Pastor Julie Green, a self-proclaimed prophet and a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, claimed in a recent video that she received a prophecy from God about “dark connections” to President Joe Biden.
In the message posted on Monday, Green said God indicated he would “expose” these connections to the White House, which she said involves “the Red Dragon” [seemingly China], Iran, Iraq, Ukraine and Canada.
Green frequently posts videos on streaming channels for her Julie Green Ministries International in which she shares messages that she claims God sends to her. Last month, she said in a video “prophecy” that the U.S. would soon suffer a major “attack” following the “persecution” of Trump.
Green has been a featured speaker at right-wing ReAwaken America events, which have also featured guests such as former Trump adviser Michael Flynn and Eric Trump, one of the former president’s sons. The younger Trump appeared on Green’s show in September, where she told him that messages from God to her indicated the Trump family is receiving God’s protection.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. A self-described prophet claimed she recently received a prophecy about “dark connections” related to Biden being revealed. Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
During her Monday message, Green spoke of a “greater weakness” in the “house you call white” and with “the one who’s sitting in a seat that doesn’t belong to him,” seemingly referring to Biden.
“I’ve told you I’ve cut the string from the puppet master and the puppet, so soon you’re about to see the puppet fall in greater ways,” she said.
The pastor then spoke of “great confusion … in the enemy’s camp” and said “he’s about to say again who’s really in charge and it’s not him.”
“For I will expose, oh yes, I will expose the tentacles that have been controlling the Biden. I will expose all the deep swamp are trying to do to you in this hour,” Green said.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House and Green via email on Thursday.
She continued by speaking of “foreign governments in foreign nations” being allowed to “infiltrate” the U.S. government. Green then further relayed the message she said was from God about exposing “every foreign entity in Washington, D.C.”
After running down the list of foreign governments such as Iran and Ukraine, Green emphasized America’s neighbor to the north.
“You will see connections to Canada. Evil dark connections with this deep state … The swamp runs far and wide,” Green said. “The roots of these nations connect in DC. I will show you each country. I will show you each government. I will show you each person. I will show you all the money.”
The message that Green said came from God then turned to the entertainment industry.
“I will show you what Hollywood has done. How they’ve had a major part in what you see in this great, evil movie that you have seen played before you like it’s real when it’s actually not.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
A Ukrainian intelligence representative on Wednesday accused Moscow officials of orchestrating the widespread circulation of false rumors that Russian President Vladimir Putin had died.
Last week, multiple Telegram channels falsely reported Putin’s death, and these messages claimed that his demise resulted in Kremlin officials scrambling to devise a succession plan. The rumors quickly spread across various social media platforms, triggering the false report to trend.
The Kremlin soon found itself responding to questions about Putin’s death, calling the rumor a “hoax,” and Putin has since made public appearances.
Andriy Yusov, representative of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), told NV Radio that Moscow officials spread the rumors in an attempt to see how the Russian public would react to the news.
Yusov said that while Putin’s death would be “good news” for Ukrainians, the rumor was actually part of Russia’s disinformation “playbook.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is pictured in Korolev, Russia, on October 26, 2023. A Kyiv official accused the Kremlin of spreading the recent false rumors that Putin had died. Photo by Getty Images
“This is sweet music for Ukrainian listeners, and it should have been good news,” Yusov told NV Radio, according to a translation by Ukrainska Pravda. “It’s an internal story that is intended for an internal Russian audience.”
He continued: “Of course, it does little to help Putin personally, because there are many supporters of conspiracy theories in Russia.”
Yusov also explained why he believes Russia would circulate such an untruth.
“The basic purpose of fake news is to look at how society reacts in terms of numbers and dynamics—whether they believed it, how they reacted, what they are ready for—and to look at the reactions of individuals, the elite and the media (even propaganda outlets),” he said.
“In this way, the empire, which is built on the work of the secret services, learns how to continue to rule.”
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment Wednesday night.
Yusov noted that such disinformation has an affect on Putin as well as on Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
“It is also an instrument of influence on Putin himself or someone like him. He is forced to react, and Peskov is forced to react and prove that this is not the case. That is, he is led down a certain corridor,” Yusov said.
The intelligence official concluded by stating: “It’s obvious that this is not the end of this story, but a particular playbook.”
Though how the Russian public reacted to the rumors is unclear, it has certainly been searching for information regarding their leader’s supposed passing.
The Russian investigative site Agentstvo reported that the search terms “dead Putin,” “dying Putin” and “Putin died” had more than 417,000 impressions on Russia’s most popular search engine, Yandex, last month. Agentstvo added that the majority of these searches were made from October 23 to October 29, coinciding with the first posts about the rumors published on Telegram.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
President Biden’s top advisers are pushing lawmakers to provide additional aid to Israel and Ukraine — but Congress remains divided. CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes reports.
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As the war enters its 616th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.
Fighting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned against expecting too much too quickly in Ukraine’s campaign to reclaim land occupied by the Russians. Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said Moscow’s forces were gearing up for new attacks in different sections of the 1,000km (600-mile) front line.
The United Nations human rights office said it had found “reasonable grounds” to conclude a missile strike that killed 59 people in a cafe in the Ukrainian village of Hroza was launched by Russia and probably involved an Iskander missile.
Russian investigators in a part of eastern Ukraine occupied by Moscow said they had detained two soldiers on suspicion of killing a family of nine people, including two children, in Volnovakha. The statement said the soldiers were from a region in Russia’s far east and claimed the murders appeared to be the result of some kind of personal conflict.
A Russian-installed court in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region sentenced three Ukrainian soldiers captured after last year’s siege of the port city of Mariupol to life imprisonment on a range of crimes including murder and the “cruel treatment” of civilians.
The FSB, Russia’s federal security agency, arrested a 46-year-old Russian man as an alleged accomplice in the shooting of Moscow-backed separatist leader and former Ukrainian MP Oleg Tsaryov in Crimea, the territory annexed by Russia in 2014. Moscow has accused Ukraine of attempting to kill Tsaryov. Media reports say the former MP had been identified as a potential leader of any Russian puppet government in Kyiv.
People mourn the dozens killed in Hroza earlier this month after a missile hit a cafe in the small village [File: Alex Babenko/AP Photo]
Politics and diplomacy
Ramesh Rajasingham, director of coordination for the UN’s humanitarian office, told the Security Council that some 18 million people – 40 percent of Ukraine’s population – were in need of some form of humanitarian assistance and that the winter, when temperatures fall below freezing, would make the situation worse. He added that the UN was particularly concerned for the 4 million people living in eastern areas controlled by Russia who had been largely cut off from aid. The UN had requested $3.9bn to support humanitarian needs in Ukraine this year but is facing a funding shortfall of about $1.9bn.
Speaking at the Senate Appropriations Committee on the United States President Joe Biden’s request for $106bn in funding that includes support for Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia would be successful in its invasion unless the US maintained its support for Kyiv. “If we pull the rug out from under them now, Putin will only get stronger and he will be successful in doing what he wants to do,” Austin told the hearing.
A Russian court denied an appeal by US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva against her continued detention on charges of allegedly failing to register as a “foreign agent”. Kurmasheva, who works for the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was detained in the central city of Kazan earlier this month after she visited family. A court ruled last week she should remain in pre-trial detention until at least December 5.
French prosecutors said they had detained Russian tycoon Alexey Kuzmichev for questioning in France in connection with alleged tax evasion, money laundering and for violating international sanctions. French customs agents last year seized Kuzmichev’s 27-metre (88 ft) yacht as part of sanctions by the European Union for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Interfaith leaders from Ukraine hold a moment of silence in remembrance of Ukrainians killed in the ongoing war with Russia [Stephanie Scarbrough/AP Photo]
A delegation of religious leaders from several faiths in Ukraine arrived in the US to plead for continued support against Russia and to ease concerns about religious freedom as parliament considers legislation to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church because of its ties to the Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow, who has strongly supported the Russian invasion.
Weapons
The US Department of Homeland Security arrested three Russians in New York for allegedly shipping electronic components for weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine. The three are accused of evading sanctions to dispatch, over the course of a year, “over 300 shipments of restricted items, valued at approximately $10 million, to the Russian battlefield,” Special Agent Ivan Arvelo said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a New York resident and two Canadian citizens with exporting millions of dollars in technology to Russia, including components allegedly used in military gear seized in Ukraine.
In a criminal complaint, the Department of Justice alleged that Salimdzhon Nasriddinov, 52, of Brooklyn; Nikolay Goltsev, 37, and Kristina Puzyreva, 32, both of Montreal, Canada, participated in a global procurement scheme on behalf of sanctioned Russian entities, including companies linked to the country’s military.
The shipments included semiconductors, integrated circuits and other dual-use electronic components later found in Russian weapons and signal intelligence equipment in Ukraine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Nasriddinov, a dual citizen of Russia and Tajikistan, was arrested on Tuesday in Brooklyn. Goltsev and Puzyreva were arrested at a hotel in Manhattan during a trip to New York to visit Nasriddinov, according to prosecutors. The three were charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and to commit wire fraud.
“As alleged, the defendants evaded sanctions, shipping equipment to Russia vital for their precision-guided weapons systems, some of which has been used on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in a statement announcing the charges.
The three defendants were aware that the equipment being shipped to Russia had military uses, the complaint states. Attorneys for Nasriddinov, Goltsev and Puzyreva could not immediately be identified.
The U.S. expanded existing sanctions and export controls on Russia after the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. At the time, Russia already faced sanctions linked to its 2014 incursion into Ukraine, use of chemical weapons and election interference.
According to the Justice Department’s complaint, Goltsev used aliases such as “Nick Stevens” or “Gio Ross” to take orders from Russian defense and other entities. He and Nasriddinov allegedly bought electronic components from U.S. companies and then arranged for the items to be sent to several locations in Brooklyn. Prosecutors said the two then shipped the equipment to other countries, including Turkey, Hong Kong, India, China and the United Arab Emirates, where they were rerouted to Russia.
Puzyreva is accused of overseeing bank accounts and executing financial transactions linked to the alleged scheme, which prosecutors said involved more than 300 shipments valued at $10 million.
The web3 protocol said its decision followed legal guidance from the U.S. Treasury while debunking unverified reports of restrictions on non-sanctioned countries.
Wallet Connect announced an update to which regions can access its open-source protocol used for linking blockchain wallets to decentralized apps. Russian users have been geo-blocked from the platform in line with sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The sanction came into effect on Oct. 30 and that led to restrictions on two countries – Russia and certain areas of Ukraine. Ukrainian users in other parts of the country were temporarily affected but service was subsequently restored, according to Wallet Connect’s team.
Reports making the rounds prior to the announcement said Wallet Connect also blocked a number of non-sanctioned countries. The protocol refuted such claims and apologized to general users for possible inconveniences.
Dear WalletConnect community,
In light of the latest legal and OFAC guidance, WalletConnect has restricted the availability of the WalletConnect Protocol in Russia. Certain regions of Ukraine were temporarily impacted; service has since resumed.
U.S. sanctions have cracked down on crypto gateways in Russia and the Middle East amid ongoing geopolitical tension between nations. The Department of Treasury and U.S. policymakers look to implement legislation they say would combat terror and war financing via digital assets.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) submitted new laws for consideration to boost oversight on crypto mixing services. Senator Elizabeth Warren also marshaled 20 percent of Congress to push new laws targeting crypto terror fundraising.
Warren’s sole citation for her letter came from a Wall Street Journal article on Hamas and crypto, which has since been debunked by multiple blockchain data providers, such as Elliptic and Chainlysis.
Federal prosecutors allege that these dozens of boxes, recovered from defendant Nasriddinov’s residence in Brooklyn, contained thousands of semiconductors and other electronic components.
Source: DOJ
Three people were arrested in New York City on Tuesday on charges of illegally smuggling millions of dollars’ worth of electronics to Russia in order to aid the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn accused Nikolay Goltsev, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov and Kristina Puzyreva of evading sanctions in order to send Russia equipment used in their precision-guided missile systems.
Some of that equipment “has been used on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a press release.
The defendants allegedly dispatched hundreds of shipments of restricted items, worth nearly $7.2 million, to Russia over the course of a year.
Nasriddinov, 52, a dual national of Russia and Tajikistan, was arrested in Brooklyn, where he resides. Goltsev, 37, and 32-year-old Puzyreva, dual Russian-Canadian nationals who live in Montreal, were arrested in Manhattan.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to detain the defendants pending trial, arguing that they each pose a “serious flight risk.”
The complaint alleges that the defendants used two corporate entities to source and purchase dual-use electronics from U.S. manufacturers and distributors, and then secretly export them to Russia.
Some of the electronic components and integrated circuits were designated as being “of the highest concern due to their critical role in the production of advanced Russian precision-guided weapons systems,” according to the complaint.
Goltsev used aliases, including “Nick Stevens,” as part of his efforts to procure items from the U.S. entities, prosecutors said. Those items were sent to various locations in Brooklyn, then shipped to intermediary corporations in countries including Turkey, Hong Kong, India, China and the United Arab Emirates, before finally being re-routed to Russia, according to the prosecutors.
The defendants knew that the electronics had military application, the prosecutors alleged, citing messages sent between Goltsev and Nasriddinov.
The 23-page document lists four unnamed co-conspirators, who are described as Russian nationals living in Russia.
Some of the same types of components were found in Russian weapons platforms and signals intelligence equipment that were seized in Ukraine, prosecutors alleged.
They specified that that equipment includes the Torn-MDM radio reconnaissance complex, the RB-301B “Borisoglebsk-2” electronic warfare complex, the Vitebsk L370 airborne counter missile system, Ka-52 helicopters, the Izdeliye 305E light multi-purpose guided missile, Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicles and T-72B3 battle tanks.
“With these defendants in U.S. custody, we have disrupted a sophisticated procurement network allegedly used to procure critical technologies for the Russian military’s advanced weapons systems,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
The U.S. government ramped up its export controls on Russia, restricting its access to tech and other key items, in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
The Kremlin fired the head of TASS last summer in punishment for the Russian state-run news agency’s coverage of the Wagner mercenary group’s aborted mutiny, the Moscow Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation.
Sergei Mikhailov was dismissed as general director of TASS in early July, 10 days after Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin staged an attempted coup against Russian military leaders.
Mikhailov was fired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, who called it a voluntary resignation, the newspaper said. Chernyshenko announced the appointment of a new general director chosen by the Kremlin: Andrei Kondrashov from state-run VGTRK and a former election spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin, which keeps tight control on state and private media, was unhappy with what it saw as an insufficient level of pro-Kremlin coverage by TASS, the Moscow Times reported, citing sources at TASS and in the Russian government. TASS was the first media to publish photos of Wagner fighters on June 24 taking the the city center of Rostov-on-Don and blockading the Southern Military District headquarters, a command center for the war in Ukraine, the newspaper said.
“TASS covered all this in too much detail and promptly. Some kind of insanity has happened to them. They have forgotten that their main task is not to report the news. It’s to create an ideologically correct narrative for the Kremlin,” the Moscow Times quoted an unnamed Russian government official as saying.
Mikhailov did not respond to a question from the newspaper about the reasons for his resignation.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Mikhailov was sacked. “No, it’s all wrong,” the newspaper quoted Peskov as saying when asked if Mikhailov was fired. Peskov not respond to a question about why Mikhailov resigned, the paper said.
World leaders should stick by Ukraine, despite the additional demands of dealing with the Israel-Hamas war, the Ukrainian president’s powerful chief of staff told POLITICO in an interview from Kyiv.
Andrii Yermak, head of the office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also pushed back hard on the idea, voiced last week by Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni in a call with Russian pranksters, that many are growing tired of the war in Ukraine. On Friday Ukraine faced its biggest barrage of drone attacks in weeks on critical infrastructure in the south and west of the country.
Meloni said in the prank call — in which she thought she was speaking to the president of the African Union — that there was “a lot of fatigue … from all sides,” and that “everyone understands that we need a way out.”
Yermak retorted: “Even if there are people who feel this fatigue, I’m sure they don’t want to wake up in a world tomorrow where there will be less freedom and less security, and the consequences of this last for decades.” And he suggested Meloni brush up on her history.
“Think for a moment, if Britain in 1939 had felt tired of Poland, or if the U.S. … felt tired of Britain, would there be such a thing as Poland today, Britain, or Europe as we see it now? We could not afford fatigue then or now. That will repeat itself for sure if these people with ‘fatigue’ stop supporting Ukraine,” Yermak said.
A stalemate in the counteroffensive being waged by Ukraine’s army has led to predictions of a frozen conflict, as the Kremlin hopes that a changeable international situation — with the Middle East in foment and a U.S. election year ahead — will sap commitment to supporting Zelenskyy’s demand for assistance.
Yermak insisted that Ukraine “will never live in the frozen conflict mode” and warned that complaining of “war fatigue” would rebound on Western powers as much as it would on Ukraine, claiming that the narrative was being driven by a Russian propaganda push to weaken allies’ resolve as the Israel-Hamas war distracted attention in global capitals.
Testing Western unity
Fighting in Gaza and a fragmented international response to Israel’s campaign to wipe out Hamas’ operational base — which is testing the unity of Western allies — has led to concerns that support for Kyiv could wane, as the war-torn country vies with Israel for dwindling supplies of shells and more limited diplomatic bandwidth in the United States and the EU to deal with two major conflicts simultaneously.
Regarded as a key decision-maker on the Zelenskyy team and a personal friend of the president, Yermak said: “What we are hearing from [foreign] leaders and allies is that support will stay as it was” before the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.
On the need to maintain stocks of shells and other munitions via the allies in the U.S. and Europe, however, he admitted that some shortages were arising. “During the war, [there are] a lot of shortages and I think these days it is impossible to cover 100 percent of your troops or get everything that you need because war is war — you’re always falling short of something. This is why we want to increase domestic production of munitions, with the support of our allies.”
Upcoming talks in the U.S. on ramping up cooperation to enhance Ukraine’s defense capability and enable it to build out its air defense system would, he pledged, be “very specific and a hands-on conversation.”
Yermak admitted that some munition shortages were arising | AXEL HEIMKEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Reports of weapons intended for Ukraine surfacing in Gaza have circulated on social media in recent days, but Yermak strongly denied that armaments sent to Ukraine were ending up outside the country. “Ukraine fully controls the situation. I think this is yet another Russian fake … The bigger the lie, the easier it can be for people to believe,” he said.
Friend of Israel
Ukraine is striving to establish itself as a firm ally of Israel and Yermak penned an article for the Haaretz newspaper in the wake of the Hamas atrocities, saying “the similarities of our tragedies are not accidental.”
He cited Iran’s backing for Hamas and supply of drones and weapons to Moscow as evidence of a “pole [axis] of evil” and added: “Russia is aggressor number one. And the second after Russia is Iran. And I think these two have an interest in what is happening in the Middle East as well.”
But he also spoke of the need for a broad alliance to aid Ukraine and singled out Qatar for thanks after its mediation in secret talks to secure the release of four children taken from Russian-occupied territory and returned to Ukraine in a gesture intended to shore up Doha’s push to act as an intermediary between Moscow and Kyiv. Ukraine has identified some 20,000 children forcibly removed from its territory since the full-scale invasion in February last year.
Yermak also confirmed that the majority of drones used in the attacks on Friday on Ukrainian infrastructure were supplied by Iran. Asked if his country’s defenses could keep pace with the growing volume of airborne and drone attacks from Russia, the chief of staff said. “We are prepared to strike back and defend ourselves, but we have to keep strengthening our air defenses.”
EU report card
Ukraine’s hopes of speedy accession to full membership in the European Union rest heavily on the report card set to be published on Wednesday on the progress of Ukraine and other aspiring EU members. It could pave the way to the start of formal accession talks after Kyiv was offered candidate status in June, subject to agreements to overhaul its judiciary and deal with widespread corruption.
Asked if he expected Ukraine’s bid to start EU accession talks would begin shortly, a bullish Yermak indicated that a visit to Ukraine by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday boded well for his country’s EU ambitions.
“Yes, this is what we are expecting because we are doing everything to make it happen,” he said. “And I think that the visit of Ursula von der Leyen … is a very powerful step on that way.”
On her visit to Kyiv on Saturday, von der Leyen strongly hinted that the Commission will recommend that EU countries open accession negotiations with Ukraine. EU leaders will discuss the matter at a summit in December.
Von der Leyen’s predecessor as head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, claimed recently that Ukraine was unfit for EU membership because it was “corrupt at all levels of society.”
Asked about that allegation, a clearly irked Yermak shot back: “I don’t recall Mr. Juncker visiting Ukraine in the last couple of years. So it’s a bit strange for me to hear these words from him. … I am categorically dismissing the statement that Ukraine is very corrupt. These challenges happen all over the world, but could you please give me an example of one other country that, under conditions of this horrific war, would undertake the reforms on such a scale.”
Mikhail Filiponenko, a pro-Russian lawmaker and ex-militiaman in occupied eastern Ukraine, walked over to a car outside his house on Wednesday morning … and was promptly blown to smithereens, Russian media reported.
Ukraine’s Military Intelligence immediately claimed responsibility for the assassination.
“Yeah, it was our operation,” Andriy Cherniak, representative of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate, also known as GUR, told POLITICO in a phone conversation about the car bomb attack.
Military intelligence worked together with local Ukrainian partisans to prepare to assassinate Filiponenko, GUR said in a statement.
Filiponenko was born in Luhansk and studied in Kyiv. However, in 2014 he joined Russian-backed mercenaries who seized power and helped President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin to establish its rule over the occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine.
“He was involved in the organization of torture camps in the occupied territories of the Luhansk region, where prisoners of war and civilian hostages were subjected to inhumane torture. Filiponenko himself personally brutally tortured people,” Ukraine’s military intelligence said.
GUR revealed the exact address where Filiponenko lived in Luhansk and added that Ukraine’s spies knew where other high-profile collaborators were living in the occupied territories.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron travels on Wednesday to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where he hopes to secure uranium for his country’s nuclear plants.
The trip comes as geopolitical tensions grow with the EU’s current major suppliers, Niger and Russia.
Macron’s visit to the two countries aims to expand French influence in an area which has strong ties with Russia and is now also growing closer to China, an Elysée official said.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are respectively France’s largest and third-largest suppliers of uranium, which is burned to fuel nuclear plants.
Last summer a military junta took over Niger, which supplies 15 percent of France’s uranium needs, sparking questions as to whether the African country can continue to be a reliable source. Uncertainty has also surrounded imports of Russian uranium since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Niger raises questions, Russia could raise questions in the long term [if] the EU imposes sanctions on the nuclear sector. Macron’s visit to Central Asia helps to anticipate those concerns,” said Phuc-Vinh Nguyen, an energy expert at the Jacques Delors Institute think tank in Paris.
Russia’s nuclear sector has not been targeted by EU sanctions so far, but member countries continue to turn away from Moscow. The quantity of uranium the EU imported from Russia fell by 16 percent last year from 2021, while the amount from Kazakhstan rose by over 14 percent.
Earlier this year, Yerzhan Mukanov, CEO of the country’s state-run nuclear firm Kazatomprom, told POLITICO he was seeing increasing interest from Europe, and that Kazakhstan “intends to become a significant contributor to the European nuclear market.”
French nuclear firm Orano is active in Kazakhstan, where it has been operating uranium mines since the 1990s, and more recently in Uzbekistan. Orano President Claude Imauven is accompanying Macron on his trip along with 14 other French executives, including Luc Remont, head of French energy giant EDF.
An Elysée official said that new contracts and business partnerships will be announced during the trip, including in the energy sector.
EDF has also positioned itself to become a supplier of nuclear reactors for Kazakhstan’s first nuclear plant.
The visit comes as Brussels competes with China for influence in the region via investment programs focused on infrastructure.
Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are benefitting from Chinese investment under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, with their presidents attending a high-level meeting on the subject in Beijing in October. The EU is trying to gain influence in the two countries by involvingthem in cooperation and investment projects under its “Global Gateway” initiative, the bloc’s response to Belt and Road.
A Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine detailed the reasons behind his stance that Moscow’s military has resorted to a tactic known as a “meat assault.”
Throughout the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on Ukraine in February 2022, his military has been accused of using “meat assaults,” also known as “meat waves.” The term is jargon for infantry-led frontal assaults, which attempt to overwhelm the opposite side by sending large numbers of those regarded as essentially single-use soldiers to the front line with little regard to the death toll.
WarTranslated, an independent media project that translates materials about the war into English, shared a post describing recent meat assaults on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
A member of Ukraine’s special police team looks at debris of a residential building, destroyed following an airstrike in the front-line town of Avdiivka, Donetsk region, on April 10, 2023. A Russian soldier believed to be fighting in the Avdiivka region described Russia’s tactic of “meat assaults” in a recent social media post. Photo by GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images
The message was originally posted on Telegram by a Russian serviceman who has become a prominent military blogger under the alias Vozhak Z.
According to Vozhak Z’s Sunday Telegram post, meat assaults have been occurring recently when infantry forces are being ordered to conduct a strike “without any artillery support, without suppressing enemy firing points.”
Along with citing a lack of artillery during these operations, Vozhak Z described meat assaults being conducted side by side and thus leaving an area between regiments unsecured and open for Ukrainian attacks.
“Why is this happening? Mostly due to lack of suppression. Or the inability to properly manage them. When two regiments attack side by side, the junction between them is practically unsecured. Everyone hopes for their neighbor. Or one has tanks and artillery, and the other one doesn’t. But the order to take the fortification is there,” the serviceman wrote.
Vozhak Z said that in his location, which WarTranslated identified as the heavily contested village of Avdiivka, Russia’s military “cannot reach small arms firing distance.”
“Our tanks start work—enemy kamikazes immediately look for them. Hence the groups’ loss at the exit,” he wrote, per WarTranslated. “This is ‘meat assault’ in its most uncomplicated form. The result is zero.”
Vozhak Z’s post ended with him saying perhaps his unit is only being use to wear down Ukraine’s forces before another group of Russian soldiers will add to the assault.
“There is a distant guess that all our attacks are in order to exhaust them, and then the regulars will come in and finish the job with a powerful blow,” he wrote. “As long as our regiment does not finish while the regulars are marching.”
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank on Monday also wrote of Russia’s reliance on meat assaults. The think tank noted Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces Spokesperson Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun announced Russia is preparing units near Avdiivka to conduct meat assaults and is “training ‘Storm-Z’ assault units for future assaults without equipment.”
The ISW included Vozhak Z’s message in its daily assessment of the war, as well as wrote of Russian military blogger Svyatoslav Golikov’s claim that Storm-Z units in Avdiivka and near Bakhmut “are often destroyed after a few days of active operations and on average lose between 40-70 percent of their personnel.”
According to the think tank, Golikov said Storm-Z units are poorly trained and “are often introduced into battle before conducting reconnaissance or establishing connections with neighboring units and typically struggle to evacuate their wounded without artillery cover, leading to higher losses.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Vice President Kamala Harris answers questions on Israel, the state of the war in
Ukraine, gun violence, the 2024 election and more during a wide-ranging conversation with Bill
Whitaker.
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An influx of Russians into Georgia has stoked fears of war. Many also fear it could hurt
Georgia’s chances of gaining membership into the European Union.
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Israel has begun what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls the second stage of the war, by expanding its military ground operations in Gaza. We spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris this past week, as the Biden administration was trying to balance Israel’s need to retaliate against Hamas with the urgent need to get relief to the Palestinian people.
Vice President Harris told us she is also involved in the administration’s efforts on the war in Ukraine, as well as countless intractable problems — including gun violence — at home. but with the Middle East on a razor’s edge, we started our conversation there.
Bill Whitaker: How close is this to becoming a regional conflict that could draw in U.S. troops?
Kamala Harris: We have absolutely no intention nor do we have any plans to send combat troops into Israel or Gaza, period.
Vice President Harris told us the U.S. is not telling Israel what to do but is providing advice, equipment and diplomatic support.
Kamala Harris: A terrorist organization, Hamas, slaughtered hundreds of young people at a concert. By most estimates at least fourteen hundred Israelis are dead. Israel, without any question, has a right to defend itself. That being said, it is very important that there be no conflation between Hamas and the Palestinians. The Palestinians deserve equal measures of safety and security, self-determination and dignity, and we have been very clear that the rules of war must be adhered to and that there be humanitarian aid that flows.
She told us the U.S. wants to keep the conflict from escalating but that’s proving difficult. In the last two weeks, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, both proxies of Iran, have launched missiles, rockets and drones against Israel, and Iranian-backed militias have fired on U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Syria. In response, the U.S. launched airstrikes against Iranian weapons facilities in syria. If that weren’t enough of a signal to Iran and other adversaries, the Pentagon has also deployed two imposing aircraft carrier strike groups to the region.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Bill Whitaker
60 Minutes
Bill Whitaker: And what’s the message to Iran?
Kamala Harris: “Don’t.”
Bill Whitaker: As President Biden said, just, “Don’t”?
Kamala Harris: Exactly. One word. Pretty straightforward.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel, the vice president says she has spoken with President Isaac Herzog of Israel and joined President Biden on calls with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
President Joe Biden told us in a statement, this is as high-stakes and complex a situation as it gets and Kamala is my partner in all of it. He told us Harris’ advice and counsel are invaluable.
Bill Whitaker: When he was vice president, Mr. Biden famously said that he wanted to be the last person in the room with President Obama. Do you have that relationship with President Biden?
Kamala Harris: I do.
Bill Whitaker: You do–
Kamala Harris: I do. And– and I take that responsibility quite seriously.
Bill Whitaker: How often do you meet with him?
Kamala Harris: Multiple times a day, quite often, unless he or I are traveling.
Kamala Harris: We are as committed to Ukraine as we’ve always been to authorize additional aid to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression. That is not gonna waver.
Bill Whitaker: Does this war in the Middle East put Ukraine on a back burner?
Kamala Harris: Not for us, no. It does not put us-, put them on a back burner at all.
Vice President Harris has visited 19 countries and met with more than 100 world leaders. But lately, she has been the administration’s point person on domestic priorities – traveling the country talking up the Democrats’ key issues before the 2024 election … issues she hopes will fire up the base but are bound to inflame the GOP.
She went to North Carolina to mark the anniversary of the Supreme court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Kamala Harris: How dare they attack our fundamental rights. How dare they attack our freedom.
In Virginia it was guns …
Kamala Harris: Our nation is being torn apart by gun violence.
We joined the vice president and second gentleman Doug Emhoff on Air Force Two for a trip to Las Vegas. It was five days after the terror attack on Israel.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff
60 Minutes
Kamala Harris: Welcome onboard.
Bill Whitaker: Thank you very, very much.
Kamala Harris: Welcome onboard.
While in the air the vice president joined a secure video call with the president and their national security teams to discuss measures to keep the homeland safe. Once on the ground in Las Vegas, Vice President Harris went to the College of Southern Nevada, the eighth stop on her “Fight for our Freedoms” college tour.
Kamala Harris: Because you voted, Joe Biden is president of the United States and I am vice president of the United States. Because you voted.
But nationally the Biden- Harris administration is not generating the kind of enthusiasm she’s seeing on her tour.
Bill Whitaker: A recent CBS poll found that at the beginning of President Biden’s term, 70% of young people, people under 30, said he was doin’ a good job. Now it’s less than 50%. Why is that? What’s going on?
Kamala Harris: If you poll how young people feel about the climate, and the warming of our planet it polls as one of their top concerns. When we talk about what we are doing with student loan debt, polls very high. The challenge that we have as an administration is we gotta let people know who brung it to ’em. (laugh) That’s our challenge. But it is not that the work we are doing is not very, very popular with a lot of people.
She blames the disconnect in part on lack of media coverage. Still, the vice president herself is not very popular now. Just 41% of adults told CBS News they approve of the job she’s doing, about the same for President Biden. We talked to her the day before the carnage in Maine, but she had told us issues like mass shootings are more important than poll numbers.
Bill Whitaker: You have a portfolio that includes gun violence, the root cause of migration. These are some of the most intractable issues facing the country.
Kamala Harris: We’ve done some of the most significant gun safety laws in 30 years. But we still need an assault weapons ban. It doesn’t have to be this way. There was an assault weapons ban at one time. It expired. Let’s renew it.
Bill Whitaker: Most Americans say that they don’t think you’re doing a good job on the border, you and the administration. The number of people trying to cross the U.S. southern border is– at an all-time high.
Kamala Harris: It’s no secret that we have a broken immigration system. Short term, we need a safe, orderly, and humane border policy. And long term, we need to invest in the root causes of migration. But the bottom line? Congress needs to act. Come on. Participate in the solution instead of political gamesmanship.
Vice President Kamala Harris
60 Minutes
If politics is a game, Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a savvy player, forging a career that has gone from one first to another. The child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, she was the first woman district attorney for San Francisco; the first woman to serve as California’s attorney general; the first woman of color elected senator from California…
Kamala Harris: So help me God.
And the first woman and woman of color to be elected vice president of the United States.
Bill Whitaker: Being in that unique position, being that “first”–
Kamala Harris: Yeah.
Bill Whitaker: Does that bring added pressure?
Kamala Harris: No doubt. No doubt. You know, my mother, she would say, “Kamala, you may be the first to do many things. Make sure you’re not the last.” And among the responsibilities that I carry and maybe impose on myself, that is one of them.
Kamala Harris: So, this was….
She showed us around the vice president’s ceremonial office…
Kamala Harris: I brought in this bust of Thurgood Marshall. And I always have him over my right shoulder.
Kamala Harris: In the drawer here…
The desk where previous vice presidents left their signatures.
Bill Whitaker: How about that?
Kamala Harris: Al Gore, Quayle–
Bill Whitaker: How about that.
Kamala Harris: Cheney, Harry Truman.
Vice President Kamala Harris
60 Minutes
Some of these men went on to become president. But Kamala Harris told us she is focused on getting the Biden-Harris ticket reelected next year. The GOP is using her low poll numbers and President Biden’s age as a battering ram and some Democrats are growing worried.
Bill Whitaker: We were talking to some Democratic donors, and they have told us that should something befall President Biden, and he is not able to run, that there would be a free for all for who would run as president. You are in the spot that that would be a natural for you to step up, but we’re hearing from donors that they would not naturally fall into line. Why is that?
Kamala Harris: Well, first of all, I’m not gonna engage in that hypothetical ’cause Joe Biden is very much alive and running for reelection. So there we are–
Bill Whitaker: But you do know. I mean, that is a concern. And– and a legitimate concern, I would say.
Kamala Harris: I hear from a lot of different people a lot of different things. But let me just tell you, I’m focused on the job. I truly am. Our democracy is on the line, Bill. And I frankly, in my head, do not have time for parlor games, when we have a president who is running for reelection. That’s it.
Kamala Harris: Joe Biden
Conventional wisdom is that most presidential elections are won or lost on the economy, and while inflation has been coming down, prices for basics, like food and shelter, remain staggeringly high.
Kamala Harris: We came into office during the height of a pandemic, record unemployment, and because of our economic policies we now are reducing inflation. We have created over 14 million new jobs. We’ve created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs. Wages are up. And so, we’ve seen great progress.
Bill Whitaker: Considering what you are laying out as your achievements, you have the current frontrunner– for the GOP, Donald Trump, facing, what, 91 criminal charges.
Kamala Harris: I’ve lost count.
Bill Whitaker: Yet, the Biden-Harris ticket is running neck and neck with Donald Trump. Why are you not 30 points ahead?
Kamala Harris: Well, I’m not– I’m not a political pundit, so I– I– I’m not gonna speak to that. But what I will say is this: When the American people are able to take a close look at election time on their options, I think the choice is gonna be clear. Bill, we’re gonna win. Let me just tell you that. We’re gonna win. And I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy. But we will win.
Bill Whitaker: You say that with such conviction.
Kamala Harris: I have no doubt. But I also have no doubt it’s gonna be a lot of work. And everyone’s gonna have to participate. This is a democracy.
Democracy – she said that word often during our interview. Despite the criticism and low poll numbers, former prosecutor Kamala Harris told us she’s prepared to trust the verdict of the American people.
Bill Whitaker: Do you have to ask yourself, “Why are people seeming not to hear our message?”
Kamala Harris: I look at it more as let’s keep gettin’ out there. And, as with any election, we gotta make our case to the American people. That’s part of our responsibility. And that’s this process. And that’s what it is. And that’s a fair process.
Produced by Marc Lieberman. Associate Producer, Cassidy McDonald. Broadcast associates, Mariah B. Campbell and Eliza Costas. Edited by Warren Lustig.
The day Russia invaded one of its neighbors, waged a bloody war and seized a fifth of that neighbor’s territory fear and shock rippled throughout the region.
We are not talking about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rather the small country of Georgia. That invasion was more than 15 years ago. Vladimir Putin’s playbook hasn’t changed much.
Today, Georgia – which shares a 556-mile border with Russia – is still trying to remove the grip of the Kremlin.
Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Georgia submitted an application to become part of the European Union with hopes of gaining a Western insurance policy to protect it.
Tonight, you will hear from the president of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili. The daughter of Georgian refugees, raised in Paris, she says that Vladmir Putin has launched a quiet invasion of Georgia in an attempt to extend Russia’s reach.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The war in Ukraine is now moving into its third year. How is the war there impacting life here?
President Zourabichvili of Georgia
60 Minutes
President Salome Zourabichvili: It is, of course, a reminder of everything that this country has gone through. And of the fact that it’s always an immediate danger and threat. It’s already part of the reality that Russia is testing the ground.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You think the Russians are testing the ground right now in Georgia?
President Salome Zourabichvili: Right now.
Sharyn Alfonsi: How so?
President Salome Zourabichvili: Here their way, their easy way, is the hybrid war.
A hybrid war that has included online and televised disinformation campaigns and anti-Western propaganda pumped into Georgia – a favorite tactic of the Kremlin.
Georgians have seen it before. In 2008, three weeks before Russia launched its first airstrike in Georgia, Moscow hit the country with a series of cyberattacks.
The five-day, bloody battle that followed ended with Russia seizing 10% of Georgia’s land. President Zourabichvili says the mostly muted international reaction to that war laid the groundwork for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin’s plan to bring as many of the former Soviet Republics back into the Russian fold.
Today, a fifth of Georgia is occupied by the Russian military and an estimated 8,000 Russian troops are inside the Georgian border.
We traveled with Georgian security forces 37 miles outside the capital of Tbilisi into the tiny village of Khurvaleti. Today, it is a rural no-man’s land.
Across a rickety bridge, we found an abandoned stretch of farmland… choked off by barbed wire, warning signs to stay out and a defiant 87-year-old – Valya Vanishvili.
Valya Vanishvili (translation): The Russians have told me ‘This is our land.” And I said, “No, your land is in Russia. This is our land, not yours. You have no rights here.”
Sharyn Alfonsi: How long have you been surrounded by the barbed wire?
Valya Vanishvili (translation): For 15 years.
Valya Vanishvili lives in an area cut off by barbed wire. She relies on others to bring her food.
60 Minutes
In 2008 her land was seized by Russian troops. The grandmother of four still refuses to surrender her home.
Cut off from family, she relies on outsiders and a stick to deliver food and the medicine she needs. she whispered to us, that the Russians were watching us…from over that hill.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Are you afraid of the Russians?
Valya Vanishvili (translation): Yes, I’m afraid of them. What if they take me and detain me? Nobody can help me. I’m alone. When it’s only couple of them, I can always answer them and fight back. But when it’s a lot of them, there’s nothing I can do.
Georgia is bordered on the north by Russia, the east by Azerbaijan and the south by Armenia and Turkey. The bridge between the Black and Caspian sea – an important route for natural gas and oil.
High up in the mountains of Georgia, we saw another reason the small country of nearly 4 million is crucial to the Kremlin.
A long line of trucks, many of them carrying European cargo across the border into Russia. United Nations data shows that since the war began everything from cars to chemicals have rolled into Russia through Georgia – some in violation of Western sanctions – a lifeline for Putin’s regime.
Extending for miles and arriving in waves, first at the beginning of the Ukraine war in 2022 and again last September when fighting-age men fled Russia’s mandated military service.
There are long lines of cargo trucks at the border between Russia and Georgia.
60 Minutes
But some Georgians worry Putin loyalists could be entering the country too, laying the groundwork for Russia’s next move.
When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, he said it was to, among other things, protect the Russians living there. President Zourabichvili fears Putin could launch a similar campaign in Georgia.
Since the war, Georgia has become home to 100,000 Russians.
President Salome Zourabichvili: It’s very unnerving when in your own country you have people that are talking the language of the enemy. And that believe that they’re at home.
Sharyn Alfonsi: The Russians believe that they are at home.
President Salome Zourabichvili: They’re behaving and believing that they are very much at home. So there is a fine line. And that line has to be kept so that we do not have incidents in the future that would allow Russia to use their favorite doctrine of protecting Russian speaking citizens.
Sharyn Alfonsi: So why doesn’t Georgia just say, “no more Russians through our border”–
President Salome Zourabichvili: That is a question for the authorities.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Aren’t you the authority?
President Salome Zourabichvili: No. I don’t have the executive powers, un– unfortunately.
The executive power to control Georgia’s borders – is squarely in the hands of its prime minister – Irakli Garibashvili.
Publicly, he’s said that he supports the country’s bid to move away from neighboring Russia and join the European Union. But his actions and inactions tell a different story.
Since the Ukraine invasion, Prime Minister Garibashvili agreed to resume flights between Tbilisi and Moscow for the first time in almost five years. He’s also failed to adopt strong sanctions against Russia.
Critics of the prime minister accuse him of being in the pocket of a Georgian oligarch, Bidzina Ivanshivilli, a billionaire who helped get him elected.
The 67-year-old oligarch made his fortune in Russia and served a brief stint as Georgia’s prime minister. His $50 million home looms over Tbilisi, a reminder of his wealth and power.
Last summer, European lawmakers called for sanctions against the oligarch for his quote, “links to the Kremlin” – a connection that could undermine Georgia’s EU bid.
Ana Tavadze and Dachi Imedadze, members of Georgia’s Shame Movement
60 Minutes
Ana Tavadze: We’re going in with a government that’s completely corrupt, a government that’s pro-Russian, clearly anti-Western, clearly does not really care about what the majority of the population wants and needs.
Ana Tavadze and Dachi Imedadze are members of the Shame Movement – a group with thousands of young followers working towards Georgia’s entry into the European Union.
Ana Tavadze: If Russia wins, it means loss of freedom, loss of everything that we fought for in the past 30 years basically. It’s a fight for values, it’s a fight for where you want to stand in this big fight for democracy.
Dachi Imedadze: As soon as the West in any form, be it the U.S. partnership, be it the European Union, is not represented in this country, Russia will fill the void right away.
They say the influx of Russians is already changing the face of Georgia.
Ana Tavadze: What are they doing, if we look at it? They’re buying apartments. They’re buying private property. They are opening up businesses. Their actions changed– Georgian economy.
Dachi Imedadze: The Russians are buying apartments here in every 33 minutes. They’re purchasing a piece of land in every 27 minutes. And they’re registering a business in every 26 minutes. So, I think we are on the brink of very dangerous situation here in Georgia.
According to public records, Russians have registered 21,000 businesses in Georgia over the last 18 months and launched five new Russian-only schools, none of which are licensed by Georgia’s department of education.
Russians have driven rent up nearly 130%, prices for everything from food to cars have gone up 7%. over 100,000 Georgians have left the country because many of them can’t afford to live here anymore.
Sharyn Alfonsi: I’ve heard this described as a quiet invasion.
Dachi Imedadze: Quiet invasion, yeah. There is a risk of the economic diversions. There is a risk of military intervention. And there’s a risk of– Georgia’s statehood being destroyed.
Emmanuil Lisnif, George Smorgulenko and Pavel Bakhadov don’t look like much of a threat.
All Russians in their twenties, they fled their country for fear of being drafted or imprisoned for speaking out against Putin.
George Smorgulenko, Emmanuil Lisnif and Pavel Bakhadov are all Russians living in Georgia.
60 Minutes
They now live in Georgia and work at this Russian-owned comedy club in Tbilisi.
Emmanuil Lisnif: I try and said ‘I’m against the war in Russia. I was beaten. and after that going to prison three times.’
Sharyn Alfonsi: So three times you went to jail?
Emmanuil Lisnif: Yes, yes three times.
Pavel Bakhadov: I believe and I know that Russians actually against the war.
Sharyn Alfonsi: You think that most Russians are against the war?
Emmanuil Lisnif: Yeah, just scared, really scared.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Have any of you had any aggression towards you because you’re Russian?
Pavel Bakhadov: Actually I have a big writing on the wall. It’s the biggest thing I see from my window, just big ‘Russians go home.’
There is no subtlety in spray paint… anti-Russian graffiti blankets the city along with support for Ukraine.
On crumbling walls, the Georgian flag is joined with those of the European Union, the U.S. and NATO.
Over 80% of the Georgian public backs entry into the EU, as does Georgian President Zourabichvili. But her position, has become increasingly ceremonial as the country moves toward a parliamentary government.
After she went to Europe to try and pave the way for Georgia’s EU bid, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili accused her of violating the constitution, banned her from traveling to Europe, and tried but failed to impeach her.
President Zourabichvili has defiantly continued to fly to Europe to meet with leaders on her own dime.
Sharyn Alfonsi: It doesn’t seem like the prime minister is interested in joining the EU.
President Salome Zourabichvili: Well, that’s a question that the whole population is asking, whether they really want it or– whether it’s lip service.
Sharyn Alfonsi: This is a critical time. Do you feel like the West, particularly the U.S., has been responsive enough and supportive enough of Georgia in this moment?
President Salome Zourabichvili: I don’t think so. And I will take one concrete example. I’ve been a president now for five years. And I’ve not managed– to have any form of meeting at my level, which would be the president or the vice president even through a phone call.– I understand that there are more urgent issues. But I think that some more public recognition is needed.
Sharyn Alfonsi: Recognition of?
President Salome Zourabichvili: Of the fact that United States is supporting our candidate status within the European Union. I know that is the language that the U.S. has with our European partners, but that being repeated by the highest level would be meaningful for the Georgian population.
The EU has laid out a list of requirements for Georgia to become a candidate for membership. The conditions include tackling corruption and lessening the economic and political influence of domestic oligarchs. A decision is expected by the end of the year.
Sharyn Alfonsi: What happens to Georgia if the EU denies the bid?
President Salome Zourabichvili: It will be a big victory for Russia.
A victory Valya Vanishvili refuses to give them. Eighty seven years old, she says she is holding her ground, for herself and for Georgia.
Produced by Ashley Velie. Associate producer, Jennifer Dozor. Broadcast associate, Erin DuCharme. Edited by Peter M. Berman.
At 2:45am, we head to the rendezvous point where Stepan, our military liaison officer, will meet us. We will be taken to a mortar position before heading to the start line of an assault, a couple of kilometres away.
The checkpoints are more suspicious of us as we are the only ones travelling in the dark. We are pulled over by the police and the driver, Denis, and the fixer, Dimi, are questioned. Our embed is with the military and in general the two organisations don’t get on. Much discussion, checking of papers and phone calls ensue. The police are angry they weren’t informed and make us wait, saying the army has no authority here.
Finally cleared to pass, we arrive at the rendezvous location, don our body armour and tramp off in the dark. Luke, our security consultant, tells us to stay in a straight line – no deviation due to mines. The path has been marked by shreds of white plastic tied to trees. Once at the mortar position, we will remain there for 20 minutes before moving again. Maybe. Things have a habit of changing quickly. I could really do with a coffee.
Al Jazeera correspondent Zein watches videos of his little girl while we wait to move forward. We are all quiet. We drive in the dark for a while, pale predawn light on the horizon. This is the road that leads directly to Robotyne, only recently back in Ukrainian hands. The bark of artillery is more insistent now, accompanied by heavy mortars. It starts to get light.
The distant booming echoes of the artillery sound like giants slamming doors – the vast scale of it doesn’t feel human.
A quick interview with the commander is punctuated by nearby blasts and warnings that Russian jets are dropping KAB 250 and 500s, precision-guided bombs.
We’ve filmed enough, no need to stay any longer. We head back. The car speeds up to avoid the attention of Russian spotter drones.
We pull back to Orikhiv where we were a few days ago. Driving back through the wrecked town, we pass armoured personnel carriers crammed with soldiers on the roof. More military vehicles are gathered under trees, hiding from the spotters. The sky grows grey and it starts to rain.
Orikhiv now behind us, we start to slow down. The houses are intact, normal programming has resumed and off comes the body armour. Our clothes, soaked with sweat, suddenly feel cold. We think about breakfast and coffee. It starts to rain heavily.
We pull over and chat but receive a call with an offer to meet some of the medics who have been pulling shifts at the local first aid station. The body armour goes back on with minor grumbling.
We climb into yet another vehicle. At the aid station, we speak to medics – all are exhausted, some are asleep in their bunks, others offer us chairs in the cramped bunker. Our selfish thoughts of food are forgotten as they share what they’ve seen, what they’ve witnessed, what they could and could not do, who they could and could not save. All spoken matter of factly, no emotions involved. That will come later.
The ‘Rhapsody of the Seas’ cruise liner carrying US citizens leaves the Israeli port of Haifa to be evacuated to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus on October 16, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Aris Messinis | AFP | Getty Images
Some of the world’s most well-known companies are already seeing the Israel-Hamas war weighing on operations.
On Oct. 7, militant group Hamas struck Israeli towns in a surprise attack and took more than 200 hostages. More than 7,000 people have been killed in Gaza, per Palestinian health officials, while the Israeli Defense Forces said more than 1,400 have been killed in the country.
Corporations that do business or have operations in the region have already begun seeing the war change their financial outlooks as the unrest weighs on everything from advertising dollars to tourism to supply chains. These early admissions come as world leaders grow increasingly concerned that the conflict will further intensify, with international calls for a cease-fire being rejected.
United Airlines said fourth-quarter performance could vary depending on the length of flight suspensions in Tel Aviv. Its updated range for adjusted earnings per share came in below analysts’ forecasts.
“We have unmatched geographic diversity with a large domestic network complemented by the largest long-haul international network and both are solidly profitable,” CEO Scott Kirby said earlier this month. “While this is a great attribute, it does create some short-term risk and volatility as we’re seeing right now with the transitory hit to margins this quarter as a result of the tragedy in Israel.”
Across the travel industry, the war is on the mind of corporate leaders. Plane-maker Boeing said in a regulatory filling that the conflict could potentially affect certain suppliers, in addition to airlines.
About 1.5% of Royal Caribbean capacity in the fourth quarter had planned to visit Israel, CEO Jason Liberty said on the cruise line’s call on Thursday. A few of the adjusted sailings that were previously expected have home ports in Haifa, a city in the northern region of the country.
The company also offered free use of its Rhapsody of the Seas vessel to the U.S. government to aid in the evacuation of Americans from Israel. Between the changed itineraries and use of the ship, the company estimated it would have an impact of 5 cents per share on its earnings. The company expects to see between $6.58 and $6.63 in adjusted earnings per share for the year.
El Al Airlines airplane flying on February 2023.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
“I would … like to recognize the incredible effort from our shoreside teams and crew on board Rhapsody of the Seas who have been working tirelessly with the U.S. Department of State to help safely evacuate Americans from Israel,” Liberty said. “My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all involved.”
Still, Liberty said the cruise line’s customer base is sticky, so it may become more of a question of where they are going to travel rather than if they are going to cancel their plans.
“They’re going to go somewhere with us,” he said. “That’s what we’re focused on making sure they’re doing.”
Technology companies were among those seeing the conflict affect the workforce, advertising spending and supply chains.
Snap said in its latest earnings release that it saw pauses in spending from a “large number of primarily brand-oriented advertising campaigns” immediately after the war began. That has weighed on revenue quarter to date.
While the company said some of the campaigns that initially paused have now resumed, the company has also seen others that didn’t originally stop advertising now pause. Snap said it would be “imprudent” to offer formal guidance on what to expect for the current quarter “due to the unpredictable nature of war.”
Meta finance chief Susan Li said the Facebook and Instagram parent has seen softer advertising spending so far in the quarter, correlating in timeline with the start of the conflict. Li noted that it isn’t necessarily due to any one event, but cooler spending has aligned in the past with the start of conflicts such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.
“This is something that we’re continuing to monitor,” Li told analysts during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday. “We’ve reflected the latest trends and advertiser reaction that we’ve seen into our Q4 outlook — which, again, we think reflects the greater uncertainty and volatility in the landscape ahead.”
Align Technology is expecting increased headwinds from the uncertainty and potential supply chain issues tied to the conflict, according to Chief Financial Officer John Morici. He said the fourth-quarter operating margin, when adjusted for generally accepted accounting principles, should be down from the prior quarter as the company offers severance to adjust to headcount changes in this situation.
Multiple corporations including Aon and West Pharmaceutical noted a continued focus on supporting employees and their family members who live and work in the region. Israel is known in part for its vibrant startup and technology scene, with entrepreneurs now wondering how to push forward in the new normal, especially as citizens get called to serve in reserve units.
ServiceNow CEO William McDermott said during the company’s call with analysts on Wednesday that employee Shlomi Sividia was among those murdered at the Supernova Music Festival. He said Sividia was “highly respected, admired and a good friend to many.”
“We stand in solidarity with our team and with their families. Terrorism has caused the unfathomable humanitarian crisis that now engulfs millions of people in Israel and Gaza,” McDermott said. “Our hearts pray for the innocent on all sides. Even with optimism in short supply, we choose to honor the dream of a peaceful and prosperous future for the Middle East region.”
Companies specializing in defense have also been on alert as another international conflict breaks out.
General Dynamics, the biggest U.S. artillery shell producer, had already been ramping up artillery production to meet needs amid the war in Ukraine, according to finance chief Jason Aiken. Now, the company is working to increase production to as high as 100,000 units per month, up from 14,000.
“I think the Israel situation is only going to put upward pressure on that demand,” Aiken said during General Dynamics’ Wednesday earnings call.
— CNBC’s Robert Hum, Morgan Brennan and Leslie Josephs contributed reporting.
Russian military authorities have “likely coerced” Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) into fighting for their side in Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank.
In a Friday assessment of the war in Ukraine, the ISW said the creation of this “volunteer” formation by Russia “would constitute an apparent violation of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War.”
The ISW said the battalion’s creation was documented on Friday by numerous Russian state-owned media outlets. RIA Novosti, one of the largest Kremlin-backed news outlets, said the battalion was formed from former military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who entered service in the Russian military after taking an oath. The fighters are currently training and will serve on the front line in Ukraine, RIA Novosti reported.
Around 70 Ukrainian POWs from various penal colonies have reportedly enlisted in what is known as the “Bogdan Khmelnitsky” battalion. According to the ISW, these Ukrainian servicemen were coerced into volunteering for “recruitment” into Russia’s military.
Volunteers have a military training in Rostov on December 6, 2022, amid the ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine. The Institute for the Study of War said Russia has likely coerced Ukrainian POWs into signing up to fight for Russia’s military in Ukraine. STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images
In detailing how Russia coercing POWs into its forces could violate the Geneva Convention, the ISW wrote that the international agreement states that “no prisoner of war may at any time be sent to or detained in areas where he may be exposed to the fire of the combat zone” and shall not “be employed on labor which is of an unhealthy or dangerous nature.”
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment.
The alleged move to force Ukrainians to fight in the Russian armed forces comes as Moscow continues to suffer heavy casualties in the war Russian President Vladimir Putin launched on Ukraine in February 2022.
Multiple reports have detailed how Putin’s troops reportedly suffer from low morale. The ISW wrote in an August assessment that the morale of Russian troops on the front line had been diminished as Kyiv’s forces continued to succeed on the battleground. The situation was said to be especially pronounced in the south of Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces were conducting many counteroffensive operations at that time.
The ISW wrote that Ukrainian strikes on Russian rear areas were “demonstrably degrading” the morale of Russian forces in Ukraine, and this “could threaten the stability of Russian defenses on multiple critical areas of the front.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine confirmed earlier this week that its armed forces had recently created a battalion made up entirely of Russian citizens who traveled to Ukraine to fight against Putin’s forces.
Volunteer groups of Russian soldiers, such as the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, have already been fighting in Ukraine alongside Kyiv’s forces, but this newly-formed “Siberian Battalion” is the first known unit of Russians that is part of the formal Ukrainian army.
“We can confirm the information about the creation of the Siberian battalion, which operates in the ranks of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Andriy Yusov, representative of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), told the Kyiv Post.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Jane Chen is racing against the clock, again. She knows well how every minute that passes is crucial for a new life that emerges prematurely into the world in the most vulnerable of circumstances — in the midst of war, in the aftermath of a natural disaster or in a remote village far away from a medical center.
Embrace, based in San Francisco, California, makes low-cost portable baby incubators that don’t require a stable electricity supply.
The Embrace incubator resembles a sleeping bag, but for a baby. It’s a three-part system consisting of an infant sleeping bag, a removable and reusable pouch filled with a wax-likephase-change material which maintains a constant temperature of 98 degrees F for up to eight hours at a stretch when heated, and a heater to reheat the pouch when it cools.
Chen said the pouch requires just a 30-minute charge to be fully ready for reuse. “This is really ideal for settings that have intermittent access to electricity, which is a lot of places where we work in the world,” she said.
The stats are startling to Chen, who is bracing for a swell of need there. She’s learned how access to incubators becomes critical in conflict areas through the organization’s efforts to donate 3,000 Embrace incubators with the help of UNICEF to doctors and hospitals in Ukraine where a war with Russia rages on. The nonprofit also sent the devices to Turkey and Syria after devastating earthquakes there earlier this year.
Medical experts point to elevated stress as a potentially serious factor that could trigger preterm deliveries in these situations.
“There’s been plenty of data that show stress not only causes preterm birth but also low-birth-weight,” said Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, an obstetrician-gynecologist and associate professor with Ochsner Health in New Orleans, Louisiana
In general, babies born preterm or before 37 weeks, have difficulty maintaining their body temperature, said Bell. “Specifically, if we are speaking of disasters…. in my own experience of being here during [Hurricane] Katrina, in those very stressful situations, we have seen an uptick during those times in preterm birth and low birth weight,” she said.
Because preterm and low-birth-weight babies don’t have as much body fat, it’s harder for them to maintain their body temperature, which for a healthy baby is between 96.8 and 99.5 degrees F, she said. “The lower it is below that, the more oxygen and energy they need to stay warm. So they would have use even more energy.”
In both cases of preterm and low-birth-weight infants, quick and constant access to an incubator is vital.
In Ukraine, Chen said doctors have indicated that preterm births are on the rise across the country at the same time that intermittent power outages have made the use of conventional incubators very challenging. Several doctors and nurses, she said, also must consistently take babies and mothers to basement shelters as bombings continue.
Dr. Halyna Masiura, a general practitioner, is experiencing this first hand at the Berezivka Primary Healthcare Center in the Odesa region of Ukraine.
“Half of the babies being born in this area need more care,” Masiura told CNN. “They are being born early and with low birth weight. When air raids happen, we all have to go into shelters.” Masiura said her staff members have been relying on donated Embrace incubators for babies born with a birth weight of 2 kg (4 lbs) and up.
In Gaza, where half of the overall population are children, access to medical aid, food, water, fuel, electricity and other normal daily necessities of life have evaporated in recent days amid sustained Israeli bombardment.
Over the weekend, after days of a complete siege of the exclave by Israel, the first trucks reported to be carrying medicine and medical supplies, food and water entered Gaza on Saturday.
For Chen, the most pressing problem is to figure out how to get the incubators to where they are most needed on the ground there. “As we did for Ukraine, we’re looking for partnerships with organizations that can get into the region effectively and also for funding,” she said. As a nonprofit, Chen said donations are sought through GoFundMe and a mix of individual donors, foundations and corporate donations.
Her team is working on a partnership with a humanitarian relief organization to respond in Gaza. “We’re also reaching out to organizations in Israel to assess the need for our incubators there,” she added.
A couple of hundred incubators are ready to immediately be sent to Israel and Gaza. Said Chen, “Depending on the need, we would go into production for more. But the big question is, can we get into those areas? We don’t want to ship products and then have them sit there.”
Linus Liang, along with Chen, was among the original team of graduate students at Stanford University who, as part of a class assignment in 2007, were given a challenge to develop a low-cost infant incubator for use in developing countries.
Liang, a software engineer who had already created and sold two gaming companies by then, was intrigued. “This class deliberately brought together people from different disciplines – law, business, medical school, engineers – to collaborate to solve world problems,” he said.
“Our challenge was that about 20 million premature and low-birth-weight babies are born globally every year,” he said. “Many of them don’t survive, or if they do, they live with terrible health conditions.”
The reasons why came down to factors such as a shortage of expensive conventional incubators or families living far away from medical centers to access quickly for their newborns.
The team formed their company in 2008 and then took a few years to engineer and produce the solution, with Liang and Chen both moving to India for a few years to get it off the ground and market test it there. Chen said the incubators, made in India, underwent rigorous testing and are CE certified, a regulatory standard that a device must meet to be approved for use in the European market and in Asia and Africa.
“We chose that route instead of seeking FDA approval because the need really is outside of the US,” said Liang. The cost per incubator is about $500, including cost of the product, training, distribution, shipping, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, said Chen. That compares to as much as $30,000 or more per conventional incubators, she said.
Chen estimates some 15,000 babies benefited from Embrace incubators in 2022.
Dr. Leah Seaman has been using Embrace incubators for three years in Zambia. Seaman is a doctor working in pediatrics for the last 12 years, including six years focusing on neonatal care at the Kapiri Mposhi District Hospital in the Central Province of Zambia.
Seaman has also been busy setting up a new specialized neonatal ward in the rural district hospital. “When I first came to Zambia, we had one old incubator that would draw a lot of power,” she said. “We often struggle with power cuts here, so even the voltage can be too low for the incubator to function well. Having enough space to set up conventional incubator was an issue as well.”
So she reached out to Chen in late 2020 after researching solutions that would work for the specific conditions in Zambia.
“In Zambia, 13% of births are premature, and that’s not even including low-birth-weight babies born at term,” she said. “We needed an effective solution.”
Embrace Global donated 15 incubators to the hospital. The new neonatal ward, set to open this month, is built around the Embrace incubator stations with Kangaroo mother care, or skin to skin contact between mother and baby.
“Last year we had 800 babies through the ward and maybe half of them used the Embrace incubator,” said Seaman. “This year we’ve had over 800 already. We haven’t asked for any conventional incubators because from 1 kg (2.2 lbs) and above, the Embrace incubator does the work.”
Because of their heavy use, Seaman said the main challenge with the incubators is making sure that the heating pad is kept warm and reheated in a timely manner. “We’ve built a mattress station where we will be teaching the new mothers how to do that,” she said.
“Why do we keep babies warm? It’s not just a nice thing. It literally does save lives,” Seaman said.
