Stalin Makes a Comeback in Putin's Wartime Crackdown on Dissent
With President Vladimir Putin tightening the screws of repression as his invasion of Ukraine drags on, the Soviet dictator is making a comeback as a victorious World War II leader rather than the man responsible for the deaths of millions of his citizens. Russia's Communist Party, still the second-largest in the parliament, voted this month to press for full political rehabilitation of Stalin, who's shown flanked by children offering flowers and gratitude in the metro station sculpture unveiled in May.
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Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump withdraws US from UNESCO, again. Are any World Heritage sites in Ohio? What to know
President Donald Trump is removing the United States from UNESCO, again, as his administration labels the international agency "woke," USA TODAY reports. So what does UNESCO do? And is Ohio home to any of its World Heritage sites? Here's what to know. What is UNESCO? What does it do? UNESCO's mission is "to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity." Based in Paris, UNESCO was founded after World War II to promote peace through international cooperation in education, science and culture. One of its core missions is the World Heritage program, which protects historic and cultural sites. Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in Ohio is a UNESCO World Heritage Site In 2023, the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the first for Ohio and the 25th in the United States. The site includes the Octagon Earthworks in Newark and the Great Circle in Newark and Heath as part of eight large earthen enclosures built by ancient American Indian peoples in central and southern Ohio between about AD 1 and 400, the Dispatch reported at the time. The Octagon Earthworks includes remnants of a 2,000-year-old complex that is the largest set of geometric earthworks ever known. The other sites are the Fort Ancient Earthworks in Warren County and five sites that are part of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Ross County. There are 1,248 UNESCO World Heritage sites in 170 countries, including the pyramids in Egypt, Notre-Dame Cathedral in France and the Statue of Liberty in America. Why did Donald Trump pull the U.S. out of UNESCO? Second time president cuts ties with organization White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said UNESCO, which stands for U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, "supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November." Trump withdrew the U.S. from the organization during his first term, only to have the move reversed by President Joe Biden. The move, which goes into effect at the end of 2026, is part of an effort to pull the U.S. out of international institutions he has long criticized. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement to USA TODAY that Trump's decision to withdraw is 'regrettable' and 'contradicts the fundamental principles of multilateralism.' This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: US to withdraw from UNESCO. Are any World Heritage sites in Ohio?
Los Angeles Times
3 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Zelensky renews offer to meet with Putin as officials say Russian attacks kill a child in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday renewed his offer to meet with Russia's Vladimir Putin and negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, but hopes of progress were low as delegations prepared to hold another round of talks. Russian forces, meanwhile, pounded four Ukrainian cities in nighttime attacks that officials said killed a child. Putin has spurned Zelensky's previous offers of a face-to-face meeting to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. But the Ukrainian leader insists that lower-level delegations like the ones expected for talks in Istanbul on Wednesday don't have the political heft to stop the fighting. The sides remain far apart on how to end the war begun by Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. 'Ukraine never wanted this war, and it is Russia that must end the war that it itself started,' Zelensky said in a Telegram post. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that 'a lot of work needs to be done before having a detailed discussion on a possibility of high-level meetings,' effectively scrapping hopes of a summit any time soon. He didn't provide a date for the Istanbul talks. Ukrainian and Western officials have accused the Kremlin of stalling in talks in order for its bigger army to capture more Ukrainian land. Russia currently holds about 20% of Ukraine. Zelensky's announcement late Monday that the negotiations would take place generated little hope of progress. That is despite the Trump administration's efforts to push forward peace efforts, which have moved slowly because Putin is reluctant to budge from his demands. Peskov said that 'we have no reason to expect any magical breakthroughs, it's hardly possible in the current situation.' The previous two rounds were held in Istanbul, and Russian media reports said that the Turkish city likely would also host the meeting this time. The talks in May and June led to a series of exchanges of prisoners of war and the bodies of fallen soldiers, but produced no other agreements. Russia, meanwhile, is driving hard to break through at eastern and northeastern points on the 620-mile front line. It is also firing upwards of 700 drones a night at Ukrainian cities. Zelensky said that at the next Istanbul talks, Ukraine wants to secure the release of more prisoners from Russian captivity and the return of children Ukraine says were abducted. The Ukrainian delegation will be headed by former Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who is now the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. It will include representatives of Ukrainian intelligence, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the president's office, Zelensky said. Peskov said that 'the issue of a Ukrainian settlement is so complex that even reaching agreements on prisoner exchanges or the return of bodies is already a success.' Russian forces struck four Ukrainian cities in three regions in overnight attacks, killing a child and wounding at least 41 other people, officials said. From dusk on Monday, Russia struck the Ukrainian regions of Sumy in the northeast, Odesa in the south and eastern Kramatorsk. In Kramatorsk, a glide bomb hit an apartment building, starting a fire, according to the head of the city's military administration, Oleksandr Honcharenko. A boy born in 2015 was killed, local officials said, without giving his exact age. Five other people were reported wounded. The Sumy region came under multiple waves of attacks, the regional military administration reported. A drone hit a gas station in the town of Putyvl, wounding four people, including a 5-year-old boy, it said. A second drone strike hit the same location less than two hours later, wounding seven other people. After dark, two powerful Russian glide bombs were dropped on Sumy city, wounding 13 people, including a 6-year-old boy. According to regional authorities, five apartment buildings, two private homes and a shopping mall were damaged in the attack. The blasts shattered windows and destroyed balconies in residential buildings, acting Mayor Artem Kobzar said. Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said Tuesday that air defenses downed 35 Ukrainian long-range drones over several regions overnight, including three over the Moscow region. Novikov writes for the Associated Press.
Axios
3 hours ago
- Axios
What to know about UNESCO, the UN organization Trump is pulling the U.S. from
President Trump 's decision to withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is not a surprise — but it marks yet another drop in Washington's roller-coaster relationship with the agency. The big picture: The move mirrors the president's first term, when the U.S. departed UNESCO over alleged anti-Israel bias, and deepens the administration's broader retreat from multilateral bodies deemed hostile or ineffective. Trump has also ordered withdrawals from other international organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council. Driving the news: Just around two years after the U.S. rejoined the organization under former President Biden, the Trump administration will again depart from the agency. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement that the organization "supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes that are totally out-of-step with the commonsense policies that Americans voted for in November." Trump in February ordered a 90-day review of the country's participation in UNESCO to evaluate "how and if UNESCO supports United States interests" and "any anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization." State of play: The withdrawal will take effect on December 31, 2026, per the State Department. Here's what to know about the organization and its history with the U.S.: Why was UNESCO created? Flashback: The agency, per its website, was formed in the wake of World War II and is dedicated to "strengthening our shared humanity through the promotion of education, science, culture, and communication." Its Constitution opens with the words, "That since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." The U.S. joined UNESCO at its founding, per an archived State Department page, with the first American member of UNESCO's governing board writing the aforementioned preamble. Who is part of UNESCO? By the numbers: The organization's website states that it currently has over 190 members and a dozen associate members. Israel, which formally departed UNESCO in 2019, is listed as a "Non-member." What does UNESCO do? The organization's work touches a wide variety of causes, from safeguarding biodiversity and heritage to advancing education access. Zoom in: One of its most prominent projects is the World Heritage List, which includes more than 1,200 properties deemed by the World Heritage Committee to have "outstanding universal value." Countries that adhere to the World Heritage Convention agree to identify and nominate properties on their territory to be considered for the list and provide details about its protection and upkeep. It also keeps lists of "intangible cultural heritage" that include things like "Equestrian art in Portugal" and "Artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread." The latest: Earlier this month, the committee inscribed 26 new cultural and natural properties on the list, including palaces, tombs, caves and rainforests. Three sites were removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger, which UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay described as a "great victory for all." Zoom out: Education is also paramount to UNESCO's mission. Per its website, the organization is the "only United Nations agency with a mandate to cover all aspects of education." The organization says it "actively helped to frame" the Education 2030 agenda for quality education access as part of the broader Sustainable Development Goals. What is the history of U.S. participation in UNESCO? While the U.S. accepted the body's Constitution some eight decades ago, the relations between Washington and the organization have been rocky across some five decades. In the 1970s, Congress suspended UNESCO appropriations after the organization excluded Israel from a regional group, saying it had altered Jerusalem's historical features. Under the Reagan administration, the U.S. departed from UNESCO, which Washington accused of mismanagement and of politicizing issues. It rejoined under former President George W. Bush. In 2011, Washington stopped financing UNESCO after it voted to admit Palestine as a full member. That resulted in the U.S. owing the organization hundreds of millions in arrears. In 2017, the Trump administration announced its intent to withdraw from the organization, citing anti-Israel bias. Under the Biden administration, the due to concerns of rising Chinese influence.
