Red alerts
Russia widens attacks in Ukraine with rising costs worldwide
At midday today, red alert sirens blared in major cities, including the capital Kyiv, as Russia signals it will widen its war on Ukraine, despite a stalled three-week campaign that’s brought punishing sanctions, accusations of war crimes, and heavy losses.
The western city of Lviv woke to sirens followed by explosions as Russia fired missiles near an airport where hundreds of thousands of refugees are sheltering in what many hope will remain a safe corridor near the Polish border. The attacks were within just miles of structures for relief work established by Americans, but aid group leaders I spoke to said it doesn’t change their work. One noted there are “credible reports of Westerners being targeted in order to discourage humanitarian assistance.”
Welcome to another installment of Globe Trot, a newsletter I launched 10 years ago that you can find again in your email box and on Substack. Share with friends and family as we explore global news, work to stay informed and to form community. The central Christian mystery, writer Flannery O’Connor reminds us, is that this life on earth “for all its horror, has been found by God to be worth dying for.”
Ukraine: Over the past 24 hours military trackers are following unusual high-level air traffic from Moscow—all inviting speculation of new escalation in the three-week conflict. It comes after a chilling speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin and warnings to the United States delivered by deputy secretary Dmitry Medvedev.
Putin has made clear he would conduct a tactical nuclear strike to prevent loss of territory and he has declared Ukraine de facto territory. A targeted nuclear strike inside Ukraine, points out Molly McKew, “would not be as some part of an escalation ladder with the West — it would be explicitly outside it. He would do it to break Ukraine, and he would do it to break us.” Read more:
Until we take control of the pacing and strategy of this war, the fears Putin creates for us are boxing us in. This has been the Russian strategy from the start.
Has enough been said about President Volodymyr Zelensky? Maybe not. Asked before the war what Putin might think of him, Zelensky told author and filmmaker Bernard-Henri Lévy, “Laughter is a weapon that is fatal to men of marble! You shall see.”
A vetted though not exhaustive list of agencies working on behalf of Ukrainian war victims is here.
Russia: A court fined Orthodox priest Ioann Burdin of the Moscow Patriarchate's Kostroma Diocese one month's average local wages for online remarks and a Sunday sermon condemning the Ukraine invasion and stressing the importance of the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”
Poland: Officials say refugees from Ukraine now top 2 million in Poland, more than the population of its capital, Warsaw. Here’s how churches in Poland are stretching to serve them.
Africa: Rising food, fuel, and fertilizer costs as a result of war in Ukraine already are affecting dozens of countries in Africa, warns a new UN report. About 15 African nations depend on Russia and Ukraine for more than half their wheat. India is stepping in to fill the gap in global wheat exports—and is on track to have its largest wheat harvest on record.
Hong Kong: Authorities blocked a noted Western watchdog website and notified Hong Kong Watch founder and long-time British human rights activist Benedict Rogers he faces fines and imprisonment unless he takes it down. Rogers says he is prepared to face the music, noting he could be tried by one of the British judges who continue to sit on Hong Kong courts.
Covid-19 cases are spiking in Europe and China, sparking fears that the United States, where cases are at an eight-month low, could be next. Hong Kong failed to adequately vaccinate its elderly, who now face an extraordinarily high death rate (1 death per 20 infections) amid one of the world’s worst outbreaks.
Iran: Two British Iranians who spent years in prison in Tehran arrived back in the United Kingdom on Thursday, a development suggesting that a revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal could be imminent.
Afghanistan: The Biden administration announced Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the more than 74,000 Afghans already in the United States—a positive step, notes National Immigration Forum executive director Ali Noorani, but not a permanent solution: “TPS is a Band-Aid that requires renewal every 18 months.”
The designation excludes thousands of Afghans, including those threatened for professional activity like journalists and doctors who worked at Western-run hospitals. Many remain in Afghanistan or neighboring countries and fear Taliban retaliation. One Afghan I spoke to, a prominent journalist, has continued to receive threats from Taliban authorities even after he fled to a neighboring country.
When in… The Amazon rainforest, deep-listen for the unique and rhythmic sounds of insects picked up by sound recordist Gordon Hempton. “This is the sound of the spinning Earth,” he says.
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