Contemplating Victory and Defeat in Ukraine
The book — Looking at Women Looking at War — is about bravery but also unforeseen and perhaps unwelcome transformations wrought on individual human beings by the forces of history. It begins with Amelina buying her first gun in the tense days before the Russian assault on Feb. 24, 2022. She stared at the weapon 'black and hazardous, on the bed, among all my swimming suits and summer dresses,' which she'd laid out for a vacation. 'I've heard that everyone is capable of killing, and those who say they aren't just haven't met the right person.' She added, 'An armed stranger entering my country might just be the 'right person.'' Toward the end of the volume, the former organizer of literary festivals weeps for the war dead and those who mourn them. However, she says, 'I don't cry and I don't even feel sad' when shown an instructional video on how to attach a grenade to a drone.
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USA Today
18 minutes ago
- USA Today
Thailand, Cambodia exchange heavy artillery as fighting expands for second day
SURIN, Thailand, July 25 (Reuters) - Thailand and Cambodia exchanged heavy artillery fire for a second day on Friday as their worst fighting in over a decade intensified and spread to new areas, despite international calls for a ceasefire. At least 16 people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in the escalating border battle. Both sides have blamed each other for starting the conflict and on Friday ratcheted up the rhetoric, with Thailand accusing Cambodia of deliberately targeting civilians and Cambodia alleging Thailand was using cluster munitions, a controversial and widely condemned ordnance. Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said Cambodia had launched attacks on multiple fronts and Thailand was defending its territory. "The current situation involves acts of intrusion and aggression that are causing harm to the people's lives. The situation has intensified and could escalate into a state of war. At present, it's a confrontation involving heavy weapons," he told reporters. Fighting re-erupted before dawn, with clashes reported in 12 locations, up from six on Thursday, according to Thailand's military, which accused Cambodia of using artillery and Russian-made BM-21 rocket systems to target areas that included schools and hospitals. "These barbaric acts have senselessly claimed lives and inflicted injuries upon numerous innocent civilians," the Thai military said in a statement. More: Thailand F-16 jet bombs Cambodian targets as border clash escalates It described Cambodia's bombardment as "appalling attacks", putting the blame squarely on the Phnom Penh government, which it said was being led by Hun Sen, the influential former premier of nearly four decades and father of current Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. "The deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime, and those responsible must be brought to justice," the Thai military added. LOUD EXPLOSIONS The fighting started early on Thursday, quickly escalating from small arms fire to heavy shelling in multiple areas 210 km (130 miles) apart along a frontier where sovereignty has been disputed for more than a century. The trigger was Thailand's recalling of its ambassador to Phnom Penh and expulsion of Cambodia's envoy on Wednesday, in response to a second Thai soldier losing a limb to a landmine that Bangkok alleged had been laid recently by rival troops. Cambodia has dismissed that as baseless. Cambodia's defence ministry and its government's landmine authority condemned what they said was Thailand's use of a large amount of cluster munitions, calling it a violation of international law. The foreign ministry of Thailand, which is not among the more than 100 signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters journalists in Thailand's Surin province saw a Thai military convoy that included about a dozen trucks, armoured vehicles and tanks cut across provincial roads ringed by paddy fields as it moved toward the border. Intermittent bursts of explosions could be heard amid a heavy presence of armed troops. Soldiers marshalled traffic on a rural road along which artillery guns were being loaded and fired in succession, emitting orange flashes followed by loud explosions and grey smoke. More than 130,000 people have been evacuated from conflict areas in Thailand, where the death toll rose to 15 as of early Friday, 14 of those civilians, according to the health ministry. It said 46 people were wounded, including 15 soldiers. 'WE WERE SO SCARED' More evacuees arrived at shelters in Surin province, fleeing their homes after hearing the booms of shelling. "We heard very loud explosions, so we came here. We were so scared," said Aung Ying Yong, 67, wiping away her tears with a towel. "So many people are in trouble because of this war … we are very sad that we have to live like this." Cambodia's national government has provided no details on casualties or evacuations and did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. An official from Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province said one civilian had been killed and five wounded, with 1,500 families evacuated. Thailand had on Thursday mobilised an F-16 fighter jet in a rare combat deployment, which carried out an air strike on a Cambodian military target, among measures Cambodia called "reckless and brutal military aggression" in its appeal for the United Nations Security Council to address the issue. Thailand's use of an F-16 underlines its military advantage over Cambodia, which has no fighter aircraft and significantly less defence hardware and personnel. The United States, a long-time treaty ally of Thailand, called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, as did Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the chair of the regional bloc ASEAN, who said he had spoken to leaders of both countries and urged them to find a peaceful way out. "I welcome the positive signals and willingness shown by both Bangkok and Phnom Penh to consider this path forward," he said on social media. But Thailand's foreign ministry said on Friday it has rejected mediation efforts from third countries after offers to facilitate dialogue from the United States, China and Malaysia, "We stand by our position that bilateral mechanism is the best way out," foreign ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told Reuters in an interview. (Reporting by Shoon Naing and Artorn Pookasook in Surin, Thailand, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Panu Wongcha-um and Devjyot Ghoshal in Bangkok, Francesco Guarascio in Hanoi and Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
News24
19 minutes ago
- News24
Russia strikes ‘the living heart of Odesa' after peace talks with Ukraine
Ukraine and Russia attacked each other following peace talks. Two people were killed in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Russia's air defence systems destroyed 105 Ukrainian drones. Ukraine and Russia attacked targets on each other's territory on Thursday after brief direct talks between the two sides failed to make any progress on steps to end nearly three-and-a-half years of war. Russian forces staged the latest in a series of mass drone attacks on Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa, killing one person, injuring at least four and causing several fires as well as damage in the historic centre, a UNESCO world heritage site. The famous Pryvoz market in Odesa was among the places hit, Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said. 'It is not just a place of trade, it is the living heart of Odesa,' he added. Kiper said the body of a man had been recovered from under rubble at a multi-storey apartment building. In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city in the northeast, two people were killed and at least 33 were wounded when Russian glide bombs struck a residential neighbourhood, officials said. Another person was killed in a drone attack in Sumy region on the northern border, where Russian troops have established a foothold in recent months. In Odesa, some residents were cleaning up shattered glass in the streets nearby. 'So what if the (drones) are flying? We will shoot them down; they will not break us,' Yevhen, a 20-year-old student among those helping with the cleanup, told Reuters. Russia's air defence systems destroyed 105 Ukrainian drones overnight in nine regions and over the Sea of Azov, the Russian defence ministry said on Friday. Emergency officials in Russia's Krasnodar region on the Black Sea said debris from a falling drone struck and killed a woman in the Adler district near the resort city of Sochi. A second woman was being treated in hospital for serious injuries, they said on the Telegram messaging app. Oleksii Filippov/AFP The administrative head of the Sirius federal district south of Sochi said a drone hit an oil base, giving no further details. Russia's aviation authority said operations were suspended at Sochi airport for about four hours. Russia also attacked the central region of Cherkasy overnight, injuring seven people, including a 9-year-old, and damaging more than a dozen residential apartment buildings. Negotiators had earlier discussed further prisoner swaps at a brief session of peace talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul, but they remained far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders. 'Yesterday, at a meeting in Istanbul, the Russian side was again presented with a proposal to immediately and completely cease fire. In response, Russian drones are striking residential buildings,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images He said Russia had launched 103 drones and four missiles during its overnight attack, which deputy prime minister Oleskiy Kuleba said struck civilian infrastructure, including seaports, transport hubs, and residential areas. Russian forces have in recent weeks intensified drone attacks on towns and cities far from the 1 000km frontline across eastern and southern Ukraine. Ukraine's military has been targeting energy and military sites in Russia in response to concerted Russian attacks which have destroyed towns and cities and devastated its energy infrastructure.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Trump, Obama and the Question of Treason
President Trump believes that President Barack Obama committed treason, a crime that may be punishable by death. Seeking a distraction from his current political travails, Mr. Trump is attempting to relitigate the nearly decade-old controversy over Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump is wrong on the facts and the law, and his sensational allegation serves only to demonstrate how completely he has degraded contemporary political discourse. Mr. Trump denounced Mr. Obama after Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, asked the Justice Department to investigate whether intelligence officials in the Obama administration faked evidence of Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election. When the question of who should be targeted in the investigation was posed at an Oval Office press availability, Mr. Trump said: 'It would be President Obama. He started it. … This was treason. This was every word you can think of. They tried to steal the election. They tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody's ever even imagined, even in other countries.' Mr. Trump also mentioned former President Joe Biden, former F.B.I. Director James Comey, the former director of national intelligence James Clapper and former C.I.A. Director John Brennan as other possible defendants. President Trump's history of intemperate remarks has earned him a perverse kind of immunity; the more outrageous his statement, the faster it is often dismissed. But Mr. Trump doesn't deserve this bloviator's privilege. He's not just the president, but, more to the point, he's the overseer of an unusually compliant Justice Department, and his offhand condemnation of his predecessor is as significant as it is chilling. Indeed, Mr. Trump made sure that the investigation of purported treason swiftly took on a life of its own. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that a Justice Department 'strike force' would investigate the allegations against Mr. Obama and the others, and a pair of Republican senators, Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn, have called for the appointment of a special counsel to lead the inquiry. Treason is the only crime defined in the Constitution, and it's set out there, in relevant part, as giving 'aid and comfort' to our enemies. Regurgitating a claim that Mr. Trump and his allies have made for years, Ms. Gabbard said that President Obama, after Hillary Clinton was defeated by President Trump in the 2016 election, 'directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
