentagon statement.

U.S. security officials have broadly proposed a 60-day halt to Israeli military raids in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, and for Palestinian security forces to shoulder more responsibility in arresting militants so as to contain the rising tensions, an official familiar with the matter said.

At least 60 Palestinians, mostly militants but also some civilians, according to Israeli officials, and 10 Israeli civilians and one policeman, have been killed in?rising violence since the beginning of the year. Last year, at least 146 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were killed, according to the B’Tselem rights group. Israel says most of those killed were involved in violence."

Global Development: On YouTube, The Unsuspected Culinary Success Of A Small Cambodian Village

Le Monde (France) writes "I will need a hundred rats for tomorrow, is it possible? ",?asks Sopheak to a saleswoman at the Moung Ruessei market, who nods to her counterfeit Chanel hat while noting the order.?"Dishes with rats are still a hit on my YouTube channel,"?says the 35-year-old Cambodian to explain his choice.

No time to lose, he now has to pick up 132 kg (290 lbs) of chicken from another saleswoman to whom he placed an order the day before. In front of the gutted poultry stand, Sopheak looks back on his journey. He is waiting for his sister Sina and his brother-in-law Mok, who participate in all the videos of?Kitchen Foods, his YouTube channel.

"In 2018, I was employed in a mobile phone store in Phnom Penh, and I was looking for a way to make more money. I typed on Google "how to make money", I found a training that I took. That's how I started creating YouTube channels about my passions: boxing and movies, "he says.

But success is not there and Sopheak's accounts are closed by the platform because he did not respect the copyright of the excerpts of the videos he used in his productions.?"I was a little disappointed but I didn't give up," he continues. And then, I had the idea of making videos about the kitchen of the village where my sister and her husband live. This is how I created Kitchen Foods. ”

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He is not the only one who had this idea. Since 2017, YouTube channels of rural cuisine from developing Asian countries have begun to emerge. From Bangladesh to India, via Cambodia, all have in common to entertain their subscribers by cooking and devouring large quantities of local specialties, before redistributing the remains to the poorest.

And the sauce seems to take: the Bangladeshi channel?Grandpa Kitchen?thus totals 9.5 million subscribers and nearly one billion views, when its Indian competitor?Village Cooking Channel?is close to twenty million subscribers and accumulates more than five billion views.

Certainly, with its two hundred million views and some 570,000 subscribers, Kitchen Foods is not yet at this level. But the Cambodian chain still reports to Sopheak about the equivalent of?"10,000 euros per month, 15,000 the good months".?A real fortune in a country where the average monthly salary is about 250 euros.

The recipe for this success, Sopheak explains it in his own way:?"On YouTube, people like to watch what seems impossible to them. They are not used to seeing farmers swallow huge amounts of food. It seems unreal to them! There is also the type of dishes we cook. By watching our videos, people in the cities realize that in exchange for more comfort, they have made their existence boring. ”

The many comments left by Internet users on their channel seem to prove him right. Like the one written by "Beaut Queen" below?the video on the crocodile hunt:?"Wow! And to say that I'm going to buy food in a boring supermarket... You, you live beautiful adventures by hunting and cooking. I'm waiting for your videos every day. ”

Sopheak also claims another reason to explain the success of chains like his: the donation of food.?"Our followers really like the end of our videos because we distribute the food we cook to the villagers," he believes.?It is a way for them to participate from afar in an act of generosity.?

The final sequences thus feature inhabitants happy to be able to enjoy dishes such as a 300 kg beef cooked in curry, a sautéed giant ray or whole grilled pig heads.

"It's YouTube that pays me, thanks to the ads it places on my videos. The more views I have, the more money I receive. With this income, I give food around me to those who have less and I also help my family, "says Sopheak.

The young man specifies that he has not changed his lifestyle and guarantees that for nothing in the world he will not return to live in the city." Here, I have everything I need, "he justifies by showing around him the market stalls filled with meat, fruits and vegetables.

However, the YouTuber is worried about the future of his channel." Recently, I had a health problem. A doctor gave me a counterfeit drug and, since then, I have less energy and creativity to shoot my videos. But the worst thing is that, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the consequences on the economy, my income has fallen to about 2,000 euros per month.?

However, there is no question of lowering the quantities of ingredients used, still gargantuan (40 kg of duck, 500 kg of mangoes, 10,000 mussels, etc.):?"Even if it costs me dearly, I can't cook with less food. This would create tensions in the village.?Because in Cambodia, generation after generation, the stomachs still remember the end of the war."

Diversity: Lego Releases New Figures With Down’s Syndrome And Missing Limbs

The Telegraph (UK) reports that "Lego has unveiled a new range of figures with physical and mental disabilities, including characters with Down’s syndrome, anxiety, and missing limbs.

The new collection of Lego Friends characters is an attempt to reflect diversity and “enable more children to feel represented during play”.

Lego Friends includes not just mini figures but also a television series.

The latest generation of toys is intended to “celebrate diverse friendships in the modern world”, said the firm, as well as open up children’s perspectives on ethnicity, mental health, and physical disabilities.

They include characters with different skin tones, physical disabilities, ADHD, and vitiligo – an autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment.

First launched in 2012, Lego Friends mini figures are about the same size as traditional Lego figures but more detailed.

“The new sets and series will feature characters with limb difference, Down’s syndrome, anxiety, vitiligo, and a dog with a wheelchair,” said the Danish company in a statement.

Tracie Chiarella, head of product for Lego Friends, added: “We understand that children want the characters they encounter to be more like the diverse personalities they meet in real life.”

Lego said its research showed that three-quarters of children feel there are not enough toys with characters that represent them. It revealed that 80 per cent of children would like there to be more toys that look like them.

Two years ago, Hasbro?dropped the “Mr” from the classic toy Mr Potato Head, which was created in 1952, in an attempt to be gender-neutral and more inclusive.

The decision was welcomed?by Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, more commonly known as Glaad, an LGBTQ advocacy group.

“Hasbro is helping kids?to simply see toys as toys, which encourages them to be their authentic selves outside of the pressures of traditional gender norms,” said Rich Ferraro, chief communications officer.

Last week, it emerged that many of?Roald Dahl’s books have been rewritten?to remove references that could be construed as offensive.

The character Augustus Gloop, from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,?is now described as “enormous” rather than “fat”. The Oompa Loompas have become gender-neutral, switching from “small men” to “small people”.

In The Twits, Mrs Twit is no longer “ugly and beastly” but just “beastly”.

The publisher of the books, Puffin,?made hundreds of changes to the original texts, making some of Dahl’s characters less grotesque."

*Please note that certain headlines and articles may have been modified or summarized to fit the newsletter's format.

If you have come across a positive headline or article in the last two weeks or are interested in contributing to future original content,?please contact me directly on LinkedIn.